Apartment Blog

Do you ever wonder what your high school sweetheart, quarterback, class clown, cheerleading captain, class nerd, and valedictorian are up to these days? You may have lost touch with these people over the years but all is not lost. Baby boomers and beyond are finding social networking sites appealing for the same reasons most people do - to stay in touch with people. They are interested in reconnecting with old friends and classmates whom they haven’t talked to in more than 30 years.Currently, 16.5 million adults age 55 and older engage in social networking, according to Internet monitoring site comScore. A consumer survey of U.S. consumers from the NPD group, Inc., a leading provider of reliable consumer research, shows that 61% of baby boomer Internet users (age 44 to 61) had visited sites that offer streaming or downloadable video, while 41% had visited social networks.

There are helpful, even enjoyable and easy-to-use, Web sites that offer social benefits such as networking opportunities, research tools, and helpful articles on everything from retirement to long term care. These sites allow you to sign up and join, meet others, post articles etc, while others provide access to useful information regarding life after 55. The industry experts at After 55™ Housing and Resource Guide and SeniorOutlook.com continue to stay abreast of new media trends and want to provide you with a list of social networking sites that can benefit you.

Facebook

Facebook is a place to connect online with your friends and family to share updates, photos, videos, articles, polls and games.  According to Facebook, their fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older. According to iStrategyLabs, Facebook has a user base of 18.1 million users, and the number of users age 55 and over has grown from a negligible 950,000 to 5.9 million in a mere six months, which equates to a 513.7% increase.

Once connected with friends, family and employees, you will receive notification as they update their Facebook “status” and upload photos, which enables you to maintain an online relationship and stay connected with them. In addition to the social features like sharing photos and looking for old friends, there are plenty of ways to also tap into the professional community.

LinkedIn®

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 40 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing multiple industries. According to Quantcast, users age 35-49 make up 49% of LinkedIn’s traffic, while users age 50+ make up 31%. When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. The site is a great professional networking resource that allows you to connect with other people looking to explore potential business opportunities.

Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. LinkedIn allows a person to find jobs and business opportunities. Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates. Job seekers can review the profiles of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

Twitter™

This real-time micro-blogging site allows you to follow and connect with interesting people and can become a very good source of information. It can be used much like Facebook to keep up with your friends and family, but you can also get breaking news updates from sites such as the New York Times, CNN and Fox News, or follow your favorite celebrities like Oprah. Stay up to date on health care, retirement, housing solutions and more by following sites like AARP. Twitter is also appealing to business professionals seeking to expand their network and share information with colleagues.  

Twitter allows users to send “tweets,” or text-based messages up to 140 characters long answering the simple question of “What are you doing now?” People do everything from sharing monotonous and routine details of every day life to alerting people to breaking news or consumer product launches. These “tweets” are then displayed on your profile page and delivered to other users who are “following” you (essentially, subscribing to receive your tweets). Also, you can follow (subscribe) to the tweets of anyone you want, from family and friends, to Oprah, major Web sites, big brands and more.

Confused yet? It’s ok. Basically, Twitter is like an online cocktail party, a text message or like a Facebook status update, with which you can keep people up-to date with your life.

AARP Online Community

The AARP.org Online Community offers users an exciting environment where users can easily connect with AARP members age 50+. AARP’s ever-growing Online Community encourages users to meet new adult friends and socialize with one another by sharing photos and videos, playing online games, seeking advice, writing in a journal, and much more. The Online Community is a great place to meet new people, share experiences, and opinions, and talk about what they’re going through, whether it’s a single’s perspective later in life, dealing with adult children, or health-care issues. Registration is free and AARP membership is not required.  58% of AARP members age 50 and older access to their Online Community daily or several times a day, compared to 47 % of members younger than 20, according to an AARP/Center for the Digital Future 2008 study.

Eons

This site offers many similar features and functionalities as Facebook; however Eons.com is boomer-specific just like the AARP Online Community. The site allows users to express themselves through their social profile and share different aspects of their life, while also having control over of the privacy settings. In addition, Eons.com enables users to partake in group discussions, maintain and read blogs, share photos and videos, and even play games. Another great feature of Eons.com is that members can sign up to receive alerts when someone from a particular area passes away or in response to pre-defined keywords such as a company or school name.

