Stakeholders in the music and entertainment industry have highlighted the vital connection between music, entertainment and culture. The stakeholders who convened at the Lagos Airport Hotel for the first ever Roundtable on Yoruba music, Ariya Repete, also commended Goldberg lager beer for the initiative, which they say, signals a cultural rejuvenation among Yorubas.
In his keynote address at the roundtable which focused on Juju and Fuji genres of music, Professor Tunde Babawale explained that the rich cultural heritage of the Yoruba provided the foundation on which the music genres of Juju and Fuji are built.
Babawale, a former Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Black and African Arts and Civilisation, CBAAC, noted that the attachment of the Yoruba people of South West Nigeria to music and celebration has earned them the appellation of “Owambe”, a reference to their love for ceremonies and celebrations.
He traced the origin of Juju music to the old Saro (Olowogbowo) quarter of Lagos where the genre emerged from ‘asiko’ music associated with “area boys” in the quarter and added that the genre also incorporated Brazilian Samba elements and the guitar style of Kru sailors from Liberia.
According to the professor, the music of the culture such as Juju and Fuji has positively impacted every area of life of the Yorubas including the reduction of socio-economic tension and the prevalence of religious tolerance.
A prominent Fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall (KWAM 1) thanked the organisers and speakers at the event for what he described as an educative initiative meant to preserve Fuji and Juju, vital aspects of the music and culture of the Yorubas.
Sir Shina Peters, a frontline Juju musician also commended Goldberg for providing such a platform to discuss indigenous music and called on other corporate organisations to emulate the effort.
Ambrose Somide, a radio broadcaster with Faaji FM and a panelist at the round table enjoined young musicians of Yoruba extraction to endeavour to sustain the genres for the promotion of the Yoruba culture.
While welcoming guests to the forum, Mr. Kufre Ekanem, Nigerian Breweries’ Corporate Affairs Adviser, who was represented by Patrick Olowokere, the company’s Corporate Communications and Brand Public Relations Manager, disclosed that the Ariya Repete initiative was borne out of the company’s respect for tradition and values of the people.
The special guest of honour, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Babatunde Enitan Ogunwusi, (Ojaja II), the Ooni of Ife, who was represented by Oba Adebiyi Asoya, the Asoya of Ile Asoya Kingdom, reiterated the need to sustain the current cultural revival among Nigerians as championed by Goldberg lager beer in the area of indigenous Yoruba music.
The Ariya Repete Round table, the first ever roundtable discourse on Yoruba music in Nigeria attracted stakeholders from traditional institutions, the academia, the entertainment industry and the media to provide informed thoughts on sustaining and promoting the rich heritage of Fuji and Juju music.
The iconic Nokia 3310 is getting a makeover in 2017. The phone considered one of the greatest phones of all time is getting a coloured screen, internet access and a camera. The new Nokia 3310 has a 2.4-inch TFT display and comes pre-loaded with the popular Snake game.
Nokia 3310 is built of plastic with a shape that mimics the original model that was launched in 2000. This iteration however features beautiful curves that appeal to the eyes. The 2.4-inch colour TFT display is bigger and better than the 1.5-inch screen in the original model. The display offers 240 x 320 pixels resolution.
Nokia 3310 has a 2 megapixels camera with LED flash on the back. The camera is a basic camera, so picture quality will be modest.
Other Features
Before, the launch of the Nokia 3310 there was a lot of speculation about the device running on Android. The Nokia 3310 is not a smartphone. It is loaded with the Nokia Series 30+, which makes it a feature phone.
Only 16MB internal storage (yes not 16GB) is provided. However it offers a microSD slot that supports up to 32GB memory card. Nokia 3310 supports internet access, but only 2G data like GPRS and EDGE. It is loaded with the Opera Mini browser to make your browsing fast on the slow network.
Nokia 3310 supports Bluetooth 3.0 (with SLAM) and microUSB 2.0. It features a 1200 mAh removable battery. You should expect almost a full day talktime. When not in use, the Nokia 3310 can be on standby for an outstanding 31 days.
Pricing and Availability
Nokia 3310 is not yet available in Nigeria, Ghana, or Kenya. It is expected to launch worldwide in the second quarter of 2017 starting at a price of 49 Euros. When available, you can buy the iconic phone at leading online stores in the countries. Nokia 3310 price in Nigeria is expected to range from 18,000 Naira to 30,000 Naira.
Price in Ghana should start at around GH₵ 265. Nokia 3310 Price in Kenya is expected at around 9000 KSh.
Nokia 3310 Specs
Here are a few specs of the Nokia 3310:
General Features
Platform: Series 30+
Processor: –
GPU: –
Memory: –
Colours: Warm Red (Glossy), Dark Blue (Matte), Yellow (Glossy), Grey (Matte)
Dumbphones – handsets that just make calls and send texts – were set to disappear as technology moved on, but they have survived in emerging markets and among nostalgics of simpler devices in the West.
Their continued appeal was underscored on Sunday in Barcelona on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest mobile expo, as Nokia unveiled a revamped version of its iconic 3310 model, more than a decade after it was phased out.
