Mobile Persuasion Innovation Project:
Working in teams, dream up a new application that could run on mobile phones of the future. You will create a prototype – probably a simple one – and test it with users.

That was the assignment handed out by BJ Fogg at the Stanford Persuasion Technology Lab during “How to Design the Future” week back in 2006, and students (including future Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger) busily got to work building their futuristic phone apps.

The germ of the Krieger team idea to build a photo-sharing application led to Instagram, which sold to Facebook on April 9 for $1 billion.

Are you looking for $1 billion dollar marketing ideas? Come see BJ Fogg keynote on mobile persuasion at AIM 2012, where he’ll show how mobile technology can influence the most wanted behaviors in apartment customers and residents. As a bonus, Fogg will analyze real-world mobile apps submitted for review (and we’re talking multifamily ones).

Don’t miss out on Fogg’s presentation: It’s the last week to register for AIM 2012.

Speaking at AIM 2012 (left to right) Judy Bellack, Dennis Cogbill, John Kobs and Dennis Smillie

I’ve been talking to quite a few reporters and editors in the apartment trade media over the past week about PRIMEDIA’s announcement that it plans to purchase Rent.com from eBay. “So what’s next?” they ask, or, even more pointedly: “What does all of this mean—if anything—to apartment operators and marketers?”

Perhaps the more critical question that needs to be asked is what does ILS consolidation, and really the total evolution of “first-look” online apartment marketing, mean to the customer? By “first-look” I mean exactly that: what is the first thing a prospect sees in the lifecycle that eventually ends with them moving their furniture into an apartment unit (and hopefully renewing at the end of their lease expiration)? What is the beginning of the customer experience?

At AIM 2012 – Customer First, you’ll hear from a panel of top experts who are on the front lines of first-look customer experience. Judy Bellack, Dennis Cogbill and John Kobs will speak on “What Prospects See When Visiting an ILS,” a blockbuster discussion, to be moderated by Dennis Smillie, that will survey best-in-class opportunities for enhancing multifamily’s presence in the first-look customer experience.

It’s the perfect opportunity to catch multifamily marketing experts and get exclusive insight into an industry flash point in the making. If the deal happens to close between now and AIM, attendees will again have a first-look into online multifamily marketing trends in the making. Either way I’d personally wager the panel will be another tour-de-force apartment marketing presentation—we’ve got 18 of them prepared for you at AIM, not to mention three days of world-class multifamily networking.

Don’t miss out: Register for AIM 2012 – Customer First.

Persuasive technology: systems and machines designed to influence human belief and behaviors, usually with the intent to bring about positive change.

Wow, when I first read that I thought I was reading the intro to an Aldous Huxley novel. Turns out, persuasive technologies are already all around us —from mobile phone apps to Facebook tags. So, if you think there’s a persuasive technology application to apartment marketing you’d be right on, and if you figured by now those applications would be featured at AIM 2012 you’d be right on again.

AIM conference producers are proud to welcome Stanford University professor and persuasive technology guru BJ Fogg as the AIM 2012 keynote speaker. As the director of research and design at Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab, Fogg’s message of how to bring people into the mobile and online experience is sure to resonate with apartment marketers (see, for instance, the video on how Facebook uses persuasive technologies above). More importantly, Fogg’s focus and analysis on “looking at what works and expanding upon it” couldn’t be a better example of the AIM 2012 Customer First theme.

“Convenience and easy access to information on every device are what shoppers care about.  AIM 2012 will deliver best practices in making great online (and offline) renting experiences a reality,” says AIM producer Steve Lefkovits. “BJ Fogg is at the bleeding edge of how we create systems to change human behavior, and his AIM 2012 keynote on mobile persuasion technology couldn’t be better timed for multifamily marketers.”

During the 3 days at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown hotel, AIM 2012 attendees will navigate strategies within the online user experience and across topics including mobile marketing, social media — even ethnography. Challenge yourself to think Customer First at AIM 2012 and register today to access the best Internet marketing education value for multifamily executives.

Register today for AIM 2012 — $595 until February 17, $695 thereafter.

It's confirmed!  AIM 2011 will be held at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa May 2-4.  Please mark your calendars!  Last year 400 apartment industry executives joined in the learning, teaching, sharing and discovery of everything involved in effective web marketing. 2011 promises to be even bigger and more comprehensive.

We're always looking for good ideas about what to present.  If you're an apartment owner/operator and have ideas about areas where you'd like help improving your marketing, please let us know.  Please email or call Steve Lefkovits and share your thoughts (510) 444-2988 or steve [at] jtimedia.com.

Two years ago at AIM, experts from Sitewire, a full-service digital advertising agency, did a usability analysis of a renter’s search experience from start to finish. They recently caught our eye again.  Sitewire just published a fascinating post on juicing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) results that leverages eBay ad listings.

Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is a popular and effective way to market your company or services. However, those clicks can add up and result in a costly campaign, often times leaving the marketer wondering how to increase SEO without spending thousands.

Danny Stansfield at Sitewire takes a closer look at how to use eBay to get local Google search listings. He theorizes that by listing your item using keywords that a Google searcher would use as well as an eBay buyer, you can take advantage of eBay’s deep pockets to substantially increase your SEO on Google.

Stansfield is in the process of testing his theory one step further by testing how this strategy could affect local listings in Google.  While perhaps not directly applicable to apartment marketers, the theory of placing keywords in a larger site’s ad listings is worth thinking about carefully.  All of the apartment ILS sites can provide this same function.

Read more about Getting Local Google Search Listings with eBay here.