In episode 10 of Condo Artist: The Other Side of Real Estate, hosts Uri Vaknin and Shahn Douglas explore social media marketing with Marsha MacEachern Tempesta and Lokelani Higa of Las Vegas-based PR firm, The Warren Group.
They discuss why social media, as a strategic marketing initiative, works so well for condo communities, how to set up a successful social media program, how to handle questions, comments and feedback, and trends and predictions for 2021. Join us as we dive into the specifics of:
The Warren Group is the next evolution of Faiss Foley Warren (FFW), a Las Vegas-based full service public relations and public affairs firm founded in 1998. Learn more at TheWarrenGroupLV.com.
This episode is brought to you by Juhl Las Vegas, loft-style condos located in the heart of vibrant, downtown Las Vegas. From the low $200s to over $1M. Learn more at JuhlLV.com.
This episode is also brought to you by One Las Vegas, luxury high-rise condos featuring two and three bedroom plus den residences. From the mid $400s to over $1M. Learn more at theonelv.com.
Questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you! Contact us at CondoArtist@gmail.com.
In episode 10 of Condo Artist: The Other Side of Real Estate, hosts Uri Vaknin and Shahn Douglas explore social media marketing with Marsha MacEachern Tempesta and Lokelani Higa of Las Vegas-based PR firm, The Warren Group.
They discuss why social media, as a strategic marketing initiative, works so well for condo communities, how to set up a successful social media program, how to handle questions, comments and feedback, and trends and predictions for 2021. Join us as we dive into the specifics of:
The Warren Group is the next evolution of Faiss Foley Warren (FFW), a Las Vegas-based full service public relations and public affairs firm founded in 1998. Learn more at TheWarrenGroupLV.com.
This episode is brought to you by Juhl Las Vegas, loft-style condos located in the heart of vibrant, downtown Las Vegas. From the low $200s to over $1M. Learn more at JuhlLV.com.
This episode is also brought to you by One Las Vegas, luxury high-rise condos featuring two and three bedroom plus den residences. From the mid $400s to over $1M. Learn more at theonelv.com.
Questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you! Contact us at CondoArtist@gmail.com.
Uri Vaknin 00:16
Welcome to another episode of Condo Artist: The Other Side of Real Estate. I'm your host Uri Vaknin, a condo sales strategist who has developed and sold out thousands of condos in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Florida, Detroit, Texas, Nashville and all across the United States. Each week I, along with my co hosts and colleagues Mark Bunton and Shahn Douglas, will bring you the latest insight, best practices and sales techniques to sell out more condos faster no matter the market. At times, we will delve into architecture, design and urban planning, as they pertain to condos and condo living. I am an admitted podcast junkie. But in our search for podcasts about condos, we all realized that there really weren't any out there. Throughout the series, you will get to know more about me, Shahn and Mark and our 53 years of combined experience in the world of condos. One of the things that has become glaringly obvious to us is that most people, including real estate agents, buyers, architects, and even condo developers don't fully understand condos. This podcast will pull back the curtain on the world of condos.
Shahn Douglas 01:33
Today our topic is going to be social media for condominium communities. And today we are joined by Marsha Tempesta and Lokelani Higa from The Warren group. These ladies are social media extraordinaires. Marsha, Loki, please tell our listeners how long you've been working in social media and and because you're such experts tell us how long you've been working at this.
Marsha Tempesta 01:59
Hi, Shahn. Thanks, guys for having us today. This is Marsha. It's so nice to be here. And we're blushing. Thank you. I have been working at The Warren group for about 10 years. Although my previous experience was I went to college for journalism for broadcast journalism. I was a TV news reporter for a while and then transitioned to some PR and media relations back in Massachusetts, where I'm from originally, and then moved my myself out to Las Vegas and found myself launching into a career of social media which kind of pulled together all of my experience from my previous jobs, you know, because it's all kind of related. And so it just just happened like that. It was like magic. So 10 years later, here I am.
Shahn Douglas 02:49
That's great. What about you Loki?
Lokelani Higa 02:51
Hi, Shahn, it's great to be here. I've been working in social media for about five years and been with The Warren Group for just a handful of those. I'm a transplant from Florida, back in 2001. And I enjoy what I do. I love what I do. I love working in social media, I find like it's the new wave of communication.
Shahn Douglas 03:15
That's great. You know, we've worked together for quite a few years right now, I think it's about six. And you guys have helped us sell out several of our condominium communities throughout the years. And I know that social media is a big part of our overall marketing strategy. When we take a look at the communities we have to, to market and sell. And we begin to create our marketing plan for the whole community. It's a big, crucial part of what we do. I just like to know, in your opinion, why do you think that is?
