How multifamily executives can use social media for their business.
Originally presented by Greg Starr from Property Centric and Mike Whaling from 30 Lines on October 14, 2009.
6. >> It levels the playing eld
by giving you a voice.
>> It gives you a direct connection
to your customers.
>> It gives your customers a direct
connection to each other.
18. Build your presence.
>> Create communication hubs.
>> Set up outposts.
>> Keep the message consistent.
>> Don’t forget maps and listing sites.
>> Keep them current.
27. Obstacles
>> “What if somebody says something bad?”
>> “What’s the ROI?” (Risk Of Inaction)
>> “It’s a fad.” (Fundamental change in habits)
>> “I don’t have the time.”
28. Making it work for your company
>> Develop policies that ts your team
>> Communicate goals, de ne roles
>> Provide tools to help staff succeed
>> EDUCATE
>> Understand regulations (FTC)
36. Urbane results:
>> Website traffic up 65%.
>> Blog traffic grows 35% monthly.
>> Participation in Urbane Lobby up 400%.
37. More results:
>> Little paid advertising over past year.
>> Nearly 100% increase in lease conversion.
>> Rents 3-4x higher than local competition.
>> Brand awareness drives retention.
>> Avg. cost per lease = $130.
41. Look at the whole picture.
>> Your brand is how people perceive you.
What other say about you is more
important than ever before.
>> Like it or not, social media leads to
conversations about your company.
Participating helps you control the
message.
Get out of broadcast mode and start listening to your customers.
Use tools like Google Alerts, Google Blog Search, Twitter Search, and Technorati to identify where conversations are happening ... conversations about you, your brand, your staff, your neighborhood, your competition, anything relevant to your business.
Find your audience, find ways to connect.
Enterprise Community Partners
The easiest way to build your network? Be approachable.
Scott Ginsberg - http://hellomynameisscott.com
Treat it like a cocktail party ... you can’t be too aggressive or annoying. Don’t be “that guy.”
Find the most vocal, most passionate people ... then look for ways to help them.
Being interesting all the time can be tough. Think of yourself as a DJ, a talk show host, or an information concierge.
Create a “playlist” worthy of your audience’s attention.
One great way to claim your presence is to create a blog. Here, you can play DJ by highlighting what’s cool and what’s new around town.
Examples: Surfing Nosara - http://surfingnosara.com (Hat tip to Eric Wu for this example.)
Fans / followers
Interactions – posts, comments
Mentions
Signups / Subscribers
Web Analytics - Web traffic /  Referring traffic
Feedback, positive and negative
Evangelists
Urbane Lobby: http://urbanelobby.com
The Urbane Life blog - http://urbaneblog.com
Do a search for your company, your organization, your competition … see what comes up. Also, try tools by using them internally first.
http://thecorporatemullet.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cardopoli/219069323/
These initiatives are tough to do at each property. Have a local mindset, but focus on a bigger idea ... focus on building a bigger brand message. One last great example (regardless of your politics) ... CHANGE.
Multifamily Insiders: http://www.multifamilyinsiders.com
Resident 2.0: http://www.resident20.com
LinkedIn groups: http://www.linkedin.com
Twitter contacts ==> See next slide for links.
Industry contacts on Twitter:
- Eric Brown: http://twitter.com/Eric_Urbane
- Lisa Trosien: http://twitter.com/ltrosien
- Charity Hisle: http://twitter.com/CharityHisle
- Heather Blume: http://twitter.com/artchickhb
- Brent Williams: http://twitter.com/brentwilliams2
- Eric Wu: http://twitter.com/RentWiki
- Resident 2.0: http://twitter.com/Resident20
- Training Factor: http://twitter.com/trainingfactor
Resources:
- Groundswell: http://groundswell.forrester.com
- Trust Agents: http://chrisbrogan.com
- Cluetrain Manifesto: http://www.cluetrain.com
- Tribes (Seth Godin): http://www.triiibes.com
- Social Media Today: http://www.socialmediatoday.com
- MarketingProfs: http://www.marketingprofs.com
- Hello! My Name is Scott: http://hellomynameisscott.com