Resident Places Launches Facebook Coupon Reveal Tab for Apartments
For Immediate Release
Resident Places Launches Facebook Coupon Reveal Tab for Apartments
Philadelphia, PA January 9, 2013 – Resident Places has expanded its local coupon amenity program. We now offer participating communities a reveal tab for their community Facebook pages loaded with co-branded local coupons that can be printed and shared by their residents and prospects.
Resident Places (www.residentplaces.com) is pleased to announce the launching of our new Reveal Tab for Facebook that allows participating apartment communities to place hyper-local coupons on their Facebook page for their residents and prospects. The coupons are easily printed and shared directly for the social site of each individual community.
The Resident Places Coupon Reveal Tab will support the social activities of apartment communities by providing them with valued content that will generate more likes, more shares, referrals and recommendations, and increase visit frequency by their residents and prospects.
Resident Places President TJ Goulet stated, “We are very excited about the prospect of supporting our client’s endeavors to build a robust and active social network with their residents.” Goulet went on to say, “Coupons have both real and perceived value to residents and the cobranded printed coupon increases our client’s reach into their local neighborhoods. Resident Places is a win for residents, for local businesses and, most importantly, a win for the participating apartment communities.”
Coupons, deals and giveaways have the highest response rates and share rates on Facebook. An Exact Target Survey showed that the top two reasons Facebook users like a fan pages was to get discounts (40%) and freebies (36%). Wildfire Interactive reported that coupons had a 49% response rate and a 34% share rate among 10,000 Facebook campaigns surveyed.
Increasing Facebook “Likes” improves brand loyalty and referrals according to a survey by Syncapse.com. They surveyed 4,000 Facebook users for 20 top brands and found that Facebook Fans are 28% more likely to stick with a brand and 41% more likely to recommend a brand than non-fans.
About Resident Places
Resident Places is an amenity program for residential and mixed use properties that delivers property branded, hyper-local coupons. These neighborhood deals enhance current resident retention initiatives, while augmenting community outreach to local businesses. Every coupon printed through the property specific co-branded portal includes the name of the property and are shareable via social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The Resident Places call center handles all sales and service activities related to the coupons and target businesses that are in close proximity to each property ensuring that they represent the businesses most desired and used by residents.
Property Managers interested in offering Resident Places to their residents should contact Rob Remus at (484) 474-0590 or by email at rremus@residentplaces.com. Learn more at Property.residentplaces.com.
Resident Places Expansion Surpasses 16,000 Households
For Immediate Release
Resident Places Expansion Surpasses 16,000 Households
Philadelphia, PA August 8, 2012 – Resident Places announces the expansion of their coupon amenity offering to 66 Philadelphia apartment communities reaching over 16,000 households.
“We are excited at the early success of our coupon amenity program at our initial 17 properties and are excited to extend our reach to over 16,000 Philadelphia households,” states TJ Goulet, President of Resident Places. Goulet also states, “The response from local businesses has been incredible. They immediately see the benefits of partnering directly with the apartment communities through the Coupon Reward Sites. We have seen all kinds of businesses participate. Everything from pizza shops to fine dining restaurants, fitness center, dog walkers, local retail stores, auto repair shops and beauty salons – All offering discounts and coupons exclusively for the residents of our participating apartment communities.”
Resident Places plans to continue their expansion by adding additional communities in Philadelphia and expanding into neighboring metropolitan areas like Baltimore MD, Washington DC & Boston MA.
About Resident Places
Resident Places is an amenity program for residential and mixed use properties that delivers property branded, hyper-local coupons. These neighborhood deals enhance current resident retention initiatives, while augmenting community outreach to local businesses. Every coupon printed through the property specific co-branded portal includes the name of the property and are shareable via social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The Resident Places call center handles all sales and service activities related to the coupons and target businesses that are in close proximity to each property ensuring that they represent the businesses most desired and used by residents. Learn more by visiting Residentplaces.com.
Property Managers interested in offering Resident Places should contact Rob Remus at (484) 474-0590.
12 Essential Tools for the Content Marketer
One of the questions marketers get asked most often starts like this. “I think I get content marketing, but what kind of content works best?” The short answer is that there are at least twelve types of content you can utilize as part of any content marketing plan.
