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n
The hummingbird effect
Originally this was about Google’s new
Hummingbird search platform and its
implications for multifamily. After researching
this nascent technology, it became clear that
the application is only now being written,
literally, in our own words.
LISA BENSON
Over the next 12 to 24 months, as Google
continues to index our personal searches,
incorporate permission-based GPS tracking,
include integrated application data and
maybe a bit of Big Brother, we will learn a
lot more about ourselves and what we truly
seek. For today, here is what we do.
Over the past two years, Google has
engaged in a large-scale, multi-stage refinement of their signature search engine platform. Initially, in fall of 2011, they demoted
search results influenced by high volumes of
click activity, allowing individual property
websites to surpass ILSs and other high volume advertising sites within their natural
search rankings.
Last year, Google placed heavier emphasis on social networking posts elevating
individual consumer input and rating sites
in its placement. Then geo-coding and
Google Map location content became
prominent in searches. With its most recent
announcement, the Hummingbird search
platform, its natural language responses
qualify our searches.
What does this mean to multifamily and
what’s our best approach to online management as we rely on search engine conversions online and onsite? I asked these questions of two tech-savvy multifamily executives, Kevin Thompson, SVP of marketing
with Greensboro, S.C.-based Bell Partners,
Inc. (no. 7 on NMHC Top 50 list of apartment managers with 69,112 units) and
Shashi Bellamkonda, VP of digital marketing at The Bozzuto Group headquartered in
28
Greenbelt, Md. (no. 40 on NMHC Top 50
Managers with 33,418 units).
Each comes from a vastly different perspective: Thompson has been in multifamily for 15-plus years, and Bellamkonda’s is a
fresh face coming to Bozzuto from the
domain name registration company,
Network Solutions, Inc.
“Like most of the industry, our team is just
beginning to delve into the power and ramifications of natural search,” says
Thompson. Adds Bellamkonda, “I am jazzed
about natural search and Google’s initiative.
Instead of telling end users how to use the
Internet, they say ‘educate us. Shortly, I will
be able to tell my phone to ‘find my friends
in Las Vegas,’ and the results will intrinsically incorporate applicable online sources for
my contacts, narrowed down succinctly to
just that group.”
Both executives agree on key fundamental strategies to parlay searches into leasing
traffic and effectively manage online brands.
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MULTIHOUSING PROFESSIONAL | NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2013
Users first, search engine next.
Incorporate natural language
skills, it is easier for both computer and consumers.
Include geo coding information,
specifically geo-tagging, within
the content of your community
website.
Use hyper-local techniques when
referencing a property; zip codes
no longer define communities.
n
Micro-data tags are a key component for searchable and matchable information; Google even
rewards you for educating their
artificial intelligence machine.
Reputation management is
becoming more necessary. Simple
exercises, like routine Google
searches for your community, can
ease those unfortunate, embarrassing inclusions.
In the past, using marketing speech was a
way of life. In today’s marketplace, such
complex, adjective-based descriptions for
multifamily have rapidly become a thing of
the past.
The algorithms of Hummingbird, in effect,
operate on an 8th grade grammatical standard. Knowing your audience and its conventions ensures your messaging is appropriate to the greatest number of word choices.
“The secret lives in being able to appeal
to a cross-generational audience. There is
an underlying need to match our consumers,
so we have to unlearn a few things from
being key-word focused to conversational
style,
eco-friendly
verbiage,”
says
Bellamkonda. Thompson notes that the
true challenge is engaging a contemporary
audience without abandoning proven techniques to reach the consumer base.
Are we dumbing down conversations in
response to Humingbird? “It’s not a matter
of dumbing down our message,” says
Thompson. “We still strive to meet that feature-rich detail that is necessary to engage
prospective residents. Our wording conventions need to evolve.”
“The formality of professional language
skills and its associated marketing message is
still pertinent. How we present our information must be in a more contemporary format,” Thompson adds.
