2018 was a strong year for Pulte Homes that saw the brand utilize social media as a tool to help accomplish its overall business objective of selling homes, as well as harnessing the social community it had built in years prior to help increase brand awareness and affinity. After focusing primarily on engagements, awareness and channel growth in previous years, Fullscreen and Pulte Homes shifted the objectives in 2018 to 1) Generating qualified leads and driving web site traffic and 2) fueling positive social conversation and community.
We created a robust paid media and targeting strategy to drive qualified leads and web site traffic at the local level. To increasing net sentiment and positive online conversation, we developed social content to fuel conversation and discussion and created a comprehensive and "fan-first" engagement strategy to address both positive and negative comments to strengthen brand affinity and show the brand's commitment to its homeowners. This two-pronged approach allowed Pulte Homes to reach new audiences interested in purchasing a home, while also continuing to develop a positive relationship with its existing online community.
With the key objectives above in mind, Pulte Homes and Fullscreen established a multidimensional strategy to reach new potential homeowners and keep them engaged throughout their home buying process. We honed in on 3 key facets: 1) media strategy 2) content strategy and 3) engagement strategy. With this holistic approach we were able to produce informative and engaging content backed by targeted media that led to meaningful 1:1 conversations with consumers that helped drive Pulte's business forward.
The core of Pulte's 2018 media strategy concentrated on using Facebook conversion ads to generate leads and drive traffic to community-specific "Get Directions" web pages which have been deemed as significant actions that lead to an eventual home purchase. This approach allowed us to use social media to create a funnel of interested consumers and provide consumer contact info for Pulte sales representatives to follow up with directly. Conversion ads were served to users in Pulte's 27 markets with content that highlighted Pulte's differentiators as a new home builder as well as community-specific information. Targeting segments were created and continually optimized to efficiently reach those who may be in the market for a new home, such as: renters, families, homeowners, and lead-lookalikes.
The content strategy included monthly social content for the locally-targeted ads counter-balanced with national content that told the broader Pulte Homes story. National content was centered around 3 key messaging pillars. 1) Design 2) Quality and 3) Personalization. In addition to featuring a variety of interior and exterior images of Pulte homes from around the country, we created a social voice for the brand that was relatable and spoke about the homes and the home buying process in a relatable and audience-first way. Local conversion ad content highlighted the homes, neighborhood amenities, and surrounding city offerings to give consumers insight into what it could be like living in a Pulte home and neighborhood. This content came to life through various formats including: micro-videos, 360-photos, original illustration, and more.
Our engagement strategy centered on nurturing 1:1 conversations with fans and prospective home buyers to establish Pulte as a friendly and approachable expert on all things home buying and home owning. Social media served a primary platform for the brand to interact with people during their home buying journey. Whether sharing congratulatory messages on new homeowners' posts, providing information on specific communities, or helping users who were experiencing issues with their new home, it was a goal to actively engage in meaningful conversations and respond to all comments no matter if they were positive or negative. We also celebrated Pulte's social community by featuring select user-generated content on Pulte's social media handles.
This holistic approach enabled Pulte to drive consideration for new home purchases among new audiences while also bolstering its relationship with the existing audience, which were both instrumental in driving Pulte's business forward.
In 2018, Pulte Homes and Fullscreen successfully achieved the objectives and goals laid out in the sections above based on the results below.
OBJECTIVES & RESULTS
●Produce Qualified Leads and Significant Actions
○Generated 1,615 Qualified Leads (+432% YoY)
○Produced 10,204 Significant Actions of clicks on "Get Directions" from consumers who wanted to learn more and view the communities in person.
●Increase Net Sentiment & Positive Online Conversation
○Pulte increased its Net Sentiment to 68% in 2018, up 5% from 2017
■All other key competitors produced a Net Sentiment of 60% and under
■Increased Positive Sentiment +1.6% YoY
○Increased positive conversation by engaging and encouraging fans to post photos of their home.
■Pulte shared 32 pieces of UGC content, inspiring new homeowners to post for the chance to be featured
■This resulted in a 62% increase in earned UGC mentions from new Pulte Homes owners.
○Recognized as a top 10 brand to follow on social media specifically for engaging our audience with positive online conversations:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/10-brands-to-follow-on-social-media