“Social Media is FREE!”

“Why pay for assistance when social media tools are free?”

“What are we paying you for? Our staff can do this a few minutes each day and be as successful.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Let me show you why:

If a single employee, making approximately $12.00 per hour, is required to spend approximately  an hour blogging, 30 minutes tweeting, and 30 minutes on Facebook per day; your estimated monthly expense is $480.00.

OR

Take a salaried employee… earning about $30,000 annually. If this person already has a job, and you add on a little social media expense to their job description, what would that cost? What if they only participate an hour on Facebook and an hour on Twitter each day? (Keep in mind: no set-up, monitoring, or reporting is included here.) Just 2 hours a day would cost $576 per month.

ADD

Now, add in printed materials. Let’s assume you need a bootleg/bandit sign, some door hangers, and posters to announce your new social presence. If this costs $100, the pro-rated monthly cost would be only $8.

Next, add in a CallSource number, because you want to track where your leads are coming from; $10.

Last, you want a new application. Doing it yourself takes time, so say you build a single custom FBML page for your Fan Page. You design for an hour, code for an hour, test and work out kinks with a total of 4 hours; $115.

TOTAL = $709.

“Time is money,” is a reality in business.

But don’t take it from me, see what other industry professionals have to say in response to “Is doing-it-yourself FREE?”

How much time, per day, does your staff dedicate to social media? When it is convenient? News flash! Social media isn’t about convenience, it is about availability and responsiveness. Can you rely on your staff to be responsive and still do the other tasks you’ve assigned to them each day?

I’m not saying that getting your staff involved is a bad thing, to the contrary. Staff involvement is critical for success. However, does your staff have the time built in to their daily schedules each day to contribute to your social media plan?  Honestly, 2 hours a day is not enough. How would you scale your social media marketing initiative? Hire more employees? How will they be trained?

When relying on in-house staff to contribute, be prepared to be disappointed. Ask yourself, your business, if you would want an employee to represent your business on camera during primetime. If the answer is no, then do you want them representing your business on social networking sites? There are several ways your company can approach the implementation of a social media strategy. Hire on more employees, train current employees, hire a 3rd party service provider, or all of the above. In any case, it is not “FREE”.

Success depends on the investment and commitment to the strategy. How is your organization currently implementing their social media strategy? Do you think social media marketing is free?

Image Credit: barrylou.com

Share/Save

WordCamp Atlanta 2010

The very first WordCamp (#wcatl) in Atlanta is taking place this Friday and Saturday, January 8-9 at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I admit, I am very excited about this event! In fact, I was so excited that I registered during the first few days as a personal sponsor.

I think it’s important to not only attend these local networking events, but support them when we can.  WordCamps provide an opportunity to learn about blogging, from beginner to expert. But it’s also an opportunity to network with other people in and out of your industry. There is so much to learn from other industries and their use of social media tools like blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

I am also attending SoCon this month! SoCon (#SoCon10) is a Social Media and Social Networking Conference at Kennesaw State University on January 29 – 30. It is my first time attending this conference, and I look forward to hearing from Coca-Cola and Obama’s social media team.

Keep an eye out on Twitter and Facebook for local networking events and please consider attending and/or sponsoring. Even if you cannot attend yourself, please share the event information with your friends.

Are you coming to WordCamp and SoCon? I hope to see you there!

Share/Save

I just got off the phone with my friend Kim Cory. We were discussing last weeks #AptChat and the term ‘engagement’ as it relates to social media and our personal definitions of the term. But before I get into the various descriptions offered for the meaning of engagement, let’s see what Dictionary.com has to offer us:

en⋅gage: [en-geyj]

1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons): He engaged her in conversation.

3. to attract and hold fast: The novel engaged her attention and interest.

4. to attract or please: His good nature engages everyone.

and just for fun:

5. to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with: Our army engaged the enemy.

#5 happens when opposing views are shared!

Here are a few interesting thoughts on engagement shared during the chat on Friday:

What is ‘Engagement’ to me?

Those were some interesting thoughts from our #AptChat crew! I really liked Jonathan’s description “to me engagement has the tone of genuine interest in a subject”. When Kim Cory and I were speaking this afternoon, we agreed  that being engaged is about the quality of the conversation. It’s more than how many comments your blog post receives, or how many fans you have on your Facebook page. Engagement demonstrates you have a vested INTEREST in the conversation, you’re INVOLVED in the conversation, and you CARE about what is being said and who is saying it.