Lokelani Higa 03:52
So marketing on social media, why it's why it's important? Well, social media is is the fastest growing form of digital communication. It's it's rapidly updating, there's conversations, there's communities growing there, there's real time engagement that you can't access on on other platforms such as your your business's website, phone, in centers, things like that. So social media kind of creates this. It's this new environment of real time engagement. So it's important to be on there as a business in any aspect. Just because that's the new wave of communication that's that's developing.
Shahn Douglas 04:36
So especially for real estate, is there any, you know, reasons why it's more effective for real estate versus another industry, or what the importance is of really having it for for real estate since that's what we use it for selling condos.
Marsha Tempesta 04:51
So when you think about real estate, obviously, it's an extremely visual field. You know, it's a very It matches hand in hand with what social media is all about. It's, it's visual, you have beautiful imagery of homes, and the communities and amenities. And you can do a lot with the video. So it's, it's really a perfect fit. And if you're not, if you're in real estate, if you're an agent or you, you are in charge of a complex or whatever your position may be, it's it's extremely important to have a presence on social media. If you do not, then people will, first of all, they might not know you exist. Because it's a it is one of the main ways people find you now. But people might wonder why are you not on there? What What's the reason behind it, you know, that you pretty much expect when you go to someone's website, now they're going to have social media icons that you can click on and, and find out more. In fact, social media sites are updated more than websites are now pretty much so I know myself. Yeah, yeah, I, when I go to find out about a business, I might go to the website, but it's mainly to find the social media links quickly. And then I go to the the Facebook page, the Instagram and see what's going on in their latest posts. And if they haven't posted in a while, I kind of wonder about them. So
Shahn Douglas 06:13
yeah, good point.
Marsha Tempesta 06:15
Yeah. So it's very important.
Shahn Douglas 06:16
What do you guys think about and neither one of you can answer this? You know, what's the difference between, say, if I'm a general real estate agent, and I'm just doing a post about my listing, versus doing a overall property are one of our communities, condominiums? What's kind of the difference between doing social media for an individual versus a community?
Marsha Tempesta 06:40
Yeah, well, Loki and I have talked about this in the past. And I mean, it's important for both the business the brand, it's also important for the person as a brand in themselves, you know, like they, it's all about personality, you're, you're sharing the personality, you're portraying the personality of the business and the individual, you just might do it in different ways. For an individual such as an agent, you want to know, some of their interests, you want their personality to come out and shine, and you want to get to know them, it's almost like you're meeting them before you actually meet them, which which creates a level of comfort, love that the potential buyer and the agent. And it's similar with the community with the with the actual physical property itself. You're, you're drawing people in loci, we talked about this a lot recently. Do you have any additional thoughts about that?
Lokelani Higa 07:39
Yeah, I, I think it's sort of like online dating, almost like you're thinking about it. Like, you're, you know, when you when you go on, you know, Tinder and you go to swipe right on somebody's ego, and you look at their social media, and you try and find them on Instagram, you try and find them on Facebook, you want to know who they know that you might know. And I think it's the same way, right? You want to think about your realtors and your condominium specialist, your sales agents, you want to know what they might be like on a personal basis and see if you can really connect with that, where we're Marsha speaking about personality, you want to find a personality that's, you know, in sync with you. And the same thing with a community, a condominium community or you know, luxury real estate, you want to make sure it matches your personality and that you'll feel comfortable, because that's all about like home buying, right and finding the perfect home for you. It has to fit with your personality.
Shahn Douglas 08:28
Right? What are your thoughts about real estate agents who do what we call a hard sell, say post where it's basically, you know, just their listing and the price of the home that they're that they're selling?
Marsha Tempesta 08:44
Well, for social media, one of our thoughts is you always want to have people coming back for more For more information, you know, we don't want to give every little tidbit and factoid and whatever, and just throw it at people online, we want to give them enough to make them interested. So they call you so they email you. So they they want to come through your door and meet with your agent and say, Hey, I saw this. It looks really cool. Can you tell me more? Now, that's not always what the buyer might want? Because I know for our social media experience, we have a lot of people who are asking questions like you didn't put this in your post, you didn't put this in your post, what is this ABC, you know, they, they want to know everything upfront and we can understand that but from a marketing perspective, we feel like it's might be the beneficial to give them enough to get their interest up, interest level up, and then they'll come to you and then they can really get to know you you can talk to them, you can get to know them.
Shahn Douglas 09:48
I totally agree. Now, if we have any listeners on today that maybe a new real estate developer or maybe a new real estate team, it doesn't have the experience of having a social media presence. What would you tell them? Where they where they need to start? What comes first the chicken or the egg?
