Social Media For Property Managers

It’s time to engage with your audience. You’ve done the groundwork in building your business, obtaining and maintaining properties, hiring the right staff to fulfil clients’ needs, and had a beautiful website developed to showcase your offerings. Now it is time to focus on marketing. We will discuss a wide variety of techniques and tactics for positive, productive Property Management marketing throughout this blog. However, it is prudent that we start with one of most cost effective ways in which to reach your potential clients, Social Media.

Those two words have never been more prevalent and powerful than they are today. Social Media is an integral part of RealtyIT’s operations and we use all aspects of Social Media in developing Clients’ marketing strategies. In this post we give you the meat and potatoes for FREE. No kidding. Everything we have learned in our many years in the industry is right here for you! You will learn where to be, what to do, how to encourage participation and all that we’ve learned over the years to better your business and improve your client reach. So, let’s dig in.

Okay, you know that you should be found where your potential clients and current residents are spending their time. You can expect to find your clients engaging on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Yelp and LinkedIn, among others. But, did you know that building a quality, uniformly branded business presence on some or all of these platforms, while time consuming, is well worth it and in most instances will give you a competitive edge? In the digital universe you really can be in all places at once.

What do you do when you are in all the available spaces though? We get asked one very important question by new clients all the time: “What am I supposed to do with my Social Media accounts and how should I engage?” To answer this question we must take a step back and identify what your goals are with Social Media.

Do you plan to market properties through these channels?
Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are platforms that deliver visual and written opportunities to drive success in marketing properties. These would be the first accounts to activate and in which to begin engaging.

Will this be a function of resident retention?

All available Social Media options allow you to engage with residents and focus your Social Media content at their retention. A positive, well branded, resident focused Social Media effort will net you results.

Are you developing a personal face in digital form for your business?

Giving your Property Management business a personal and personable face allows for a comfortable environment where you can interact with your residents and future tenants. LinkedIN and Yelp are major players in business perception. Facebook and Twitter provide outlets to give your brand personality. Many other platforms exist to extend your business’s reach and develop its personality.

Most clients prefer to achieve a combination of these functions. It is essential to establish your digital space and brand it uniformly across all platforms. Remember to create a welcome space for interaction and engage with users in order to achieve your business goals in the Social Media space.

It seems silly to see it in writing, but initial expectations can often be beyond reality in Social Media. You know that you don’t just open the doors to a poorly appointed office with unprofessional staff and expect clients to come in with money to burn, right? Then keep in mind that the digital locations you develop are similar to the sales office. An ideal sales office should be welcoming, comfortable, professional and ONLY after healthy relationships are built will sales start to close and clients become retained. The same applies to your Social Media pages.

Now that we have discussed setting up your accounts on the various platforms, creating a great space for showcasing your company and rolling out plans to achieve one or more of the above goals, it’s time for engagement. Cue the crickets. The launch of Social Media business pages happens so frequently and usually without much notice from the masses. Don’t worry! They’re coming.
If you already have residents and tenants, you already have a captive audience to invite to engage, like and share. This will start getting the ball rolling. Follow other local accounts that share community news, updates and information to keep the ball rolling. If it might be important for the residents to know then share it, retweet it, post a link to it, etc. Think like a tennant. What would you want to know about that is going on in the community?

Here is a short list of topics to search and post that may help you get the gears going:

  • Traffic Updates and Road Closures
  • Severe Weather Updates
  • Local Pet Adoption, Dog Park/Walk Activities
  • Deals Being Offered (Parking Space Discounts, Referrals, etc.)
  • Local Elections
  • Updated and Holiday Hours
  • New Tenant/Resident Welcome
  • Party and Events Postings
  • Local Blood Drive
  • Book Club/Exchange
  • Maintenance Occurring Onsite
  • Local Business Spotlight
  • Local Catering and Delivery Services
  • Local Sports News
  • Guide to Relocation (Change of Address, Services, etc.)

Routinely posting along these lines will help to ensure your business is perceived as being up to date, informative, helpful and engaged in the community. It will further encourage engagement and activity on your pages, which is what we want.

Let’s continue in the spirit of providing lists worthy of your time and look at a few of the most important features that encourage your Social Media success:

Stay Focused and Keep It Simple

  • Be Authentic
  • Create Interest and Post Noteworthy Content
  • Build Referral Generating Relationships
  • Set Objectives and Outline Parameters to Keep On Message
  • Monitor and Aggregate Data to Gauge Your Effectiveness

So, building and managing your Social Media accounts takes time. Staying up to date on relevant community news and local happenings also takes time. Responding to and engaging with followers, tenants and residents.. you guessed it, also takes time. How can you do it all and do it effectively? The simple answer is to schedule time. Yes, make time, a few times a week or more to update your pages and add info and pictures. Schedule some time, two times a day, that you can afford 10-15 minutes to be involved. After a few weeks it will become routine.

RealtyIT is committed to your success. Contact us to discuss Authentic Social Media Management, provided by our professional staff, if you simply do not have the time, energy or resources to commit to developing, building and running your business’s Social Media accounts. We provide all levels of Social Media Management and look forward to moving you forward!

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