Apartment Marketing Brass Tacks
“You need the kind of objectivity that makes you forget everything you’ve heard, clear the table, and do a factual study like a scientist would.” – Steve Wozniak
Short and sweet question(s) post today.
Do you ever feel like using social media to marketing apartments is like trying to smash a square peg into a round hole? Do you get the sense that we are trying so hard to make it work just because we just want it to? As opposed to following the advice of Steve W. and clearing the tables for some hard-core study of the real impact it is or is not making?
Have we been clouded by the hint of success we have seen from any one of the many mediums out there? A lease or two from Facebook, a lead from Twitter or a conversation stimulated by a killer resident function and we are quick to tout the success.
Have you found the effort to be worth the result? Do you think the real successes are down the road and over time?
In the end, content is not king – people are. People move business. And, people in relationship talk about businesses they like to do business with. Believe it or not – they usually do that offline.
Is it time to clear the table?
Your brass tacks multifamily maniac,
M
photo credit: blog mosaic
Own your Twitter Followers?
There is much ado about who owns the Twitter following you may have and or may create over the course of a work stint. This story Lawsuit May Determine Who Owns a Twitter Account – NYTimes.com over at the NY times highlights a company that is taking the matter to court to determine the answer.
Whatever the outcome, I have always been of the firm opinion that apartment management company employees should never cede to the pressure of commingling their personal brand handle in joint with the company they work for or with. For example: @Mike_MyEmployer or @MyEmployer_Mike. In my head, there is no chance and no way I would ever do that. Not in the context of personal branding world. Neither would I ever ask anyone I work for or with to do as much.
Now I am sure there a several camps out that agree or disagree and all for reasons that apply to their various interests.
But who is right?
Or, is there a right answer? And, as a company that champions social media as part of their branding/marketing strategies, should you push the issue? Would you terminate someone who refused to comply with the request to co-brand? Is it in your social media rules, regs, do’s and don’ts? Do you refuse to hire a soon to be hot personal brand superstar because he or she says – “yeah – no, my social graph is not up for discussion even if it is in the early stages of development.” “Neither am I willing to segregate business from personal?” Bold? Yes – but, it is out there.
Do you sue the guy that leaves with the list?
#apartmentmarketing: Twitter
The biggest mistake we see companies make when they first hit Twitter is to think about it as a channel to push out information. – Tim O’Reilly & Sarah Milstein – The Twitter Book
For those veterans out there in the media space this seems like a no brain-er but in a world steeped in tradition, it seems like the right thing to do. Take a new medium, insert old practices and principles and voila, we experience success. Except that we don’t.
Apartment Twitter Marketing in Saint Louis
Just this week, I followed up some new #STL Twitter handles [new apartment deliveries in the city proper]. I will admit, I was very encouraged to see their use of the medium included push marketing. Special after special, floor plan after floor plan, us – us – us & look at me copy – it all makes me smile inside.
It makes me smile because I don’t think it’s what those who use the space expect or even want to see. In other words, it’s a big turn off and at best it’s ignored and left to rot in a digital dump-ground way off over there in the dark ‘Cloud.’
Not that we at Mills Properties have it all figured out and are knocking it out of the park as a result. That being said, we do seem to experience a ton of participation from the people that work with and for us, the people that they serve in our some fifty properties in the Saint Louis Apartment Market and our coaches and mentors in the multifamily industry. All by using just the opposite approach and all for which we are immensely thankful. We keep experimenting, failing, learning, tweaking, experimenting & thanking those who give us feedback along the way.
Push Marketing on Twitter
Back to the point at hand; is there a time and place where this works? Have we reached that point or are we approaching a time where the masses that frequent Twitter, Facebook and the like expect, heck even desire to see some push marketing for goods and services?
Twitter – How businesses are using the platform to enhance customer experiences
Twitter is hitting the business mainstream in a number of ways. Check out this story from USATODAY.com
Travel firms respond to events, share news via Twitter – USATODAY.com
Hotels, airlines, airports and other travel companies are joining the Twitter community, too, to pitch services, update travel conditions and respond directly to the individual needs of customers. They’re finding the mobile nature of the technology is ideal for talking to travelers.
“We consider our Twitter account akin to an information booth,” says
Morgan Johnston, manager of corporate communication at JetBlue Airways.
“Responding to situations after they’ve happened is a great idea;
responding to situations while they’re happening is even better.”Twitter is a great customer experience tool but the one thing I would caution you against is pushing your services over the medium. The one word that pops out at me in this article is, response. Response vs. react, Twitter allows you to quickly catch and respond to experiences that are out of alignment with your core business values. And, I would encourage you to think of those responses as being a valuable marketing tool. If responded to in a agile manner, they could boost your business as much or more so than an expensive push campaign. Twitter is no doubt changing the way we interact and respond to our consumers. It really is up to you to get in the game.
Drop us a comment after you read the article, I think there is a lot of value gain from a good conversation on the topic.
Have a compelling Friday. M
RT: RB
You knew it was a matter of time before reblogging would find its way into our vernacular. The very popular Twitter is full of retweets (RT) born from an tweeters previous tweets. It is way of recognizing and drawing attention to a good tweet when you read one.
Will Zemanta make reblogging as easy as retweeting? That remains to be seen but I do think it is a cool concept and one that could send your community blog posts viral.
