Can Apartment Marketers Afford to Disconnect a 24/7 generation?

You will hear it again and again in 2010 – what started out as a simple and subtle tap on the window has become a crashing of such proportions that you can not ignore it anymore. Business as we know it has changed and like it or not social mediums are here to stay. The question for the coming year is, will you embrace change [embrace engagement] or will you be comfortable with irrelevance? Harvard Business Publishing posted a story titled: The Uber-Connected Organization: A Mandate for 2010 In it, Jeanne C Meister and Karie Willyerd bring notice to a number of companies embracing business as it relates to social media. They really drill home the point of access and I would like to expand on that in the context of the apartment industry.

Apartment employees access to social media

We have all heard of NetNanny and other Internet site blocking technologies used to cut off access. Meister and Willyerd suggest that, “Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos on YouTube, using social networking sites like Facebook or shopping online under the pretense that it costs millions in lost productivity, however that’s not always the case.” I suggest, in lieu of the monies dedicated to blocking initiatives, it might be time to re-imagine your culture and spend some of those monies enhancing your employees experiences.

One inexpensive example, image turning your employees loose to use Multifamily Insiders – a social media mecca for great ideas relative to our industry. Imagine your employees trading best practices with some of the industries best and brightest visionaries, consultants, practitioners and idea generators. The site includes people that dream stuff up, people who devise strategies about those dreams, people who get out and try things, fail, fix and try again and their are others who give opinions on it all. And, still more that just quietly observe. Point is that there is a mountain of information out there free of charge and ready to use but not if you block access.

Gen Y apartment talent expects access

The article speaks to the fact that by 2014 1/2 of the workforce will be comprised of Gen Y. Much has been written about the idea of this generation growing up digital. The term, social media, is not used to frame conversations like it is with older generations. It is just what they do. It’s the way they communicate. It makes up, to some degree, who they are. Think about it in terms of the multifamily demand boom coming our way.

We have all either written about or read about the coming [it is here] boom in demand created by Gen Y. Much has been made about the idea of Gen Y propping up the profits of the multifamily market for some time to come, especially in light of the stall in supply. Now if the lion’s share of occupancy is going to come in the way of Gen Y residents and 1/2 of the workforce is going to be Gen Y and Gen Y communicates via social media then why would you block access? Facebook is just what they do – Twitter [not as much] is just what they do – Text messaging is just what they do. Communicating experiences is just what they do. Cut it off and they just won’t work for you. Rather they will work for your competitor who is embracing business are it relates to today’s workforce.

If you don’t embrace change – I encourage you to get comfortable with irrelevance

Why would you not allow access? Why would you cut off the very essence of what defines Gen Y? I’ve tried to think through the downfalls and, there are some that have merit. But there are zero that would keep me up at night – that is provided our organizations guide the conversation. Will there be hiccups? Yes. We have already seen a few in this space. As the article implies in this quote, “Has blocking Facebook today become the equivalent of denying an employee access to a phone at work 40 years ago or email 20 years ago?” I have to believe there were hiccups when we finally gave up control of these communication mediums – I bet we could site some as recent as yesterday.

[Update] Found this over at The Marketing Spot – speaks to the point and could just as easily been social media holding up the productivity [in this case customer service]:

“When we landed in Dallas after an 11 hour flight from Tokyo, and I wanted some coffee. I was expecting the same type of customer service I received at Starbucks in Seoul (they are everywhere in Seoul too). The lone employee on duty at the Starbucks in DFW Terminal B was having a personal conversation on the store phone. Two people were in line. After she leisurely finished her conversation, she took one person’s order, then begin to make his drink, leaving me and the other customer in line waiting, not even acknowledging us. I left without ordering. You’re not in Seoul anymore, Dorothy.”

To sum up – can you really afford not to re-imagine your organization in 2010 as it relates to the use of social media? Can you really afford to cut off access to a 24/7 connected generation? Remember they are/will be the front line serving your target 24/7 connected generation. Remember there are trailblazers out there that are willing to give them what they want. My speculation is those organizations will love being relevant.