Expanding Social Media Presence of Fortune International Realty - Case Study Example

Expanding Social Media Presence: The Case of Fortune International Realty Expanding Social Media Presence: The Case of Fortune International Realty For many firms, deciding whether to expand their presence onto social networking sites is a decision that is driven by the need to have closer interaction with their consumers and more importantly to build on brand awareness. For real estate firms, especially those dealing with the luxury segment, this is an especially difficult decision since they have to leverage exclusivity of luxury with the accessibility of social networking sites. This paper examines the social media presence of Fortune International Realty and presents a strategy that can be used to increase in this presence. Background of Fortune International Realty First founded in 1983 by the Defortuna family Fortune International Realty has grown and expanded to include activities of brokerage, management of properties, financing as well as new development sales and proprietary developments (Fortune International Realty, 2015). This has ensured that the firm quickly gained a reputation as one of the foremost real estate firms in South Florida. The company’s first office was located in Key Biscayne which subsequently moved on to other areas of Miami. It makes sales of up to 3 billion on an annual basis and works closely with over 1,000 associated realtors (Fortune International Realty, 2015). The company’s growth has been attributed to its flexibility in terms of adapting to extreme changes in the market and the focus on actively maintaining services that are personalized which has made it attractive to its clients (Fortune International Realty, 2015). It is a member of a premier global organisation which brings together global leaders in industry and luxury properties all over the world and has been awarded Best real Estate Agent by the Bentley International Property Awards (Fortune International Realty, 2015). The firm is driven by a mission to provide empowerment to its clients with regard to providing them with real estate information that is accurate, comprehensive market analysis and marketing strategies that are effective. In this way, the firm is able to achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction and subsequently is able to create client relationships that are long term (Fortune International Realty, 2015). Audience analysis Fortune International Realty’s main audience is the growing number of millionaires in the United States who are increasingly willing to spend on acquiring new homes (Fortune International Realty, 2015). This audience is knowledgeable concerning what exactly they need from their homes and are often wiling to pay extra to have amenities added in. These people will therefore be attracted to Fortune International Realty since it has managed to stamp a presence in South Florida, an area which is increasingly gaining popularity for its presence of luxury homes (Fortune International Realty, 2015). SWOT analysis In examining the strengths of Fortune International Reality, one is the presence of powerful and persuasive sales people who have been instrumental in ensuring that the firm continues its success (Fortune International Realty, 2015). Moreover, the firm has in place Fortune International Group which is an affiliate company that deals in the sale of the most prominent high end developments located in South Florida. Each of these salespeople provides service that is personalized and that treats each customer as unique, an aspect which has further propelled the firm (Fortune International Realty, 2015). In terms of weaknesses, the firm has to contend with high costs of maintenance of their renting apartments as well as limited resources and the subsequent capability which they can use to expand. With a growing customer base, the firm has found that there is a distinct shortage of employees who have certain language skills (Fortune International Realty, 2015). With regard to opportunities, the good networks that have been established by being a member of Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate and the wide number of realtors means that the firm is in a realistic position to expand its business to more areas around the world(Fortune International Realty, 2015). The firm also has the chance to bring in more employees who have a wider knowledge of new or potential markets. There is also the chance for the firm to widen on its property portfolio to enable it cover a wider range of destinations as well as types of property (Fortune International Realty, 2015). In terms of Threats, the firm should consider warnings that interest in the American luxury real estate market will either stagnate or decrease (Fortune International Realty, 2015). Moreover, as a result of buyers increasingly displaying more cautious behaviour when it comes to purchasing luxury properties, it is more than likely that more properties will be sold at distinctly lower prices. In addition, the demand for luxurious properties could decrease which would translate to lowered profit margins for the firm (Fortune International Realty, 2015). Appraisal of Fortune International Realty current social media presence In the present environment, luxury real estate firms have begun utilizing more of social media. Marketing luxury real estate online is a difficult aspect considering that luxury deals in exclusivity while on the other hand social media is characterized by accessibility (Fortune International Realty, 2015). As in the case of Fortune International Realty, their agents use Twitter and Facebook to ensure that their networks are built and to connect with clients that are looking for homes in any of the 12 branches that the firm is located. LinkedIn on the other hand is used by the firm’s agents to build on their portfolios (Fortune International Realty, 2015). The firm’s Facebook page has over 3,000 likes and is largely used to provide news not only on South Florida’s home market but the country’s as a whole. In addition, this page is also used to preview homes available for sale complete with pictures and prices (Fortune International Realty, 2015). This page is also used to introduce any new members of staff and any corporate activities that the company is involved