Uri Vaknin 10:06
Has anyone figured out which comes first? Chicken? I think there's still like, an unsolved conundrum.
Lokelani Higa 10:16
No, I think scientists actually figured it out. It's the egg that comes first. It's evolution.
Uri Vaknin 10:21
Oh,
Lokelani Higa 10:23
I think definitely start slowly and start small and increase as you can. As the demand grows as your ability and capabilities grow. A lot of platforms have built in features and aspects that basically makes social media super hands on and easy for like anybody to do. You don't have to be an amazing professional to get the job done. It always helps. And you have a lot of like background, secret knowledge and information, like Marsha and I have through experience and trials and errors. But as for a small business owner, or somebody that's just starting out that doesn't have the funding to hire firm or can't afford, you know, an in house person to handle it. starting small just starting a Facebook page for your business and your brand. And just getting regular posts up as frequently as you can just informational base. That's the best way to start and then expand outwards from there and look at your audience and where they are. And your target buyers. Where are they if they're younger than maybe go to Instagram, or Tech Talk, if they're if they skew a little bit older, maybe stick with Facebook or switch to LinkedIn for a comfy page. So
Marsha Tempesta 11:32
yeah, I think the big three are still vital and very important to have a presence and that's obviously Facebook, Instagram and, and Twitter is one of them. They're all different, as you know, they're all visual, even Twitter's visual, now. It's important to post your images on Twitter too. And I think also maybe up front if you're just trying to get going put a little time into just getting yourself set up, think about your strategy, maybe make a list of the definite hashtags you want to use and which are important on all platforms. And then once you get set up, it should be more turnkey it should be it will get easier as you go along.
Shahn Douglas 12:19
And how are they promoted? How would someone you know get their their you know Facebook presence out there more so to have more people see them?
Marsha Tempesta 12:30
Well, Facebook, where social media is ruled by the algorithms, which can make it tricky especially with organic social media. That doesn't mean that doesn't mean I'm saying be intimidated from starting from doing it you should definitely try and do it and and don't let that stop you. However, when if you see that your initial Facebook posts or whatever posts are not getting immediate traction, you're not going to go viral right away unless something crazy happens you know that you can't even predict don't be discouraged you know don't let that stop you it will it does being consistent pays off and and making your presence known as far as as making sure people know you have a Facebook page you just have to use that general marketing rule of get it out there on your business cards get it on your website make sure that you're cross promoting on different channels you know that people know that you're on all of these platforms and and that's that's one of the put it in your email signature you know you there there are ways to make it public that you're on these pages and people will search for you too. So make sure that you're easily findable
Shahn Douglas 13:46
point yeah, you're in exactly your your handle if you have if you're not using your you know your real name if you're using a team name or community name. Well, if I was, you know, a new newbie that was coming out trying to get myself started, what kind of content should I put out there? What is some of the most you know, what we've noticed on our our social media channels is that video so maybe we can dive into video a little bit and talk about the importance of video and how it's used and all the different ways that we can use it and go from there.
Lokelani Higa 14:22
We love video. And social media giants love it too. And I think that's just looking at the general population, the way it's moving as an audience. If you look back at commercials, you know, back in the beginning of television and video like it, it commercials used to be three, four or five minutes long and now it's you have less than 60 seconds and transitioning for younger generations for Gen Z and earlier millennials younger millennials that they want to have the information and whatever the story is and whatever the content is with in 15 seconds within 10 seconds with them. Five seconds, you know, there's an entire platform built around six seconds or less. So I mean, video,
Shahn Douglas 15:06
HD platform
Lokelani Higa 15:07
that that was vine before and then it got bought out and rebranded and it's trying to make a comeback. It's not winning, tic tocs winning and and Instagrams trying and that's for the younger
Shahn Douglas 15:20
for the younger generation so to speak.
Lokelani Higa 15:22
Yeah, but it's, it's, it's important not to discount these these audiences because at a certain point, your Gen Z and your millennial they will age into the buyer group that you want your target audience and they will have money. I mean, you have young entrepreneurs that are on Forbes, you know, 40, under 40 or 30, under 30, making, you know, million dollars, look at Kendall Jenner, right, and Kylie Jenner and the amount of money that they're making before they're even 30. So I mean, it's important not to discount these audiences. But video as a whole is just being pushed to the forefront of these platforms, because at the base core of social media, their businesses too, and they understand that their users are more in tune with watching video and getting content that's just fed to them in a video platform type.
