In some of our past posts, we’ve discussed the many reasons why property management professionals should be leveraging social media for their businesses, and even delved into how to choose the best social media strategy for your organization. Hopefully by now you’ve at least begun to get your feet wet in the social world and have established your presence within these powerful online mediums. The next important step is developing ways to maximize the benefits you can receive from using social media. Here are a few helpful tips for making social media work for your property management business.
First of all, make sure you’re honing your efforts so that you’re not spreading yourself too thin. It’s always much more effective to be active on one or two platforms than to be inactive on a dozen because you can’t keep up with them all. The two most popular social platforms at this time are Facebook and Twitter. If you are going to be successful in social media and don’t want to have to devote endless hours of time and resources managing your strategy, we suggest focusing only on these two sites.
The next most important thing, and what makes social media campaigns truly successful, is making a commitment to keeping them active. You may have amassed thousands of followers, but if you’re not regularly engaging with them and consistently providing them with information that they find useful, your numbers will quickly begin to dwindle. Social media marketing is a fluid concept and something that doesn’t just end after you set up your accounts. Set aside time every day (or at least 3 times a week) to go in, respond to comments, answer questions and provide your fans and followers with content that they’ll find helpful or entertaining.
Along with keeping up with your activity on social media on a grander scale, it’s also important that you find a way to personalize your social interactions as much as possible. This means asking for feedback and really listening, reading the comments, questions and concerns that are being posted and responding to as many of them individually as possible. People don’t want to connect with a logo or a brand; they want to get to know the people behind that logo or brand. They want to know that you’re human and that you care about what they have to say. If you have a specific question or comment about a property, policy or something else – answer it, addressing the user directly whenever possible.
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, you must try to maintain the “social” nature of this type of marketing. Keep things conversational, light and above all else, try to have fun! People enjoy seeing the lighter side of businesses, so don’t be afraid to share a joke or funny picture, and encourage your fans and followers to interact with you through entertaining activities, like polls and contests. Be creative and have fun! The more your audience gets out of their social relationship with you, the more likely they’ll be to invite others to follow suit, and the more your networks will grow, which is the ultimate goal!
Get your free copy of The Property Manager’s Guide to Extraordinary Marketing. It has all the inspiration and resources you need to make the right message heard by the right people.
