Managing Your Online Rep
Facebook gives, but it can also take away.
When it comes to your company’s online reputation, there’s a lot more to manage than just social media—and there’s a lot more to social media than just Facebook.
“You need to be concerned with results on the first page of a search,” says Aaron Helfman, director of marketing for Trevose, Pa.–based Korman Residential. “If you are on social media, you may think you have completely covered your reputation, but Facebook is just one component.”
The democracy of the Internet doesn’t always work in a company’s favor. Blogs and other postings by just one disgruntled customer can show up in a search above promotional videos that have cost thousands of dollars to produce, Helfman notes.
But there’s a way to combat that: Negative reviews can be pushed down in a search if managed properly. The best approach is replacing them with positive comments.
How do you get glowing reviews? All you have to do is ask, says Jamie Gorski, senior vice president of corporate marketing for the Greenbelt, Md.–based Bozzuto Group. “If asked, 62 percent of residents say they would post a review, but less than 9 percent have been asked. You’re creating your brand online, and you want to be able to have a hand in that.”
One way to generate positive buzz is by making it easier for residents to do so.
“One of the problems is that the industry historically hasn’t wanted people to leave reviews,” says Wade Hewitt, vice president of Austin, Texas–based ApartmentRatings.com. “We need to make it easier for them.” He suggested attaching reviews to surveys residents are already doing.
Think of reviews as free market research: Every review has some grain of truth, and smart companies will learn from accentuating both the positive and negative.
“I’d encourage everyone to take a step back and ask yourself what you can do with all the information available online,” says Erica Galos Alioto, vice president for San Francisco–based Yelp.com. “It provides a lot of valuable information to improve your business, and you should focus on what customers want. It’s a great opportunity to build loyalty and thank them for their feedback.”
For beginners, there are many options in launching a social-media campaign. Dallas-based Lincoln Properties maintains a blog, Facebook pages, Pinterest boards, and Foursquare and Twitter accounts for most of its communities.
So what’s working? Postings about events, such as “Food Truck Tuesdays,” are popular and draw a lot of attention, says Jennifer Staciokas, Lincoln’s vice president of marketing. She also recommends setting up Pinterest boards, especially targeting female residents. “There are currently 10.4 million users on Pinterest and growing, and 84 percent are women,” she notes.
Far and away, Gen Y is the most technologically plugged-in generation of any demographic.
A recent survey from Houston-based J Turner Research found that Gen Y residents have the highest percentage of laptops and smart phones, at 89 percent and 88 percent, respectively. And the same report, Trends in Resident Technology & Communication Preferences, shows they’re using these devices to research neighborhood restaurants and events, perhaps even on your property’s Facebook page.
But when it comes to managing your company’s online reputation, there’s a lot more to manage than just social media if you want to attract Gen Y renters.
“The renting game has changed,” says Kerry Kirby, founder of New Orleans–based online service provider 365 Connect. “These kids now will look at your … website and decide if they even want to show up [to look]. So you have to market from that standpoint of having a great website and a great public face on the Internet so there’s a reason for them to come.”
“We see social media as a tool we can leverage to achieve a [marketing] cost below our target level of $250 per lease,” says Sara Dixon, Village Green’s social-media manager. “Our goal is to engage users with great content and increase our overall reach. The effect may not translate into a prospective resident visiting the property immediately, or someone signing a lease that same week, but we’re looking to be a part of the larger conversation.”
As the president of Royal Oak, Mich.–based Urbane Apartments, Eric Brown uses a creative, targeted online presence to draw in new residents. And younger renters are flocking to Brown’s properties, thanks in large part to the company’s social media campaigns. He’s turned his portfolio of 15 communities into the hottest ticket in town by building an online community and making his site a hub for what’s hip in Detroit.
Here are five of Brown’s top social-media strategies:
1. Manage Social Media Yourself
All social-media initiatives for Urbane are done in-house, which makes a big difference. “Outside consultants can’t manage social media,” Brown says. “That’s like saying you want someone to manage your phone calls or leasing office.” All Urbane leasing agents are required to compose six to eight tweets per day, plus two to three updates on Facebook, to engage residents and potential renters.
2. Start a Blog
This is the easiest way for anyone developing a social-media strategy to engage with the local community and drive traffic back to the main rental website. Brown relies heavily on his blog, which he calls an online magazine, to post information about local events and happenings.
3. Embrace Partnership Marketing
Urbane Apartments is a major media sponsor of concerts and other events happening all around Michigan. Brown says that gives tons of content to post on blogs and all other social-media outlets. He even hires writers to post about events, like major music festivals, that are of particular interest to potential renters.
4. Focus on the Hyper-local
Brown knows the number of followers on his Twitter and Facebook accounts matters for getting potential renters in the door. But it’s not all about quantity; he’d rather have the right followers. “Do I want people from Kansas City as followers? Unless they’re moving in from out of state, not really,” he says. “But I know who’s young, local, and going to events, and [engaging them] is almost like trying to talk to prospects one-on-one.”
5. provide great Content
Most owners want to start with Facebook and Twitter, but it’s more important to provide great content first. “That’s what we use our online magazine for, because over time, you start to create hundreds of articles,” Brown says. “When someone is moving to Royal Oak, Mich., guess who comes up on a Google search first? We do. And it might not be about an apartment, it might be about a neighborhood, or where to find the best sushi. But whatever their interest, we try to provide that kind of content and link all the articles back to our website.”
Additional reporting by Joe Bousquin.