Apartment Living Blog

Tami Siewruk recently announced that Senior Legal Counsel, Nadeen Green and I will be speaking at the Optimization Summit in March in Dallas, TX. Nadeen Green will be conducting a two hour workshop on Legal Sweepstakes, Contests, and Similar Competitions on Tuesday, March 23. I’ll be conducting a half day workshop on Video & Photo Sharing for Optimum Growth & Brand Exposure on Wednesday March 24th.

You can use our discount code: forrent for a $25 discount when you register. THE EARLY REGISTRATION FEE IS ONLY $329 ($429 after January 29, 2010).

At the Dallas 2010 Optimization Summit at the Dallas Sheraton, you’ll experience learning by doing. The mission of the summit is to SEE IT. HEAR IT. DO IT. You’ll build your own two-day curriculum out of flexible full-day, half-day, and two-hour component workshops on topics ranging from Social Media to Revenue Management, all of which are carefully planned to build upon each other progressively, and expand your understanding and skill set exponentially. The knowledge you receive will be continually reinforced by hands-on interaction to make certain you have not just the knowledge, but the know-how!

This summit is open to any industry but will also have workshop leaders represented from the multifamily housing industry.

Additional speakers at the summit include:

• John Jantsch: DuctTape Marketing
• Giovanni Gallucci: Social Media Ninja
• Duncan Alney: FireBelly
• Nadeen Green: Senior Legal Counsel, For Rent Media Solutions
• Erica Campbell: Senior Manager, New Media Marketing, For Rent Media Solutions
• Chris Boudreaux: Creator, Social Media Governance and Senior Manager, Accenture
• Scott Ellis: VSELLIS: Technology Translated and Partner, BlackBox Technologies
• Jay Ehret: Chief Officer of Awesomeness, The Marketing Spot
• Mike Whaling: 30lines.com
• Eric Brown: President, Urbane Apartments
• Mark Juleen: V.P., Director of Marketing & Training, J.C. Hart Company, Inc
• Geno Church: Word of Mouth Inspiration Officer, Brains on Fire
• Jennifer Nevitt Casey: Chief Executive Officer, Bravo Strategic Marketing, Inc. and Brad Marting, Professional Speaker/Consultant, OptiYield

The Twitter hashtag for the summit will be #optsum.

Workshop Descriptions

Legal Sweepstakes, Contests, and Similar Competitions: As imperative as it is to have a dynamic marketing strategy, both the virtual world and the real one are subject to advertising laws that if not followed can make your efforts not only ineffective but unlawful - that can cost you traffic and money! This session reveals the fundamental advertising legalities that affect marketing both in the traditional sources and with new media, including social media-optimized promotions.  Whether it’s testimonials, advertising themes, contests, sweepstakes, lotteries, model releases, and more, learn what you can and cannot do in the eyes of the law, make the leap to a great advertising message for your business with care and confidence, and land safely with success!

Video & Photo Sharing for Optimum Growth & Brand Exposure: With shoot-and-upload video getting easier by the day, and more and more consumers sharing their digital photos; the explosive use of video and images on the web is only going to increase. This session reveals the secrets behind using video and still images online to best advantage on popular video and image-sharing platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Snapfish, Shutterfly, and more. You’ll learn video consumption trends; and tips for getting your images in the top of customer search results; editing apps and tips; strategies for optimizing your visual media assets to better engage your audience and potential customers to take action.

The Internet connects us like no other medium, and social networking sites are a great way to stay in touch and turn connections into business. Here are the top ten opportunities that we think social networking offers and why you should stay connected in 2010:

1. Spread a consistent message/image to a large audience about your brand, identity, and products/services
2. Meet people in your industry, find employees and employers, ask for referrals, and get/give advice
3. Put a “face” on your business and show your corporate personality
4. Help build your website’s search engine ranking by cross-linking on all sites and optimizing media assets (the more quality links to your site, the better!)
5. Compliment your existing online and offline presence (Do not replace them)
6. Provide helpful, relevant information that is useful to the masses
7. Turn your new and existing customers into repeat customers and fans
8. Target specific demographics/industries/companies by using proper and consistent keywords/phrases for your audience
9. Promote your events, promotion and specials to a wider audience
10. Elevate your customer service to a new, transparent level

Here are ForRent.com’s Top 10 favorite social networking sites in 2009:

1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. Twitter
4. YouTube
5. LinkedIn
6. Yahoo! Answers
7. Flickr
8. del.icio.us
9. Digg
10. Stumbleupon

The new ForRent.com details page launched yesterday! Please note that there have been three major changes. We are excited to release these new and enhanced features. We are confident they will improve the end-user’s experience on the site and generate more LEADS for our clients! Each change has been highlighted in yellow on the images below.

