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10 More Pinterest Tips for Property Managers!

Charity Hisle — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:58:15 +0000

In our last post about Pinterest, we discussed why each property management group should have a Pinterest account. But how do you get creative with your account without being too salesy?

Here are ten more ideas for using Pinterest for your communities:

1. Create an account for your property management group then create a pinboard for every community.
2. Pin items of interest by category, here are a few ideas for categories:
a. Interior design ideas: create a board for each room of the home.
b. Fitness and Food: create a board that emphasizes healthy living and recipes.
c. Shopping lists: create a board as a handy move-in resource for new residents.
d. Create a board for each of your leasing agents with different themes.
e. Share an organization pinboard for unique storage ideas.
3. Have a Pinterest contest! Start a contest for prospects and residents to pin pictures of your community or have a scavenger hunt to find all of the items located on a contest board.
4. Create a board for good books or inspirational quotes.
5. Have a board for local restaurants.
6. Share local coupons and deals.
7. Comment on other pins.
8. Pin pictures of your communities and link to their websites in the description.
9. Add the pin button to your websites so that people can easily pin photos of your communities that they want to share with others.
10. Share photos of community events on Pinterest then share to your community Facebook wall.

Please share a link to your Pinterest page below so that we can all follow one another!

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Should Your Property Management Company Investigate Pinterest?

Charity Hisle — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:48:28 +0000

With over 4 million users, Pinterest is now in the top 10 list of social networks! It is a unique (and public) website that allows users to organize and share images and videos from across the web with one another. Think of Pinterest as an online bulletin board!

Pinterest provides the opportunity to visually demonstrate to others what is happening below the surface – all the while linking back to the original source of the image. People pin inspirational, educational, entertaining and fun photos and videos making each pinboard unique to the individual pinner.

The opportunities for local businesses, like apartment communities or real estate agencies, are endless!

10 Tips for Using Pinterest for Property Management

1. People are more likely to follow full pinboards than sparse ones.
2. Connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts to make sharing seamless.
3. Use the Pinterest ‘Pin It’ extension in your Google Chrome browser to pin on the fly!
4. Add contributors to your boards to bring personality and distribute the responsibility.
5. Don’t forget to “like” pins you may not want to repin.
6. Tag other Pinterest users in comments by typing the @ symbol before their name.
7. Add the $ symbol to the pin description to add a price to the banner of your photo.
8. Download the Pinterest app to your smartphone to pin on-the-go around the community.
9. Search for pins about your local community or sports teams to repin and follow.
10. Go to pinterest.com/source/__________.com to discover all of the pins that originated from a particular site.

Remember: use good keyword-rich descriptions of pins you upload for your communities for SEO purposes. Pinterest is invite-only – please comment on this post for an invitation of your own.

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What is Twitter? Part 1 of the Twitter Series for Property Managers

Protecting Your Brand Online

Charity Hisle — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:05:12 +0000

When I was growing up we lived near three grocery stores in Pensacola, Florida but were only allowed to shop at one. My Dad was the assistant manager at a grocery store chain called Delchamps. (Don’t worry, the Delchamps brand has been out of business for a long time!) If Dad wanted to keep his job, the rule was that we could not shop at another grocery store. If we, the family, were seen shopping at another grocery store, he could be fired.

By having this rule, Delchamps was attempting to protect their brand image. They wanted to make sure that no one got the wrong idea about why an employee would choose another grocery store to shop. This is back in the days when loyalty was expected from employers and employees, before Enron and WorldCom.

Things have changed today, and most businesses do not put purchasing requirements on employees. However, one thing that hasn’t changed is that brands are still worried about how employees represent their company – most especially online. Many businesses do not know where to begin or even recognize a need to set web employee behavior standards.

If Delchamps were still in business, I’d be willing to bet they would’ve done the following to maintain their company brand online:

Written a clear policy which covers employee social media interactions.

Hosted training sessions for employees to ensure they each sign off on company social media policies.

Educated employees on trademark infringement – because even if an employee infringes upon a trademark without your knowledge, your company can still be held liable.

Given employees permission to blog, tweet, Facebook, speak about their company, but would have been very clear about limitations on content.

Set guidelines on how to speak of their competition. Beware of what you say about your competitors online to avoid defamation lawsuits.

Delchamps was big on loyalty, even as a child I understood the expectations. Do your employees understand your company expectations for online behavior? Do you require your employees to sign a social media policy?

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Why Should I Rent from You?