Dumbphones remain useful to telecoms operators to “relaunch or accelerate” mobile phone use as they are relatively inexpensive, said Julien Miniconi, a telecoms expert at consulting firm Wavestone.
“It makes sense especially in countries where the network is not great,” he added.
Last year 1.5 billion smartphones were sold around the world, according to research firm Gartner.
But the dumbphone market is still significant, with nearly 400 million sold in 2016.
In certain emerging markets such as India, their sales still outstrip smartphones.
Basic phones accounted for over 55 percent of all mobiles sold the third quarter of 2016 in the world’s second most populous country, according to the International Data Corporation, a market research firm.
And dumbphone sales are continuing to rise in this major market by about four percent per year.
Even in developed nations where the telecoms market is mature, the phones continue to sell.
“Today they are niche markets, either for those looking for vintage or for those who are anti mobile internet or old people,” said Thomas Husson, a mobile analyst at Forrester, a research group.
Young kids also use them as a first phone. Some people use them as secondary phone to lend to visiting friends and family from another country and avoid roaming charges.
British actor Eddie Redmayne, who won an Oscar in 2015 for his role as scientist Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything”, made headlines as he became the latest in a growing band of smartphone refuseniks.
“It was a reaction against being glued permanently to my iPhone during waking hours. The deluge of emails was constant and I found myself trying to keep up in real time, at the expense of living in the moment,” the 35-year-old said of his decision to go back to a less sophisticated phone.
Within any age group, it’s not hard to find people who refuse to join the smartphone revolution.
“I have no interest in a smartphone — it’s expensive, fragile and I don’t see the use for it,” said Sandrine, 39, a Paris-based illustrator.
“There is also the whole commercial aspect as well, with the need to update phones all the time, without mentioning the opacity of work conditions in China” where many smartphones are made, she added.
Germany’s Deutsche Telekom includes several basic phones in its catalogue to meet the needs of clients “who just want to be reachable”, said a spokeswoman for the operator.
Nokia’s original 3310 sold nearly 120 million units worldwide, making it one of the world’s best-selling mobiles, but it is unlikely the revamped version unveiled Sunday, which includes internet access, will post similar sales.
HMD Global, the Finnish start-up which bought the rights to the Nokia brand last year and is making the phones, is seeking publicity for the three other smartphones which it unveiled alongside the new 3310, said Forrester analyst Thomas Husson.
“It is a way to create a halo effect around the other models by reviving talk about the Nokia brand,” he said.
Ian Fogg, head of mobile at research firm IHS, said that HMD, as a start-up, “needs to leverage the warm memories (of the 3310) and show that they are innovating too. They don’t want to be seen as a heritage brand.”
The issue of adopting the Pay per View model against the usual monthly subscription model which is obtainable in Nigeria has been a subject of discourse. Some Nigerians believe strongly that the monthly subscription model by Digital Terrestrial Service providers is geared towards exploiting Nigerians.
Sometimes ago, a Senate (Jones Onyereri) representative from Imo State raised a motion at the Nigerian House of Representatives concerning the issue of Digital Terrestrial Television Service in Nigeria, advocating that Pay per View should be adopted in Nigeria other than the subscription based models by the likes of GOTV and DSTV.
He argues that Nigerians are made to pay for what they do not consume through the monthly subscription scheme presently obtainable in the service charges of major Digital Television Broadcasting service providers like DSTV, Star times and GOTV. Personally, I think it is germane to have a full grasp of how payment models work across borders. When you have understood how digital television stations operate locally and internationally, it gives you a standpoint to present your arguments logically.
Is Pay per View Obtainable in South Africa?
Nigerians argue that Pay per View is available in South Africa if South Africa is adopting such model, have we done what they have done to make this happen? No doubt, the future of television has been identified as Pay per View, and this apparently has led to the South African Video-on-Demand market to a saturation point. We have seen the launch of OnTapTV.com, while Naspers, the South Africa Media giant rolled out its ShowMax service. These are platforms where you can watch some TV programs, in as much as you have data, you pay as you go. For instance, South Africa hasn’t gotten to the point of saying they are so are craving in the vast broadband network, which is even worse in the case of Nigeria, but Naspers group is taking a gamble on content demand in South Africa.
However, Naspers seem to put its bets on a Netflix type platform where consumers can enjoy favorite series titles, movies, and kids’ channels from the U.S, the U.K. But, lots of costly data is needed to get perfect streaming. About 400MB will get you one episode of your favorite series, while 1 Gig of data or more will allow you to watch a 2-hour movie.
Arthur Goldstuck, Director, World Wide Worx says, “The price is sweet for consumers, but it will be interesting to see how consumers react especially with the slow uptake of broadband in the country.”
Why Some Nigerians Advocate for Pay per View
Obviously, the pay as you go (Pay per View) is a concept that is mostly advocated for. However, everybody likes it. The hunger by some Nigerians for Digital TV Pioneers to adopt the model could be attributed to several reasons. For instance, when you are on Pay per View model, you may start thinking of how to maximize Netflix. You can easily get a VPN and start watching any content that comes your way, in fact, whatever content, you want with just $10 a month.