Miniature Guest Card Form

The newly redesigned miniature Guest Card will be located at the top left-hand side of the details page. With this new feature, apartment shoppers can easily make immediate contact with properties. The new guest card location has the potential to generate more LEADS™ for advertisers!

Redesigned Media Center

The newly redesigned media center is very pleasing to the eye. The navigational tool bar has been redesigned and is easy to use. The new design also puts a stronger focus on the client’s Community Theater video. When viewed, it will take up the entire space in the media center. To start, pause or stop the video, the end-user can simply hover over the clip and the CT navigational tool bar will appear.

In addition, end-users can check their credit score after submitting a Guest Card.

eMap at the Bottom of the Page

The eMap is now automatically displayed at the bottom of the page. This will make it easier for end-users to locate a client’s property and get a better feel for the surrounding area.

 Every seven seconds someone in America turns 50.¹  Where will they live?  The 50-plus population is the fastest growing segment of the housing market.²  Adjusting to retirement and “empty nests,” many will move to communities that offer lifestyle choices that meet their new needs.

Housing for the senior market includes a variety of different options, including independent living, assisted living, nursing homes, and continuing care. Whichever definition your community fits into, providing the right amenities to the after 55 demographic is essential.

According to Encyclopedia.com, many seniors like to do one of the following in their spare time: travel, walking and other light exercise, reading, going to theater (cinema and live), volunteer work, and listening to music.  Knowing some of these preferences can help ensure your community offers what after 55 residents want, making your community highly desirable.   Things like:

Transportation.  As mentioned previously, seniors like to get out and do things in their spare time. If your community can assist them in any way, that would be a great feature to advertise. For example, provide transportation for shopping excursions, theater, and to local restaurants.

Scheduled activities.  Find out what your residents are interested in and make those activities available on an ongoing basis.  Organize bridge tournaments, bunco, yoga, or perhaps training sessions for avid walkers or swimmers.

Offer services.   What a convenience it would be to provide certain services on-site.  Things like blood-pressure testing or seasonal flu vaccines, salon services or even income tax preparation during tax season would be greatly appreciated. 

Educational Resources.  Provide a daily dose of media by making newspapers, magazines and the internet available to your residents.  Offer tutorials on the various social media websites that allow people to stay in touch.  Did you know that seniors are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook? The number of after 55 users (on Facebook) grew a tremendous 513.7% between January and July 2009.³  This type of social media would be a terrific way for them to communicate with family and friends.

Certainly no one knows the likes and needs of their residents better than you do.  But by finding out the preferences of your 50-plus residents and being responsive to their needs, you can not only help ensure their satisfaction, but the success of your community.

¹SoldOnSeniors, Incl. (SoldonSeniors.com)

²www.theboomerblog.com

3 Stan Schroeder, Facebook Users Are Getting Older. Much Older.

Maximize your marketing efforts and reach more prospective residents with a Community Theater® video. Highlighted below are the top eight ways to generate even more exposure through various social networking avenues using your community video.

1. Email Signature:
Including a hyperlink to your video in your signature allows prospective residents easy access to virtual contact with your property.

2. Facebook® Status Updates:
Posting the YouTube^TM link in your status update provides a measurable distribution channel allowing syndication of your video through fans’ newsfeeds. It affords residents the opportunity to showcase their apartment community to family and friends who are potentially searching for apartments, leading to increased views and positive sentiment.

3. MySpace^TM Status Updates:
Posting the YouTube link or MySpace video link to community video in status updates creates consistency across platforms and encourages employees and residents to post. It affords residents the opportunity to showcase their apartment community to family and friends who are potentially searching for apartments, leading to increased views and positive sentiment.

4. LinkedIn® Status Updates:
Posting a YouTube link to statuses allows for exposure among influencers and other contacts and encourages employees and residents to post, increasing relevant viewership.

