Apartment Social Media
Apartment Reviews – Reimagined
Looking back
Back in October of 2007 we wrote about participating in the conversation via rating sites and even suggested incorporating a mechanism into your property management website to make it easier. Here is a bit of a revised excerpt from that post;
“If you are still of the mind that dismisses the value of sites like apartmentratings.com, listen up. The feedback outlined in the brief above [Deloitte] should move you to action as soon as possible. I truly think we should all open up our company websites to include a consumer and resident feedback mechanism. Instead of internal score keeping, make it completely transparent. My only suggesting is that you have an editor just for the sake of carving out names and character attacks as we know they will come despite our best efforts. Even with that in mind you have to be courageous enough to leave the meat and more importantly act on it.”
Two years later
Here we are nearly two years later in the midst of the conversation marketing buzz and while a good many of us are participating there is still a hesitancy to move that conversation to our websites. Even those that have don’t really have a great deal of participation in terms of consumers reviewing them.
Two years from now
Not only is the writing on the wall but the ink is dry and the conversation is going on with or without you. And, the benefits are immense when you bring the conversation to you;
- You have the ability to increase your credibility
- You have the ability to participate
- You have the ability to influence
- You have the ability to increase your Google Juice
- You have the ability to innovate with your consumer
- You have the ability to create evangelist
- You have the ability to generate further participation
- You have the ability to create loyalty
- You have the ability to create an environment where people feel they are part of something larger than themselves
- You have that ability to respond in lieu of react [there is a big difference]
The more important point here is: how do we increase participation to an Amazonish or iTuneish type level? Do we ask former potential, existing or former residents to review their experience relative to their specific unit such that every unit takes on its very own unique rating? Would that allow us to price higher rated homes differently than lower rated homes. I see it as a great mechanism to allow us the opportunity to really maximize our rents. Maybe the lease rent optimizers out there employee a unit rating lever into their pricing algorithms. The ideas are endless – acting is the key.
Outsource Your Social?
Found this interesting chart over at SmartBlog
Should companies ever outsource their social-media activities?
| No, this runs counter to the idea behind social media. |  58.79% |
| It depends. |  24.18% |
| Yes, if it makes sense financially. |  14.29% |
| I’m undecided. |  2.75% |
|
Curious what the community thinks – For the record – I fall in the majority.
Purchasing feedback: I will pay you vs. I will give you something free
Read the following tweet this morning [RT @[xyz] @[abc] Suggest that you give away a free Flip to every prospect/resident that creates a [management company] Experience Video, Beats free rent] – it really got me thinking.
I have read both sides of this issue and have taken the position that if you disclose that you are paying for and or giving something away in exchange for an endorsement then frankly it’s okay. It really comes down to what is in the eye of the beholder. And, I think, at the end of the day, if a person really wants a product/experience they will go and get it/have it despite the persons of influence in their lives. They may read and listen but if they want it – they want it, period.
My real point here is that the above tweet implies that it’s okay to give away a Flip in exchange for an endorsement. Moreover it specifically states that it’s better than giving away free rent. On that point I ask: What’s the difference? – give away free rent or buy 20 Flips to give away – either way you hit the bottom line. Sure buying the Flip is cheaper and brings along a novelty that escaped the free rent give away long ago but it’s still an expense. It’s just a different form of currency. Marry it with a “you get the Flip free “if” you give me an endorsement and you have really marred the picture but I will leave that for future conversation.
For now – I really wonder what the community thinks – Is the Flip, used in this sense, a form of currency that could be construed as purchasing feedback? If so, is that okay? Would it pass a Yelp sniff test? Do you think the masses really care? Would you give equal stage to people who would speak conversely about your brand experience? Is it better than free rent? If so, why?
All the Best Intentions in the Social Media World
Tom Peters has carved out a very unique niche in the business consulting arena and rightfully so. His ideas, dating back 25+ years are as relevant today as they were back then. Many of them are still cutting the edge that we all innately yearn for. Over this Mother’s Day weekend I managed to read a post that really hit home in a simple but important kind of way. The following is an excerpt from the blog titled: Wrong Answer!