We all approach our online relationships differently. For example, my connections online usually begin with a professional outreach and I build on that relationship until it becomes personal. For property managers, I see this happening much the same way. At first you’re just connecting with everyone you can to begin establishing your relationships online, then you feed and water the relationship until it grows personal.

What does ‘Engagement’ mean to you?

Please share your thoughts below. Don’t be afraid to comment; there are no right or wrong answers, it’s all a matter of opinion!

Share/Save

During last Friday’s #AptChat on Twitter, Lisa Trosien asked “How do you make the time for FBook? Should I use a service like Sherpa or just try to do it myself? Help!”

Over the years I’ve read many opinions on the matter, but they seem to be divided into 3 groups.

• Group A: The social media purist – All social media activity should take place at the property level.
• Group B. The outsourcer – All social media activity should be outsourced or managed by our marketing team to ensure brand integrity.
• Group C. – Social media outsourcing with participation at the property level. (Those of you that know me, know that I fall into this category.)

The BIG Social Media Question

Some people have expressed “If your company can’t do it right (“internally”), don’t do it at all.” By this, they mean there is a single “right” way to engage online and every other way is wrong. I respectfully disagree. I understand there are concerns regarding authenticity and transparency but let’s face it, not all companies are technologically savvy. Like every marketing solution, the “right” social media marketing solution depends on each individual company.

When coming to my own conclusion, I considered how other industries are using social media. Do we really know who is behind the keyboard? I see some pretty amazing Facebook Fan Pages that I am positive were built by PR or Marketing. It seems to me the most successful social media programs integrate internal and external resources to build and engage their online communities. Why should property management be any different? Yes, I understand onsite staff really know the property best. But do they have the know-how and the time to engage? The majority property management groups I’ve worked with are opposed to onsite staff spending time online and struggle with finding the right solution.

There is No One-size-fits-all Solution in Social Media

Because I’m a big fan of Mack Collier, a social media consultant, trainer, blogger and industry leader, I participate in the #blogchat Mack moderates on Sunday evenings. Last night I asked Mack what he thought about outsourcing blogging.

Mack said,  “Companies outsource other business functions, why should blogging/social media be different?”

Mack, myself, and many other social media professionals believe that while outsourcing is not ideal, it is a practical short-term solution for any small business that is just getting started using social media tools. Before deciding what direction your property should take, please compare internal and external strategies to determine what makes the most sense for your property.

What do you think? Should there be a single answer to this question? Should properties be responsible for blogging, Facebook and Twitter? If so, how much time should they allocate to social media and how will they know they are accomplishing goals? Do your onsite staff blog, tweet and Facebook?

*Disclaimer: I am a social media consultant currently working with the 3rd party social media solution provider, Community Sherpa.

Photo Credit: Zen

Share/Save

You never really know someone... especially online.

When I ‘meet’ someone on Twitter, the new relationship starts out with a certain level of trust. I am careful about those I ‘friend’ or ‘follow’ online and by the time I’ve returned a friend or follow request I have established that a person is trustworthy. By careful, I mean I spend some time in the profile before I automatically follow the person back.

These are 10 steps I take to protect my Twitter account:

1. View the friend:follower ratio – It has to be somewhat even, unless it’s @badbanana, @theonion or even Justin.

2. Read the Bio and the URL – Is it believable? Is this a real person or someone looking to ‘collect’ me like a stamp?

3. Look at the tweet count  - If the person has 1K + followers and only tweeted 100 times, there’s a problem.

4. Read the tweets – Are there any conversations (@replies) with people?

5. Take the time to glance over the following/follower lists – Does this person follow other spammers? Or does this person follow other people in my fields of interest?

6. Once I’ve decided to follow someone, I will unfollow immediately if I receive any kind of ‘click my junk’ DM. TIP: I’m not fond of ‘Thanks for following’ DM’s either.

7. I block scammers and spammers regularly. This is the reason my Twitter follow and follower counts are still fairly low.

8. On occasion I protect my updates and spend some time removing followers. This is less than a ‘block’… it’s just saying I’m really not interested in them following me.

9. I report scammers and spammers to @Spam often. We need to work together as a group to get rid of these people.

10. I’ve stopped clicking on links within DM’s. It’s not that I don’t trust my friends, it’s more about the lack of Twitter security. If you receive a tweet from me that says “please confirm this link is real by sending me an @reply”, please don’t be offended.

