Kevin and Libby Go Shopping
Sep 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Elaine Misonzhnik
Retail property owners join the social networking craze.
Baby steps
The retail real estate industry's forays into modern technology range from nascent to bold. PREIT, a Philadelphia-based REIT with a 34.5-million-square-foot portfolio, has recently become one of the first in the industry to use the online video-sharing site YouTube for marketing purposes. In preparation for the 2009 back-to-school shopping season, the company shot a minute-long video of kids using old school supplies in unconventional ways in a short entitled “What happened to last year's school gear?”
The video is the centerpiece of a special site the company set up, Backtoschoolvalu.com, designed to bolster its retailers' sales during the late summer shopping season. In addition to the Internet version, a 30-second version ran during previews in movie theaters throughout PREIT's trade areas. PREIT has also set up Facebook and Twitter pages for its properties. Creating the video cost the firm less than $4,000, but a week after being posted, it had generated about 800 views even before PREIT began promoting it, says Judy Trias, vice president of retail marketing.
Cousins Properties is also on the cutting edge when it comes to using social networks. Last holiday season, the firm launched an “Affordable Luxuries” contest through Facebook. Fans of Avenue lifestyle centers were asked to become fans of the ShopTheAvenue Facebook page. Fans can upload photos of what they deemed affordable purchases found at the centers, share shopping tips and participate in surveys about their holiday shopping habits. Those who became ShopTheAvenue fans and participated in the contest were automatically entered to win a $500 gift package. An additional 250 shoppers received free cosmetics bags. The contest helped raise the number of fans on Facebook from 66 to 1,300.
Moreover, for four weeks this summer, Cousins ran its “Are You a Recessionista?” campaign through Facebook. Shoppers could post their favorite deals on the ShopTheAvenue page and each week, the poster with the greatest number of comments got a $100 gift card. In addition, later this year, Cousins plans to use YouTube for a video contest designed to promote its new Web site. In August, Cousins began working with DECA Marketing Education, an association of marketing students, to perform research on the best ways to target shoppers through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
“Part of the reason we are doing [YouTube] is that it's the number two search engine now behind Google,” says Tanalgo-Minshew.
In April, the most recent month for which data is available, YouTube viewers numbered more than 107 million and watched a total of 6.8 billion videos, according to comScore Inc., a provider of digital marketing intelligence. The site accounts for 17 percent of Internet traffic worldwide.
Getting social
Macerich has also been tapping into Facebook and Twitter for promotions. In the past month, it has launched Twitter accounts for more than 30 of its 92 malls, says Weber. On a recent afternoon, the tweets for Kierland Commons, a 450,000-square-foot mixed-use center in Scottsdale, Ariz., which has run a test for Twitter marketing for several months, included an announcement about available job positions at the center, a reminder about a free summer concert series and a post about a gift card promotion by one of Kierland's restaurants. Kierland's Twitter page now has 1,230 followers.
While Twitter has yet to match Facebook in its popularity, the site's emphasis on brevity — posts should be no longer than 140 characters — and immediacy means information gets around quickly and with minimal effort. Not long ago, the marketing folks at CBL & Associates Properties, a Chattanooga, Tenn.-based retail REIT with an 83.6-million-square-foot portfolio, were surprised to see one of the REIT's properties, the 1.1-million-square-foot CoolSprings Galleria in Franklin, Tenn., on the local nightly news. It turned out the popular boy band Jonas Brothers was seen shopping at the mall that afternoon, and the sighting generated enough buzz on Twitter to merit CoolSprings a TV appearance.
CBL already has some experience with Facebook and MySpace. When the firm launched its “Retail Therapy Sweepstakes” this April, shoppers were encouraged to register not only through CBL's home site or through TreatYourSelfToRetailTherapy.com, but through Facebook and MySpace as well. The shoppers who registered and supplied their names and contact information got a chance to win a CBL mall gift card ranging in value from $2,500 to $10,000. Altogether, CBL awarded $30,000 in six prize packages. In the process, it collected information on 35,000 customers across the country.
“For the most part, we've used social networking as an add-on to existing programs to build a fan base and garner additional e-mail addresses,” says DJ Jackson, marketing services manager with CBL, which is testing Facebook and Twitter for individual malls.
Glimcher Realty Trust, meanwhile, has just signed an agreement with eProximity, an interactive marketing firm, to provide up-to-the-moment updates on sales and promotions to shoppers who carry wireless devices. The service has already launched at Polaris Fashion Place, a 1.5-million-square-foot regional mall in Columbus, Ohio, and before the start of the holiday shopping season, will be available at 19 additional Glimcher properties. When shoppers enter the Wi-Fi hotspot near Polaris' food court area, their laptops, smart phones and other wireless devices will immediately gain access to the center's Web site, complete with current merchant events and special promotions, according to Jessi Fausett, senior marketing manager with the Columbus-based REIT.
The trend is beginning to catch on — Developers Diversified Realty, a Beachwood, Ohio-based operator of shopping centers, is currently in talks with mobile marketing providers about rolling out a program at its properties. The firm plans to launch a mobile initiative by the first quarter of 2010, according to Scott Schroeder, vice president of marketing and corporate communications.
“Consumers are really taking advantage of technology and here they can turn on their laptop, learn about a promotion, print out a coupon [that they can use right away] and even make a reservation,” says Fausett.
Glimcher is also in the process of testing Twitter and Facebook pages at nine of its 26 properties. So is PREIT — the Twitter page for the one-million-square-foot Orlando Fashion Square already has 1,136 followers. And Facebook tests are under way at five of its malls in the Northeast.
Smart marketing
Using modern technology is not just about gaining exposure for the center, however. As tenants continue to suffer from falling consumer demand, property owners have realized that their marketing efforts have to tie in with retailers' sales efforts whenever possible, says Weber. That's why Kevin and Libby are not just a lark — their updates always contain information about where at Scottsdale Fashion Square shoppers can find the products they are marketing. That's why the contests Cousins holds on Facebook are often about the best deals shoppers can find at Avenue properties. That's why the timeline for Glimcher's rollout of wireless marketing is set for before the holiday season — so by the time holiday shopping is under way, the REIT can promote its tenants' merchandise as effectively as possible.
“We found that if we can take what the retailers are doing and leverage it, that's always successful,” Weber says. “The more we can make our events intersect with their business, the more successful it's going to be.”
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