This is what is usually obtainable in some countries like USA and France, however, if you are crave for fresh contents or any live television program this will not work. With VPN, Netflix and Pay per View Model, you can only have access to old contents. If you don’t mind watching old contents, then you can utilize Netflix to the fullest.
Financial Implications to Nigerians When Tim Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer, Multichoice spoke with Premium Times in an interview, “Pay per View is a very simple financial equation. If you want to do pay per view, you have to take whatever content the person wants to watch. Let us take the obvious one, the English Premiership League (EPL).
You take the cost of the EPL, you say how many subscribers do I have, then I divide the cost by the number of customers that want to watch EPL, and that’s how many people pay for it,”. “I have got two examples that can show you what has happened elsewhere in the world. In the U.S., the Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather fight, if you wanted to watch it for one evening, one day, cost $99. It’s not a full day; it’s a couple of hours. Rugby World Cup in the US at the moment, as I understand it, is also close to $90, $89 or something, for the duration of the World Cup. So let’s call that a month and a half.
“If you want to watch Rugby World Cup in the US, you pay a single fee of almost $90. Nigerians are paying for Premium subscription for just over $60 a month equivalent. That $60 a month gives you all of the content. Okay, maybe Nigerians don’t want to watch Rugby, but the same principles apply if we want to charge you the same way – pay as you go for the EPL. Remember, the EPL is a right cost and much more expensive than the Rugby World Cup or the Manny Pacquiao fight.
It is not stuff that is happening now, and with sports TV, in particular, it only means anything to people when they watch it live. For instance, nobody wants to go three weeks after Chelsea plays Man U and say watch it over again. It has 10 percent the value of the live match. So I don’t know if that just helps Nigerians to understand a little bit about how the pay per view module works,”
Conclusion The monthly subscription remains a better option for Nigerians at the moment. However, Pay per View model, in my opinion, can only work when there is robust infrastructure, and you are limited to some contents.
Written by: Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. He presents Tech Trends on Channels Television and Tech on Wheels with CFA radio show airing on Love FM Abuja, PH, Umuahia & ABS Awka. He blogs on www.techsmart.ng
To be successful at marketing real estate in Nigeria (specifically commercial real estate), there is no one solution or “magical/immediate solution” to help individuals or teams grow their Nigerian businesses and/or sell their properties faster or better.
One must look at the whole picture and understand that “online marketing real estate in Nigeria” is not a single act or a strategy in and of itself but rather a complementary force to sales efforts and a key addition that both builds upon and enhances the core strengths of a sales team.
Most of the commercial leasing and sales teams within Nigeria are structured in such a way that marketing persons typically supports a commercial real estate broker or a team of brokers who then conceptualizes, carries out, and services both business development and property marketing strategies in order to assist with growing the business unit.
Here are 9 Marketing Strategies for Real Estate Businesses in Nigeria
Core abilities development
In an era of unprecedented lack of trust in financial institutions and financial services, it is important that a Nigerian real estate salesperson possess certain core abilities as a prerequisite to doing business in that they understand not just the products and services they are selling, but the environment in which they are conducting business, as well as the needs and wants of their customers.
A Nigerian real estate salesperson must, at the very least, have the financial wherewithal, business acumen, and understanding of the legal landscape in Nigeria in order to handle a variety of multi-faceted, complex, and multi-party interactions both efficiently and effectively.
Promote your Value
Nigerian real estate sales professionals must focus on providing something of value, by gently asking the clients who love you the most to get the word out for you, and wait. Your value will sell itself, in time.” In addition to working hard and establishing a solid reputation, you can leverage your perception through public relations efforts, whether it be speaking at an industry event, writing a column for a local business journal, or sharing a case study that is relevant to the community’s economic development efforts.
Be consistent
Consistency builds trust, whether it be producing a monthly newsletter, a quarterly report, a reoccurring event in your market, or always returning calls within a certain amount of time, establishing consistency in your approach to business will build trust over time: the foundation for solid relationships.
Create Goals Mindset
Successful entrepreneurs tend to create S.M.A.R.T. goals. This surely holds true for real estate professionals. By formulating goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant to the business, and timely, S.M.A.R.T. goals are more fastidiously realized and achieved.
Relationship Management and Development
This one speaks for itself. Whether your goal as a real estate professional is to sell more properties, represent more buyers, gain additional market share, or be a resource to the community at large – make sure you’re spending time formulating the types of relationships that lend themselves to accomplishing such objectives.
Leveraging other platforms
There are a variety of platforms (most notably hotel.ng, jumiatravels.com, jiji.ng) that work to promote your product and service offerings. By continuously monitoring the effectiveness of such platforms, you can adjust your usage of each service to meet the level that most effectively matches your business goals.
Inbound marketing
For brokers who rely on cold calling, direct mail, and newspaper advertising, the audience for such messaging is quickly dwindling.
Much more effective than an outbound marketing strategy is an inbound marketing plan where business flows in to you based on the information and resources you put out to the world so that people can find you, whether it be through establishing a blog or Twitter account, joining a specific LinkedIn group, or formulating a social media strategy in general.
