How to Leverage Your Social Media into Engaging Experiences

There's a great recent article in Multifamily Executive featuring an interview with Holli Beckman, VP Marketing at WC Smith.  She's distinguished herself as one of the industry's leading social media experts.

One of the takeaways was this question/response:

Start Social Media conversation in your sales/leasing office!

Q: Is Social Media more about engaging with current residents or attracting new ones?

A: Both. Social media is where your customers are every single day and multiple times a day. 

Take a look at CPS' Social Media Wall and consider how it creates opportunities for leveraging your social media content creation and conversation to your community location.

The Wall takes traditional marketing copy and content (think video, images) and integrates social media content to create an ever-changing, constantly evolving story about your brand, community and audience -- Instagrammable moments, engaging experiences.

Everyone in your audience (current residents, home shoppers, your marketing staff) can join the conversation with a post to specific Twitter and Instagram hash tags -- and you have the ability to curate posted content before it displays on the Wall. Now, your social media content is available to everyone walking into the sales/leasing office.  You're creating a new conversation space!

Some hashtags will always display -- as will traditional marketing copy and images.  But...have a St. Patricks Day event coming up? Create a special hash tag and generate specific audience content just for a couple days. Same for your upcoming Spring Special Savings event and Homeowner's Friday Night Mixer!

Have you seen the recent Reevoo study finding 70% of consumers place peer recommendations and reviews above professionally written content?  Take advantage of 2016's marketing hot topic, CGC (consumer-generated content), to engage your audience and start conversations in your sales or leasing offices with CPS' Social Media Wall.

Tweet #IBSVegas -- You will be on CPS' Social Media Wall!

CPS' Social Media Wall has been selected as a Finalist in this year's IBS Most Innovative Building Product category.

CGC is Tradigital -- Marketing Copy/Images + Social Media

Are you planning on being in Vegas this week and attending the Builders Show?  Take a minute and Tweet or create an Instagram post to #IBSVegas -- we'll be curating and posting all week! You'll see CGC (consumer-generated content) continues to rise as the most powerful and trusted content by today's consmer.

You'll be able to see your photo and/or comment on the Wall in our booth -- #2856 in the nextBuild section of the Central Hall.

And, we're showcasing the Wall along with our interactive touchscreen system, SalesTouch, and the full suite of CPS software products (CRM, construction management, warranty/customer service and Portals supporting all three!).

We look forward to seeing you -- don't forget: #IBSVegas and Booth 2856!

Join CPS at IBS 2016: Are the Best Builders the Best Schedulers?

We're excited:  CPS' Troy Warr and Builder Solutions Group President Noelle Tarabulski have been selected to offer an IBS Education Forum: Are the Best Builders the Best Schedulers?

Better Scheduling: Best Builders Use this to Pivot!

Take a look at Troy's Preview -- and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, January 19th at 2pm in Central Hall Booth 9327 -- Continuing Education credits are available!

2016: The Year for Consumer-Generated Content!

The voice of the consumer, according to bazaarvoice's Social Trends Report, continues to rise as the most powerful and trusted content by shoppers.

Customer Comment Board asks for feedback & delivers CGC

Consumer-generated content (CGC) was once called word-of-mouth!  You might recall "sleeper" movies that became blockbusters based on viewers telling their friends.

Today, CGC has grown and extended to include photos, videos, questions, chats and more.  It's transformed into a powerful, trusted and essential form of communication between the public and businesses.

CPS' Customer Comment Board provides on-topic information to shoppers (current ads, video and Tweets) and actively solicits shopper content via comments and staff recommendations.

Social Media Wall invites conversation!

It is a visually engaging wall of information and allows businesses to get some quality insights into their products, service and customer objectives.

Did you know nearly 75% of all Internet users are active on social channels today?  They're sharing opinions, ideas, thoughts and pieces of their lives.  As a result, consumer creation and sharing of product-related photos is skyrocketing.  Over 100 million photos are posted to Instagram and Twitter each day!  CPS' Social Media Wall integrates social content and copy into a traditional marketing mix of images and copy -- curated, of course!

The voice of the consumer has never been stronger -- and the intersection of CGC and traditional marketing is seen as the future of social commerce online.

Interested in finding out more? CPS will be at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas, Jan 19-21 -- Booth C2956 -- and Social Media Wall is a Best of IBS Awards Finalist!

Contact CPS and ask how you can incorporate CGC in your sales center or retail location.

IBS2016 Forum Preview: Are the Best Builders the Best Schedulers?

CPS' Troy Warr and Noelle Tarabulski, Builder Consulting Group's President, will be presenting an IBS 2016 Education Forum, Are the Best Builders the Best Schedulers?

Join us at 2pm, Tuesday, January 19th in Central Hall Booth 9327! 

The presentation will take about 40 minutes -- and there will be a brief Q&A period afterwards, as well.  CE credits are available!

One of the key ideas to be presented is that home builder scheduling is an ever-evolving -- and collaborative -- process.  The end result, on any given day, is a published schedule that is the most authentic source of information.

Good Scheduling Provides a Single Source of Good Data!

Many individuals and organizations (just to name a few: vendors, field managers, management, accounting, options coordinators and, of course, buyers!!) need to know when a construction task is scheduled -- as well as when it is completed.  And,  they all need to know if it is rescheduled.

One objective of a good scheduling process is to provide a single source of information -- available to all stakeholders, anytime/anywhere.  There shouldn't be multiple schedules or a need to call/fax/text someone to find out if XYZ Plumbing is supposed to be on Lot 35 tomorrow.  Everyone should be able to pull that information -- on their own -- and there can only be a single source for that information.

