It has been predicted that the millennial generation (those born from 1980’s – early 2000’s) are going to dominate home purchases in 2015, even over baby boomers. This generation is starting to shape how real estate marketing is going to look moving forward.
 
Millennials are dependent on technology. They are the first generation to have computers in classrooms, own a cell phone before a driver’s license, and some were even placed in front of iPads before they entered first grade. So it is no surprise that when it comes to looking for a new home, the first thing they will do is reach for the Internet.

Home Builders:

Millennials are smart and will do their research before hopping in a car to find new communities. Advertising on new home directories is a great way to be found and build a brand that homebuyers can trust.
 
Using social media will also drive traffic and leads to your website. Use this platform to advertise any real estate seminar or fundraiser you are hosting. If you have any blogs about your new community’s events or phase release, social media is an inexpensive way to target your audience in the ZIP codes that are beneficial for you to promote that blog.

Realtors:

Millennials will not only be searching for a new home online, they will find their realtor online as well. This makes it more important than ever for realtors to have a website, and not just the one their brokers give them. They will need an up-to-date website that is pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate.

First impressions are everything and your website is the first contact a realtor and potential homebuyer will have. Millennials have become accustomed to fresh content and clean designs. Nothing says you are out of touch with today’s market then having a site with photos taken 10 years ago and your last blog post done around the same time. What realtor do you think a 30-something home buyer will flock to when having a choice between these two websites?

Once a millennial partners with a realtor, please do not bombard them with emails. Millennials are smart and will most likely send you listings they are interested in seeing. They count on up-to-date new home directories and MLS listing sites to do research on homes that meet their needs. Once they find a property they are interested in they contact their Realtor on homes they would like to see.

Millennials have no problem being upfront with you during their home buying process; however there are some things they may keep to themselves. To be the best Realtor your millennial client, listen to the unsaid things they may be afraid of telling you. This, along with your great looking website, will impress them and make you the rock star real estate agent they need!

The perfect Pinterest pin consists of three factors; visual dominating,  eye catching and mysterious. Let’s start with the visual dominance factor. Every pin should have a primary focal point that will help capture the users’ attention. How do you do this? Make sure the pin’s main focal point had a dominant appearance in size, color and density. The image’s main focal point should be larger and brighter than its counterparts and background. This is important since the layout of Pinterest has a multitude of interesting images. Most users will glance over the pins until something stands out. That is why your image must have a visual dominance within the photo that will catch the user’s eye.  You can also apply this by simply adding a border or posting a long/tall pin.

Make your pins stand out by posting things that are out of the ordinary. This does not means you need to have a brand new idea or concept; you just need a new spin on an old one. Remember the goal is to get the user to re-pin and share your pin. Your pin should make them say “I want to remember this” or “I want my followers to see this”.

Say you got the first two steps down, you are able to grab the user’s attention and they share your pin. But you are struggling to get the user to use the pins to get to your website, which is what the third factor of the perfect pin is for. You have to add some mystery. Your pins create mystery when you do not give the important information up front. For example you can have a pin that says, “10 New Kitchen Designs” but only show three kitchen photos. This makes the user click over to your site to see the remaining 7 kitchens.
 
To maximize your Pinterest marketing strategy, your pins must:
• Stand out within the Pinterest feed
• Motivate repining
• Drive clicks to your site

Tune in next month to find out how to get the most ROI out of your Pinterest campaign.

As NewHomesDirectory.com grows, we are continually working on improving not only our user’s experience, but also trying to find new and exciting ways to drive homebuyers to your site. We advertise over 500 builder’s new communities across the US and Canada, with nearly 1,000 new communities just added this year. We want to make sure each community as an equal opportunity to be found.

As always we make sure the homebuyers can narrow down the community that fits their needs with filters such as bed and bath count, square footage, home type and price. Once they have narrowed down to their ideal community, they have more options to share that community within their social network. Giving homebuilders more exposure with just of the click of a button. How have we done this you ask? NewHomesDirectory.com has added a Pinterest “Pin It” button to all community listing images! Now each community listing can include the builders Facebook, Twitter, Blog, YouTube and Flickr accounts along with having their community images shared with 70 million users on Pinterest.

In the words of Penelope Lively, “Getting to know someone else involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they are.”

As a company, NewHomesDirectory.com wants to make sure you know what we can do to help you sell your new homes but we also want to make sure you know the faces behind the website as well.  By doing funny company videos, welcome videos or introduction videos we have opened up our company to our consumers so they always have an idea of who we are.

This is a great idea for every company to do.  It gives your customers a sense of trust and lets them become a part of your company in a fun way.  Take time to capture the funny moments in the office, that are relative to your business of course, such as Halloween costume contests or a short video about some innovative new ideas that your company is coming up with.  The sky is the limit and we have many outlets in which you can showcase your videos including YouTube.

