According to a new study, the Number One reason that ‘wealthy’ or ‘affluent’ consumers connect with a new brand is because they are following the lead of their ‘online’ friends. It stands to reason that if a friend indicates their loyalty to a brand by ‘liking’ a branded page or participating in a contest or promotion, then that user's friend will also notice this and may follow suit as they have similar likes or dislikes; creating a series of similar but unique links which develop into a purchasing pattern. Quite naturally, people are prone to be influenced by their friends whom they trust, (virtual or otherwise) more than they will be by any form of manufactured advertising or commercial communication. So how can we find friends and influence them?(Text source : Unity Marketing “Affluent Consumers and How They Use the Internet, Social Media, and Mobile Devices” 2010)
As investments become harder to source and pre-sales are more important to project funding than ever before, a brand endorsement or an endorsement by a significant voice, are becoming crucial to build product credibility. As a result, digital marketplaces are developing into the ideal launch pads for the branded property industry. For property sales and investment, online marketing with a brand will increase the credibility and recognition needed to be heard within the swirling sea of superlatives and ever increasing number of facts. Some individual tweeters for example, can alone command a following greater than a small country which reiterates the fact that a brand endorsement of any type via this platform is undeniably powerful and has an infinite result (good or bad).
Q1. So how do you find your new online ‘friends’ and then gain their endorsement?
A. Audi held a ground-breaking online contest during the super bowl which led to hundreds of thousands of social media mentions of #AUDI through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. A second example is Canadian Club Whisky, which almost doubled its Facebook fan population from 16,000 to 30,000 following an online campaign. Or in lieu of actually being popular or writing creatively to legitimately attract friends or followers, Twitter in now 'selling' groups of followers by the 500, so you can just buy your friends! Which leads of course to the next question:
Q2. from a business point of view, is having these ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ actually going to make you money or is it just a lot of noise?
A. Twitter themselves use a great example of how their of their site can be utilized for business: Best Buy who developed @twelpforce had provided over 19,500 answers to customer inquiries by 2009, the time and cost of otherwise providing such a response would be inconceivable – an undeniable account of intuitive business thinking. But the clearest example that uses a powerful combination of online marketing and property branding comes from Donald Trump. He, himself, an international Brand, now has an international branded property development company which exceeds all others:
Trump International Hotel & Tower Dubai luxury apartments:OVER 62% OF PRE-SALES started from
AN ONLINE SEARCH
resulting in sales figures which overtook the then current record by 15% which was held by commercially branded property - Armani Residences in Burj Dubai, to record prices of 12,000 dirhams (approx US$3,260) per sq.metre
‘Digital’ friends can be both an asset and a liability. Within a chaotic forum where brands from all corners of the industry are rushing to achieve a presence on multiple channels, it is quite common for progress to be made without a strategic plan and consequently this results in no time or know-how to maintain the initial online content and network of 'friends'. This is far worse than never having had a presence at all, as it leads to a habit of no-response which ultimately loses creditability – the very thing that the branded properties set out to achieve. So 'befriend' with gusto but be sure to remember that :-
‘Sharing is caring, caring leads to loyalty, but boredom encourages infidelity’.
PROPERTY BRANDING SPECIALIST AND MARKETING CONSULTANTS : Building Irresistible Brands www.puddingcreative.com
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