I hope these 10 Tricks will keep you safe while Tweeting! Do you have any tips or tricks to share?

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope it’s spooooky!

Share/Save

Are You Measuring ROI?

Wouldn’t it be great if we could simply participate on social networking sites and have the reports and the metrics grow like planting a seed? Unfortunately, measuring social media takes time and resources (human and technology) rather than water and sunlight.

What does ROI mean to you? Return-On-Investment or Return-On-Influence?

Which method will you choose to measure ROI? Return on Influence or Return on Investment?

Make an introduction today!

Social media is all about making friends and creating fans!

One of the easiest and most considerate things you can do on social sites is introduce your friends to one another.  When one of your contacts is new to a social media network (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr) recommend a few friends to follow. One way to introduce friends is to send out a tweet: “Hey @ABC, meet @123! You both like xxxx.”

Introductions do not have to take place on the social sites. Just last week my brother-in-law emailed me an introduction to a long-time friend of his. “You both are interested in xxxx. Charity is on Twitter @CharityHisle, Kelly is @KellyX. How can you help each other?”

It’s easy to make an introduction, and the effort goes a long way toward growing your own network. Connecting people with one another will also bring your network closer together. Eventually, you will grow a group of ‘friends’ online.

Networking online should not be a replacement for networking in person.

Once you’ve established your online network, take the opportunity to meet people offline. This means tweet-ups and meet-ups, conferences and un-conferences. Introduce your friends to one another to build a strong network. If no one in your area is arranging a Tweet-up, consider organizing one yourself.

Here are 3 Tips for people that are new at networking during social media events:

1. When you attend a social media event, write your Twitter name on your name badge. People recognize you from your online profile and may not know you without your ‘handle’.

2. Don’t forget to place your Twitter handle on your business cards for distribution at events. Request business cards and share yours when asked. When I get back to the office I sort my cards and connect with people online.

3. Even though you are at a social networking event, try to pay attention to the people in the room. One of the biggest tweet-up jokes I hear is that everyone is using Twitter and missing the opportunity to connect with people in person. Just walk right up, stick out your hand and introduce yourself. The first time is uncomfortable, but you’ll get the hang of it!

TIP: Don’t “latch” on to one individual, make the effort to meet various people.

What other tips do you have for networking at social media events?

Share/Save

An email was sent to me this afternoon with a link and this one sentence:

“The danger of social media sites.”

I read the article (which is actually about planning a property party) and my immediate email response was sent.

“No, this is the danger of ignoring social media sites. If reputation management and social media strategies were being implemented into the overall marketing plan, this article could’ve been avoided and the residents would be happier.”

Then I said, “Thank you for sharing, this will go perfect in my social media guide!”

The article is based on an older (2007) review on apartmentreviews.com. However, there is no response from anyone from the property. In fact, no responses are online at all. Why not respond? Especially now, with the publicity alive and well. This is the perfect opportunity to set things right, make necessary changes or state they’ve been made.

So many properties and property management groups are hiding from social media. This poor property and it’s management group is an example of such an avoider. This is their wake up call!

Who do you blame? Social media? The property manager? Or the property management company? Maybe the marketing firm is to blame?

What are your thoughts?

Share/Save

What is Social Media anyway?

Social media is a means of communication (and even marketing). It provides the opportunity to interact directly with residents and prospective residents. You can create an online presence by participating and engaging residents in conversations they are having about your properties.

Let’s start simple, with the help of Beth Harte:

“Social” – conversation, feedback, comments, buzz, friends/followers, mentions, readers, etc.

“Media” – Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Flickr, YouTube, Digg, other communities.

“While social media is often described as an extension of marketing, it really has its roots in customer service.” Amber Naslund

What does social media do?

Social media allows people to share things of interest with everyone, increasing the visibility of your business and yourself. It allows properties to be proactive in their marketing and resident retention efforts or reactive when residents are unhappy and sharing their experiences online.

By using social media, you are gaining direct access to user-contributions that generate qualified leads and sales. Positioning your company/property on social media outlets will provide residents and prospects a place they can rely on to have questions answered, receive special promotions, and learn new things about your property.

Is social media right for us?