Want to learn how to get to a single, reliable source of scheduling information -- and how to optimize your homebuilding organization as a result?  Join us on Tuesday!

Is the Homebuying World Ready for Millennials?

Seen the current Our Thinking feature by Goldman Sachs entitled, Millennials: Coming of Age? You can read the full article here.

#GetSocial and integrate traditional marketing & digital content

Did you know the Millennial generation is the largest in U.S. history (larger, in other words, than Baby Boomers)?

As a group, Millennials have come of age during a time of unprecedented technological change, globalization and economic disruption -- as well as lower employment levels and smaller incomes.  As a result, there are significant differences in behaviors and experiences than previous generations.

What sort of differences? For example, almost 60% of the 18-31 group in the 70's were married and living in their own household.  Today, that number if about 25%.

To date, the reduction in household formation has been significant for the new home market but...there may be light at the end of the tunnel.  A recent Trulia survey reports 93% are interested in purchasing a home (the largest percentage of any demographic group).

Millennials are the first generation of digital natives and attitudes towards shopping and purchasing are noteworthy, as well.  Consider this statement:

"When a brand uses social media, I like that brand more."

Implications for marketing are significant: these are social and connected home shoppers.  How do you effectively communicate about a service, product or brand? Brands appear to be shrinking in importance while social media influence is growing. Millennials turn to their online networks when making purchasing decisions.

Take a look at CPS' Social Media Wall as a unique mechanism for integrating traditional marketing images/copy with social media.  Bring your marketing messages -- and brand -- to a generation about to burst onto the home buying stage!

Let's #GetSocial at IBS2016!

Did you see CPS' Social Media Wall has been selected as a Most Innovative Building Product finalist at the NAHB International Builders Show scheduled to open next week in Las Vegas?

We're thrilled -- and wanted to highlight the product for the Blog!

What makes the Wall unique (and particularly useful) is the ability to integrate traditional marketing copy and images with social media Tweets and posts -- and generate a compelling visual presentation to be used in sales offices and information centers.

Let's #GetSocial -- join us at IBS in Vegas!

We've previously mentioned there's a paradigm shift underway regarding the way people consume marketing messages. Traditional marketing (passive signage, for example) might start the conversation but digital is the new destination.

It's not "traditional" vs. "digital" but..tradigital that will generate better results.

The Wall is all about tradigital -- traditional marketing images and copy are key to the presentation look as they float in/out of view as either single images, copy or a combined large effect.  Then, they're integrated with consumer digital input -- curated, of course, so not everything appears on The Wall!

And, it's possible to Go Big with a set of small monitors (as illustrated above) or to use a single monitor designed to mimic multiple monitors.

We're going to be in Booth C2856 next week in Vegas or you can join us on The Wall using #IBS2016!

CPS' Troy Warr Providing IBS 2016 Construction Education Session

CPS' Troy Warr is presenting an IBS 2016 Education Session: Are the Best Builders the Best Schedulers?

Tuesday, 2pm: Are the Best Builders the Best Schedulers?

Are you still scheduling by pencil and paper, cell phone or fax?  Did you realize you're wasting time and money -- and potentially damaging your reputation with vendors and buyers?

Or, are you using automated scheduling software and wondering when you'll see some benefit -- fewer dry runs, more homes on schedule, improved vendor communications?

What about planning for the future? Do you see organizational excellence as one of your goals? If yes, what steps have you outlined?

Join us at IBS in Las Vegas on Tuesday, January 19th to get fresh insight into these topics and more! Troy is CPS' lead developer for FieldCollaborate -- a cloud-based, anywhere/anytime construction scheduling software system with a Portal for your vendors and buyers. He will be joined by Noelle Tarabulski, President of Builders Consulting Group.

Mark your Show Planner: Central Hall #9327; 2pm -- and CE credits are available!

2016: What's New in CPS CRM?

Today's new home buying experience, for the home shopper, frequently isn't seen as too very different than any other retail experience. Of course, prices are a bit higher than in a car dealership or a furniture store but overall we see an interest in a seamless -- and efficient -- consumer shopping experience.

CPS CRM provides builders with a unique design and approach to manage the new home sales process through a single experience.  Bob Musa, CPS' President says, "Our job, as software developers, is to harness technology to help make a great buying experience for consumers along with a consistent, reliable and powerful back-end processing environment for the builder."

2016 CPS CRM: Seamless Integration is a keyword!

Several key concepts emerge:

• Supporting a seamless customer interaction: Home shoppers come into contact with the builder and specific communities through multiple channels -- builder website, mobile registration, 3rd party marketing sites, a developer information center and, last but certainly not least, the sales office itself.  No one wants to register multiple times, providing the same (or different!) information.  CPS CRM accepts registration from all sites, seamlessly, and recognizes when a prospect has previously registered, as well. 

• Cloud Enhancements: CPS CRM is, of course, a cloud-based system -- available anywhere/anytime.  We've added another cloud-based application, DocuSign, to our integration processes so agents can generate purchase agreements using CPS CRM and provide anywhere/anytime purchase agreement execution access for buyers -- as well as co-op agents, lenders, escrow agents and the builder -- via DocuSign. And, this is an end-to-end enhancement of the current contract wizard -- prospect registration, floorplan/homesite/option selections, loan program calculations are seamlessly integrated into the DocuSign forms.

• Enriched Back-end Processing: The new home sales, construction and document process is a series of key dates and steps.  CPS CRM facilitates sales processing with easy-to-maintain checklists along with automatic email reminders regarding pending or behind-schedule activities. 

We'll be in Las Vegas for the IBS Builders Show -- stop at Booth C2856 and we'll show you how to enhance your home builder sales process with CPS CRM!