There are also a few boomer specific tools like LifePath and the Eons Longevity & Life Expectancy Calculator. The Longevity Calculator asks 40 quick questions related to your health, lifestyle and family history and allows users to discover how many years they still have to achieve their dreams. Once the questionnaire is completed, Eons will send you your average life expectancy along with personalized advice to living longer and healthier.

Whether it’s re-connecting with old high school friends or staying in touch with children and grandchildren on Facebook, or maybe it’s empty-nesters planning events or perhaps reading helpful articles from everything from retirement to long term care, these social networking sites are here to assist you with the changes in your life. Online relationships become very beneficial, especially when it comes to retirement, health and family members moving away. The social media adoption rate is going up for  all generations and is expected to have high growth in the coming years, so get connected and start networking online today! 

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.

From August 26-28, the Caribe Royale Orlando All-Suites Hotel will open its doors to more than 450 multi-housing professionals for this year’s Florida Apartment Association (FAA) conference. The conference encourages attendees to “Catch the Next Wave” of industry innovations. On Friday, August 28, attendees will also have the opportunity to listen to some of the most experienced social media professionals in the industry during an hour long social media session that starts at 8 a.m. This is a great opportunity to extend your social media knowledge!  FAA’s social media panel will answer questions on social media and discuss strategies that may benefit your community, including successful tips on the basics of social media, with an emphasis on video marketing, Twitter and Facebook. Whether you are a supplier or management professional, everyone is sure to benefit from these best practices and general discussion.

Panelists include:

• Erica Campbell, Marketing Manager, For Rent Media Solutions™
• Melanie Stiles, National Training & Marketing Director, Milestone Management, L.P.
• Judy Bellack, VP Operations, Apartment Finder  
• The session moderator is Kellie Jackson, Milestone Management, L.P. 

There are a lot of different versions out there of how the Seven Deadly Sins apply to social media but here are some that For Rent Media Solutions has put together to assure that you are making the most of your social media marketing campaign.

1.      Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

We have all been there before and understand this one. When most companies enter the social media landscape they want to have a presence everywhere. In order to be effective both with time and resources, you need to have goals and a solid strategy to support them. It is not necessary to have an account on all of the social networking sites. Choose one or two platforms that best match your goals and target audience and get to know how they work. 

2.      Don’t Get Greedy

One of the main reasons businesses enter the realm of social media is to build relationships with consumers and increase their brand awareness; however this does not mean you need to solely promote it while you are on these sites. Follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the content you are submitting, sharing, tagging and commenting on should not be yours. Don’t consistently link your content. Offer help to others that genuinely and directly benefits them, not you. Provide value to the conversation and become a trusted member of the community. Move people to engage your brand and be collaborative. You can only build a community by contributing and that contribution needs to provide value for the consumers. Only then will they begin to trust your brand.

3.      Don’t Lose Sight Over Quality vs. Quantity

Social media is about quality not quantity and it should not be looked at like a popularity contest. Having the highest number of followers and fans is not what it is all about. Take the time to build a targeted list even if it is smaller and takes longer. It is important to have followers that take action versus having thousands of followers/fans that will never convert. Social media is about building relationships, so you will also want to make sure that you can manage the relationships that you have.

4.      Don’t Try to Control It
Your relationships are your brand. Anyone can blog, tweet or Facebook message about a good or bad experience they had with your product and it can be seen by millions of people. Embrace the transparency of social media because people are talking about your communities whether you like it or not. We can all learn a lesson from the recent experience of a property management company that is suing a former resident for $50,000 over a tweet complaining about mold. Read more here: What the Horizon Realty Fail Can Teach You About Social Media. Within a few hours, Horizon    Realty became a “trending topic” on Twitter, which means that Horizon was one of the most talked about topics on Twitter. Although trending topics on Twitter tend to be short-lived, the reach and distribution of social media goes further than Twitter.

 If you try to control the message too much, you will lose control. Rather than be fearful of messages made about your brand, engage. Use it as an opportunity to display your customer service and you will win customers for life.