In this case, the focus is on content that can extend your brand’s reach, beyond your website or blog. There’s no single type that works best for all companies. In fact, diversification and having a portfolio of content you can pull from is key. Here are the twelve types of content to focus on, and how they can be used.
1. Video and Motion Graphics
Yes, video belongs in your content plan, but not for the reasons you think. Don’t create a video with the intent that it will “go viral.” Instead, recommend to your clients that they use video to create awareness. No other medium engenders emotion the way video does.
Consider the video above — it’s motion graphics — from a Palo Alto-based startup called WealthFront. Here the company’s objective was to attract a world-class designer to its team. This video did not go viral but it did get seen by almost everyone in the target market — designers in the Bay Area.
2. Webinars
Tired of webinars? Everyone is. Still, our company recently fielded a webinar that had 1,500 people sign up to learn more about grammar. That’s right. Grammar. This webinar wasn’t the usual talking heads. Instead, it was Scott Abel (who blogs as The Content Wrangler) and Val Swisher (CEO of Content Rules) with the Grammar Girl herself, Mignon Fogarty.
The lesson is to make the webinar appealing by focusing on the types of problems your prospects are facing that your product or service can solve. Don’t go it alone. Instead, reach out to your favorite blogger or pundit and ask them to act as the MC, with your brand acting as the sponsor. And remember, no one ever bought anything because you bored them to death.
3. Infographics
Infographics are, well, graphics. If you make yours compelling, it will get picked up and showcased on sites like Cool Infographics or Good. This sounds great until you realize that everyone is sharing links that reference back to a site that is not yours.
This is why you should always post your infographic with embed code. Don’t know how to create embed code? Here’s a blog post that can help.
4. Q&As
This is content that goes up on a Q&A site like Quora or the answers section of LinkedIn. The content here isn’t very sexy, and it may not be all that findable in a search engine like Google. Still, we like this type of content a lot, mostly because we know that people who post questions here tend be further along in the buying process.
When answering questions make sure you actually post an answer to the question. People get irritated when you try to sell them on “your stuff” prematurely. So don’t. Be helpful, pay it forward, and make it apparent where your product or solution addresses their needs. Got a great example of a dialogue that worked for you and one that backfired? Share it.
5. Case Studies
You are going to need multiple case studies, sometimes called success stories. Ideally, you’ll serve up these case studies in a way that allows your potential customer to see or experience their problem being solved through your product or service. Case studies can be content you position in the media or on your own website.
Focus on making the case studies easy to find based on the problems your buyer is likely to face. If finding them proves difficult for a potential customer, then it can be a waste of time for both parties. Consider this case study on “best design” from Sun Power. This is one of four case studies. Presumably each case study was designed to speak to a specific benefit. But when we did a search on “best design solar panel” or “best designed solar panel” Sun Power did not show up on page one of the search results. Studies show that 60 to 70% of buyers aren’t going to get any farther than page one. This is a lost opportunity.
Case studies work throughout the buying process but especially during the early stages when the buyer is still trying to define their problem and the products and solutions that can solve them. Make search engine optimization a priority when it comes to case studies.
6. E-books | White Papers
White papers, now known as the more visual e-book, can make sense both early and late in the customer buying cycle. Early on, the buyer is looking to get educated about the category and how your product or service can solve their problem. Later the buyer is comparing your product or service to others on his or her short list. Either way, it makes sense to make a related e-book available only after your prospect has filled out some kind of form on your site.
7. Podcasts
Podcasts are relatively easy to create and are easy for people to watch or listen to on iTunes. When creating a podcast, target buyers later in the buying process who are eager to go in-depth on your product or service. Podcasts are particularly good at delivering the back story of your product or service. The one above is an example from Etsy called Handmade Portraits.
8. Reviews
The best reviews are objective and come from people who are seen as either similar to the buyer, someone who has expertise that the buyer values, or someone the buyer trusts. Think Walter Mitty (the favorite everyman), Walter Kohn (the Nobel-winning chemist), or Walter Mossberg ( a reporter at The Wall Street Journal).
If you can’t get reviews from one or more of the “Walters” then go for “wisdom of crowds” approach. Get a lot of reviews, and try to make most of them positive.
Reviews can also be used on your own site. For example, place excerpts from the best reviews on landing pages because testing shows that this placement lifts response by as much as a full percentage point.
If you have a longer review, such as an analyst report, handle it the same way you’d handle an e-book or white paper. Put the review behind a form and make the download something you can leverage to generate leads.
