As the founder of a young, online real estate brokerage firm in today’s struggling housing market, David Lightburn is well aware of the power of a good social media campaign. To help better engage existing and potential clients, his startup – Clickscape – is active on Facebook and Twitter, sharing useful tips on technology and real estate.
Now, as one of three small businesses featured in the SMB Social Media Makeover Forum on Nov. 8, Lightburn is hoping to build an even stronger marketing presence. During the conference, Clickscape’s social media strategy will be dissected and revamped by representatives from top Atlanta companies including UPS, CBeyond, Arby’s, ING, Turner Entertainment, Constant Contact and Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) member company Scoutmob.
“While Clickscape has many key components that make buying and selling real estate easier, we feel we need help arranging all of our puzzle pieces into one pretty social media picture,” said Lightburn. “We hope to learn how to better engage our audience on both a broad scale and an individual basis without coming off as invasive.”
Held during Digital Atlanta 2011, the Social Media Makeover Forum is a half-day conference tailored toward small and mid-sized business owners, sales and marketing managers and social media professionals. A panel of experts will help guide Clickscape, Hannah Solar and High Road Craft Ice Cream & Sorbet through common social media strategy points, such as the best tools to use and ways to improve content, lead generation, channel integration and ROI. The idea, organizers say, is to bring seasoned industry professionals together with local businesses to share advice and best practices in real life case studies.
“We felt this was a great way to bring attention to issues of social media for small businesses, while directly helping some companies that have already accomplished a lot in terms of social engagement, but need assistance defining their strategy,” said Dan Greenfield, an event organizer and principal partner at LISTEN Interactive. “We’ve selected three companies that are engaging and have some experience with social media but need help taking it to the next level, whether the goal is lead generation or maximizing sales and authenticity. And we’ve tapped some of the biggest brands in Atlanta to help take them to the right place. The goal is then to follow the progress of these companies over the next six months and see what advice stuck, what didn’t work and why. These discussions really serve as dynamic case studies in the making.”
From networking opportunities to industry insight, Greenfield said event attendance will benefit any entrepreneur struggling with social media. As for Clickscape, the ATDC member company is hoping the makeover will help them learn how to balance authenticity and sales promotions when engaging customers.
“A good campaign can rapidly build awareness of our brand and our services in a pressure-free environment where our clients enjoy interacting,” said Lightburn. “Most importantly, it can enable us to establish a trust with our audience – something often lacking in our industry.”
ATDC members who want to attend the conference will receive a special 10 percent discount off the price by using the ATDC code (ATDCMakeover) when registering, but sign up ASAP to receive the Early Bird rate. The event runs from 8 am to 12:30 pm at ATDC Headquarters, 75 Fifth Street, NW 3rd Floor.