“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

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Using the hashtag #SweetestTweets, Macy’s is rockin’ Twitter using their own contest with over 1,500 tweets.

The question of the day is: How can you use Twitter during Valentine’s Day and other holidays?

First, list your goals. What are you expecting to achieve? More renewals, referrals, walk-in traffic? Are they reasonable?

Next, pick your prize! Determine what interests your residents and prospects. Do you know what your residents REALLY want? Here are a few ideas, please share your own in the comments section:

• Free Rent
• Renewal for their current rate
• Better parking
• Upgraded appliances

Then, pick your hashtag. If you don’t know what a hashtag is, check out my post #Hashtags: for Beginners. Choose something unique. Consider the holiday carefully, and pick a tag that represents the holiday, the prize, or your community.

Last, decide on the contest criteria and the marketing: how many and what types of prizes, submission deadlines, and marketing platforms (print, Facebook, signs).

I’m very curious to see what your business is doing. If you have ideas for contests, please share them!

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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!

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If you’re new to Twitter, I’m sure you have seen that # sign. Some people call that a pound sign, and that’s okay. But on Twitter, # is a hashtag. In this post, I will explain what hashtags are, how to use them, and a few tips and tricks.

A hashtag is:

A hashtag is a keyword preceded by a # sign. We use these on Twitter to track conversations on specific topics. Some of my favorite topics are #socialmedia, #mfi, #AptChat, and #blogchat.

Hashtags are also a great way to determine trending topics on Twitter. You can view these trending topics on the right side of your screen when logged in to Twitter or just by visiting Twitter.com.

How to use a hashtag:

Searching with hashtags.

The whole point of using hashtags is to be able to communiate directly with others on a particular topic. We do this by searching for hashtags in use, then responding and including the hashtag within the response.

There are different ways to search with hashtags. Search.Twitter.com is excellent, or if you’re signed in to Twitter.com, search is made easy on the right side of your screen or simply click on the hashtag. There are also tools that can be used to track hashtags, and chats.

What’s a Tweet Chat?

A Tweet Chat is a scheduled event on Twitter where individuals determine a specific time and hashtag. Then they tweet related messages using the hashtag to identify their participation in the conversation. There are several tools you can use to follow along with a Tweet Chat.

Tweetdeck can be modified to include a Twitter search column for a specific keyword or hashtag. The downside to Tweetdeck is that there is a limit to how many tweets you can read within an hour.

TweetChat.com is very convenient for following along and tweeting in a conversation. The best part is that it automatically inserts the hashtag into the tweet so you don’t have to. The negative is that sometimes it moves too slowly to keep up with the conversation.

What the Hashtag is also great for looking up statistics on hashtags. Try it now: Click here and in the search box (upper left) type in AptChat. Note the description, related hashtags, the Twitter activity, and the most frequent users of the hashtag? You can also get a transcript of all public tweets including #AptChat, join in with a tweet of your own, and subscribe to an RSS feed of tweets that can be delivered into your email inbox for convenience.

A few more Tweet Chat tools include TweetGrid, Monitter, and Twitterfall.

Create a hashtag:

When possible, use hashtags you know already exist. If you need a to create a hashtag for your brand, it is acceptable to do so. For example, my friend Brent Williams with MultifamilyInsiders.com created the hashtag #mfi to label tweets to/from the community. There aren’t hashtag police, but please don’t get too ‘creative’! What I mean is, don’t over-complicate it. Use as few words as possible, unless you’re trying to be funny #imjustsayin and #dontIknowit!

Placement of a hashtag:

The biggest complaints I read about hashtags are that people use too many per tweet or that they place them at the beginning of the tweet. Too many hashtags within tweets can make tweets appear spammy. Pick 1 or 2, but no more than 3. Remember, the more hashtags in the tweet, the less room for the message.

Try to keep hashtags at the end of the tweet unless you are substituting words within the tweet with a hashtag. For example: I loved the article on #mfi today (link here). Otherwise, it would look like this: I loved this article (link here). #mfi

Avoiding hashtag spammers:

Hashtag spam is a growing problem on Twitter. Basically, a spammer will see a trending hashtag on Twitter, then use the hashtag to spread their spam in order to gain more click-thru’s. My advice  regarding spammers: Quickly block and report spammers to keep them from your tweet stream.

Another new solution that I’ve noticed recently is that some Tweet Chats are changing their hashtags weekly to decrease spam. Spam is particularly irritating when you have a limited number of tweets you can view (API limitations).

Tips for hashtags:

To break it all down:

• Use hashtags to communicate with others on a specific topic.
• Create hashtags that make sense.
• Place hashtags at the end of your tweets.
• Use only 1-2 hashtags per tweet.
• Don’t be a spammer, only use hashtags if they apply to your tweet.

Do you have any other advice to share regarding hashtags? Or any questions you need answered?