9. Presentations
Business-to-business buyers and consumers who are making a considered purchase will troll the web looking for information to aid them in the buying process. Presentations help buyers get the right information about your products and services.
We typically recommend that you set up a channel on Slideshare to house the presentations you are doing at trade shows and other industry events. By doing this, you are leveraging the Slideshare community, which at 60 million uniques, will drive additional traffic to your website. Slideshare does a great job of optimizing the content it houses for organic search.
10. Apps & Tools
Apps and tools are often used early in the buying process when the buyer is not yet aware they have a problem. A great example of this can be found at WealthFront. The WealthFront tool is for people working at startup companies who have just gone public and need to diversify out of their company’s stock. The idea is to bring people to the tool so as to acquaint them with the need to diversify out of their own company’s stock.
Notice how WealthFront is pretty low-key when presenting its service as the solution to the buyer’s problem. This is intentional. If you are too commercial at this stage of your relationship with the prospect you risk turning them off.
11. Curated Content
When you think curated content you probably think sites like Pinterest. While curated content could fit almost anywhere in the buying process, a site like Pinterest specifically works well early on to create awareness. This is especially true for products or services with a visual component and with a strong appeal to Pinterest’s primarily female demographic.
12. Email Newsletters
Does anyone read email newsletters anymore? Is this still a valid form of content? Yes and yes. Email newsletters can be very good at generating more leads, but there are some rules. Do email regularly, so as to develop your readership. The minimum frequency should be once a month. That’s how you keep most customers and prospects interested and aware of your presence. Also, make sure your design your newsletter so it is easy to skim with click-through links that direct people back to long-form content on your website.
A newsletter works to keep you top of mind with prospects and existing customers throughout the buying cycle and even afterwards. That’ when you want to turn customers into advocates and evangelists for your brand. To measure results, you are going to need some kind of analytics software.
via 12 Essential Tools for the Content Marketer
TJ Goulet has been a leader in sales and marketing for almost 20 years. His background includes both entrepreneurial endeavors and nationally recognized achievement with a Fortune 500 Company. He entered the local search and coupon industry in 2005, when he launched his first directory and coupon portal. TJ's expertise is in utilizing current technologies and marketing platforms to increase sales productivity across a broad range of products and services.
Social Demographics: Who’s Using Today’s Biggest Networks [INFOGRAPHIC]
![Social Demographics: Who’s Using Today’s Biggest Networks [INFOGRAPHIC]](http://blog.residentplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/et_temp/social-media-advertising-101714_164x164.png "Social Demographics: Who’s Using Today’s Biggest Networks [INFOGRAPHIC]")
More than 66% of adults are connected to one or more social media platforms, but who exactly are these people?
The infographic below, created by Online MBA, breaks down the demographics, including education level, income, age and gender of social media users, along with other miscellaneous facts.
Some sites’ users are more demographically alike than others. One thing is the same for most social sites — college students, or those who have completed some college, represent the majority on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Digg and Reddit. Among Facebook users, 57% have completed some college, and 24% have earned a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Although, people 45 and older make up 46% of Facebook users.
Social media sites are also seeing a gender split — women use social media more than men. More women are on Facebook and Twitter. About 57% of Facebook and 59% of Twitter users are women.
Women gravitate toward Pinterest and young, techie men hang out on Google+. Pinterest has the heaviest gender imbalance — 82% of users are women, who pin crafts, gift ideas, hobbies, interior design and fashion. On the other spectrum, Google+ is dominated by men (71%) and early adopters, engineers and developers. About 50% of Google+ users are 24 or younger.
LinkedIn reports an even ratio of men and women — 49% over age 45 — who use the site to connect with other business professionals.
Most people use social media to stay in touch with friends and family, and more are doing so while on the go. About 200 million Facebook users check their Timelines from their mobile devices every day.
Check out the infographic below to see all the statistics.
Infographic courtesy of Online MBA.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, RapidEye.
Social Demographics: Who’s Using Today’s Biggest Networks [INFOGRAPHIC].
Building a Content Marketing Strategy
As mentioned in my previous article about the movement towards content marketing, traditional marketing is being over-taken by content driven strategies that focus on distribution through social media. Advertising is not dead! On the contrary, advertising is stronger than ever, if you merge the old with the new. By combining traditional marketing, branding and advertising with content driven social programs, you are going to have exponential success through the combined efforts of you and your target audience.
