How I built a real estate sales representative website using Wordpress

This video explains how I made a real estate sales representative website using Wordpress. The website is built using "blogwaves" theme and a number of plugins like "Accordion Slider Gallery", "Easy Property Listings", "Ninja Forms", "MetaSlider", etc.

 

If you are interested in making a custom website, please give me a call at (+1) 647-401-8611 or email me at lokprakashpandey@gmail.com

Influencer Marketing

 

“Gone are the days of sending influencers products or event invitations and hoping for the best. At North, influencers and creators are not an afterthought or a frivolous add-on. We care about data, insights, and business results.”

=> Ashley Walsh, Account Director, North Strategic

I felt extremely fortunate to attend a very engaging and knowledgeable ZOOM session with Ashley about “Influencer Marketing” on 17-02-2022 AD. That session was an eye-opener to knowing how brands are using “Influencer Marketing” towards meeting their business objectives.

 

Influencer Marketing is expected to reach $16.4 billion in 2022. In influencer marketing, the terms influencers and advocates/brand ambassadors come often. They both play a vital role in acquiring and retaining customers. Basically, influencers are online personalities with large number of followers, who create sponsored contents, and are engaged to brand via contract with guaranteed minimum posts/approvals. On the other hand, advocates are everyday customers who organically advocate in response to positive experiences with a brand. Influencer’s content is normally supported with media dollars to guarantee audience reach and can be easily measured using online metrics, however, advocates may or may not create content and their effectiveness cannot be measured.  

 

There are two close meaning terms in Influencer Marketing: Influencers and Content Creators. Influencers are mainly skilled at growing and maintaining a loyal online social following that looks to them for advice while content creators are mainly skilled at producing professional quality content that really stands out. Influencers with strong creative skills like photography, videography, etc. can also be considered content creators while content creators with a strong following can also be influencers.    

 

A marketer must consider many factors to select influencers for their brand which includes business objectives, brand alignment, true measures of influence (engagement rates, conversion tracking, etc.), reach, budget, and creative capabilities.  

 

Basically, influencers are divided into the following four categories:

1)   Celebrity: They are distinguished personalities with 1 MM+ social following, very large budget range, minimal creative flexibility, and strong word-of-mouth capability.

2)   Macro: They have 100K-1MM social following, large budget range, they collaborate to create highly engaging brand programs, and have true affinity for the brand.

3)   Micro: They have 10K-100K social following, medium budget range, moderate creative flexibility and they represent everyday voices with a decent following and highly engaged audience. 

4)   Nano: They have ~10K followers, small budget range, maximum creative flexibility and they represent content creators who have specificity and expertise in particular area. 

 

To identify the right influencers for a brand, it is better to follow the following 3 steps process: Define, Identify and Validate. 

 

In Define step, we determine the campaign/brand criteria like: 

· Reach: Location, Demographics, etc.

· Category: Travel, Lifestyle, etc.

· Platform: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

. Desired Action: Sign ups, Drive Traffic, Awareness, etc.

 

In Identify step, we identify influencer partners by:

· Insight alignment

· Finding new partners, depending on campaign needs

· Reviewing feed for appropriate content 

 

In Validate step, we validate following and engagement by utilizing various tools like Social Blade, Fake Check, etc.

 

To ensure success, we need a step-by-step process that includes Contracts Agreements, Creative Guidelines, Creative Briefing Considerations, Disclosure Guidelines and Brand Approval Process.

• Contracts Agreements contain campaign dates, required outputs, exclusivity, ownership, licensing, payment terms, etc. 
• Creative Guidelines contain brand style guide (logo, color, campaign creative, etc.), post creative and copy guide, approval timeline, etc.
• Creative Briefing Considerations contain information on content expectations meeting the business values and objectives
• Disclosure Guidelines according to 2018 Ad Standards, Canada
• Brand Approval Process contain clear information on approval structure so that everyone knows their role in the campaign and when to escalate question or issues to team members 

There are several new trends in the influencer space predicted for 2022 and beyond like creator contents on TikTok, Live Streaming via Twitch, IG/TikTok Lives, Twitter Spaces, Clubhouse, etc. The post pandemic influencer marketing is going to be an interesting one with more new trends emerging. 

A career in Influencer Marketing is really appealing to me. I think I would most likely become a content creator rather than an influencer. This is because I do not have a large following and I rely on my own skills to create useful content for audience on the Internet.

 

 I learned a lot from the session because going on in the session, I was totally unaware of the huge market of “Influencer Marketing”. After the session, I now know what influencers do, types of influencers, what advocates are, what content creators are, and how to search for influencers for a brand. I think the knowledge gained in the session may be applied during the interview if the topic of “Influencer Marketing” pops in.

 

References

1. https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-statistics/
2. https://www.pexels.com

My Mobile Day

 “Canadians spent 4.4 hours on mobile apps a day in 2021”^[1]

The first mobile I bought was a Nokia N series phone in 2006 and I have been in love with mobile phones since then. Currently I have a Samsung S20 and I use it multiple times a day. 

Mainly I use the following 5 apps during a typical day:

1. Facebook: I use this social networking app at least two times a day. This app is valuable to me as all of my family and friends are in Facebook and I could find information on their well-being.

Facebook Micro-moments

• I want to know - how family and friends are doing | what is the current news 

• I want to do - post photos and videos

2. Yahoo Mail: I use this mail app typically twice a day. My Yahoo Mail app is also connected to other email accounts like Hotmail/Outlook and Gmail and so I can keep track of all of my emails in one app using both laptop and mobile. 

Yahoo Mail Micro-moments

• I want to communicate - email messages
• I want to sign up/change password - on various sites

3. Candy Crush Saga: I use this game app twice a day on average. This app is kind of a stress reliever and I use it whenever I get free time. 

Candy Crush Micro-moments

• I want to relax - playing games

• I want to earn rewards - watching ads

4. Messenger: I use this instant messaging app on average once a day. I use this app for video chatting with friends and family.

Messenger Micro-moments

• I want to do - video chatting with friends and family | sending instant messages like birthday wishes and new year cards

5. Amazon: I use this app approximately once a day. I am an Amazon prime member and I buy most items for me and my family from Amazon.

Amazon Micro-moments

• I want to browse - stuffs that I need by reading descriptions and comparing similar products

• I want to buy - all sort of items like soaps, vitamins, clothes, etc

Out of these 5 apps, I have “mobile friction” mostly with Candy Crush Saga. This occurs mainly when watching ad to get free gifts whereby the screen goes blank and the app becomes unresponsive. But this hasn’t made my addiction with the app any less and I am a regular player of this game for 6+ years now. 

Upon analyzing my own mobile behavior, I would make the following insights from a marketer’s perspective: 

• Facebook and other social networking sites are viewable multiple times a day and so they are the prime candidates for direct advertisement

• Game Apps would drive more downloads/sales if they are advertised within other popular games

• Good reviews on Amazon is a must for any new product and the product details must be clear, concise and compelling 

Finally, I would say that my mobile is an indispensable part of my everyday life but I need to reduce my screen time too.

References:

1. https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/canadians-spent-4-4-hours-on-mobile-apps-a-day-in-2021-report-1.5737073
2. https://www.pexels.com
3. https://unsplash.com