Conclusion
In short, to be successful at marketing real estate in Nigeria, there are no shortcuts. Building a successful strategy requires taking a look at the whole picture; building a strong business requires hard work, critical thinking, and strong execution skills.
You must not only have the know-how, the strategic approach, and the appropriate team in place to actualize goals, but the alignment of sales and marketing efforts in order for the business to grow.
Above all, satisfying customer needs through a systematic approach to uncovering opportunity and effectively servicing requirements through a foundation of strong relationships is not only the most straight-forward, but sustainable approach to growing your business.
When understood and leveraged properly, marketing can work to amplify and increase the reach of such messaging to result in a simply unbeatable approach.
Real estate, like almost every other professional field in the world, has undergone a major disruption. The digital era is with us, and thanks to that fact social media for real estate agents has taken over most forms of online marketing for this field.
Years ago, when the Yellow Pages ruled this planet, realtors relied heavily on conventional forms of marketing to get clients. We are talking about billboards, radio and TV ads, open house calls in mailboxes, and even cold calling to see if someone wanted to buy or sell property. A great many of these methods may not work today. Mostly because the kind of people buying homes fall under that notorious category known as ‘Millennials’.
These are the 20-something to 30-something year olds who are completely glued to their smartphones, tablets, and laptops. They have caused a major disruption in the real estate market. Social media reigns supreme over the flyers and newspaper ads the industry used to rely upon.
Social media for real estate agents
To get the most out of your social media marketing efforts there are certain boxes that you simply must tick. It is about much more than just randomly tweeting and plastering pictures on Instagram. You need to:
Have an impressive number of followers across several platforms (Social proof is key).
Have a professional, yet approachable presence on more than just one platform.
Know and learn how to speak to and connect with your audience.
Have proper real estate social media etiquette.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can get more clients for your real estate business through social media engagement.
Learn social media etiquette rules for real estate agents
When we talk about social media etiquette, we are not merely talking about censoring offensive words. We are talking about overall behavior patterns that can annoy your followers. These things include:
Creating several profiles on the same platform: Although it is absolutely fine to have your personal profile and another for you brand on the same platform, create several for your real estate business on the same platform is a definite no-no! Many business owners think that this gives them a wider reach. While there is a case to be made for businesses with several locations setting up multiple pages, those who run their businesses from a single office should never do the same. A single profile will give you all the branding you need on that platform.
Not treating others with respect: Make it a rule to treat others as you would like to be treated. Social media platforms have an incredible risk factor, one of which includes alienating people. Being a ‘social’ site, there are going to be mean things said and fingers pointed at your real estate brand. Whether these things are deserved or not, it is up to you as a professional brand to take the high-road and handle the situation with professionalism.
Automating most of your social media interactions: When it comes to managing social media for real estate agents, automation is a wonderful helper. It makes it easier to optimally organize all of your social media posting efforts and even develop workable email marketing campaigns. What it cannot do, however, is bring in that all important ‘personal’ touch. People need to feel like they are talking to a fellow human being as opposed to a robot. It is best to include a personable touch to your responses. In short, treat everyone who follows you or comments on your pages as you would like to be treated.
Be careful with the hashtags: Using Twitter as a hunting ground for trending topics makes it an excellent customer service platform. It isn’t an arena for you to bombard people with every single hashtag you can fit into 140 characters. Neither is it an avenue for you to hijack other company’s popular hashtags. Create your own hashtags to promote your listings instead.
Using social media for selling real estate is entirely different from how you would use it for personal reasons. You still want to establish and build relationships, that much about real estate hasn’t changed
The right social media platforms to promote your real estate brand
For a professional realtor you only have a finite amount of hours to carry out your digital marketing efforts through social media. As such, prudence dictates that you focus on the ones that will bring you the most returns. Remember the 80/20 rule? 80% of your most important leads will come from only 20% of your marketing efforts. Make that 20% count.
Although choosing a few out of the many wonderful social media platforms might seem daunting, it is actually quite doable. Once you learn choose the best social media platform for your real estate brand you need to learn how to use it effectively. Here are examples for two of the most popular platforms.
YouTube for real estate agents
YouTube is a perfect platform for you to hold a virtual showing for every property. This gives you an opportunity to highlight neighborhoods, include popular festivals and things to do as well, as amazing views of the house. Create a YouTube channel for your real estate brand and post videos of every house on your listings independently:
It allows your clients to take a virtual tour of the house at their convenience.
It allows you to keep selling even in your sleep.
This video gives you a good example of how you can use YouTube videos to sell a house:
LinkedIn is a useful platform for connecting with other professionals. Here is a good example to follow:
Sandy has included her credentials prominently right along the top. She then shows off her excellent education, and a great summary. Her very professional profile photo helps as well! She is sure to get more LinkedIn Connections on her personal account.
Apart from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, you should also try and find other networking platforms that are specifically built for realtors. Some examples include:
You will get to learn some of the best kept industry secrets and see what the best in the business are doing differently.
