Apartment marketing
Raving Apartment Fans Equal Efficient Search Results
“If you don’t like change, you will like irrelevance even less.” – General Eric Shinseki
When I think of ILS’s as we know them today, I can’t help but to think about them in the context of irrelevance. Now that is not to suggest they are going away nor do I think they should. That being said, the apartment advertising community have long been the middlemen – positioned brilliantly right between owners and renters. They had the appropriate amount of influence that allowed them to assemble the audience that owner’s needed to put heads on beds. That is until the web became hyper social. As it stands, the tide has been shifting for the past few years and with the advent of social platforms, real time search, hyper-local content development and curation along with distribution – a wave is about to crash down.
Google and Bing and the great Twitter Integration
Jeremiah Owyang noted in a recent Forbes.com article that Google and Bing announced partnerships with Twitter that would move tweets into search results. He went on to say that, “Eventually, tweets, blogs and Facebook wall posts will influence these search results. The effects on paid search marketing are unpredictable.” I see that this way, the more consumer [user] generated content that is created via social platforms and migrated into search, the more the ability to influence falls away from the middleman. The point here for ILS’s is that you had better get social or you better get comfortable with irrelevance. The point here for owners is that you had better get social or you’ll continue being subject to the middleman.
Community Sherpa
I think what Dan McCarthy has done with the Sherpa is brilliant and in the same breath I would say it’s the same song just a far different dance. It’s the ILS re-imagined. And, it’s the middleman re-imagined. Moreover, to the extent that shrewd [I mean that in the smartest of senses] business leaders, like Dan, can influence the herd by accumulating and organizing organic and repositioned works of content then they keep their position in the middle and owners keep paying the monthly fee to feed from the audience trough. I must admit – it truly is a brilliant use of the very mediums any operator out there can use to their own advantage. My suggestion, don’t be seduced by the thought that it’s too difficult to manage. Is it difficult? Yes. Is it impossible? No. Is it worth the effort to do it yourself? Yes. I say re-imagine your organization and cut right to the consumer.
Raving Apartment Fans Equal Efficient Search Results
The game has shifted and giving consumers a reason to rave about you via any and all social platforms for the reason of generating Google and now Bing Juice is the end all be all. It’s about your opportunity to cut out the middleman. The writing that is drying fast on the walls of change is a more hyper local real time social content driven net means a more efficient consumer search. Today the consumer can miss the ILS and other apartment specific media all together and land right in the lap of an astutue apartment owner. The key? Care about your consumer’s experience. Engage them with relevant context and content. The point? You want to move them emotionally so that they [not the new middlemen] create the Juice.
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.
Huge and Compelling Opportunity to Win an Influencer
I think this story in the Daily Egyptian has compelling opportunity written all over it – we shall see.
*Now one might argue that it is inappropriate for me to highlight such an article and they may be right. The way I see it, however, is that I would invite the same approach if the tables were turned. I see it as an opportunity for everyone involved to get better. I see it as an opportunity for the end user to yield a better experience the next time around – be it with this community and or any other in the market. And, I see it as an opportunity to start some conversation.
The article, from the Universities daily rag, speaks to a slight hiccup in the move experience of several local university students. Here is a short excerpt:
“But Thibodeaux said when she moved into one of the brand-new, fully-furnished apartments on July 31, not only were none of those amenities available, but some essentials such as room doorknobs weren’t installed. She and other renters were also promised a private bus to and from campus, a state-of-the-art exercise room and a swimming pool with a hot tub, none of which were available when residents moved in, she said.”
I feel for the both the developer and the residents of the community as I am sure the hopes were high on both sides. I am certain the developer did not predict the dire reality of today’s economy. And, the future residents were high on the thought of living in a brand new community located right down the street from the campus. The thing I applaud most about this is the courage of one person to stand up and be heard. I can only imagine what would come of this is Thibodeaux were to really exercise the power of social media. I also feel for the on- site team as evidenced by the following;
“Thibodeaux said she was told to “stop complaining” and to “get over it” when she spoke with Walker about the various issues.”
In all fairness I have to put myself in the shoes of Walker – I imagine she had the same utopia that students had – she would be working on the newest and nicest community in town and when that vision did not come to fruition she was left to do the explaining. A tough job under any circumstance.
Despite the less than wonderful circumstance, I do think there is a win in here for all parties. If able minds from the developer to the operators to the residents come to the table – this story could have a happy ending. And, if it does it would be cool to see Thibodeaux along with others become huge evangelist for the community.
*This new community is just blocks away from a property I manage…
Give Customers What They Want
Seth posted a great story today title Everyone is Clueless – the video is especially compelling and is laced with a ton of powerful business lessons.
My biggest take away – we should be marketing reusable positions in lieu of recycling positions – it was a duh! moment for me. Now – how do we translate that to the apartment space.
I was also hit with the reinforcing message of: Give the customer what they want.
Check out the video
Peter is a Patriots Fan – Could he be a Mills Properties Fan?
My week was more than eventful – transitioned 1100 new units [what an amazing team we have – so many talented people made this happen], walked a fire unit with an insurance adjuster, experienced two alarms that called for an ambulance and fire truck, handed off a property and talked to a guy named Peter.
Peter was less than happy that the lighting in our parking lot was not as bright as he thought it should be. It rocked that I could tell him that we approved some lighting improvement proposals the day before but he was not satisfied. He really wanted to discuss the fact that the new parking policy was not accommodating for he and his daughter. You see they are taking a trip to Boston next week and past management allowed him to park in the open reserved parking spots for a mere $5 a day. I said, “no worries” – let’s go get you a spot now. “Okay, but did you know the reason that I moved into this apartment was that my employer is right across the street but….at that moment he raised his hand to the sky and exposed an New England Patriots watch. I stopped Pete mid speech and said, “you’re not a Pariots fan, are you?” He said, “You’re damn right I am, let me tell you a funny story.”
Pete went on for the next fifteen minutes [fifteen minutes I really didn’t have but I knew would yield huge dividends] telling me a story about Saint Louis sports teams losing every sporting event they were involved in to a Boston area team during a certain week back in 1994 – he knew it was 94′ as it bared some significance to a major family event. Pete ended his story by telling me that Mills was the best thing that ever happened to the property and that he sees the things we are doing to make the place better. I have to believe it was the fifteen minutes of listening that matter most to Pete.
Is Pete a fan? I venture to say he is still in the wait and see stage but I guarantee you he will be over the next year. And, if the Patriots ever come to town – Pete will have a pair of tickets – on me.