Just make sure you don’t go over board and forget about working only to film everyone in the office.  And always make sure your content is appropriate so it lifts your company’s image instead of pulling it down.

Check out our latest video, The Ladies of NewHomesDirectory.com.

On September 15, 2009, Inside Facebook reported it has reached 300 million monthly active users around the world. Facebook has added 50 million users in only the 75 days. That's the equivalent of 670,000 users per day. Remember, it seems like only yesterday (mid-July), that Facebook reported it had reached 250 million users.

Though Facebook users have been flocking the connection addiction site since 2004, the sites growth, as recorded by numbers of users, shows no sign of slowing down.  In June 2009, The Nielson Company announced the US had a unique audience of more than 87 million people, compared MySpace's less than 63 million visitors the same month.

Check out the Facebook growth over the last 30 days:

13 - 17 Males: 14.5%
13 - 17 Females: 10.2%

18 - 25 Males: 8.6%
18 - 25 Females: 4.9%

26 - 34 Males: 10.0%
26 - 34 Females: 6.4%

35 - 44 Males: 11.1%
35 - 44 Females: 8.3%

45 - 54 Males: 12.8%
45 - 54 Females: 11.8%

55 - 65 Males: 10.2%
55 - 65 Females: 11.0%

August 2009 US Facebook Users by Age and Gender

13 - 17 Males: 3.7 million
13 - 17 Females: 4.9 million

18 - 25 Males: 10.7 million
18 - 25 Females: 12.1 million

26 - 34 Males: 7.9 million
26 - 34 Females: 10.5 million

35 - 44 Males: 6.4 million
35 - 44 Females: 8.7 million

45 - 54 Males: 3.7 million
45 - 54 Females: 5.9 million

55 - 65 Males: 1.9 million
55 - 65 Females: 3.3 million

InsideFacebook.com reported that 45.4 million people, that's 57% of the site’s users, are women. That's higher than their males counterparts, who represent 34.3 million.  

For Home Builders

The rapid and continued growth of both female and male users of all ages signifies there is ever increasing opportunity to connect with both present home buyers and future home buyers.  Another undeniable metric, home builders cannot afford to look past is the increasing time spend on Facebook, Twitter, and blogging sites. 

In April 2009, time spent, in minutes, on Facebook had grown 700% from April 2008 (1,735,698 - 13,872,640 [000]). 

Time spent on Twitter was up 3,712% during the same period (7,865 - 299,836 [000]).  

Time spent on Blogger, though a much smaller increase in time was up 30% for April 2009 from April 2008 (448,710 - 582,683 [000]).

Home builders must figure out how to maximize Facebook, Twitter, and blogging.  Any builder without plans for these social sites, as part of their overall marketing strategy, will be left behind by the more 'in tune' home building competitors.

What Can Home Builders Do?

Mike Lyon, author of 'Browsers To Buyers', has the most progressive, forward thinking, and practical, virtual social media training series on how to get the most out of social sites, I know of.  Sign up today and begin navigating the new marketing frontier.

Contact Jim Adams today to see if NewHomesDirectory.com can subsidize your Mike Lyon training series fees.

Sincerely,

Jim Adams - CEO
New Homes Directory .com

Need a good place to search Twitter? How do you find information inside Twitter streams from months or years ago?  I found the place.

Do it here, or at the Google Twitter search.

While you're at it, create yourself a custom Google powered search engine?

Where does Twitter fall on the priority list of social media for home builders?  A close look at the trends tells the story. Yes we know Twitter's impressive growth rate (1,382 % from Feb 2008 - Feb 2009) and 32 million recorded visitors in April, 2009, makes Twitter the big social media buzz of today.  

But the question remains the same for any industry and any business.  Why is it important to me as a home builder?  Take a look at the Twitter consumer demographics. 

This informative graphic from eMarketer shows that 35% of Twitter users are between 20 and 24 years old.  Combined with the 31% of Twitter users ranging from 15-19 years of age, you're talking about 67% of Twitter users ranging in age from 15-24 years old.

While that is not typically the home buying age, it will be the home buying age in 5-10 years.  That gives the average home builder another 5 years to get up to speed with the whole Twitter thing.  If you want to be on the leading edge as a home builder, you'll be experimenting with Twitter today.

I think Twitter is the most powerful of all social media - because of its potential.  Everyone has a mobile phone.  You don't need a smart phone to receive information on Twitter.  Any new home sales professional can user Twitter.  With a 140 character limit, sending out a new home community tweet will take all of 2 minutes, whereas blogging or Facebooking can take an hour or more.

My vision is that each new home community has its own Twitter account.  When a consumer has a strong interest in purchasing, they are going to follow that account because no one wants to be left out of the 'Information Loop'.

Training a sales person on Twitter will take 20 minutes as compared with blogging and Facebook, which can take days or weeks or months to be proficient.