Learn how to increase your followers and engagement
The very first thing you need to learn as a realtor on social media is that the social part of the media only happens if you are saying and giving your audience what they want to hear and see. But even then, they might still scroll right on without engaging with you in any kind of meaningful discussion. When that happens; when only 3 out of a billion people like your page, there are things you can do to increase that number.
Understand why your targeted audience is online: Are they looking for houses to buy or are they looking for a realtor who can help them find the right house? Either way, positioning yourself as the industry leader in your field will give you a better chance of engagement.
Use call-to-action prompts: Sometimes, all you really have to do to get the engagement you want is ask for it. Hold contests that reward people for liking your page and such.
Incorporate humor: People like to laugh. When they log onto social media, they want to be entertained. If you do not do this, they will move right on to someone who does.
This video shows you how you can incorporate a light moments with some rapping to make your video stand out. 81,000+ views is not bad at all:
Know your social media audience and use social proof
Still do not know the importance of social proof to the success of your real estate brand? Think about it this way: when was the last time you went out for a nice dinner without looking up reviews of your chosen restaurants online first? There is a very good chance that it has been a while. With 3,000 likes and only 120 dislikes, that restaurant can’t be all that bad. You start thinking, they might just deserve a chance, after all, 3,000 people can’t all be wrong. That is social proof at work.
By increasing your followers as well as social media engagement, you will be turning your brand into a massive snowball that simply attracts more likes and comments as the days go by. People will begin to perceive you as trustworthy just because others have ratified that fact by the number of likes you have.
Why real estate agents use social media to sell homes
These numbers clearly show why social media for real estate agents is no longer an option you can overlook. Not only is it important when it comes to selling to an increasingly digital market, but it will also help you show your sellers that you are tech-savvy, and willing to explore all avenues to ensure that their listings sell.
With the number of people looking online for their first house increasing and an impending boost in the actual number of people looking to buy since it will be cheaper than renting, real estate agents have an incredible opportunity to leverage social media marketing to attract, capture and convert this market. Social media is:
A wonderful way to build your brand and reputation:Get people to notice you through social media engagement and show professionalism in how you handle online conflict.
An excellent opportunity to network with buyers, sellers and other realtors:Platforms such as LinkedIn and Active Rain are excellent for professional networking within and without your niche.
A brilliant way to diversify marketing efforts: Step outside the traditional marketing norms and let your creativity go wild with social media for real estate agents.
Social media for real estate agents presents the perfect opportunity for you to toot your own horn without appearing to do so or conceited in the process.
Proven social media strategies that help real estate agents sell homes
They say that in real estate sales it is all about location, location, location. As much as the actual physical location of the house matters still, as a realtor it is all about where you approach your targeted market. The statistics above show that 68% of all new home buyers are now Millennials, and 80% of all of them look online for homes to buy.
As a real estate agent, one of those ‘locations’ should be on your social media page. Here are some wonderful social media marketing strategies that work for realtors the world over.
Build an attractive property website: This is where you will be directing all of your traffic and hosting all of your listings.
Have an active presence in all the big social media outlets: From Pinterest to Twitter and Facebook, have a presence in all of them and observe social media posting etiquette rules as they apply to each specific platform.
Take high quality pictures and write exceptional copy: Use Instagram and it’s over 300 million users to share lifestyle photos of your listings. Instead of the typical boring listings images, share images of neighborhoods, swimming pools, kitchens and families having fun in the backyard of your listings. Pair these photos with the appropriate hashtags to attract the right kind of client.
Add social sharing to all your property pages: Make it easy for people to share your listings and recommend you to their friends and family.
Make viral videos of the properties: Sharing a home video tour on YouTube is one of the best ways to create a buzz around your listings. Share these videos on all of your social media pages.
These ‘best social media for real estate agents practices’ will help you get more likes, more shares, and create a buzz around your brand that will foster better customer engagement.
Social media mistakes that real estate agents should avoid
Remember that the very first word in ‘social media’ is ‘social’. Try as much as you can to implement this concept in all of your posts. Study your audience and discover what it is they like and what they respond to best. Then go right ahead and keep studying. Find out what it is they do not like and respond to negatively. These are the things you should avoid.
Some of the social media marketing mistakes you could inadvertently make include:
Failing to use videos and images in your social media real estate posts: As informative as text is, they tend to get a little mundane and boring. Spice it up a bit with a few well-thought out videos and images. This video gives you an example of how to get your audience’s attention when showing a listing:
Intermittently engaging with followers: This is a generally egocentric planet. People mostly focus on themselves. When they comment or write to you, they expect you to write back. If you do not, you will inadvertently turn them away and even against your brand. Not responding to comments on social media is just poor customer service and engagement.
Focusing on one social media platform at the expense of the rest: Did you know that 59% of all LinkedIn users do not visit Twitter while 13% of them do not use Facebook at all? Yes, only focusing on one platform will implicitly mean that you are losing out on all the potential buyers who do not use that platform but are otherwise interested in finding homes online.
Not monitoring your analytics and social media ROI: This would be tantamount to shooting in the dark, how would you know when you are hitting the mark? Monitoring and evaluating your social media marketing efforts will give you a clear picture as to which ones are working and which ones need adjusting.