Lisa Trosien — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:52:33 +0000

Your ads are compelling. Your website is easy to navigate and your floor plans are right there for me to review. I might even be able to place my furniture on them if you’ve got that functionality on your site.

Even better, your property is priced right and has great curb appeal. But, I’m still not sold. If I was, I probably would have reserved an apartment online. What’s missing? Probably what’s missing from most websites, leasing offices, collateral materials, property videos and more.

Q. What’s missing? A. Testimonials.

I need to know that other people like – or even better, LOVE – living at your property. And I haven’t seen one word of a testimonial on your site. So, what should I do? Well, I’ll do what everyone does in this day and age of social media – I’ll Google your site and see what comes up under your name. And believe me, there’s a wide variety of sites with opinions to share these days. If it’s not ApartmentRatings.com, it’s Yelp.com, or even a relative newcomer (at least to me), InsiderPages.com. And that’s where I find your property’s testimonials.

Not all of them are positive, but that’s okay. Like most people, I’m suspicious of products that have 100% positive ratings. But, I find it interesting that you haven’t responded to a single review on these sites. Why wouldn’t you take the time to respond? Your lack of participation on these sites tells me a couple of things (and I might not even be correct with my assumptions, but that’s not my problem – it’s yours).

1. It tells me you don’t care what people say about your company and your product. Isn’t that just a little bit arrogant? Can’t constructive criticism help you create a better product? And provide better service?

2. It tells me that you don’t even want to engage your clients in conversation about their experiences. Hmmm…how will you treat ME if I have an issue?

Would all of this been avoided if you’d have had testimonials on your site? Maybe, maybe not. But don’t you think that in this day and age of social media and word of mouth (let alone word of mouse) recommendations, you’d have thought of this?

Start using testimonials in your leasing office, in your models, on your website and even on your collateral materials, to distinguish your property management business from the competition. Have a variety of demographic groups in your testimonials. The 65 year old empty nester couple might not relate well to the 22 year old roommates fresh out of college in their first jobs, you know?

A couple more rules about your testimonials:

1. Use photos. People want to see who provided the testimonial.
2. Be specific. Have your residents give details on what they love about living at your property.

Why send people searching for reviews? Provide them for your prospect residents. They’ll soon become an invaluable selling tool.

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Helpful Holiday Facebook Strategies for Property Managers

Charity Hisle — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:00:17 +0000

How can an apartment community build their Facebook fan page audience by appealing to the good will of others? Since 72% of U.S. consumers will volunteer to participate in socially conscious opportunities, the holiday season is the perfect opportunity to encourage giving.

Below are two strategies to get your apartment community brainstorming. If your community uses one of these ideas or is implementing a unique idea, please come back and share your story with us.

Help a Family In Need

GOAL
Raise money for a local family in need while increasing your apartment community’s Facebook fan count.

TACTICS
1. Determine the maximum amount of money your community will contribute to this cause. (HINT: $500 – $1,000 seems like a good start.)

2. Announce to your residents, local friends, and local businesses that you’re raising money for a family in need. This can be done with posters, flyers, emails, and even when residents visit your leasing office. Don’t forget to share this information on your websites!

3. To determine the recipient family, have your fans nominate recipients via private/direct Facebook messages. They should include the name, address, description of family members and circumstances (foreclosure, job loss, illness). Keep your selection confidential.

4. Put a deadline on the event: December 20 would be time for the family to use the money to purchase their children gifts or pay their rent/mortgage for the next month.

5. Fan of the Season: Consider a drawing of all the fans of the Facebook page. On the deadline announce a winner and give a nominal prize.

6. Use Facebook to generate activity:

Create a new profile picture for your fan page to inspire giving.

Create a new Facebook event, using the deadline as the date of the event.

Encourage your onsite teams to participate.

Update Facebook daily and thank each new fan.

Invite residents and fans to come to the office to sign a card for the family.

7. For property management groups: consider having a contest to see which community gains the most fans. Make a list of the number of fans your community has today, and subtract that count from the total number of fans on December 20.

8. Deliver the gift to the family with a signed card from your community, via the person that nominated the family.

NOTE: Selection of family and donation should be discreet.

Raise Money for Charity

GOAL
To raise money for a local or national charity while increasing fan count. (HINT: determine a minimum goal $100, $250, $500, $1,000 ?)

TACTICS
1. This campaign is perfect for a property management group with multiple properties. There are two ways to organize this event:

Donate to a single charity from the corporate office

Encourage each individual community to select a charity

2. After selecting your strategy from above, utilize Facebook by:

Creating a new profile picture for your fan page.

