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August 20, 2015

Are You Socially FIT?

It’s no question that social media has begun to dominate the way in which companies market their brand, products and services. With the boom of sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, incorporating social media into your marketing efforts seems to be inevitable these days. Engaging in the use of social media can help increase your company’s brand awareness, better your search engine optimization, and pull in a wide variety of audiences. Here are some interesting statistics about social media, as reported by Hubspot:

  • 92% of marketers are in agreement that social media is important to their business
  • 92% of marketers shared that the use of social media has gained more exposure for their business
  • 80% of marketers indicated their social media utilization has increased traffic

And according to the Pew Research Center, 74% of the population use social networking sites.

It’s imperative that companies learn to blend social media into their current marketing efforts, especially those involved in commercial real estate (CRE). Often, CRE companies' marketing outreach needs to appeal to a diverse range of people, places, and markets, especially if said companies have properties beyond the state lines of their corporate office. Social platforms can be accessed anywhere by anyone at any time to make for efficient and effective use, which can help boost employee interaction and attainment in their company’s marketing goals.

At United Group, Communications and Employee Development Coordinator Joe Uccellini developed a system to rank and reward United Group’s property managers based on certain guidelines of social media usage and interaction with corresponding users. The program is called “Socially FIT,” with FIT being an acronym for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. To get a better understanding of Socially FIT and Uccellini’s perspective on the importance of a company’s use of social media platforms, here is a brief Q&A with Uccellini himself:

Q. What is Socially FIT?

A. “Socially FIT is a social media program that encourages our properties to build relationships with residents, future residents, and the neighboring communities. This program also rewards managers that meet all the requirements.”

Q. How did you come up with the idea? When did you develop Socially FIT?

A. “COO Jeff Arnold and I were sitting in his office one afternoon and he wanted to know how we could take our social media marketing efforts to another level. We were discussing the "big three" platforms – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and we came up with the name in that meeting and developed a program that we felt represented the title. The program launched in 2014.”

Q. What does it mean to be “Socially FIT?”

A. “In order to be Socially FIT, a property manager must meet all the requirements and guidelines for posting on all three mediums and responding to questions, comments, and acknowledgements in a timely manner.  All properties must also maintain a certain rating to be eligible as Socially FIT.”

Q. In your opinion, how important is it for companies to utilize social media with their marketing efforts?

A. “I believe social media is essential for all companies to incorporate into their marketing efforts. In a world where people want to share information instantaneously, having the right social media program allows us to excel in creating relationships with our audiences. Advertising on Facebook is also a must in my opinion, because of how advanced audience targeting has become.”

Q. Which platform do you think is the most effective when it comes to drawing in an audience? Why?

A. “It depends on the property type. Overall, I do believe Facebook is the most effective platform. Instagram and Snapchat are more popular in our student markets. I see my students are starting to shy away from Facebook, as they look to platforms that steer away from mom and dad. I coach high school wrestling and all my students like Instagram and Snapchat more. Facebook is the most popular with our senior market, hands down.”

Q. Do you utilize social media platforms when looking up company information for your own personal use?

A. “Yes. If I am interested in buying a product or service, I go to Facebook to see if I can get initial answers to my questions or read reviews, and I can do so by just by looking at the page.”

Q. What makes a social media post an effective one?

A. “An effective post is one that drives conversation, link clicks, retweets, likes, and favorites. The post should be engaging, to which the person viewing wants to respond in some way.  Sometimes the response is negative, however that may be a chance to solve a problem that would otherwise be unknown.”

 

 

Interested in learning more about United Group? Visit our website at www.ugoc.com.

 

 

Tag(s): Lifestyle

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