Nudge, a marketing application designed for the real estate space, has released an update that incorporates Instagram into its offerings.
The integration expands the application’s photo and visual bona fides, not surprisingly — but also expands Nudge’s potential audience, since its inclusion makes the app flexible enough to be used by any business.
A Nudge to Open
To understand how the Instagram integration expands Nudge, though, one has to understand what a Nudge nudge is.
A nudge is a piece of digital marketing — but not any type of copy, explained Nudge cofounder Marc Davison. Rather, a nudge adheres to the theory that less is more, especially when accompanied by an eye-catching photo.
“A nudge follows a specific format,” Davison told CRM Buyer. “It has a headline, the visual, some brief copy and a definitive call to action.”
It can be distributed any way the broker or real estate agent wants — via social media or email, for instance. The nudge is created via a wizard-based template that walks the user through creating the graphic design elements.
“It creates a perfect envelope — and it is designed to get viewers to open it,” Davison said. “That is why we call it a nudge and why we called the application Nudge.”
Integrating Instagram
The integration with Instagram makes the image creation process much easier and more expansive — and opens the app to other users.
“With Instagram you can create a nudge around anything — a restaurant opening or a new clothing store,” Davison said.
In short, it supports any endeavor in which images and visuals would give marketing a boost. The company picked Instagram over, say, Pinterest deliberately — largely because with Instagram the photos are content that the user owns.
“On Pinterest, they have to give credit to the content,” Davison pointed out.
Marketing, obviously, requires ownership of the content in question, he said.
Still a Real Estate App
Despite stepping a bit outside of its real estate sphere, Nudge is still very much an industry-focused application. The application was launched with real estate in mind. Brokers and agents were invited to create nudges to announce new listings or a price reduction, or to communicate some change in a neighborhood.
It was an easy sell, because a good deal of real estate marketing is based on grainy photos and dry charts, Davison said. The application launched this spring after dozens of brokerage companies beta-tested it. The photo integration was an oft-repeated request.
A subscription to Nudge is US$149 a year. Volume licenses are available for brokerages, MLSs and associations.