in such as the Mercedes Corporate Run in 2012. An important note however that is the Facebook page was last updated in 2012 which essentially means that there is little information that can be found regarding the activities that the company has been engaged in since then (Fortune International Realty, 2015). On the other hand, its Twitter page is more active than Facebook as evidenced by the constant updates. Just as with Facebook, Twitter is used to preview the available properties that the firm might have as well as announcements for Open house (Fortune International Realty, 2015). On LinkedIn, the firm presents a wide description of itself including its specialties, the size of the company, its headquarters and website where more information can be found (Fortune International Realty, 2015). The firm’s Facebook page is also used to preview the neighborhoods of the areas where it has listings. In this way, Facebook is used as a way in which to market the area to prospective clients who can see the merits of the area and how it will be useful for the firm (Fortune International Realty, 2015). Fortune also uses its Facebook and Twitter pages to constantly engage with their users as in the manner in which they answer questions in an effort to create a friendly tone and attract potential customers (Fortune International Realty, 2015). Proposed Social Media Marketing Strategy A solid strategy for social marketing often begins with sound goals as well as strategies. As in the case of public relations and marketing, social media campaigns must be strategically planned in order to enable the accomplishment of a business goal. It should therefore be a distinct component of the bigger marketing plan. In the case of Fortune International Reality, the following action plan is proposed: In terms of the Short term strategy the goals should be to develop Fortune International Realty as one of the best companies in terms of luxury real estate. Another goal is to actively generate traction by putting together and creating a community characterized by well engaged fans and thirdly to create visibility by examining how Fortune International Realty can expand on its social media footprint and presence. This was going to be achieved in five distinct ways the first of which was using presence management where Fortune International Realty would carry out an audit of its present social networks. Thereafter, these sites would be revamped for purposes of branding and ensuring consistency of the message being passed across. Identification and setting up of the firm’s channels on new platforms and ensure that a centrally accessible content calendar is maintained. Thereafter aggregation and repurposing of content would be carried out and optimize for social media, artwork would be developed and content published that would be promoted across all the channels. The second aspect would involve community management where conversations and mentions of Fortune International Realty would be listened to on a daily basis across the digital channels including forums for discussion. Thereafter efforts would be put in place to manage comments from users and create chances for two way interactions to occur. Moreover, focus would be placed on actively nurturing and growing a community characterized by loyal followers who would actively keep track of best practices being adopted by competitors. The third aspect deals with Response management an involves actively creating a repository of responses that would be used for generic inquiries. In addition, efforts would be made to work together with Fortune International’s internal stakeholders in an effort to draft responses to user posts that were deemed as highly important. Moreover, closer collaboration would be done with the public relations team in an effort to come up with a contingency plan in the event of backlash from any negative sentiments. The fourth aspect is that of campaign management and here the focus would be on the development of campaigns for Fortune International’s branding. Efforts would also be put into summing up with campaigns that were innovative and focus would also turn to leveraging content such as testimonials from customers and corporate films in order to create campaigns that were engaging. In addition, there would be a focus on the active implementation and monitoring of campaigns as they occurred across the numerous social network channels. The firth aspect deals with Advocacy management and here the focus would turn to the active identification of both internal as well as external advocates whose networks can be actively leveraged in an effort to propagate Fortune International’s brand messaging. In addition, the focus would be put on creating a list of advocates who can be used to create a positive outlook and opinion of the firm and subsequently neutralize on any negative sentiment when it is termed as necessary. This action plan would take place in a span of three phases and by the end of it, it is expected that Fortune International would have expanded its online presence from three social networking channels to four more channels including Instagram, Google+, Pinterest and YouTube. It is also expected that the fan base will significantly improve and the average monthly engagement will also be higher. Conclusion More and more firms are coming to the realization that having a social media presence is key towards ensuring that they have more contact with their customers and therefore more success for the company. In the case of Fortune International, while it does have a significant presence on social media, it still needs to put in more focus on widening this presence. The company actively uses Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as a way to market itself and engage with customers, both existing as well as potential. This is especially important if the firm wishes to leverage on its weaknesses and to strengthen its presence within the luxury real estate market. References Fortune International Realty (2015). Company Profile. Retrieved on 18th March, 2015 from: Fortune International Realty-Miami, FL. Real Estate Agent. Retrieved 23rd March, 2015 from: Fortune Int’l Realty(@FortuneRealty)| Twitter. Retreived 23rd March, 2015 from: Fortune International Realty| LinkedIn. 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