Automated Online Marketing Tool for CRE Technophobes

By Mallory Bulman 

While the real estate industry has been notoriously slow at adopting new technology, it seems that the demand for technology integration is increasingly spurring owners, developers and tech creators to embrace the digital frontier. As of June 2017, Facebook reported its user base at a whopping 2 billion people. Two billion users makes Facebook the largest social media platform available, trailed by YouTube at 1.5 billion and its own Facebook Messenger at 1.2 billion, as reported by TechCrunch. 

When it comes to marketing, whether it be for a hospitality or retail business itself or for vacancies in commercial properties, Facebook and other social media platforms offer exposure that doesn’t compare to traditional routes like newspaper classifieds or roadside signage. Enter needls.: a digital advertising automation platform that takes the often confusing and dense arenas of targeting, audience identification and analytics out of the owner or management team’s hands. 

The self-proclaimed “first robo-agency” allows users to contribute their vital information, like promotional photos, branding materials and videos, and needls. will create engaging and visually striking ads for various platforms. It also can create a website, target possible customers and generate simple yet informative reports. 

A breakdown of the features includes:

• Automated Ad Creation: The user supplies necessary branding materials while needls. creates hundreds of ad variations for usage across different online platforms.
• Key Audience Creation: The platform identifies possible customers or tenants based on their online activity. Then, it displays timely advertisements on their social media feeds to optimize chances of conversion. For example, if someone on Facebook posts that they’re looking for office space, needls. will ensure that an ad for vacant office space appears to them and anyone with similar demographics or interests.
• Automatic Optimization and Retargeting: Since needls. is automated, features like A/B testing, predictive budget allocation, day parting and more are operating 24/7 to improve the campaign.
• Landing Page Creation: If a user doesn’t currently have a website to redirect to from an online ad, needls. can create one that will direct interested parties to the right contacts for sales and inquiries. 
• Simple Reporting: needls. generates simple reports that show which ads are performing well, and informs users about their audience.
• Full Analytics: For those with more technological expertise who want to see the nuts and bolts of the campaign’s performance.
• needls.ENGAGE: This feature curates content relevant to the user’s business, and can share it automatically on the business’ Facebook Business Page. This option can encourage interactivity with Facebook users and lead to new followers, and hopefully, new tenants or customers. 

Video courtesy of needls./YouTube