To find what is going to be the new trend for social media for 2010, I asked leading expert,
Carol M. Flammer. Carol is managing partner of
mRELEVANCE, an agency specializing in Internet marketing, social media and public relations with offices in Atlanta and Chicago. I had the chance to ask Carol what she believes will be the biggest changes to social media in 2010, and her answer was simple and direct.
In 2010 more employers are going to wake up and realize that they already have a lot of content online – some of it posted by them and some not. In response to this they are going to do two things:
1) create a Social Media Policy
2) create a strategic Social Media Plan
Social media policies give guidelines for site moderation, content and the rules of engagement. In other words, these plans put the rules of interaction in place. By creating an outline for employees on how to speak about the company, the employer limits the amount of “policing” needed on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.
The home building industry is seeing more than ever the necessity of social media. According to Carol, "If you don’t have a strategic social media marketing plan to increase traffic to your main Web site, you might be missing 50% of your traffic. Strategic social media plans centered around an effective blog can increase traffic from referring sites and the search engines. If you aren’t engaged in social media, your competitors, who do have an effective social media strategy are happily capturing your traffic and your potential buyers," said Carol.
With home sales at a slow down already, can you really afford to ignore Internet traffic? Because 85% of home buyers shopping online first, it’s important that your community or home is found on Google through an organic search. This can be done with search engine optimization (SEO). Let’s say you have only have a community website. If your website is filled with good SEO and keywords, that website will be found with ease by an organic search, but so will other communities using the same keywords. However what if you have a community Blog, Twitter and Facebook account as well as your website? Well then, when the consumer searches for your keywords your community will dominate the results with your website and social media outlets and push your competitors out of site.
Providing ways for home buyers to find your site using social media loads the organic search with your content. Not to mention with analytics and tracking reports, you can tell where quality traffic is coming from and where you should be spending your marketing money. Carol also suggested that you track your return on investment (ROI) with the money spent in social media. “It used to be said that 50% of your marketing dollars were wasted, you just didn’t know which 50 %...( but with tracking and analytics, there is) … no more guessing.”
Another increasing trend that is planning to take over in the social media world in 2010 is the BLOG. Your well-built blog should be a top 5 referral source to your website and provide your company with a more relaxed friendly voice, according to Carol and she included to say, “Never underestimate the power of a well-optimized blog.” Blogs capture traffic from both the search engines and referral traffic, and who doesn’t want traffic?
So over all what can social media do for you as a professional in the home building industry? According to Carol here are the 5 ways social media can help you in 2010:
1. Increase your traffic by 50%.
2. Increase you SEO, which leads to …… number 3.
3. Better Search Results to your webpage.
4. Build a Brand.
5. “Friends, Fans, Followers” which lead to relationships with prospects, clients, and customers.
Racheal Ashley
Staff Writer
Office: (951) 894-6621
Fax: (951) 894-6622
rashley@newhomesdirectory.com