When I got back from the field, covered with mud (it was rainy season), I was sent directly to the Commandant with no time to change into a respectable uniform—a great embarrassment. General Chapman engaged in all of about 15 seconds of chitchat, and having done his duty to my aunt, sent me on my way. As I was literally walking out of his temporary field office, he summoned me back, and said, out of the blue, “Tom, are you taking care of your men?” (I had a little detachment, about 20 guys as I recall, doing the work described before.)
Yup, 40 years plus later, I remember his exact words—which is the point of this Post. I replied to the General, “I’m doing my best, sir.” To this day, with a chill going up my spine (no kidding—as I type this), I can see his face darken, and his voice harden, “Mr Peters, General Walt and I and General Buse are not interested in whether or not you are ‘doing your best.’ We simply expect you to get the job done—and to take care of your sailors. Period. That will be all, Lieutenant.”
The line, “we simple expect you to get the job done,” took me back to 1996. It was my rookie year in the role of property manager and I was as confident as they come – on top of the world and on top of my game. Or, so I thought.
The hand written note read; “all the best intentions in the world are worth nothing unless they are followed through with.” It was the last sentence in a long letter addressed to me from my district manager shortly after a very important property inspection. It floored me. It took my view of the world from a 6’7″ lens to that roughly the height of fire ant. Mind you – it was well deserved and sticks with me to this day.
She had entrusted me with a project that needed to be complete prior to the upcoming inspection. I put it off to the last minute not knowing that the regional manager would walk the property on the eve prior to the date her expected visit. She, along with my DM, caught us in the act of prepping the project in the eleventh hour and was clearly tweaked. The following day was both the best and the worst day of my PM career. The best in the sense that I clearly understood the definition of expectation – the worst in the sense that I did not meet it on behalf of the one that had bestowed the responsibility on me.
I say all that to say this – as we continue down the path of social media as it relates to marketing apartments; remember intentions must marry to expectations. Our consumer demands that we live up to and follow through with the ways in which they like to do business and not much concern is given to our sacred cows. Any more it is not our executive officers defining the way we do business – it is the consumer and we must engage. We must get the job done in a way that is being defined and redefined everyday.
What are your intentions for the coming week and who is driving them?
Have a famous week. M
Is Social Media Making You Tired?
I received the following message on 4.20.9 from a person I would consider a treasured mentor in my life;
Subject: So I’m worried about you
I would like you to read “The Mindful Brain” by a guy named Siegel. I think you are dis-attuning yourself to a deeper level of awareness and consciousness with this twitter/30 second thought process/Facebook life. These are cruise ship recipes, not intimate meals where the provenance of your food is known. This must seem so contrary on my part to say and I surmise you think your are enjoying the height of a social media experience. Maybe so but I say this only with concern for you. Take stock, my friend, and when you do be sure you still have long walks and ample period for reflection. If you can do that and do this, more power to you. [End]
My instant reaction – thank the one that governs all that is and ever will be as I have never been so tired at any span of my professional career. Up at 5:00 and down at 1:00 or 2:00 every day of the week. The culprit? Social Media coupled with an addictive personality.
With some irony, the message above came to me two years to the day that I left Equity Residential. Sign? – Maybe a little far reaching but it quickly took my mind to two songs that stir my being every time that I hear them;
Down in a hole – Alice in Chains
Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
I have long considered myself a mindful person – one who takes the time to be thoughtful of the world around me. One who cares about the origin of stuff and things and the deeper thoughts and feelings of people. That is until two years ago when I put work and social media before family and just two days ago I was heavily reminded of it. Until that time I’ve been down in a hole and comfortably numb – Tired. Dis-attuned as my friend so eloquently put it.
All that being said, I am under no illusion that I will walk away from the cherished relationships I’ve developed by participating during the height of social media – I will however, with no doubt, be more mindful of the time I spend participating.
And, to my friend, thank you for being mindful of my being. I will be taking stock.
To all, thank you in advance for allowing an occasional off topic message.
Have a mindful rest of the week.
M
