Urban Acres Real Estate
Urban Acres knew winning the market required a bold brand and digital strategy. Here’s how we built and grew their social from the ground up.
background
Urban Acres is the first independent and locally operated real estate firm to enter the Corridor in over 30 years. All 50+ of their agents are equal owners who share a common vision (and marketing resources), a unique structure with a powerful value proposition for clients.
brief
Before the doors opened, a plan was hatched to do business differently. The founding members knew they needed a bold brand identity to stand out in a sea of same. And after years of disappointment with outdated real estate marketing strategies, they knew a digital-first presence was critical to winning the local market. We joined up with their brand and design partners and got to work.
our approach
Urban Acres' success is driven by their combined values (and numbers), so our ongoing content strategy celebrated the team, shined light on community involvement, and provided a base of useful, snackable visuals that could be shared across the members' owned pages. Here’s how we built and grew their social channels from the ground up.
brand launch
coordinated campaign
Ahead of their official launch, we established a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and devised a coordinated campaign for 30+ founding members to reveal their identity, share the news, and go “live” with branded avatars. All within an hour window. We wanted to leverage the network effects of the local social graph, and make a splash.
strategic targeting
To amplify the news, we implemented a recipe of paid audience targeting to local homeowners and likely movers, and a healthy dose of supporting content covering PR and member profiles over the launch period. The Page acquired 440 fans in the first 24 hours, and quickly grew past 2,000 page likes in the first two weeks. 5,000+ people visited 25,833 pages, with more than 25% directly from social.
introducing the team
We showed audiences a personal side of Urban Acres (emphasis on the person). To this day, the profile series ranks among the highest-performing organic content.
community involvement
Urban Acres jumped head first into local sponsorships and events. Whether they were hosting a Summer Movie Series on the Pentacrest, or giving back to places like the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital and The Alzheimer’s Association, highlighting the team’s commitment to community was a natural (and mission critical) part of building the brand.
homeowner education
To build thought leadership and trust with prospects, we produced micro and album-based infographics that presented helpful, home-buying and selling tips.
our impact
In short order, we cultivated an enthusiastic online community that rallied behind their mission. With seeds planted and social on an upswing, we worked closely with their internal marketing lead to transfer knowledge, systems, and templates. Now, Urban Acres’ marketing team has the confidence to own the day-to-day digital activities, and the foundation to keep growing.
our results
Social media accounted for ⅓ of all click-throughs to the website in 2016. (An important stat in a local landscape of large, legacy competitors.) The Urban Acres Facebook page blew past the 3,000 fan mark in year one, and the influx of clicks, links, and social signals helped the website rise to the top of the rankings for their most valuable and relevant search terms. And they’re only getting started.
Every idea that came up, the Sculpt team had a way, a resource or a tool to take that idea even further. All of which is visible within our marketing strategies and helped set us apart from others within our industry as well as put us substantially ahead of our competition.
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