For more infomation on hashtags, Mashable has an informative post.

Photo Credit: Tony Gigov

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Would you rather hang a ‘Now Leasing’ banner like everyone else…

Or have unique patios?

Although the image above is an Ikea ad, it doesn’t have to be. Why not do something different than your neighbors? I’m thinking images of patio furniture, planters, and desks. How can the community be represented in a unique way that captures attention?

What if your community has all new appliances? (See image below.) How can you use your building for your own ad?

Thanks to Penn Olson for the images.

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Facebook contests have new rules. But these rules don’t apply to your email marketing initiatives if your promotion is administered outside of the Facebook application.

Above is a snapshot from a recent email sent by Lands’ End. I like that this contest has an expiration date clearly listed, and that current fans are already entered into the contest. But then I went to the Fan page and it was filled with 200K+ active and loyal fans, compliments, complaints, and even customer service responses. Good job Lands’ End! (BTW: I’ve never shopped here before.)

This technique obviously boosted their fan base considerably. What I didn’t see, other than the monetary motivation, is what ‘fanning’ the page will do for me long-term?

When creating your own page, determine what it is that you will be providing to your fans. Are you focused on the short-lived monetary rewards, or the long-term relationship building? If using a promotion, such as this, please don’t forget to include a long-term strategy for continued fan engagement.

Note: I haven’t seen a list of the winners posted on the Fan Page yet… this would be a great way to develop trust.

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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!

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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

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Another rule for using Craigslist:

Craigslist has decided to block posts that include the URL shortened links from Bit.ly. In retrospect, it was only a matter of time before Craigslist caught on. When Craigslist makes a change, they don’t explain why. Did they want to prevent tracking/reporting? Were there issues with image visibility? Or is it something else? I have never experienced an image visibility issue, so I’m inclined to believe that Craigslist is trying to prevent tracking.

There is no clear statement within the craigslist terms of use which indicates that tracking ad views is not allowed. In fact, not much within the terms of service is clear. This is my favorite line within the Craigslist terms of use regarding 3rd party posting agents: “…except with express permission or license from craigslist.”

I once requested verification on this specific term and my response from Craig was “I cannot parse your email.” Which basically means “I don’t understand your email explaining that you don’t understand our terms of use.”

Why track views/impressions on Craigslist?

When you run an ad in a local paper you can request the circulation numbers to determine if your ad will be cost-effective or how many impressions you should expect to receive. By understanding how many views/impressions are counted per Craigslist ad, it is possible to improve future ad posting titles, content, and formatting. After Craigslist forced vFlyer to stop tracking and reporting, many of us were doing our own with the use of URL shorteners. With the removal of Bit.ly it may not be long before other URL shorteners are blocked. Tracking will still be possible, but no longer as simple.

My 2 cents:

Craigslist doesn’t really care about the people advertising on the site. Those of us that post are all slaves to the system and to the hyper-sensitive Craigslist forum pack. If you’ve not seen the forum on Apartments, you should scan through it. Although many properties receive more traffic from Craigslist than any other source, it is my hope that eventually people will move on to another site to seek their new homes. Until then, I will strive to continue the improvement of ads posted.

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During my recent trip to MultifamilyPro’s Brainstorming in Houston, I spoke with Allison Crabtree of Bell Partners on the topic of Craigslist. There was one question that was asked repeatedly by attendees:

Should we hire a 3rd party Craigslist posting service?

3rd party posting is the action of hiring an agency to post craigslist ads for a property. Many property management groups, locators, brokers, and individual properties hire 3rd party posters. The fees range from cents per post to hundreds per month.

There are pro’s and con’s to 3rd party posting services:

Pro’s

• Reporting
• Consistency in posting
• Branding/professional appearance
• Reduction of human resources required to post ads

Con’s

• Expired ads
• Data/Photo sharing with 3rd party
• Over-posting/under-posting
• Incomplete or incorrect ads posted
• Marketing expense
• 3rd party posting is against the terms and conditions of using Craigslist

The most common reason for hiring a 3rd party agency to post Craigslist ads is to reduce the amount of time onsite staff needs to post. Many communities and property management groups are stuck in the ‘We need to post multiple times per day, in order to remain on page 1″ theory. However, users have become accustomed to searching the Internet using price, keywords and location information. The “Page 1″ theory causes over-posting of ads and consequently the flagging, removal and blocking of ad placement on Craigslist.

Regardless of the posting method chosen, a Craigslist strategy is critical to success. Before posting ads, know in advance the target audience, their preferred search criteria, and establish professional ad templates. When formatted properly, a single ad per property/ per day can be more effective than multiple ads per property/per day.

If an organization decides that a 3rd party solution is required, my advice is to request links to the posted ads, CallSource numbers and tracking of ad impressions to determine the effectiveness of the ad program. Additionally, review posting agreements each month rather than signing long-term contracts.

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