“Web users are more likely to check your website for information or search the web than they are to take traditional steps like calling you.” Michael Mace, Rubicon Consulting

Think of social media as an extension of your other outreach efforts. Similar to picking up the phone or sending an email, or even an apartment viewing, it is an opportunity for conversation. Employ social media into your everyday efforts to communicate with the people that drive your business: residents.

“Monitoring what is happening online is similar to a call center that listens to the needs and opportunities then routes it appropriately.” David Alston, BlogOrlando

Social media is about context and content, and is not right for every business. However, user comments online are known to drive purchase decisions; 75% of US users take advice from online vs. printed reviews and salespeople (Rubicon Consulting). By interacting with prospective residents on a more regular basis you will keep your community top of mind as they search for their new home.

“Companies need to create lasting, valuable relationships with actual customers by giving them a voice and responding to their desire to engage.” Garrick Schmitt, Razorfish

Social media is for everyone; however how we use it should represent who we are or our company. Please share your thoughts by commenting.

Share/Save

Chaos

I woke up this morning to see my 13 year old, Gwenna, coming down the hall. Her right hand was suspiciously stretched a distance away from her body while her left hand being yanked roughly by her black lab, Luna. I continued sleepily on my path down the hall to wake Joe, my son, and *Squish!* Yep, right between my toes. NOW I know why Luna was pulling Gwenna down the hall!

As I scream in disgust I look down and see the evidence trailing in the form of paw prints from the bedroom all the way to the front door. The offensive smell hits my nose. “Gwenna, you’re cleaning this up! This is your responsibility!” I’m wondering, as I say this, if she will be ABLE to do it… did I mention I’ve got a tan carpeted hallway?

I’m furiously cleaning my foot. “HOW did you let this happen?”

She’s remorseful and running around like a maniac looking for cleaner and paper towels, “I took a shower and left her in her kennel. Luna had an accident Mom, it’s my fault. I thought I could get a shower first, I’m sorry!”

Here come my other children, Tory (15) and Joe (12) wanting bathroom access… “Eww, Gross! What’s that SMELL! Mom, this is nasty!” And the CHAOS ensues.

How does this %$#@ relate to social media?

Daria Steigman recently posted an article on her blog discussing self-censorship, “I’ve also seen the crowd turn on lots of less-known people for real or perceived differences of opinion.” Her post got me thinking about responsibility. Any time we post something online, via Twitter, a blog, or even email, we should take responsibility.

The demand for brands to participate in social media is discussed frequently. Social media users expect it to gain momentum this year. Chris Brogan said it perfectly, “Businesses are trying to do exactly what we asked them to do. They’re trying to master our languages. They’re trying to talk to us where we are. They’re looking for new ways to talk and to advertise.” I’m paraphrasing, but he goes on to state that marketing and advertising are a part of the social web, you don’t have to like it, but ignoring the fact businesses are trying every day to figure out their place in social media is dangerous.

I recently read on Conversationagent.com a statement by Alan Wolk regarding brands behaving badly in social media, “We’re going to see a whole lot of chaos before we see some order restored…”

Sometimes the chaos is limited to a select few offended parties that lash out, like in the case of Chris Brogan’s K-Mart post . Other times, like in the case of Motrin, the unforgiving, mob-like twitter users attack and bring fear and intimidation to the entire Twitter community.

Honestly, if I were a large brand, I would question if the time were right to be entering social media. The fear is justified; even regular users of Twitter feel the need to self-censor. No one wants to be the next Motrin.

Conclusion: sometimes you’re gonna step in it…

Gwenna tried and end the end did the best she could, but it looks like steam cleaning will be my weekend chore. I am, however, very proud of her efforts and her ability to take responsibility.

Big brands are seeking ways to enter the Social Media realm without offending anyone. Unfortunately, someone will always be offended. My humble suggestion to big brands is simply this: Someone has to do it! Take a chance and join us in the conversation. Do your research first and don’t be afraid of the chaos! Take responsibility when you make a mistake and clean up the mess.

Amber Naslund’s blog post on the Sanctity of Social Media sums this up for me: open up your brand to an open-ended conversation and reach new audiences.

Readers, your thoughts?

• What are your thoughts about brands in social media?
• What advice would you give to brands?
• Are you a brand seeking entry into social media?
• How has the Motrin fiasco affected your decision?

Note: This is also posted on multifamilyinsiders.com, one of my favorite resources for multifamily marketing news, tips, and advice.