Establishing a Facebook event, using the deadline as the date of the event.

Inviting everyone you know to participate by liking the page and pledging donations.

Allowing fans to pledge on Facebook. (HINT: even allow pledges as low as $1)

Collect the pledged money in the office safe or open a short-term savings account.

Permitting anonymous donations to be made by accepting the donation and posting on Facebook that an anonymous donation was received.

Updating Facebook daily with the total amount received and remind fans of the goal and thank each new fan and contributor daily.

3. Fan of the Season: Consider a drawing of all the fans of the Facebook page. On the deadline announce a winner and give a nominal prize!

4. For property management groups: consider having a contest to see which community collects the most money for charity. Reward the winning team with gift cards!

5. Don’t forget:

Post flyers, posters, signs around your community and neighboring businesses.

Encourage your onsite teams to participate.

Consider matching the funds raised.

Take pictures of those residents that donate in your office and post them on Facebook.

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Uh-Oh. My Facebook Fan Page is Filled with Vacancy Postings

Aimee Miller — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 23:22:39 +0000

Now that you’ve created a Facebook Fan Page for your Property Management company you need to actually post things to it! This is kind of like doing the laundry or unloading the dishwasher – even after you finish, you still aren’t really ‘done’ because there is more to do. If your Facebook Fan pages are filled with vacancies, updates and specials, it will take you a while to build a great fan base. Ask yourself – what would I find interesting, useful or entertaining?

Try to avoid these 3 common Facebook posting mistakes:

1) Your Facebook Page is Filled with New Vacancy Announcements
If you are posting all of your vacancies to Facebook and this is the only thing you’re posting, you’ll have trouble building a fan base. Vacancy postings are only really interesting if 1) they are the fanciest most beautiful apartments in the world or 2) I’m actually looking to rent a new place. Bottom line, if you’re just posting new listings on Facebook you’re probably not going to get or keep a ton of fans. For all of these social networking sites you should pretend you’re having a conversation with an actual person – if you just tell them about yourself (i.e. your vacancies), they won’t stick around for long! Knowing your audience is a must.

What should you do? It’s OK to post your vacancies but only when they’re mixed in with other interesting content.

2) You Regularly Post Promotions or Specials
Another common type of posting is to announce some type of special offer or current promotion. These can be effective and appreciated on Facebook, but only when they’re mixed in with other, interesting content. If you look at your page and you have a lot of these – think about the message you’re sending to your existing residents (why didn’t I get that special??). It’s fine to have these occasionally but not as the majority of your postings.

3) Your Page is Filled With Lots of Friendly Reminders
Posting reminders like “Don’t forget rent is due by the 3rd” or “Please don’t park in front of the leasing office” don’t really feel super friendly. But it is helpful to tell them if the pool will be closed for upgrades or if there is some construction in the neighborhood – these are updates that they might not have known and will make their lives easier. So, my suggestion is to keep friendly reminder postings to a minimum and think of creative ways to turn them into fun contests. For example – If you want them to pay their rent (generally an important thing to do) offer a fun contest to get residents signed up to pay online!

Remember that Facebook is your chance to be fun, give your company a ‘face’ and to provide value to your current and prospective customers.

With each post, ask yourself if your fans will find it:
A) Fun
B) Helpful
C) Interesting
D) All of the above

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Using Social Media in the Property Management Business: Interview with Kayla Morris Roeder, Cambridge Management Group

Aimee Miller — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:51:16 +0000

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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Property Managers: Know Your Audience When Marketing Online

Heather Blume — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:22:19 +0000

I tell people repeatedly that I’d rather that they had no Facebook page than seeing a poorly thought out and executed one. Yet, I keep logging on, “liking” pages, and seeing sales pitches.

If you go for the direct sale, you’re going to lose. Consider these stats from the video “Socialnomics”.

96% of people under the age of 30 belong to a social network

78% of people trust peer recommendations

14% of people trust advertising

90% of people TIVO past their ads

You have to remember who you’re talking to. You’re trying to market to generations who don’t trust marketing, who are characterized by being skeptical and who avoid marketing as much as possible. And you’re asking them to “like” a page with a sales pitch on it. I don’t think that’s going to pay off for you. Don’t have your landing page be a big explanation about your property and why you’re so great – they don’t care. A landing page should be a call to action. Personally, I love property management Facebook pages that land on the wall. I think it breeds more engagement and interaction.