One example of this jargon evolution
Thompson suggests might be changing “luxury, resort-style, Olympic-sized pool” to
“large pool with huge sunning deck.” He
thinks that as a collective group, the multifamily industry can benefit from a fresh set
of industry terms that better match the
evolving consumer demographic. Another
case-in-point: A young apartment dweller
may not appreciate the benefit of a vaulted
ceiling but, rather, hope for a 9-ft. ceiling in
their new home.
Website traffic improves
Website traffic quality has improved across
the industry resulting in more qualified consumer traffic matching up with desired product. Bounce rates, or website redirects back
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to search engines for alternative site choices, are at a historic low. This might indicate
that search results and their associated
click-throughs are more qualified. Targeted
consumer messages are now created with
more effective marketing information.
“Our lease-match reports, both from call
center and yield management sources, indicate a lead-to-lease conversion of 6-8 percent from community websites and 3-5 percent for ILSs,” says Thompson. “Both quality and quantity are surpassed by our proprietary presence. At the end of the day they
convert at a higher rate. Search engine optimization is paying off.”
Bellamkonda agrees. “We, too, have seen
stimulus from our online leads. Now we
need to do a better job on determining factors engaged in pre-search activities.”
Thompson says, “It is no longer good enough to
Google it as a performance validation in our community marketing audits. Behavioral marketing
means modifying even our own searches with
inherent profiling.”
Since search engines continue to present
deeper customized results in order to deliver
more targeted advertising dollars, apartment owners and operators must continually reevaluate their own search placements
according to this ever-changing focus.
All agree that the industry might benefit
from a heavier emphasis on local content.
This could include engaging descriptions of
communities, as well as community participation in a particular neighborhood living
experience. Multifamily properties are
becoming a way of life, not just an asset. A
marketing message has the great potential
of deepening the relationship between consumer and community. A “chef’s kitchen”
brings a specific connotation of professional
standards in which to create a meal. But a
high majority of prospects are really searching for an “apartment with a floor plan that
is great for entertaining in North Dallas.”
Micro-tagging and more
One smart way to accrue search engine
recognition is micro tagging content, or
microdata, which was widely adapted with
the HTML5 web code update. This is where
Shashi Bellamkonda,
senior vice president of
marketing at the Buzzuto
Group
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your web developer inserts additional
HTML tags in your web page text to provide
links to sources that allow search engines
and other applications to better parse your
message. A great example of this is
Wikipedia with all the internal reference
links noted in each post. This embedded
content defines important data within a
page including addresses, information, even
reference points for geo coding, allowing the
A marketing
message has the
great potential of
deepening the
relationship
between consumer
and community.
search engine to capture the information for
future searches.
Previously, meta tags were used to insert
information into search engines. Today,
content within web pages is becoming more
important.
Is meta tag content passé? If so, what’s its
replacement?
“Meta tags should not be abandoned, but
indexes (see schema.org) are now really
important,” says Bellamkonda. “This
includes location within the website, citations for your consumers and programming
our sites within today’s standards.”
Bellamkonda is referring to the World
Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) lead on
standardizing web page formats and content
principles in order to advance search engine
utility. While this effort is still new, multifamily is best-served becoming familiar with
the W3C concept.
Geo-searches are becoming more refined,
even applicable, to mobile search transactions. This is as a result of better geographically-based micro tagging, as well as permission-based GPS data inclusion.
“Banner ads now follow me through my
online experience,” Thompson says.
“Unfortunately, leasing my next apartment is
not an impulse purchase. A mobile coupon
for a waived application fee is not effective.”
The challenge to location-based advertising for multifamily is that it is permissionbased messaging. Adds Bellamkonda,
“Google ads arrive based on a location succinctly attached to where I am, at that second. When passing by an apartment community, Google can push a leasing special, but it
will take some time and management commitment to incorporate advanced messaging
associated with the leasing experience.”
Thompson says, “We can readily take it
to the next stage as there is opportunity for
creating resident goodwill through market
affiliations.” Bellamkonda chuckles, “This
message is brought to you by Bozzuto.”
Successful online marketers now redefining geographic searches from what was once
metropolitan districts and cities, into hyperlocal areas, such as West Potomac Park or
Georgetown in Washington, D.C.
