Social Media: Distributing the Story
You’ve established your “story”, created a plan to “package” your story and now we’re going to “distribute” the story. It should be noted that these three phases are 100% interrelated. I’m really sharing a linear approach with you for illustrative purposes. But , to be sure, this process is truly one that is living, breathing and evolving. For simplicity, we’re now at Stage 3 which is “Distribution”. Just as with traditional media outlets, you need to choose the right venue to convey your message. Your first choice to efficiently sell commercial office space would not be an print ad in “Star Magazine” or targeting high school students. Right? As such, we suggest the most effective Social Media forums for your commercial real estate products and services are: A Blog, Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Start there and you have the most critical media covered.
When you’re ready, establish a Blog. This forum will provide you with a powerful platform for your long form messaging. Here, you’ll bring a voice and “life” to your brand. You’ll engage your audience in a dialogue, provide content for reporters and other bloggers to use in their writings (and for linking purposes) and use this tool to increase organic rankings. Think of it this way, rather than have a reporter act as a gatekeeper for your news, you can share your thoughts on techniques businesses can use to prevail in a turbulent marketplace. Why not show your products and services “in action” though client vignettes. Bring your vendor’s best practice to the forefront detailing how the technology that your providing is enhancing your clients business. Target 2-4 posts per week at 150 – 300 words per post.
Consider using multi-media for your blog (for example – adding in a VLog, which is when video assets are used to deliver a message versus words on the page). Add photos and videos of your locations (interior / exterior / show your product in action) and tag them appropriately for organic optimization purposes. Post the photos on Flickr and videos on YouTube with appropriate tags. Now, you are layering on visuals to support your written word. Google Claudia Schiffer to see how powerful visuals + words can be. Don’t load up hundreds of photos at once. Continuously load up a smaller amount.
You’ll use Twitter to tweet your sound byte messages. Twitter will help to push your audience to your relevant social media outlets. Use Linkedin as a powerful tool to tie it all together. Here you’ll build a community, share your thoughts, link to your blog posts, etc. For efficiency sake, you can create tweets for the month and program them to go out throughout a specific time period with various platforms such as hootsuite.com. Then you can feel free to add impromptu tweets when opportunities arise. Tweet daily. No more than 15 Tweets a day.
All along your enhancing your organic rankings. Right now (and this will likely change) Google is allowing two postings per URL. Use these five Social Media venues + your website and you can really “own” a page from an SEO standpoint.
Andrea Pirrotti is a ROI-driven marketing maven with proven successes in creating, executing, monitoring and optimizing marketing programs in the business center category.
From of 1999 to 2005 Andrea worked for The Regus Group and ultimately served as Vice President of Global Marketing in charge of 750 locations across 60+ countries. She was the marketing lead and member of the executive team that fueled the firm’s growth from $200 million to $1 billion in revenue over a six-year period. During her tenure she crafted the marketing strategy for Regus’ IPO, the firm’s product, location and country launches, bankruptcy (and early emergence) and acquisitions. She has been consulting in the industry ever since.
In addition to her experience in the business center world, Andrea served as the outsourced head of direct sales and marketing for Helicor where she re-launched the StressEraser, a FDA regulated biofeedback device that eliminates the harmful impact of stress on your body. She exceed sales and costs per acquisition targets while achieving a 100%+ increase in sales volume year on year.
While at Antares, a private equity firm with $5 billion in real estate assets, Andrea reduced marketing costs by 62% while increasing leads by 35%. Notable press placements include: VH-1, Fortune, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The New York Times, Alpha Magazine and Deal Maker.
From 1991-1999 she headed up marketing for the Technology, Communication and Entertainment tri-state group at Ernst & Young LLP, Graduate programs at the Princeton review and served in Product Management roles at WarnerVision (now Warner Home video) and Gramavision records.
Andrea received a BS in Communications from Boston University and an MBA in Marketing from Pace, Lubin School of Business. She lives in Fairfield, CT with her husband Johnny and their newest addition to the family – baby Johnny and Sophia.
Thanks for your post!