Shahn Douglas 16:11
Right? Well, based on that information, what do you I mean, again, if I was just as someone that wasn't schooled on social media, what would the good example of the length of a video be? What should we be doing? What kind of content should we putting be putting out there? Are they pictures or models that we put together in a slideshow? Because I know sometimes we do that might not be considered video, but it is a more of a visual versus maybe just a video on your iPhone? Just trying to get, you know, get a sense of what what is acceptable?
Marsha Tempesta 16:44
Well, it depends on the type of video and the platform. I mean, there's a lot of different factors to think about. For example, if I were to do a video on YouTube, which a lot of agents have videos on YouTube, all you have to do is search real estate. There are a lot of agents doing walking talks, you know, walking through the property and showing
Shahn Douglas 17:06
demonstrating the home or the model.
Marsha Tempesta 17:10
Yeah, exactly. There are a lot of them and they're really successful people like watching them. And those tend to be on the longer side, because how can you do that quickly, you can't and it's acceptable, it's YouTube, it's acceptable to do that and but if you're going on Instagram reels or you know you're posting to reels or to tik tok, or chances are you want to do a shorter, short and sweet video, you know, it's it's not as palatable to watch a long form video, and especially with the demographics you're hitting with, with those platforms. So you need to think about that. I mean, it makes sense, if you're doing a walk and talk is going to be longer if you're doing a fun fact, tip with an agent is going to be shorter, you know, let's
Shahn Douglas 17:53
talk about that. Let's talk about some of the the things that we've done for our properties in our communities and how they've been successful because we've, we do do a lot of videos, and we have a, you know, criteria of monthly videos that we do. So maybe you guys can, you know, go into why we do some of our a day in the life or some of the fun ones versus just a presentation of a model home. Right?
Marsha Tempesta 18:16
Yeah, they're all important. These the presentations are important, but you also want to have fun, you want to show your personality, like we talked about earlier, you know, you want to the personality of the brand, the personality of the agent, and that those are the types of videos and content that bring that out that people that draw people in, make them want more, make them feel comfortable with you, you know, and want to want to get to know you better and and learn more about the property and the homes and feel comfortable with the with the people who are trying to sell you the home. So that's a major part of it.
Shahn Douglas 18:55
Yeah, I think we've done very well with our agents doing tips, you know, whether it's home buying tips, or what to how to budget for your first home and those have been very successful. I think those are great places to start for anybody that might be looking for some ideas out there on how to have more of a social media presence and make it fun and informative to write I mean you want it to be informative about your community and also get the personality across of the sales agents. So I think we've we've worked on that. What else about videos or anything else that we maybe haven't touched on you'd like to discuss? I think
Marsha Tempesta 19:34
Loki and I do this a lot we experiment. And when I said have fun, I really mean it Have fun experiment. One of my favorite videos we did with agents. Working with you guys is the live workspace at jewel and with the with the agents and we kind of showed them really how life would be you know in that space. They woke up, they came downstairs from their, their, their home and they came down to their workspace and they, they were having fun. They were throwing paper balls at each other at their
Shahn Douglas 20:09
desk was really cute.
Marsha Tempesta 20:11
Yeah, yeah, things like that. So it I mean, it brings it brings the property to life, you know,
Shahn Douglas 20:16
and I think the agents have a fun time doing that as well. You know, it breaks up their day a little bit. So and it shows right because they're always having fun and smiling. Mm hmm.
Marsha Tempesta 20:26
Yes. And so experimentation and have fun and, you know, be professional, but don't always take yourself so seriously. Exactly.
Shahn Douglas 20:38
This podcast is sponsored by one Las Vegas, luxury high rise condos, featuring two and three bedroom plus den residences, starting from the low four hundreds, located on South Las Vegas Boulevard, just minutes from Allegiant Stadium, McCarran International Airport, and the famous Las Vegas Strip. Discover your own private Oasis with unparalleled amenities, including resort Pool and Spa, full service concierge to story, state of the art fitness center, tennis court, dog parks, plus much more, visit us online today at the one lv.com or call us at 702-405-9020. Call one Las Vegas home today. Let's dive a little bit into some of the other platforms. So we know that video works well on Facebook and Instagram, and YouTube for a longer version. But what what is the best practice for Twitter? Can you do your videos on there? Or is it more of just commenting or, you know, let's let's talk about Twitter right now. Because I know that it seems to be a little more political and some of its commentary. Just want to get your idea on how we can well promote condos on Twitter.
Lokelani Higa 22:02
I think Marsha and I were just talking about this earlier, Twitter has really evolved and shifted. I mean, it's interesting that you say political because I do know that like the certain political climate is what made it feel like Twitter has has had a shift into a different kind of like form of content available. But at its core, Twitter is very much a community. And so it's finding your community on Twitter and then engaging with it. So for, for example, like with jewel, it's, it's, you know, working within the downtown community, it's a thriving community on Twitter, people love talking about downtown Las Vegas and, and as a community as a whole. And it works really well for that. So I think as far as like Twitter goes, looking more at like the community aspect and how to engage with those within your community on social media, specifically on Twitter.
