The Challenge

How does a triple-net Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) hit its B2B marketing goals? Partner with Marketwave.

Spirit Realty Capital came to us in the spring of 2017 eager to rebrand and revitalize its marketing after relocating its headquarters from Scottsdale, Ariz., to Dallas. Part of a larger marketing strategy, Spirit was open to venturing into social media with the goals of connecting with potential tenants and investors, generating increased foot traffic at trade shows and enhancing thought leadership in the market.

Solution

Marketwave conducted a thorough social media competitive analysis and discovered Spirit could increase brand recognition and awareness by leveraging a couple of key social media channels.

Our team:

• Concluded there was a realistic opportunity to seize more share of voice because only two competitors of similar national scope had a social media presence whatsoever.
• Determined LinkedIn and Twitter would be the right platforms for Spirit to leverage because both already offered relevant conversations about the REIT business.
• Distilled Spirit’s core values and business practices via our signature brand strategy approach, Brandwave, and researched how to market Spirit’s strengths in short soundbites for social media.
• Customized Spirit’s LinkedIn page design and created a Twitter account with the objective of finding and connecting with influential followers.
• Created weekly content calendars – approved by the client – to connect with the target market.

Results 

Spirit now has a robust social media presence relative to other REITs. It posts content more frequently than competitors and, consequently, generates strong engagement numbers. The short and long-term results were:

• In the first six months, Spirit’s LinkedIn followers increased from 54 to 450 – an 833% increase – and Twitter followers went from 0 to 185.
• Spirit surpassed 1,500 followers between the two platforms in 2019.
• Spirit experienced a 25% uptick in foot traffic at trade shows, given the pre-show social media pushes.
• And, increased foot traffic led to new sales leads for its asset management team.