Embellishing listing features and using fake images: The digital world is full of people who will immediately call you out. The fact that most people look at reviews before they even call you up means that you should never try to cheat your audience. One bad review could mean thousands of dollars in lost potential earnings and a PR disaster for your brand, the likes of which it might not recover.
What you need to do is create an avenue for your clients to get entertained, educated and informed without feeling insulted or ignored. Use all forms of media to this from videos to images, text, and even infographics.
Leading examples of effective social media use for real estate agents
Gary Peer Real Estate – Melbourne, Australia
We have talked about how effective video tours can be in selling your real estate listings. Gary Peer Real Estate in Australia has taken this to whole different stratosphere with their weekly TV show called GPTV.
This video gives you a good idea of how Gary and Phillip are using YouTube for real estate agents, to their benefit as well as that of their clients:
In just under 30 minutes, Gary Peer and his business partner, Phillip Kingston, deliver highly informative and entertaining property news, market updates, and general community information. By taking a light-hearted approach to educating their market through video, Gary Peer Real Estate has made themselves into a household name in their community. This is how powerful social media can be for your brand.
The Boutique Real Estate Group – Orange County, United States
The Boutique Real Estate Group is another example of realtors using social media effectively. Catering for Southern California, they have taken full advantage of the beauty of SoCal and use high-quality videos to showcase homes and the lifestyle surrounding those homes as well as the region they serve.
This video gives you an example of how The Boutique Real Estate Group showcases the lifestyle that surrounds their listings:
They also have an exceptionally active and engaged Pinterest Profile with thousands of pins and well over 33,000 followers. This helps them:
Create more buzz around their brand.
Direct more traffic towards the pinned listings.
Build a better and more visible brand reputation.
Have more business interest from Millennials looking for the good life in California.
Pinterest is one of the leading social media platforms when it comes to showcasing images of your listings, creating more customer engagement and positioning your real estate business as a reputable brand with good taste.
Brad Bell Real Estate – Brisbane, Australia
Brad Bell Real Estate has taken the social in ‘social media’ to a whole new level. They created an online community dubbed ‘The Hub 4122‘. Here you will find blog posts with useful local news, guest posts by local businesses and events that concern the local Brisbane community that they serve.
Instead of just focusing on promoting their brand, they focused on helping the people around them come together under that very brand. They even went ahead and built a coffee shop on their office building, also called ‘The Hub 4122’.
This image shows regular customers enjoying their coffee and interacting at The Hub 4122:
Here, their vast online community can meet offline, get to know each other, network, and discuss local happenings all under ‘Brad Bell Real Estate’s’ brand. You cannot buy this kind of social currency.
Get clients and build your real estate brand through social media
It is much more than just about how many retweets you get, how many pins you have, or how many likes and comments your updates generate. Social media for real estate agents is about bringing value to the community you want to serve. You need to put their needs first; you need to find a fine balance between promoting your brand and actually being helpful.
What is it that people think of when they see your brand? Do they see just another real estate agency or do they see a resource for all of their home buying and selling needs? Do they feel comfortable engaging with you even when they are not in the market for a house? Is your’s the kind of brand name with which people would happily associate themselves? Do you make them smile, informed and confident that you are leading them in the right direction?
These are all pictures that you can paint of your brand through use of the various social media platforms at your disposal. Use social media as a platform to communicate with your audience. You will gain their trust and with that, their business.
Three Crowns Milk, a low cholesterol milk brand from the stables of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc, has hosted 10 couples to a special dinner treat. This is in accordance with promises made to consumers who participated in the just ended online competition tagged, ‘Three Crown Old School Valentine.’
According to the Senior Brand Manager, Three Crowns Milk, Mrs. Maureen Ifada, the Three Crowns Milk Old School Valentine’s Day campaign was conceptualized, as a unique platform for people to express their love to their loved ones in the euphoria of the celebration of the season of love using the handwritten letter approach hitherto popular in the pre-social media era of 80s and 90s.
“Every year, we innovate unique ways through which we connect with and share this special season with our loyal consumers. We also aim to encourage them to express their love to not just only their family and loved ones but also to everyone around them which is what the ‘Old School Valentine’s Day Competition’ achieved” she said. The dinner treat for the 10 lucky couples was held at 3 different locations; Lagos, Owerri and Abuja.
Mobile phone dealers in the FCT on Friday expressed their readiness to embrace the rebranded Nokia 3310 when re-introduced to the Nigerian market.
The Nokia 3310 had been redesigned 17 years after it was first launched.
The new Nokia 3310 is smaller, sleeker in different colours and reportedly has 22 hours of talk time with a one-month battery life on standby. Unlike the original, which was known for its sturdiness, the new Nokia 3310 will allow web browsing.
The re-launch of Nokia 3310 took place ahead of this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, U.S.
Some of the dealers, in Abuja, said that Nokia 3310 was among the pioneer mobile phones in the country and had great durability.
Mr Chibuzor Nnanna, a phone dealer at Banex Plaza said that Nokia as a brand of mobile phone had made its name in the market space and was sure to regain it if the brand was upgraded.