Your content marketing strategy should be designed to expand on your traditional programs and develop relationships that will bring long term residual returns for all your advertising expenditures.
Here are some key steps to take when implementing your content marketing strategy.
Start with a set of goals – I always find the best way to implement any sales or marketing strategy is to first outline specific and measurable goals. Don’t just say, “Increase sales.” Your goals have to be well defined and measurable. An example of a productive goal is, “Increase sales by 15% within 6 months.” This goal is measurable and allows you to create accountability and benchmarks. Other goals to consider are increase mentions on twitter by 50% or secure 10,000 Facebook fans or add 5,000 subscribers to our monthly newsletter.
Who is your target? – Once you have a goal, you must identify who your target audience is and how best to speak to them. You aren’t going to grow your newsletter subscription rate if your target audience is 35-55 year old women by posting content about advances in fuel injection systems. You have to know who you are speaking too and what interests them. I try to place myself in the shoes of my customers or prospects and ask myself, what would interest me and keep my attention.
What are you trying to say? – Content marketing is no different than traditional marketing in that you have to have a message to deliver. What is it that you want to convey to your audience, what differentiates your brand or product, how are you better than your competition and how do you translate these attributes to a language that will be received by your target audience?
Decide on a strategy – Content marketing typically is broken into three strategies: long-form, short-form and social conversations. Long-form includes blog posts, articles and press releases. Short-form is typically Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn updates and graphics. Social conversations might include participating in and driving conversations by link sharing, video and blog commenting and forum discussions. You may decide to only use one or all three. All can be effective on their own and when used together.
Gotta have a plan – First you plan the work, then you work the plan. Your plan should include a calendar that works backwards from your goal date, include benchmarks along the way and include specific strategies, tactics, calls to action and responsibilities. This process can be a major project, but you will be glad you invested the time at the beginning, as it makes execution so much easier.
Build your content – You will be building content throughout the entirety of your project, but by creating about 20% of your content pre-launch, it allows you to both refine your message before it is seen and give you a cushion if you should fall behind during your campaign. Your content should be unique and different and speak to your audience incorporating your key message.
Grow a relationship – Remember you are not selling or closing, you are building the awareness of your company and product or service through engagement with your prospects and customers on terms that they prefer and desire. If you do this right, they will buy from you because they trust you and know you.
Remember, content marketing isn’t only about what you have to say. At least 70% of what you share should be curated (not your own) and specific to the needs and wants of your target audience. Remember you are building a relationship…it is all about them!
Share your message – It is time to get your words out there. Build a machine that includes relevant key words to your product or service and attach them to your message. Make sure you are using these key words in your tags and imbedding them into your blogs posts. SEO can play a huge part in getting your message found and increasing subscribers and followers. Don’t forget about Twitter, Facebook and social bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon. Don’t wait for your customers to spread the word, everyone on your marketing team needs to like, plus, retweet and repost your content.
Review and refine – Don’t wait until the end of your campaign to see if it worked. You need to measure everything and watch the benchmarks you have established. You should also be able to see what is working the best and what didn’t. Do more of what works and refine what didn’t. If you can’t get it to work, try something else. I have been shocked more than once at what blew up and went viral and what was completely ignored. Learn from your successes and failures along the way and refine your campaign to ensure you hit your goals and exceed them.
Just remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, you can’t go from 1 to 1 million followers with getting to 2 and every success is preceded by a thousand failures.
About Resident Places
Resident Places is a zero cost amenity to residential and mixed use properties where residents receive valuable money saving offers from local businesses through a co-branded coupon portal. These neighborhood deals are made available without any sales activity by leasing staffs or IT teams. Every deal printed through the co-branded portal will include the name of the property and is shareable via social media networks like Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter, which expands the reach and audience of the community’s brand to their residents, prospects and area businesses. For business owners, our unique offering gives access into a typically difficult advertising market – multifamily communities, with a low cost, high tech solution.
TJ Goulet has been a leader in sales and marketing for almost 20 years. His background includes both entrepreneurial endeavors and nationally recognized achievement with a Fortune 500 Company. He entered the local search and coupon industry in 2005, when he launched his first directory and coupon portal. TJ's expertise is in utilizing current technologies and marketing platforms to increase sales productivity across a broad range of products and services.
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