And because every person has a cell phone, pushing information and having that information received ensures success. No more worrying about whether your email blast got hung up in the spam box. No more waiting for corporate to create that email blast that is really for 30 communities in the same division. You tailor that short message to your community followers.

We're always talking about new home sales professionals being responsible for their own traffic. Using a Twitter account is by far the easiest way to get and stay connected with their new home community consumers.

This may not be the most effective means today, but look at the trends.  Younger people doing it today means our home buyers of tomorrow will be doing it.

Jim Adams - CEO
New Homes Directory.com

The notion that women tend to have the final say in homebuying decisions has become common knowledge in the real estate and home construction fields; if the findings of a new survey are any indication, this appears to have transcended into the social networking realm as well.

The poll, conducted by the social network ShesConnected, revealed that 59%  of its participants reported visiting their favorite social sites multiple times per day. Another group, totaling 14%, reported logging on to social networks on a daily basis. 

According to the research, the most popular sites included Facebook (83% of users are members), LinkedIn (73% have an account), and Twitter (55% have jumped on the bandwagon). MySpace, who once relied on the powerful female demographic popular, is only used by 41% of the survey respondents. Nearly half of the women polled (48%) reported belonging to four or more social networks.

How can this benefit women as homebuyers – or, as sellers? It seems that professional networking and staying up-to-date with friends were the most compelling reasons to visit social networks, according to the respondents. Also, many (79%) mentioned products and services, followed by finding deals and discounts (64%) important. Because all of these play into real estate transactions, it is possible for buyers and sellers alike to use social networking to their advantage.

Of course, the marketing side of social media is not without concern. While the vast majority of respondents were fine with social networks displaying advertising, more than four in 10 respondents said they would not be comfortable with the idea of their data being sold. So, those looking to use these networks for promoting homes for sale, etc. should do so with caution. Tech-savvy women can easily identify the fine line between keeping in touch and taking an unfair advantage; so, it’s important to know your limits and abide by them.

It seems that shipments went down for a time in response to low consumer excitement with mobile products in the post-iPhone era. Now, with new smartphones arriving on the scene and public confidence in the global market on the rise, the numbers are reflecting improvement.

Strategy Analytics’ Q2 2009 Global Handset Market Share Update reported that 273 million handset units shipped in the second quarter. After year-over-year declines of 10.7% in Q4 of 2008 and 13.7% in Q1 of 2009, it seems shipments are slowly on the climb.

Another intelligence firm, the International Data Corp. (IDC), released similar figures for Q2 handset shipments, for a 10.8% year-over-year drop. To reiterate, this was an improvement over Q1 2009, which experienced a 17.2% decline from the prior year. An IDC senior research analyst stated that Apple, in addition to Nokia, Samsung, and Research in Motion, “all beat expectations” for smartphones in the second quarter.

Which products are the most compelling? Two years after its initial debut, the iPhone clearly remains one of them. In Q2, Apple shipped 5.2 million units, for a 1.9% market share.

And, it seems that the high demand for GPS only enhances the trend. Strategy Analytics reported that GPS-enabled smartphone shipments are expected to increase by 34% this year, to 77 million units.

It seems that smartphones have not only permanently changed the way we communicate; they have also left their indelible seal on the global communications market.

Mobile phone sales are down.  Smartphone sales are rising.  Is this due to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and blogging addiction?

With 250 million users on Facebook, Twitter users growing almost exponentially, and 1 million blog posts added to the Internet daily, it begs the question: How much does connecting on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media mean to us?  Does it mean that now we need a smartphone so we can access our favorites through apps?  I believe the answer is yes.  I know it already has for me; and now other signs are appearing that support the same notion.

Jim Adams - CEO
New Homes Directory .com
www.JimAdams.me

Social media has all the attention today.  The number of users is phenomenal and the growth rate is what we all hope for in our businesses. Check out the Facebook growth rate.  If Facebook were a country, it would now have the 4th largest population in the world.

@techcrunch reported yesterday that MSN's new search engine Bing is incorporating Twitter posts into the search results.  

With social media becoming such a large part of our lives, doing a search for someone is becoming increasingly easier.  Now if I want to find someone I just have to search 'name and twitter', or 'name facebook' and if that person has an account, guess what?  I've found them.

I did a Bing search and a Google search for 'Jim Adams twitter'.  Much to my surprise, the @bing search gave me more social results than Google.  I actually preferred the Bing results.  It appears after several years of playing third fiddle in the search space, Bing is onto something that will make our lives better.  It looks like if you want to find social info, Bing is the place to go.

If this is an indication of what is to come, our Twitter and Facebook posts will have a strong influence in search.  In order to maximize visibility in the search engines, we will need to write our posts and tweets with SEO in mind.

Jim Adams - CEO
New Homes Directory.com
www.JimAdams.me