Track2Realty Exclusive: Some of the companies are using online media for generating sales lead; while others are focused on customer relations. With the medium new and realty more or less reluctant in the initial stages, there are very few who are actually understanding the medium and adapting themselves to what others think as a necessary evil. Tata Housing believes in using the medium for engaging with the customers more than just generating sales leads. Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO of Tata Housing shares with Track2Realty how they strategise their social media usage. Excerpts of the interview:
Track2Realty: What is your online media quotient?
Brotin Banerjee: With 100 million internet users in India, using social media at least once a month, the use of online medium to reach out to our target audience is being increasingly becoming important. Marketing is much flatter now; word-of-mouth is now what makes products click. Online media presents personalized customer service and thus are the quickest way to communicate with our consumers.
Social media, with its capabilities of creating engagement, conversations and activation, allows us a perfect opportunity to connect with our customers. Keeping this in mind, our online media strategy creates a unique brand experience, while converging the brand’s online and offline efforts.
We have embraced all forms of leading social networks to be closer to the customer in order to listen and understand their requirements.
To begin with all our properties have dedicated micro sites linked back to the mother corporate site. Moreover we have our presence across all social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, SlideShare, LinkedIn etc. We have individual Facebook pages for Tata Housing as well all our projects.
We have also have our blog that is a blog aimed at updating consumers on everything related to homes – industry news, design, interior, landscaping, architecture, finance etc.
Track2Realty: A lot of realtors are focused on merely generating sales lead on digital media. Have you leveraged the media beyond that?
Brotin Banerjee: We at Tata Housing utilize social media in order to directly engage with our customers, rather than merely driving sales leads. We use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. for informing consumers about the industry news, design, interior, landscaping, architecture, finance and much more. Our blog provides us a forum by which we can offer ideas and provide a point of view on a variety of home/housing related topics. In addition, utilizing Facebook and Twitter forums enables Tata Housing to engage in conversations with our customers and respond to their feedback, virtually in real time.
Efficient use of digital platforms also works wonders in brand and project promotion. For Example, the first phase of one of our project – Inora Park was totally sold using the digital medium. Also digital medium contributes to over 25% of leads being generated in our complete marketing mix.
Track2Realty: Realtors feel Facebook and other social media presence is meant to hook buyers, what is your take on online reputation management as a matter of corporate philosophy?
Brotin Banerjee: Our customers are changing the ways in which they search for information on real estate. Tata Housing recognizes these changes, and we are moving rapidly in the digital age and adapting to these changes. Though most companies have Facebook buttons featured on their home pages and Twitter updates streaming down the side, there is still so much more that can be done to engage customers and take advantage of the full power of social media.
Track2Realty: You mean virtual interactions taking over personal space?
Brotin Banerjee: Digital media will never replace face-to-face interactions, but Tata Housing is known as an innovator and a customer service leader in the real estate space in India. We are the first one to invest significantly in the development of mobile sites and apps, and we will strive to be a leader in social media and thereby make it easier for our customers to communicate with us.
One of Tata Housing’s goals is to maximize the marketing potential of social media in a way that meets the needs of our customers. For us engaging with the customers comes first and later selling, if you visit our Facebook page, which currently has over 36000 fans, you will find that lot of engagement activities being promoted and not hard core selling done over the page. Selling will happens when customers trust you and engages with you, shares their concerns with you and offer feedback.
Track2Realty: To what extent the digital format, with its scope of free criticism against the company deters you?
Brotin Banerjee: Social media has changed the rules when it comes to customer service. While the rules of customer service and complaint management are changing, customer service itself is very much the same. Social media simply provides increased communication channels. At the end of the day, our job is still to put quality and service first, pay attention to what customers are saying, and be open to all forms of customer engagement.
If anything is changing, it is the need for us to have an organized system in place to manage and respond the ever-increasing feedback coming from customers. Tata Housing has invested its time and efforts in opening up these channels of direct communications with customers not only to increase the likes, but listen to the customers more efficiently.
Track2Realty: Consumer connect, Users feedback, Sales preference, or sheer Brand Competitiveness among peer groups, rate your order of preference?
Brotin Banerjee: Our social media strategy primarily focuses on Consumer Connect, Feedback, Consumer research to identify their needs and requirements and Information are some of the order of engagement we drive using social media.