5.      Don’t Be Fake
As we’ve mentioned before, social media is very transparent.  Consumers will know if you’ve entered a space with the intention of only promoting your business and not engaging in conversation with them. This is a big mistake businesses are making. Your company needs to be honest and personable in the online space in order to build relationships, loyalty and trust. It’s ok to make a mistake, admit when you are wrong and move on. People want to do business with people NOT with companies so talk to them versus talking at them.

6.      Don’t Be Lazy
Not only do you need to be honest, but you need to be THERE! Don’t get in the mindset of “Set It and Forget It.” Your brand needs to be involved more than just once a week and response time  is critical. You have to write interesting content, you have to stay current, and you have to be willing to show up and put forth the effort. This is a relationship that needs continuous nurturing.  Setting up profiles on social media Web sites is easy. However, growing those profiles and keeping those profiles alive require time, dedication and resources.

7.      Don’t Be In Violation Of Fair Housing
Fair Housing laws are still applicable with social media. Generally, any postings online should be considered the same as email or text messages. This information is discoverable and can lead to liability. Posting photos of residents and employees? Get a model release and consider fair housing implications! Posting endorsements, testimonials and raves from your residents?  Get endorsement permission! Allowing unmonitored and uncontrolled posts?  Know how to respond to “bad press” about your community. Monitoring and controlling the posts?  Your liability increases - libel and fair housing issues.

As strong advocates for social media, we understand the perceived negativity of giving full reign for consumers to air their thoughts about our clients. We can chalk it all down to one thing, FEAR! In a recent webinar I attended, David Meerman Scott stated that many companies use fear as a way out of social media.  That is such a shame because they are missing a really fantastic opportunity to engage those consumers, learn from them and really turn their perception around.For example, For Rent Media Solutions posts our clients’ Community Theater videos on various social networking sites.  Social media websites such as YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo, Dailymotion, AptsVideo.com is where you can find them. While this is a service we provide for free, packaged with our Community Theater videos, many apartment communities are hesitant about entering this space.  Their fear, there’s that word again, is that consumers will use this as a chance to rant about their community; therefore, giving them a bad image and deterring prospective renters away.  While that may be the case, sometimes, it also gives them an opportunity to spout praises about your community.

Through YouTube, I receive emails when a comment is posted on one of our videos. There have been countless times where consumers comment “I live at Jefferson at Dedham Station and love my apartment! Friendly staff as well!” or even have further inquires “How much please! I think I may be interested! Reply as soon as possible! Thank you!” Yes, I will admit that we do get the ‘it’s horrible’ or ‘lame’ comments. But the ones where property managers really have an opportunity to learn from and engage are where residents post their dissatisfaction with service.  

If someone submitted “The office staff sucks. For all the money you pay for rent, they don’t even allow your teenagers to use gym equipment, even if they are multi-sport student athletes in high school,” what would be the best way to respond? You take what they are stating and think about how you could possibly improve the service you promise. Maybe there is a way to have teenagers work-out in the gym with a waiver signed by their parents. Or maybe that means in your monthly newsletters you should include an article about why it is your community does not allow them to work-out unsupervised.  While you cannot please every renter, communication is really all they desire.

Here’s another scenario with a renter who submits this comment regarding your property “[Maintenance] Will enter apartment with no negotiation on scheduling and with less than 24 hours notice for routine maintenance,” what could you do that would be better customer service for these residents? That’s simple, give renters more notice about routine maintenance and give them an option if the designated time does not work out for them (especially if they have pets).

To summarize this article, social media is AWESOME! It is an excellent opportunity to engage perspective and current renters, listen to what they have to say & reevaluate your service to them especially via social networking sites. They are already talking about you, whether you know it or not; so its time to participate in the conversation. In the current economic circumstances, it is imperative to listen to the customer and increase customer service. And remember this “If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will.”

Leading Internet Listing Service is responsible for 66 percent of apartment industry’s social share of voice according to Vitrue, Inc.

NORFOLK, Va.-(November 19, 2008)-No other Internet listing service in the multi-housing industry has engaged its audience through social media quite like ForRent.com. According to Vitrue, Inc., a social media marketing company, ForRent.com is dominating the multi-housing sector’s social share of voice by 66 percent. As a product of For Rent Media Solutions, a division of Dominion Enterprises, ForRent.com, utilizes tools such as Twitter, MySpace^®, Facebook and YouTube, to achieve this accomplishment.

