I want you to have an affair. Have a REALLY good one. One that will make everyone involved in it smile for years to come. Can you imagine yourself in this scenario? I can and I am. Right now.
OK. Stop right there and listen very closely. I am NOT suggesting a PHYSICAL affair. On the contrary. I am talking about having a life long affair – more than just an engagement with your audience. I mean, get out there and make some waves, ruffle some feathers and make some noise!
When it comes to real estate marketing and social media, you have to do things that will make people stand up and take notice – make a move. It takes effort and diligence. It takes having a plan and sticking to it. There is no “Plan B” involved.
One brokerage that has just released their newest social media marketing initiative is Long Realty, and they have this one covered in lipstick kisses! Eighty-five year ago, Long Realty was founded (in 1926), and they wanted to honor that by involving their sphere, community and audience throughout their Arizona marketing area. The marketing department got together and built a community-outreach campaign, called “Why I Love Arizona”.
The Concept:
An online photo contest where individuals are encouraged to submit photos of why they love Arizona. Photos are submitted and voted on by the public. There is a deadline for submissions and a specific period of days for voting. The photo with the largest amount of votes wins $1,926 (the year Long Realty was founded).
Long Realty’s Marketing & Technology Vice President, Kevin Kaplan, created a contest website, www.WhyILoveArizona.com where the contest is live and as of this morning, 290 images had been submitted. The contest started this week. Kaplan also put into place several turn-key online and offline tools for their agents to easily enable their own spheres to take part in the contest. A number of major media outlets, including newspapers, news and radio stations have partnered with this initiative and provided substantial exposure.
The Outcome:
The beauty of this campaign is that it engages both their immediate and peripheral audiences on many different levels. It:
1. Directly relates to THEM
2. Focuses on a POSITIVE
3. Community BUILDING
4. Contains a sense of URGENCY
5. Uses many facets of SOCIAL MEDIA
6. Encourages social media SHARING
7. Drives TRAFFIC and TIME ON SITE
8. Generates LEADS
9. Has an END RESULT: IT GIVES THEM SOMETHING THEY WANT!
Long Company’s CEO, Rosey Koberlein, explained the relevance and importance of the campaign: “Every person has a different experience in Arizona. We want to learn more about the areas people enjoy most. At Long Realty we love Arizona, and we see this campaign as an opportunity to celebrate our state and motivate citizens to do their part in making it an enjoyable place to live.”
The Seducer
Images. Right from the toddler years until the day we die, images are by nature highly visual and pleasing to the eye – we all like looking at them. They are also excellent for website traffic and time on site (and ultimately Google ranking). Long Realty Company has taken the perfect tool and turned it into a lead generating machine. And so can you.
So what can you learn from this and takeaway to use yourself? Sure you may not have a couple of thousand dollars to giveaway on a regular basis, but by honing in on the strategy, you can create life long love affairs with your audience and subsequent clients too. Have a meeting with your Broker and your office as a whole, and create quarterly or bi-yearly campaigns that will bring you the outcomes noted above.
Have you as a Broker or Agent, created a similar marketing strategy? Tell us about it and the outcome in the comments below. We want to hear about your love affairs!
Image courtesy of http://www.azjerome.com/