“I have already heard that Nokia 3310 has been rebranded and has already been introduced in other countries; I can’t wait for it to come to Nigeria.
“We all know that when Nokia 3310 was in vogue, it was very durable and this time I heard it is coming as a touch screen phone with battery life of five days having a camera feature.
“Nokia 3310 coming back upgraded is a welcome development because it is coming back modified to meet the trend of phones in recent times,” he said.
Nnanna, however, added that although Nokia as a brand did not upgrade some of their applications to meet up with the recent mobile phones, rebranding would change things.
He said that from information in circulation on the brand’s repackaging strategy, adding that he would not mind working with the company as a sales representative.
Miss Hauwa Maimuna, a mobile phone sales representative, also said that most phone dealers were waiting for the new Nokia 3310.
According to Maimuna, the rebranded Nokia 3310 has more features compared to the old one.
“The new Nokia 3310 has Bluetooth facility, dual micro SIM space, flashlight and can surf the net and other facilities to make it unique.
“Personally, I will buy the phone to supplement the android phone I have now.
“I will be glad to market and even sell Nokia 3310 if it eventually lands in the Nigerian market,’ she said.
Henry Jide, another phone dealer at Emab Plaza, said the phone coming back to Nigeria was a good restrategising approach.
“I know that by now the Nokia Company would have learnt from the faults that discouraged people from liking the Nokia 3310 and change those features.
“There are lovers of Nokia products and for sure it will be a good thing for them to try out this product that will be coming to Nigeria soon.
“As a dealer and I notice that the demand for the phone is high, I will definitely market it,” he said.
Also some retailers in the popular GSM village said that the reintroduction of the phone was a welcome development.
Mr Chinedu Oyenbuchi said that reintroducing Nokia 3310 was good because people love Nokia, adding that up till date people were still looking for Nokia 3310.
“We will be happy if Nokia can re-introduce 3310 because it was a very strong phone which everyone will like to have.
Mr Oziengbe Ogbeide, however, said that the Nokia 3310 should not be rebranded but left the way it was, adding that as a phone repairer, he noticed that most of the smartphones were not as durable as Nokia 3310.
“Smartphones that are brought for repairs are not durable when it falls down or fall into water it goes bad, so if it NOKIA 3310 is rebranded and look like a smartphone any mistake, it will fall and break.
“So I think they should leave it the way it was, the new Nokia 3310 may not be as strong like before,’’ he said.
Star Lager is partnering with one of Europe’s leading football club in a deal that will see the brand become the “Official Beer Partner” or “Official Supporter” of FC Barcelona in Nigeria. The announcement revealed at a press conference and facility tour in Camp Nou, home to FC Barcelona will see Star Lager beer use the logo, name, symbols and colours of the Spanish club side.
The significance of this new partnership bestows Star Lager exclusive rights to promote the brands’ association to millions of FC Barcelona fans across Nigeria further supporting the vision to embrace an unrivaled passion of premium football experience by Nigerian fans. Commenting on the new partnership, Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Franco Maria-Maggi said the partnership is part of Star’s commitment to its consumers’ with the biggest passion for football. “We are committed as a brand to nurture a partnership as this one, which will positively impact on the development of the football landscape in Nigeria.
As a national premium brand, Star is investing in this and other partnerships with a huge potential for world class knowledge transfer.” “The Nigerian football community will benefit from the technical expertise shared by the European giant as the growing sophistication of football fans mean the level of even local clubs in Nigeria must significantly improve to attract and keep the attention of the fans.” Franco Maria-Maggi concluded. FC Barcelona, founded in 1899, is one of the oldest clubs in the world.
It is the second most valuable sports team in the world, worth $3.56 billion, and the world’s second richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €560.8 million. Notable Nigerian players such as Emmanuel Amunike, Samuel Okunowo and Haruna Babangida who was the second youngest player to feature for Barcelona have previously pitched side with FC Barcelona. With knowledge of the impressive fan base in Nigeria, FC Barcelona legend Edgar Davids affirmed that “Playing for Barcelona gave me the opportunity to meet with, appreciate and respect the diversity of cultural background of players from diverse environment.
This goes to show that football is truly universal and pulls down cultural barriers. It’s even more exciting to see a partnership between the club and Nigeria’s Number 1 beer brand, Star Lager”. Confirming other benefits for the Star brand through its partnership with FC Barcelona, Portfolio Manager, National Premium, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Tokunbo Adodo stated; “This partnership with FC Barcelona looks to build a deeper level of connection with the FC Barcelona followers in Nigeria. The attraction of FC Barcelona to the Nigeria football community will yield benefits in the medium to long term.
We are constantly making football an exciting sport by breaking new grounds and embracing great opportunities to deliver premium fans’ engagement across various channels and platforms.” Nigerian Breweries, makers of Star, is a Heineken operating company. Since the first STAR lager beer bottle rolled out of the bottling lines in the Lagos brewery in 1949, the Star lager brand has been a premium market leader and was listed by the African Business magazine in its 100 Most Admired African Brands in 2015.
Sixty-seven years after it debuted in the Nigerian brewing sector, Star lager beer has continued to occupy the premium position bringing a brighter shine to millions of fans and actively supporting the development of football in Nigeria.