Shahn Douglas 22:53
Yes, Marsha, do you have anything to add to that? Or that?
Marsha Tempesta 22:56
No, I completely agree. We were talking about this earlier. And because that's what we notice. people interact more with our content that we post when it's about the community. So our most interacted tweets from Juhl, for example, tend to be downtown Las Vegas related. Because that is what people you know, is drawing people into the brand you know,
Shahn Douglas 23:21
so it right and identity like you said, Loki, I
Uri Vaknin 23:25
just want to tell you, you just unlocked the secret to Twitter for me, like you know that I've always wanted to understand Twitter better. I've never been one who tweets, although I heavily use, you know, Facebook and Instagram. But I've always said guys, I just don't know how I don't get Twitter, and you just unlocked it for me. And it's about finding the community. And that is just like, if if anyone gets anything out of this, and you guys have delivered such great important information, just that one thing, like just blew me away, totally blew me away. But I did what I want to ask you something, um, you know, when you're trying to build a following like on Instagram, particularly. And one of the things that we all did together, which was really cool was we did contest. You know, when we had people living in our buildings. You can't do this but a brand new building, not as easily at least. And we had contests and what is everyone on social media really want to see? Dogs, dogs, honest kittens and puppies, kittens and puppies. That's what we really want to see on social media. And so what you know, what we did and we continue to do it is we deliver that in the form of, you know, posting your puppy or your kitten or whatever it was. And then we actually had contests around that.
Shahn Douglas 24:49
Remember the one we had someone put their fish out by the pool, because it had to be you know, show your pet in the community. Show your pet You know, in your home or something, so someone got very creative. And, of course, we were like, Oh my God, if that had broken, it would have been crazy. But anyway, it was kind of fun to see the big fish sitting out beside the pool.
Uri Vaknin 25:11
But they won. Did we? Did we have? I think they did when I took the fishbowl he took it, but that like that engaged so many people and you know, the kind of thing when you're doing a condo community, one of the things you want to do is, you know, if you have residents, their friends, are your buyers, right? And so how do you get to their friends, without being that hard? Sal is Shawn talked about earlier, because you know, when you're pitching a community on social media, you don't want that hard sell. A lot of agents with their own individual listings will do the hard sell. But that's not what we're trying to do. We're trying to project as you guys said earlier, you know, the personality, I like to say, the vibe of the community, that people have an understanding of what it would be like to live at jewel or Warren or whatever it is. And you can see the life through social media. But you know, going back to kittens and puppies, what that did do was, you know, we asked people to post these pictures, and either checking in or hash tagging our communities. So not only did our community see those pictures, but then their community and Loki, this goes back to what you said about Twitter, people finding their community, their community then saw, you know, all the pictures of the people who lived at their friend's community, you know, with their puppies and their kid. And so it was a really cool project, it was, you know, back to what Shawn just said about the fish, like people got really creative. And obviously, there was an award for the best, you know, you know, photo, and I love stuff like that I love when you engage people, you know. And then we also you also said something earlier about people, you know, what more information when you post something, when people do request more information on a social media post. So if you're doing a community, it's one thing and if you're like an individual agent or real estate team, but because an individual real estate agent will answer, you know, they can have a conversation. But if you guys are working on behalf of a client like us, how do you respond on social media to question two direct questions that you get?
Marsha Tempesta 27:30
Well, we have information at our fingertips kind of responses that we have ready, you know, that answer a lot of the mean types of questions surrounding general things that people ask and what's
Shahn Douglas 27:43
Yeah, well, the HOA fee. I was just about to say it was the sales office phone number, things like that. Right?
Uri Vaknin 27:49
Oh, it's always better the HOA fees,
Marsha Tempesta 27:51
I would say 98.9% is HOA fees. But yeah, so we have that information? And if and otherwise, we direct to contact someone, you know, for more information. So that's how we typically
Shahn Douglas 28:06
Yeah, I mean, that's the goal, right? We really would like to get the agents to interact with these with these potential buyers. Right? Exactly.
Marsha Tempesta 28:15
That is the end goal.
Shahn Douglas 28:16
Well, that's all the good fun, fluffy stuff. Let's dive into the other side of social media, so to speak, the reviews the
Uri Vaknin 28:27
dark side.
