SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAYBOOK

INSIGHTS & STRATEGIES Social media has become an important tool for marketers to stay engaged with customers. In fact, marketers agree that the contributions of social media to company’s performance has risen significantly in past 2-3 years. Real estate has mostly relied on traditional marketing methods and in-person meetings however, during 2020 social media became a critical tool for real estate marketers. Amit Chand, Head Marketing, Adani Realty (Gujarat) said, "After pandemic social media picked up beyond expectations with its own pros and cons. What kept away realtors away from social media was customer complaints and many a fake grievances. Now marketers have understood the format, offer prompt response and close online queries as soon as possible. " Kaizad Hateria, Brand Custodian & Chief Customer Delight Officer at Rustomjee Developers gave an example, "We at Rustomjee consider customers delight and happiness a top priority. Our employees and vendors, channel partners are our biggest influencers. We try to create an emotional bond between the brand and people.” Dr Kunal Banerji, Marketing Advisor, Smart World Developers added, "We at Smart World look at the millennials and accordingly design brand strategy on social media. Digital technologies are still evolving in the real estate sector and marketers are constantly learning and evolving new products to connect with customers via digital platforms.” Mohit Mishra, Chief Marketing Officer - Office Business, DLF Limited speaking on moment marketing said, "Moment marketing became a trend after Tokyo Olympics, but Amul brand had always been using moment marketing. For real estate, one needs to connect brands very well with moment, it has to be a sustainable and creative for reach and result." In today’s times, social platforms are not just a branding avenue, they are also driving business, Siddhartha Sood, Head - Marketing & Corp. Communications, Gaurs Group shared, "Instagram and LinkedIn worked well with us. Twitter was a complaint register in our case. Social media in the short term did not work for us but has worked for our long term objective. WhatsApp is very useful for us to connect with our customers. Clubhouse and podcast are emerging as good platforms for connecting with our customers." Amit Kumar Gehlot, Founder & CEO, PropertyXpo.com was of the view that social media is here to stay as part of real estate marketing strategies. “Everyone is on social media and it has huge reach and cost effectiveness, providing better connection with the target audience. If your content is cutting edge, social media is the right place to promote it. " Vikram Kotnis, Managing Director, Sell.Do & Amura Marketing Technologies stated, "Email marketing is proving to be very effective. Companies use email marketing tools to create individual interaction with consumers. Bulk emails do not work. Storytelling is most important to sell or promote big ticket real estate assets online." CONSUMER CONNECT & QUALITY CONTENT One of the biggest benefits of social media is the ability to highlight your success stories to connect with clients. Dr Kunal Banerji believes building a long term relationship through social media helps tap the right emotions of consumers making selling easier. “Let the brand personality shine through across social network to open a dialogue with a client." SOCIAL MEDIA IF APPLIED CORRECTLY, CAN BE A GREAT WAY TO OPEN A DIALOGUE, SHARE ADVICE, AND FORGE AN ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WITH BUYERS AND SELLERS. Amit Chand gave an example, "Our recent campaign ‘Amdavad Hit Chhe’ was built around the Ahmedabad tourism. We created episodes with stories revolving around Ahmedabad that included a popular influencer and local associations to promote it. Before the pre-launch of the project we kept this campaign on air and it created a buzz for the project. Our quality leads got better and conversion happened quite well. The aim of this campaign was to create emotional bonds with our consumers which will be beneficial for the brand." According to Mohit Mishra a brand needs to have a point of view. “Whatever we have to convey it has to be with a strong message. Active engagement with consumers on digital platforms is very important, especially after the Covid pandemic." Siddharth Sood shared, "We have created small videos of construction update with big Bollywood based video containing dialogues and voiceover. We are also promoting region specific news of the location where our project will be built which has led to good tractions.” Vikram Kotnis stated, “Companies who invest in creating hyper-local content that resonates with the community can position themselves as market leaders.” Amit Gehlot suggestion is that content and the marketing team should work in sync with correct knowledge of the product to tap the right sentiments while building marketing strategy for the campaign." As per Kaizad Hateria, the existing clients are the biggest brand ambassadors. "After sales service, periodic connect online or offline on festive occasions or otherwise will keep your buyers happy. And as they all use social media, they become natural proponent of your brand with posting of pictures and sharing comments.”