(#725) DIGITAL: BUILDING A SENSE OF COMMUNITY IN A NO-TOUCH WORLD
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Now more than ever, it’s important to have a sense of community when it comes to marketing and retention. But how do you do that in a no-touch world?
LEARN:
How 2020 changed our habits
2 Pillars of Building a Community
3 Marketing Ideas that Support you and your Local Community
3 Retention Ideas to Create A Corner Of Happiness
3 Event Ideas to Give People An Outlet
HOW 2020 CHANGED OUR HABITS:
2020 was a wild ride, and 2021 is shaping out to be similar. We’re still on this rollercoaster we call the world, and it changed a lot of things for us. We're trapped in our houses by ourselves, with our family, or if you are like our Creative Director - with an 11-month old who's going to start walking. We've had to take a deep look and reevaluate what we want out of life:
We want to be entertained.
We want to be creative.
We want to connect.
We don't want to be stressed out.
We want just one thing to go right, when everything may feel like it's going wrong.
Even though we are more connected digitally than ever, we are disconnected from the ones we love physically. We have gone through an evolution of understanding, but our standards are higher than ever. We're more sensitive, but in other ways, we may have forgotten the impact of some of our actions because we're constantly behind a screen.
2 PILLARS OF BUILDING A COMMUNITY
SAY THAT YOU CARE:
Words matter. We need to tell our residents we care over and over again.
SHOW THEM YOU CARE:
We have to back that up with actions - consistently.
Remember: If you want to have a garden, you need to plant seeds and nurture it. If you want to have a community, it's better to do small things consistently than it is to do a big thing, once.
3 MARKETING IDEAS TO SHOW SUPPORT
Drop-off Kits:
The in-person opportunities like concerts, festivals, etc. are limited. So, you need to make your own opportunities by showing appreciation for the larger local community. Think small businesses, people on the frontlines, or even your residents’ businesses.
Frontline places: Grocery stores, delivery drivers, mail carriers, teachers, first responders. Drop off little kits for them to just let them know that you're there and that you care. Staple your business cards to pre-packaged goodies, and you are good to go.
Show Support To The Local Community
Show support online by tagging local businesses in a variety of different ways. Small businesses are struggling right now, and they need as much support as they can get. Plus, location is so important when it comes to choosing where you're going to live. By supporting local businesses, you show the benefit of your proximity to these places while also helping the businesses thrive.
Roundup: Tag a variety of local businesses in your Instagram Stories. When you do this, they're more likely to share on their social media page, which then gets your name out there to people that may or may not follow you yet. If they're interested in that business, your proximity to that business may be a huge benefit - a great way to find qualified traffic.
Play Tag:
Tap into that existing resident base and following to get referrals.
Focus on Amenities: Tag a friend who would love this walk-in closet or huge kitchen or bathtub - whatever amenity you feel would really gain that traction.
Focus on Pets: Who doesn't want their best friend’s pet living next door so they can play all day long and get that energy out? You can even include something like ‘tag your favorite pet accounts’ in the comments, so we can give them a follow. You're supporting local businesses, local entrepreneurs, but also showing how pet-friendly you are.
3 Retention Ideas to Create A Corner Of Happiness
Let's not forget about what we want - like being entertained, connected, safe... We want our community to be a place where people can carve out a bit of happiness for themselves. This is your opportunity to get personal and to remember that these personal connections are what's going to save you when things go sideways. It's much harder to be truly upset and take out your anger when you know the person on the other side.
Get To Know Your Residents
How can you create a corner of happiness when you don't know what happiness means to them?
Poll: Continuing to poll them is a great idea so that you can gain valuable information in a fun way. Sometimes it's nice to do a poll and fill out something that's easy that doesn't make you think that much. We love the Instagram Stories poll option.
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Small Gifts
Spoil your residents consistently, in small ways. You want to do this regularly because you want it to be accessible. It goes back to our seed planting metaphor - you need to continue to plant those seeds because one seed does not make a garden. One gift does not make a good retention strategy. You need to have multiple touchpoints to be able to create that sense of community. So doing things a bit smaller, but more consistently, is a way to build that goodwill and to relate to people on a personal level. Plus, you never know when you're going to catch them on a bad day and that gift is going to really make the difference.
Small Treats: Give seed packets, candy, or coloring activity packets - whatever will bring them joy! You just want to make someone happy, and these small gifts remind them that you care.
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Curate Content
We need to delight people and carve out that little part of happiness online. Show them home is always there for them.
Be Funny: It's okay to be funny and poke fun at things. To ensure you are in the safe zone, focus that funny on things that you offer like packages, pets, working at home, etc.
Give Ideas: Help them find ideas on things to do to help fill their time, like making almond milk or finding something different to do that day.
Be Inspirational: Share a quote or a story that lifts other people up. Even if they don’t acknowledge you, they still see it!
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3 Event Ideas to Give People An Outlet
Micro-Events
We call them micro-events because the idea here is that you can have an event right on your social media channel or your resident portal.
Need to learn more about micro-events? Check out this daily dose HERE.
Bingo: Do a bingo for movies - Let us know how many movies you have watched for your chance to win. You don’t even need a prize! A simple fun game gets people thinking about all the good things that are happening at home and brings people together with common interests.
Virtual Events
If you haven't had an awkward family zoom, did you even experience 2020? The key to a good virtual event is that there needs to be an activity and a good moderator. If you don't have those, then it's chaos.
Workshop: Get to know your residents with polls and then choose what type of workshops you’ll do based on those results. A sip-and-script workshop is a great virtual workshop because you don’t need any materials besides a pen and paper. Other ideas can be bouquet decorating or home organization.
Need some virtual event ideas? Check out more HERE.
Games
Up the ante with some sort of challenge or game to give your residents a purpose to work toward. It’s a fun way to get us all involved and connect with one another. It also shows off your personality, because you and your team can play these games as well.
Challenge Example: A plank challenge to have people do the same thing at the same time.
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