Shahn Douglas 28:32
People who love to, you know, type after midnight. And Yelp is a good platform where we do receive some crucial feedback at times. Let's talk about that. Let's just talk about how we've managed it and some of the best practices of somebody that's new to doing this how they should handle someone who's upset with us.
Uri Vaknin 28:56
Or, or they're just upset with the world. The drunk keyboard warrior, usually, even if we were just, you know, sort of the the object of the subject of their their anger at the moment.
Marsha Tempesta 29:09
Yes, exactly. Yeah, they could have had a terrible day at work, and they're just unleashing it. Who knows. But yeah, I mean, pretty much expect it. You're going to get people commenting and making comments that are not favorable, it's just going to happen. You're going to have great comments too. You're gonna have people who absolutely love you, you're going to have people who absolutely can't stand you. So just accept it, you know, it's going to happen. You should not ignore it, you should address it. Definitely want to show that you are paying attention to what people are saying is even if it's ridiculous, others will read your responses and a lot of times I know when I go to read Yelp reviews or something like that, I typically tend to see if the business or company responded You know, are they paid paying attention? Are they active? You know, do they care? I think that's one of the main points, do they care? And we want to show we care, you know, we want to show we're listening. And and we present the facts, we're professional, we present the facts, answering their questions, and then we try to take it offline, and talk to them more. So that's, that's the goal. And sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn't. It depends on the person. But
Shahn Douglas 30:27
yeah, we've had quite a bit of experience with that. So I'd have to agree with you. I mean, so you're saying that it is better to address it, even if maybe if I'm just on, you know, looking on Yelp. And I, to your point, you want to see if some if the the company does respond, it doesn't necessarily maybe have to resolve the issue. It's just the fact that they took the time to address that person, correct. I mean, it's, it could be something like you said, that's ongoing offline, that we have no idea about.
Marsha Tempesta 30:56
Exactly, yeah, you need to show that you're listening, you're paying attention and you care. Because if if people are scrolling through, and they see blank areas where the business should be responding, they're going to, they're going to start to a think they're not paying attention, you're not on social, you're not active and be that you don't care.
Shahn Douglas 31:14
So for even, you know, maybe the older generation of you know, developers or people in real estate that don't really, you know, get the power of social media that it is important to, to interact with the negative reviews, the bad reviews, and just, you know, hopefully nip them in the bud a little bit. Does anybody else have any feedback? I know already, you've had some challenging moments with some of these folks.
Uri Vaknin 31:41
Obviously, you know, it drives me crazy when you get attacked for stuff that you haven't done. But what's interesting was I used to discount Yelp and Yelp reviews. And then when I moved, I was looking at a place in LA with a friend of mine. And we're going by looking at it was a rental business for rental communities. Basically, we drive by building, I'm like, why are we looking there, and he said, Oh, the Yelp reviews were bad. And I just was like, what, and he goes, I've learned, he said, You can read through the Yelp reviews. And what you're looking for is consistency is if everyone says the same negative things, where there's smoke, there's fire. But if you see just random negative things, because I don't take that seriously, as long as I see a response from the management company, or whoever the owner or whatever it is, and even if the response is not ideal, or perfect, just the fact that they took the time to respond to it is really important. And so, you know, and my friend was telling me, he goes, you learn, you know, obviously, the, the people who go on to the most amount of people who go on to Yelp to write reviews are oftentimes the most disgruntled, or conversely, the ones who are most happy with whatever it is, sir. Pleased with the service or whatever that they received. And so it's been really interesting to see that. Um, yeah, okay.
Shahn Douglas 33:11
Well, I have another question. This is just kind of something that we know we track just as far as in real estate trends. But now that people are home more and working from home, and are on social media, are you seeing any, any anything that we should be aware of, are there any trends as far as having a social media presence, things that we should be doing differently now that people are home a lot more and are on line a lot more?
Lokelani Higa 33:38
I think, sensitivity, given the current state of the world, the the pandemic that's going on, I feel like a lot of people on social media are hypersensitive to it. And it's a very thin line and a balance between you know, not wanting to put too much emphasis on the pandemic because people are looking for an escape and they are looking for a little bit of freedom online but they also don't want to push so far into that realm that is almost disregarding the, you know, the pandemic disregarding any safety or health or anything like that. So it's a very, it's a very thin line that you're walking in creating this comforting environment without ignoring everything that's happening in the real world. But usage is definitely up. I mean, people are on social media a lot and unfortunately, it does seem to be having an impact on mental health to according to recent studies, but I think balancing that fine line is the best thing for right now that any business brand person can do.
Shahn Douglas 34:49
It's good advice.
