SocialNomics and the Future of the Housing Market

by Bob Stovall

Editor’s Intro: Bob is more than a friend and trusted colleague who happens to know TONS about internet marketing. Bob has MH investments of his own, and has successfully promoted numerous firms in the factory built, MHC and traditional real estate arenas. Read carefully, and follow this series, because this IS the future! It could dramatically change the way we market our industry’s homes, products, services and communities – for good.)

Orange Cat Productions logo What do Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn mean to you? What do they mean to the manufactured housing industry? You've no doubt heard of them. But what do they really mean to you and your manufactured housing business?

Aside from being social sites, where people meet and gossip, they are essential outlets for your business's marketing strategy. Using social media properly can bring you real business. Not using them at all might leave you out of a new and growing marketplace. Using social media improperly could damage your company's reputation with today's younger buyers.

Do you have to participate in every one of them? No, but it would certainly be to our business's advantage whether you are a national manufacturer, supplier or local dealer.

There is a whole new generation of consumers coming to market. They have little faith in TV, radio and newspaper advertising. Heck, they don't even read mainstream newspapers and magazines. That is why the traditional newspaper business is dying.

Where do tomorrow's consumers get their information on which products to buy? From those afore-mentioned social networks. They rely on trusted individuals to give them the social proof that propels them to buy. 78% of comsumers trust peer recommendations - just 14% trust avertisements.

What are they saying about you and your business? Do you think you should have a say in the conversation that will make or break your company in future?

The purpose of this column is going to be to give you the information you need to make informed decisions on how to build your online marketing strategy. Over the next months, we'll be looking at different social media outlets and some proven online marketing techniques to help you build your business.

Before we can do that, you need a solid primer on what is happening in the online world right now. So get ready!

There's a short video that you need to see right now. Take a few minutes to discover SocialNomics. Your future depends on it.

Bob Stovall photo Bob Stovall started marketing on the Internet in 1991, using the available resources CompuServe, America Online and various bulletin board services (BBSs) to promote a non-profit organization he had founded. In the years since, Bob has worked with Fortune 500 and other companies, such as AT&T Wireless, Lucent Technologies, B&G Foods, Phillips Communications and many smaller housing and real estate related firms. Bob has presented programs on Internet marketing at Chamber of Commerce and other events and the MobileWealth.com Seminars. You can contact Bob at Orange Cat Productions by phone at 859-544-9005 or by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . His company website is at www.OrangeCat.com and Bob's Local Business Marketing Blog is at BobStovall.com. Feedback, comments and questions are welcome - use the comment area below.