Using Social Media in the Property Management Business: Interview with Kayla Morris Roeder, Cambridge Management Group
Posted on 30. Sep, 2010 by Aimee Miller in Marketing
Kayla is one of the Owners of Cambridge Management Group and is also on the Board of Directors at the San Diego Apartment Association. Recently, I was able to ask her about how she uses social media in her business.
Q. What social media tactics are you using at Cambridge Management Group?
We use a mix of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and various other smaller social media sites. You’ll be surprised to learn how much residents and owners are using social media today. It is definitely making an impact on our business.
Q. Does using social media give you a competitive advantage?
Yes, I think it does. Having a social media presence takes time and effort but not a big budget. It is something that everyone can do regardless of the size of your company. And, it keeps us connected to our current and future residents as well as our owners.
Q. What is the main objective for your social media presence?
Our primary focus with social media content is resident retention. It also allows us to keep relationships with former residents and stay connected so that when they or a friend or relative are thinking about moving, Cambridge Management Group comes to mind. I also think that social media helps give a property management business a more “human face” that is personable and allows for a more relaxed environment where we can interact with our residents.
I think people are chasing the dollar too much with social media. For me it is about chasing the relationship and then hoping the dollar will follow. We are trying to be a resource within our community so we are an added value for our residents.
Q. How do you encourage resident participation on the Facebook and Twitter Page?
On the Cambridge Management social media sites, residents have access to discounted coupons that they can purchase for fun things like Disneyland and movie theaters. We post regularly with information on local events and announcements regarding our communities.
When it comes to blogging, I have a lot of RSS feeds I subscribe to in order to keep current. For our residents, we compile information on anything that we think is interesting, relevant or even entertaining; and for our owners we compile information on current industry trends, economic news, and what new regulations are coming down from our legislators. Not only are we a source of information but we try to keep it lighthearted.
Q. How is social media helping you market your business?
Owners use our blog as an up-to-date resource. We compile a lot of information about state and local legislation and then use this content in our quarterly newsletter. We have a lot of content about rentals in California and when people are searching for these types of topics, we come up on Google.
Q. How do you manage all of these social media sites – where do you find the time?
I have 3 different Facebook pages and I keep the business profile and fan page very separate from my personal “friend profile.” I have Twitter and Facebook linked so when I make a tweet, the comment is automatically posted to Facebook. I block out time each week to work on social media activities like writing a blog post or responding to Facebook comments for example. If you don’t schedule the time and prioritize it in your calendar, it doesn’t get done!
Q. Can you offer a property management company any advice with social media?
Here are a few things I think are really important:
- Keep it Simple. Don’t try and tackle everything at the same time
- Be Authentic. Try not to come across as pushy, aggressive, or “sales-y”
- Create Relationships and Build Referrals
- Keep Content Current. Post local updates that effect residents, such as local traffic or a water main shut-off
- Spark interest with a contest or free give-away
- Monitor the facebook traffic to your site and see what’s working and what’s not. Don’t be afraid to experiment
- Set parameters for content to keep your marketing message consistent. Don’t be afraid to allow managers to manage their own content for their property site. The point of social media is to create a social network with your residents, and who better to do this than our managers.
Make sure you have a social media policy for your company so that your managers know where their boundaries are. And make sure you monitor it.
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Marc Courtenay: Thanks for your comment. Please consider sharing t...
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Ryan @ Green Bay Commercial Real Estate: At least in our market (Green Bay) it seems to be ...
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Tammy Davis: Great Advice!...
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Sandy: I have strong doubts that this was a professional ...
Great interview and information, Kayla! Thanks for sharing and breaking it down to where it seems totally doable for all companies!
Great information, Kayla, so helpful! I’m new to social media marketing for property management, and you do a great job here of breaking down the necessary steps to creating a campaign. It shouldn’t be about pushing sales, it should be about creating closer bonds/relationships so we get valuable feedback and like you said, all we can do is hope the dollar will follow. Thanks!!
Thank you ladies! I appreciate your comments and am glad that you found this information useful. What is so exciting about social media is that regardless of the size of the property or company, we can all have a presence!
If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me. I am happy to help!
kayla@cambridgemgi.com
Great info Kayla! We have been blogging for almost a year now and have seen some nice traffic numbers from it. But how do you attract the different audiences? We also like to give owners info about market trends, new investment leads and things like that but then we also like to give residents and prospective residents information on events, city news and things of value to them. Can you do that with one blog or would it be wise to start a blog for each audience?
Thanks!
Ready, Aim, BACKFIRE!!
I have a Facebook hate page from a disgruntled tenant and have had more than one client leave because of this bad publicity.
The page was initially created by a tenant who had some work done for them by one of our repair people. The repair was incomplete and a bad example and we fired the maintenance person and repaired the work promptly with an apology and fast service (it was my brother-in-law’s house). Now every tenant that has their security deposit retained for whatever reason has a sounding board to make their complaints public. It is pointless to fight these people as it usually results in the Streisand Effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
Not all Social Media can be rewarding.
Ryan,
We have a total of 3 blogs…..one geared toward owners, one geared toward our residents, and one for our employees. Each one has been created and is updated with our target audience in mind. Our blog is linked to our twitter account which then in turn linked to our facebook page. So, it minimizes cross posting time and we are able to capture all audiences with just one post. I hope that helps! Thank you for your feedback!
Kayla
Steve,
I hear you! Unfortunately, as with any new technology or product in life, there are benefits and there are downsides. The goal is to learn to balance those. And, unfortunately, this type of technology is here to stay, and we must learn to manage and harness the power of it.
Social media, regardless of whether or not you are an active participant in it, requires every company and each employee within each organization to be on their A game, providing excellent customer service every day. Long gone are the days where organizations could treat people poorly and get away with it. With the speed of information flying around, it is imperative that each company address how they are doing business on a daily basis.
Our focus this next year as a company is to address those areas of social media where we find the negative about our company and try to turn it into a positive. And, while I think most of society understands that not everyone is going to be happy 100% of the time, it is important to try to create an environment where we have the ability to try and help guide how our presence is seen on the internet.
When I teach social media classes, I stress that you need to buy and/or have control over your brand. This includes purchasing URLs, taking control of screen names with your brand, and searching your brand constantly. If you have not already done it, you need to invest in purchasing URLs associated with your company’s name, (i.e.***sucks.com, ihate***.com, etc.), and make sure you have signed up for social media accounts with your brands name, even if they are not in use at the moment. I have seen other companies that have similar issues with people using their brand over the internet to create negative publicity;, so the best way to control it is to stay on top of it and take control of it.
I hope that helps! I appreciate you valuable feedback! This topic alone could be discussed at length, addressing tools for us as managers to use in dealing with the negativity we will cross paths with in the future.
Kayla