Marsha Tempesta 34:50
I would like to add along the lines of what Loki said in the beginning of this pandemic, you know, we we had a kind of reset ourselves as social Media managers, you know, we had a look at our photo libraries change up so many things, we didn't want to post pictures of people holding hands, you know, and, and congregating together closely, we had, you know, we had a revamp all of that, along the lines of the sensitivity and not portraying images that do not apply to right now in life right now. So we've all adapted. And I think we've done a pretty good job at changing quickly as, as all of us in so many different ways. But as far as other trends, we want to make things easy for people also, we want information, video, things that they would experience in a normal world at their fingertips. So that's why doing virtual tours, I know that you did the matterport tours, which were was really smart. And we've used those for social media, and they've been great. And also the virtual open houses, you know, we push those on social media, all of that stuff is very valuable right now and maybe it will even continue you know, after things get more back to normal.
Shahn Douglas 36:09
Right. And you know, we've talked about that in our first episode called the pivot, where we had to pivot and a lot of it was what we did on social media, and how we changed our messaging right away, right? We took down our you know, promoting the property instead, we promoted the people who were providing takeout and then we also realized that people wanted to live somewhere where we had where they had outdoor space so then we you know, started promoting our balconies and I think you know, Loki, you can attest that this those were probably some of the most popular posts that we had, probably over the summer months or such right a spring or summer. This podcast is sponsored by jewel Las Vegas lifestyle condos located in the heart of vibrant downtown Las Vegas, featuring a variety of floor plans including flats, two storey Lofts, brownstones and penthouses as well as an amazing variety of amenities, such as full service concierge resort Pool and Spa, wine deck and Co Op working space. live the life you deserve, at jewel Las Vegas condos from the low to hundreds to 1 million. For more information, visit us at jewel lv.com that spelled JUHL lv.com. You know, one of the things I was just getting, you know, along those lines as well, what what do you foresee any projections for the New Year 2021 and social media? Anything we should be doing that maybe we're not doing right now? Is it tick tock? Is it? You know, Snapchat, I know they're trying to make a comeback.
Lokelani Higa 38:00
I don't know if Snapchat has the strength even if they lift with their knees. Facebook really came for them and they came fast and hard. But I mean, I do think that audiences in general and this is just if you look overall at the pictures we mentioned before that that Gen Z and Millennials are going to start aging into your target buyer demographic. And they are more socially conscious, they're more aware of politics and finance and, and things that are going on in the world mental health, equality all of these things basically your your brand personality or business personality has to be transparent and has to align with those things so that they feel comfortable creating that relationship with you as a business. Because it's more than just marketing and advertising and throwing your message at these these buyers and hoping that that they'll listen, they want to be a part of the conversation and be a part of you know, as already mentioned, with Twitter, like community, they want to be a part of this community. And so that's the goal is to hope that you can get your messaging and your brand aligned with these buyers in a way that is meaningful and and matters. I do think that social media usage is going to go back down as people start getting back out there and living their lives once you know vaccine trials and all that stuff is set and everything gets sort of back more to normal, as Marsha mentioned. But they're still going to be on social media looking for you guys and reaching out to businesses and brands. So
Uri Vaknin 39:27
Loki was really interesting. The years ago when social media kind of really took off whatever that means. I took a class, but it was called social media for real estate. And what the instructor said has stuck with me to this day. They said um, previously advertising for any product was mad men days, you know, you would have your flashy image your your your message, your logo, and you told the world like the Marlboro Man. Everything that you We're about, and you've put that image out of the world, that is no longer. Now people don't want you to tell them what you're about, they want to actually engage with you. And then when they expect a two way conversation, and so if you're not willing to have that two way conversation anymore, you're not going to make it because that that is what social media is all about. And that is, the barriers that social media broke down between businesses and the consumer, is the, you now have the direct ability to communicate with the product. And if you don't, you, you said it, you you're not going to align yourself with them. And so that to me, I have always remembered that and so that anytime, you know, when we get great views, I want to respond, particularly when we get some negative message, as long as it's not threatening or foul language. And there is something we should touch on this a little bit about setting up protocols about things that you, you know, are there ever any time that you like, remove a post or silence someone or something like that, and we should touch on that. But I do believe that, because people not only are expecting but almost demand that conversation, even when it's something negative, you do have to respond and respond thoughtfully, like you guys knows, you've seen like, how I deliberate and how upset I could get over, you know, a bad social media review on when it's unfounded. Like, I want to try to figure it out. And I want to be very thoughtful and sensitive about the response.