If you knew your audience here, you’d know they’re shying away from anything that looks too “corporate.” You’d also know that one of the most important statistics you can look at on your Facebook Analytics is the number of “HIDE FEED” clicks you’re getting. It’s not just about getting the initial mouse click of “like,” it’s about maintaining the ability to show up in their news feeds when you post. To stay on someone’s news feed, you have to be putting out content that they like. It sounds pretty simple, but if you don’t know your audience it can be surprisingly complicated.

So, what do people want to hear about? Look to the community around you. Events, festivals, shopping, deals, things to do; these are all things that people who live in your apartments might care about. On top of that, you’re looking for news stories, interesting online sites, or other content that would be useful to those around you. Some of my favorite places to find content are www.buzzfeed.com and www.tesh.com, both of which have good pieces of interest that can generate engagement and interaction with your followers.

Also, bear in mind the direct demographics you’re trying to hit. If you’re a 55 and older community, I don’t think they’re going to care too much about Lindsay Lohan’s newest mugshot. On the other hand, they might car about some of the cool stuff that is handmade on Etsy.com or in being taught how to sell their own goods on the site.

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4 Facebook Lead Generation Tips for Property Managers

Charity Hisle — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:04:24 +0000

Can apartment communities increase their Facebook audience AND acquire leads?

Absolutely! We can take a page from a few top brands using Facebook today and apply similar techniques to our own marketing strategies. Here are 4 tips for getting leads on Facebook.

1. Talk WITH Fans
No, I don’t mean broadcast your specials! If you’ve been watching the trends lately, you’ve probably heard about the Old Spice YouTube campaign? Basically, Old Spice created impromptu videos in response to comments from their fans on Facebook and Twitter. (If you visit their Facebook page, click on the “Talk to OS Guy” tab. WARNING: Be prepared to spend some time watching the videos! They’re addictive!)

By having a 2-way conversation, the Old Spice Guy was able to increase sales by 107%. Sure, it was risky. People made negative, and stupid, comments but the campaign was a raving success. Old Spice was able to reach new customers with Facebook as a 2-way communication tool.

2. Get In Their Inbox
Does your community have a place for a prospect to request more information from you via Facebook? What about newsletter sign-up? The average Facebook user spends 7 hours per month on Facebook. Chili’s Facebook page has made it possible to target the users email Inbox. If commercial email campaigns return $43.62 for every dollar spent, then can you afford NOT to integrate your social strategies with your email strategies to generate more leads?

3. Offer Exclusive Incentives
A & W Restaurant knows what time it is! Friday, August 6th was National Root Beer Float Day. When a user “liked” their page a coupon became available for a “Free Float”.

What unique holiday can your community build on? How can your community offer a unique incentive worth sharing with their friends? Here are a few ideas:

National Dog Day is August 16th, National Cat Day is October 29th; fans could receive no pet deposit coupons for the months of August or October.

National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week is November 5-11th; with donation of supplies you could forego the pet deposit.

National Talk Like a Pirate Day falls on September 19th annually. Pick something creative and RUN with it Mate! Like no deposit for applicants wearing a pirate hat or an eye patch!

4. Make It Easy to Share
We all know Best Buy is the BEST at using social tools to their advantage. From Facebook to Twitter, Best Buy makes it easy for their customers to communicate online. BestBuy’s Facebook page allows customers to shop and share their thoughts and on Twitter they can ask questions to learn more about products from the Best Buy team.

How Can Sharing Generate Leads?

Photo and video tagging is very effective. Once a user tags themselves or their friends in photos taken at your community, that photo is then visible to all of their friends and on your Facebook page. As your residents to upload and tag photos from apartment community events to your page.

Refer-A-Friend contests have been extremely successful, if the right sharing tools exist on the Facebook page. The user that refers the most fans or generates the most leads wins! (Word of caution: acquaint yourself with Facebook’s terms of service before initiating contests.)

Leasing happens on Facebook. Now is the time to be unique and differentiate yourself from your competitors! How can you communicate with your residents and prospects in a unique way on Facebook?

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Helpful Holiday Facebook Strategies for Property Managers

How Property Managers Use Social Networking to Grow Their Business (Apr. 22 Webinar Recap)

Aimee Miller — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:53:16 +0000

In this April 22nd webinar video recording, Mike Whaling, social media expert for the residential property management industry, talks about how property managers can incorporate social media (think Facebook, Twitter, blogging) into their marketing efforts and to connect with current and prospective residents as well as prospective owners.

Related Posts:
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