5. Twitter^TM Status Updates:
Tweet your video through work and encourage residents to tweet. This affords followers the ability to resend to their followers, allowing promotion of the community and increasing the probability of your video going viral.

6. Embed Video on Blog:
Embedded code to your blog coupled with written and video content provides prospective residents a comprehensive overview of what to expect. Embedding can easily be shared with friends and creates another distribution channel, which maximizes viral potential.

7. Embed Video on MySpace Profile:
You can embed video on your profile through albums and tagging friends, allowing consistent branding across platforms. Embedding video also enables feedback from prospective clients.

8. Facebook Page URL Options:
Posting the video link allows prospective residents to find all the necessary information in one place.

Click here for more information on how using your Community Theater video can generate even more exposure!

When you got ready to leave home today, you knew there was the possibility that someone could wrongly come into your home to steal things, so you probably locked your door, and perhaps set an alarm.  Then, when you got behind the wheel of your car, you knew there could be an accident, so you buckled your seat belt.  No one is telling you not to leave home or not to drive, but both of these activities pose risks.  Everyday we take risks, and the better informed we can be about risks, the smarter and safer we are. 

The same is true for advertisers as they embrace social media to promote their apartment communities.  Social media is a great innovation, but it does have its risks, and the better informed advertisers can be about those risks, the smarter and safer they are.

Remember that a website is a form of advertising.  As a practical matter it is no different than any form of traditional advertising, and the same rules apply.  The things you say must be true, because if they are not, it is libel; you have to be aware of consumer laws (watch out for sweepstakes that are really illegal lotteries); and, you have to honor the trademarks and copyrights of others.

And of course, don’t forget about fair housing considerations.  The point of a website is to advertise the community; what is posted on a website (and that means both words and pictures) must therefore be fair housing compliant.   Quite simply, that means that a “reasonable person” looking at the website cannot see anything that would suggest “any preference, limitation or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status or national origin.”  Therefore, the words that are used, the directions that are given, the symbols that are depicted, and the photos and pictures that are shown cannot indicate that type of preference, limitation or discrimination. 

The bottom line is that if there are fair housing issues with a basic website, the apartment community will be liable, since this is essentially an “ad,” and the community (its owner or PMC) is the “publisher.”

But what about a website where others are able to post information or are invited to blog?  Who is liable for what others post?  The answer is “it depends.”  It depends upon how much control the owner of the website (the “Publisher”) is exerting over the external posting by others.  It’s all about control.  The more the message is controlled, the more likely the accountability. 

Now, what about Facebook®, Twitter™, YouTube™ or a blog?  Are these a form of advertising?  The answer to that question is “it depends.” It depends on what a judge or jury might say about this.  The folks in the apartment industry who are using a fan page on Facebook or who are sending “Tweets” would ultimately have to admit that the ultimate goal is effective marketing of a community or PMC, and that sounds like advertising.

Social media can be a brilliant form of marketing, but people need to make informed business decisions.  They need to know what questions they should be asking before they take the leap into social media, questions like:

1. Who at the community/with the PMC will be its “voice”?
2. Where will this “voice” be heard?  On your own website or blog?  Or will this “voice” speak through posts at the websites and blogs of others?
3. If you will have your own website/blog, how much time will be committed to monitoring and promptly responding?
4. If you will have your own website/blog, how much control do you plan to exert regarding what is posted by others?
5. What will you do if someone says something bad about you or the community?
6. What will you do if someone says something bad about their neighbors or prospects–a lie, a slur, even an over-the-top compliment?
7. When is your employee your employee?  Are you responsible for their on-line actions?
8. When is your employee “on their own time”?  Are you responsible for their on-line actions?
9. Are you going to provide training for your employees on the proper use of social media as it relates to your website/blog?
10. Are you going to provide training for your employees on the proper use of social media as it relates to the websites and blogs of others?

Lock your house?  A good idea.  Seatbelts–ditto.  And take advantage of the wonders of social media and advertising, but do that with an understanding of the risks and a plan to address them.

REQUIRED LANGUAGE FOR ALL REPRINTING OF THIS ARTICLE: “Social Media- Don’t Take Risks” is written by Nadeen Green, Senior Counsel with For Rent Media Solutions. The information contained in this article is not to be considered legal advice, and the authors and their companies strongly suggest that you consult with your own counsel as to any fair housing questions or problems you may have.