Communities across the U.S. are building
functional descriptions that emphasize
neighborhood value, rather than municipal
affiliation. “This is a good point, there are
colloquial terms that people use for places,
and searchers are using the cool terms,” says
Bellamkonda.
High Point is a very desirable area in the
N.C.-Piedmont Triad region. “This type of
hyper-local destination is most effectively
supported by a PPC (pay-per-click) marketing
campaign”
shares
Thompson.
“Unfortunately, this multi-thin layered
approach to strategic online community
marketing has put an additional onus on our
team to ensure its effectiveness.”
Bellamkonda adds, “Every website should
incorporate a blog within their presence.
The zip code and city information is perfect,
but the challenge today is that people seek
an area that is culturally-pleasing so that
content might no longer be enough.”
Protecting brand reputation
“Here of late I embrace social networking,”
say Thompson. “But it requires interactive
conversation starters. In a NMHC resident
survey, 30 percent say they don’t expect to
see our presence on FaceBook, and nearly
60 percent wouldn’t follow anyway.”
Bellamkonda offers a different perspec-
Kevin Thompson, senior vice president of marketing with Bell Partners,
Inc.
NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2013 | MULTIHOUSING PROFESSIONAL
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tive, “At Bozzuto we are pushing forward
with a collaborative effort. Our properties
manage their own campaigns, but content is
monitored and gathered at the corporate
level. Social and ORM (online reputation
management) is part of search, the social
aspect is, in fact, part of the circle of life.”
Thompson adds a practical spin, “When it
comes to social media and networking, the
associated cost is not just in creating content, but rather the human resources and its
required time and talent of onsite teams.
One must also consider that they might not
be well-enough skilled in public relations to
craft responses. To be well done, there has to
be locality and not just response. If forced to
choose, I pick conversations, as opposed to
just responding to complaints.”
To the future
Looking to the future with maturing voicebased searches, Thompson shares his frustration with current system-based telephone
reason-trees and our incessant need to
punch zero or scream operator. He laughs at
the thought of a recent corporate interaction and his un-nerving intention to throw
the phone across the room.
Truth be told, voice searches are becoming an instrumental factor in mobile webbased interactions with search engines,
especially while driving. So, the
Hummingbird search algorithm, albeit
immature, was created to respond to natural
interactive, conversational discussions.
“Keyboard based search is different than
voice search,” says Bellamkonda. Dialects,
local color and cultural variances cause
even the most sophisticated phone-based
voice response systems to grind to a screeching halt. Admittedly, the future is verbal
searches, though people find it so much easier to type than to speak their needs. “W3C
can certainly provide insightful, technical
guidance for our industry as this comes to
fruition, but maturation will only continue
through mutual participation,” he adds.
There’s a lot to consider with the new
wave of technological advances, albeit, from
just the online search perspective. Search is
an integral part of the online experience,
and from a commercial perspective, nearly
all opportunities begin with some form of its
advancement.
There might be an interesting dynamic
from Hummingbird’s projected potential:
How will marketers track and monitor their
success with a search engine that already
knows who the auditor is and what responses they seek? ▲
GOOGLE HUMMINGBIRD
NAME: HUMMINGBIRD
It is the biggest change to search
since Caffeine in 2010. It derives its
name from being “precise and fast.”
ITS PURPOSE
HOW MANY TIMES DO HUMMINGBIRDS FLAP THEIR WINGS PER SECOND?
HOW MANY TIMES DO HUMMINGBIRDS FLAP THEIR WINGS PER SECOND?
Its purpose is to parse full questions
(instead of word-by-word); find
meaning behind the search string to
provide better results.
WHEN DID IT RELEASE?
Google Hummingbird rolled out
SEPTEMBER 2013
WHO WILL IT AFFECT?
90% of searches
worldwide
will be impacted
90%
Author Lisa Benson is CEO of Ellipse, Inc.
headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
SOURCE: HUB SHOUT
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MULTIHOUSING PROFESSIONAL | SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2013
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