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Horizon Realty’s Twitter Debacle: It Can Help You With Your Property Management Social Media Plan

Posted on 29. Jul, 2009 by Aimee Miller in Marketing

I love reading Copyblogger’s articles – they are funny and always educational. Their most recent recent post, “What the Horizon Realty FAIL Can Teach You About Social Media,” has great reminders for an effective social media strategy.

In a nutshell, a resident with only about 20 Twitter followers, tweeted (under the now expired Twitter account name abonnen) that her apartment had mold. Horizon Realty Group “protected their reputation” and sued her $50,000 for slander. Yes, it wasn’t a great PR move.

There are few key takeaways from the article:

1. Tweets are findable on both Twitter search and Google. Smart companies have alerts set up to search for their names because they know that every customer counts, even the smallest single resident. Set up your Google Alerts and Twilerts so you are listening all the time.
2. All publicity isn’t good publicity. If a customer says something negative about your company, don’t overreact! Understandably Horizon wanted to protect their name and I’m sure they regret their approach but they underestimated the power of the Internet.
3. You don’t get to play by the old rules any more regardless of your type of business. With the Internet every single piece of news can be found. For better or worse we aren’t anonymous. Assume everyone is listening all the time.

Related Posts
Using Social Media in the Property Management Business: Interview with Kayla Morris Roeder, Cambridge Management Group
Chris Brogan’s Social Media Ideas for Realtors (That Also Apply to Property Managers)
What is Twitter? Part 1 of the Twitter Series for Property Managers
Moving Marketing Online: Interview with Nick Scarabosio, Jackson Group Property Management
“Try Anti-Depressants,” and Other Ways Not to Respond to Resident Feedback

Tags: communication, internet marketing, resident retention, social media