Attracting visitors to your property blog

I am constantly asked “what should we write about other than our favourite houses and property listings”?

I suggest three categories:

1.  Your neighbourhood – show that you know your “patch” better than anyone else and that it’s a great place to live and work. From local restaurants, shops, parks and leisure activities to things to do on a rainy day. Establish that it has an offline sense of community.

2.  Lifestyle – this follows on from the neighbourhood. You’re selling a dream and show that you are the person who can turn it into reality. Highlight some of your best looking properties and post plenty of pictures of the local golf courses, tennis clubs, sports centres, cinemas, theatres, parks, rivers, lakes and woodland walks.

3.  Position yourself as the person who has thought through all the relocation issues and as the owner of a “little black book” of contacts who can help. Surveyors, lawyers, mortgage brokers, FX dealers, plumbers, electricians, roofers, IT support people. You might not know the answer but you know someone close by who does.

Fill your blog with posts based on the topics above and you will be well on the road to being positioned as the real estate “guru” of your neighbourhood.

www.grahamdownie.com

08/11/2010 | Tags: , , | Comments Closed

Marketing in the property industry – all change

Just read an interesting article on “brand journalism” which you can see here.

The author talks about how important “content” is to your marketing and that bigger corporations should consider taking on ex journalists to research and write for them.  A great example of this is the work that Chesterton Humberts do with the House Historian.

I’m sure that many agencies and developers are confused as to how they can exploit the opportunities that currently exist in the property marketing arena.  Local papers are in dire straits as advertisers switch from full page adverts to online listings.  Everyone seems to be talking about social media but not many are using it for fear of damaging their brands.

I”d argue that having someone to research, create and manage your content is a pretty good entry point into the maelstrom.

www.grahamdownie.com

03/30/2010 | Tags: , , | Comments Closed

Social media – jumping on the bandwagon

I’ve just seen this article in The Inquisitr about social media “experts” jumping onto the bandwagon.  In fact it was posted by @adders on Twitter and as he’s one of the industry gurus that I have the most respect for I thought I’d better read it.

As soon as I did I thought “wow, is that me?” – I don’t suppose it was actually written with me in mind but is that what people will think?

However, after much soul searching I’ve decided that my conscience is clear.  And here’s why:

I’m not positioning myself as someone at the “cutting edge” of social media.  I’m 48 years old for a start and just couldn’t cut it with the young guns who were brought up learning to type before they could write.

What I am saying though is that I’m a professional property marketeer (20+ years at the highest level), with a passion for how the internet is changing the face of real estate.  Indeed here’s the text of an article that David Lawson wrote about my involvement with e-commerce in property way back in 2000.

Whilst at Chesterton I was involved in our £1m investment in Primelocation as well as board level discussions with Reed Elsevier (owners of Estate Gazette & EGi), JLL, Insignia Richard Ellis, CBRE and DTZ on UK & European property listing sites.

Since moving to France I have used social media to win new business, gain press coverage in The Telegraph, The Independent, French Property News and other specialist media.  I’ve also seen my blog win the prestigious Primelocation “Best property blog” award….not bad from a tiny office in a remote part of SW France.

I find myself being drawn back into my old world because I have a passion for property marketing and think that by working with a small number of forward thinking companies I’d be able to help them bridge the gap between the scary new world of social media and the more staid arena of traditional property marketing.

So, I’m not going to apologise for jumping on the bandwagon.  If you’re looking for someone to discuss the respective merits of Wordpress against Blogger or to advise on how to integrate Google maps into your existing, bespoke, IT system then I’m not your man.

But, if you’re looking for someone to help you understand how social media can help your business, or to set up, research and write a regular blog or twitter account for you then pick up the phone or send me an email (or tweet!).

www.grahamdownie.com

03/15/2010 | Tags: , | Comments Closed

Twitter still not scratching the surface

Just seen a little bit of research that says only 16 of the UK’s top 100 companies are using Twitter (although 57 have signed up and I guess 41 are still working out how best to use it).

It’s still early days of course but you can be sure that there staff will be and it beggars belief that they don’t have someone in the marketing department using it.  Plenty of uses spring to mind but two stand-outs area:

  • to see what is being said about their products or brands
  • to follow journalists in their sector and to get a “heads up” on any PR opportunities.

Phil Stewart of Virgin Media Business, who undertook the survey said:

“Companies should respond to customer enquires and take part in conversations about their brand or industry transparently. It might take a few minutes each day, but this could be time well spent if it helps to strengthen relationships with customers, build links with prospects and take part in the dialogue that is shaping attitudes and responses towards your business”.

www.grahamdownie.com

03/10/2010 | Tags: | Comments Closed

Journalists becoming more reliant on social media

Here’s some interesting research.

The George Washington University poll shows that 89% of the journalists surveyed used blogs for research and 65% use other social media sites such as Twitter.

This makes absolute sense and can only be set to increase.  It also mirrors my own experience.  Blogging and Twitter have recently directly lead to  press comment in both national and trade papers.

Even the BBC are getting in on the act. In this article Peter Horrocks (director of global news) tells news staff that they must embrace social media and technological change…or leave. 

www.grahamdownie.com

02/26/2010 | Tags: , , | Comments Closed
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