Marsha Tempesta 41:48
Right, yeah, I mean, Authenticity, and communication and conversational marketing is very important. everything you just said. And actually there we were looking at trends for 2021. There was a talkwalker, HubSpot report, and they listed conversational marketing as one of them, even though it's something that we've been doing for a long time, it's becoming even more important, and to set to drive sales, but also just to be human, which is one of our main goals and social media, just be human. You know? And, yes, to address your comments about when to block or ban, there are times that you do need to consider that. And we tend to to do that when someone is being discriminatory using foul language, you know, harassing, it depends, like they have to reach that threshold, you know, that we deem and it will have a conversation about it. And we have done it before, you know, because we do not want that type of conversation on our channels.
Shahn Douglas 42:53
Well, is there anything else that we haven't haven't touched on today? I think we've covered quite a few topics and I would just like to say I think it's this has been a wonderful podcast with you lovely ladies, and I appreciate your time. I know we all do. Mark and Henri. Is there anything in closing?
Marsha Tempesta 43:10
Well, we can touch on a couple more trends if you'd like for the net? For sure. Yeah. Loki and I were looking at some and talking about some and in addition to conversational marketing means and the psychology of marketing. People love nostalgia. I mean, what why would you not you know, it tugs at your heartstrings.
Uri Vaknin 43:33
What do you mean by that? explain what you mean by nostalgia
Shahn Douglas 43:36
thing things, you know,
Marsha Tempesta 43:38
I know for myself, when someone pulls up an old ad of let's just say My Little Pony or you know, something like that, you know, I
Shahn Douglas 43:46
grew up with
Marsha Tempesta 43:47
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Something that that hits that little spot, you know, in your heart that's hard to reach
Uri Vaknin 43:54
Planet of the Apes for me was that that was maybe
Marsha Tempesta 43:58
Planet of the Apes. So you so someone's got you, you know if they play a planet of the apes. So so so along those lines, and One important note, Loki, I don't know, if you want to touch on it more as socially conscious. That's been a huge thing this year. Look, do you want to add anything to that?
Lokelani Higa 44:17
Yeah, I think it just it feeds right back into millennials and Gen Z's aging up and and into the buying market and in general and being aging into the group that's using social media and being on those platforms and they grew up with it, you know, they were there for the start and development of it all. And and so I do think like, like Marsha said, nostalgia, marketing and conversational and means even your speaking to them, you know, to younger generations. It's the same thing with older generations as well. you've defined the messaging and the content that works for them and kind of tugs at those heartstrings and starts the conversation going, you know, but like, with younger generations, I definitely feel like there's this And especially the pandemic going on to kind of blurred the lines for everybody on social media. And it's just wanting to be able to reach out and touch something, even though we're all segmented and separated. You know, with social distancing, and guidelines and everything like that. I feel like social media is really like the new wave of communication. And it's like a whole new language almost.
Uri Vaknin 45:22
But I think that's really fascinating. really talking about the aging part. Because a lot of people have heard of Tick tock, it's for kids, and, but yet, they're watching other people's Tick Tock videos on Instagram,
Shahn Douglas 45:37
I've probably got more tik tok videos sent to me from my 16 year old brother, then if that says anything
Uri Vaknin 45:45
that says a lot of Shawn, and that's exactly the point is that you can't discount these things. But at the same time, like you said about Snapchat, like someone who invested a lot in Snapchat marketing, may not have gotten a lot of back out of it. And so you have to figure out what's really going to stick and what's not in authority trend, just trend G, because you can't be can't do everything, you know, because that's Otherwise, you'll spend your entire day on social media, as opposed to doing your core business.
Shahn Douglas 46:18
I have a good one for the nostalgic post. What's your favorite granite from 1996? You know, we could have like an Uber tuba and some of the other colors. Guys, these are inside jokes.
Uri Vaknin 46:31
Shawn is very inside. So for our listeners out there, and you know, we've got listeners around the world. Now, Shawn, if you read the last report I did. They're not gonna know what Uber tuber is. But just so you got to Uber to boat was the ugliest granted that every developer in America used for like five years, and there was Baltic Brown. I think Uber tuber was slightly better than Baltic Brown. Those were the two absolute worst, but
Shahn Douglas 47:00
good to know. I know we might have to create a little contest or a little you know, do you remember what's the one I see all the time? You bring it back? Or you know, let it die or something? It's on fashion, but I love playing. I love playing with those two.
Uri Vaknin 47:15
So I think those two Don't let him die. Never.
Shahn Douglas 47:21
All right. Well, I think that brings us to another wonderful podcast of the condo artists the other side of real estate. Again, we were joined by Marsha and Loki from the worn group. And I would like to again, thank you and
Uri Vaknin 47:36
The Warren Group here in Las Vegas right here in Las
Shahn Douglas 47:39
Vegas. Yes. Thank you.
Uri Vaknin 47:44
Thank you, guys.