With the current economic crisis creating challenges for all sectors of the economy, the country’s rapidly growing retail sector is struggling.
Apart from a few malls, most retail facilities in the country were funded by private equity firms that got their funding mainly from foreign sources; and by virtue of this, they are currently facing a lot of challenges as many of their tenants who sell mostly foreign products, are finding it difficult to stock up or fit out in new malls due to Forex scarcity.
Findings by our correspondent indicate that many tenants are no longer paying rents in some of the big and expensive malls, because the rents are high due to the Naira to dollar exchange rate, and most of the retailers don’t have enough liquidity to stock up due to the Forex restrictions, high costs and problems associated with importation.
According to a source, who did not want to be quoted, some tenants owe as much as 15 months’ rent and developers cannot ask them to vacate the malls as empty shops in a mall is an indication of a failed project.
Our correspondent gathered that the landlords were becoming more creative to keep their tenants in business and the malls functioning.
It was gathered that one of such creative ways was to ask tenants who owed rents to pay the service charges.
“If the rent is paid and the service charge is not paid, it becomes the landlord’s headache to settle the service charge. So, he will rather the tenants pay their service charges to keep the malls running,” a source told our correspondent.
An estate surveyor and valuer, Mr.Rogba Orimolade, said majority of the functioning retail facilities were struggling to survive.
“A lot of these retailers are those who rely on not just Forex, but goods that they bring in from overseas, and they are struggling. The market itself is in recession, so a lot of the malls are caught in the middle. Some of the tenants are leaving; some are trying to adjust and see what kind of local products they can stock,” he said.
According to Orimolade, investors are also trying to make tough decisions such as pegging rents in such a way that tenants will not be discouraged, with some landlords already giving discounts, while some are reducing their rates against the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira to dollar rate.
He explained, “There are so many ways that a lot of promoters of these malls are becoming creative with the way they ask tenants to pay their rents and it is only realistic they do that. From the way things are going, most of the malls that are going to be coming into the market now will source their funding locally and ensure that the rate they are charging is strictly in Naira.
“Foreign investors also have to adapt, that is the reality. Sourcing for offshore funds is no longer realistic.”
He said that apart from facilities such as the Ikeja Mall and The Palms, both in Lagos, that were doing well in spite of the economic realities, because of their locations where retailers were eager to get shops, many others were groaning as a result of the economic crisis.
Orimolade said, “Apart from some whose promoters who were able to read the market on time and focus more on Nigerian companies to take up spaces, many malls in Lagos and other parts of the country, especially those built with offshore funds, are struggling and have 30 to 40 per cent of their shops vacant.
“Their projections were that a lot of those foreign companies would take up space but those companies backed out, some even relocated from Nigeria.”
Rents in malls across the country go for as high as between $100 and $120 per square metre monthly; and are mostly paid quarterly, with many of the retailers taking spaces from 60 square metres upwards.
The Consultant, Retail Leasing, Broll Nigeria, Lola Toye, said business had slowed down in the retail market because of the economy and the cost of products.
She, however, said that even before the recession, some retailers had been struggling due to the kind of products they were selling.
Toye said, “Malls are not really empty, they may not be full either, but tenants not keeping up happened even when the economy was booming. There is low spending power, so people are cautious of what they spend money on. They now focus on essential things rather than non-essentials.
“Those of us that are letting offices are also experiencing this. There is an impact, but developers are still building despite this. Things are not shutting down, people believe that the economy will turn around shortly and when it does, they will be ready to take in new tenants.
“Landlords are making concessions; those who borrowed in dollars and need to pay back their loans need to do that in dollars. Landlords need to recoup their investments, while tenants also need to make money. So, both tenants and landlords are getting more creative.”
According to Toye, there is still a huge demand for shops but it is taking longer to fill the malls than it was in the past and landlords are looking at charging rents annually instead of quarterly.
“With this, they don’t have to worry about any kind of fluctuation in the currency; within 12 months, things can turn around. Some malls that are not based on dollar investment can charge in Naira. We are looking at what suits the tenant and what suits the landlord. We are optimistic and very cautious too,” she added.
Malls developer and the Chief Executive Officer of Top Services Limited, Chief Tokunbo Omisore, said concession had always been considered between landlords and tenants.
“I cannot, for instance, charge rent at the rate of the parallel market and it has been on for a long time,” he said.
The Founding Partner, Bode Adediji Partnership, an estate surveying and valuation firm, Mr. Bode Adediji, said the biggest problem in the retail sector remained the payment of rents in dollars.
He added, “Charging tenants on dollar basis is okay in the interim, but it is not sustainable; there will always be an impact of the rent on the income to be generated by tenants. All over the world, rental charges are based on an understanding between landlords and tenants; but in Nigeria, it is totally absent. Landlords think they matter more, the mind-set is either you can afford it or not.
“The business model for a shopping complex should never be based on the short or medium-term; it should be on a long-term basis always.”
According to Adediji, the way out of the current problem is for rental and lease agreements between shopping mall tenants and landlords to be based on realistic and sustainable parameters.
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