ForRent.com’s ranking was determined by Vitrue’s Social Media Index^TM (SMI), the recently launched free tool that measures a brand’s online conversations. Based on patent-pending technology, scores are comprised of various online conversations ranging from text-dense micro-blogs to multi-dimensional video sites.

“We are thrilled with the results found by Vitrue’s Social Media Index,” said Brock MacLean, vice president of national sales and development, For Rent Media Solutions. “Social media is a very effective way to communicate with our core demographic of 18-34 year old adults. For Rent Media Solutions’ involvement in social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and video sharing sites like YouTube allows us to participate in a true dialogue with consumers, giving us more insight into our audience and their needs. We plan on expanding our social media efforts in the future. The Social Media Index will help us gauge the success of our efforts and how we are resonating with our consumers.”

Generating more than 83 percent of social media activity, video sharing makes up the largest portion of ForRent.com’s SMI score. Apartment property video commercials seen on ForRent.com, called Community Theater^TM, are distributed to an extensive network of channels including major search engines like Google^TM and Yahoo!^®, social networking sites such as MySpace, and video sharing sites including YouTube. During October alone these videos were viewed more than 17,000 times a day.

Generating more than 12 percent of the SMI score, communication through social networking makes up the second largest method of social activity for ForRent.com. MySpace has played a significant role in the success of For Rent Media Solution’s social networking efforts. More than 40 profile pages have been set up, representing more than 40 markets where the company’s anchor publication, For Rent Magazine, can be found. Through these efforts, For Rent Media Solutions communicates with more than 5,300 consumers. 

The remainder of the score is comprised of blogging and micro-blogging. This number includes activity from blogs, such as the ForRent.com blog, and key influencers who chat and push content through micro-blogs, such as Twitter. Twitter is a service that allows its users to send updates to their “followers” while trailing other individuals as well. For more details, please view the full Social Media Index report.

“The Vitrue Social Media Index provides invaluable insight for marketers to understand how they are stacking up in the social media space,” said Reggie Bradford, chief executive officer of Vitrue, Inc. “Brands are being talked about in social settings and we are providing the ability to proactively track these conversations. We firmly believe understanding and measuring your performance in these environments is key.”

About For Rent Media Solutions^TM

Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., For Rent Media Solutions is a division of Dominion Enterprises. As the multi-family housing solution for apartment seekers, property/apartment managers and owners, For Rent Media Solutions provides superior products, outstanding customer service, and tangible results.  For Rent Media Solutions is a leading resource for choosing your next apartment for rent, townhouse, condo, duplex, efficiency, studio or loft and provides a free customizable apartment search from more than 50,000 apartment listings nationwide.  For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^®, as well as ForRent.com^TM-The Magazine, and publishes 98 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide, including After 55^TM Housing & Resource Guide and Apartamentos Para Rentar^®. For Rent Media Solutions operates five additional Web sites: ForRent.com^®, SeniorOutlook.com^TM, CorporateHousing.com^®, and ParaRentar.com^TM.  For Rent Media Solutions is a company dedicated to the needs of the apartment industry, bringing prospective residents and apartment communities together.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises, a division of Landmark Media Enterprises, LLC, is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, real estate, apartment, recruitment and marine markets. The company operates a variety of businesses that offer Internet marketing, Web site design and hosting, lead generation, CRM, and data capture and distribution services. The company has more than 40 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique monthly visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees nationwide and annualized revenue of more than $946 million. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

About Vitrue, Inc.

Vitrue, Inc. delivers world-class advertising solutions for marketers to connect with consumers in social ways. Vitrue turns traditional advertising into direct, personal relationships by harnessing the authenticity, depth and viral nature of social media, which enables consumers to help build brands through their online actions. Through their industry expertise, technology platform and integrated marketing approach, Vitrue offers the most comprehensive social media marketing solutions built exclusively for Fortune 1000 brands and agencies including P&G, Unilever, Pepsi and Grey Advertising. Vitrue is based in New York City and Atlanta. For more company information, please visit http://vitrue.com/.

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