Members of the HomeTownRent team are always working to build strong relationships with property managers and landlords who advertise their rental properties on HomeTownRent’s websites. Through the development of these relationships, it becomes clear that each property manager is different from the next, with a background and business model that is as diverse as the rental properties they manage. Each property manager has a new and interesting story to tell, so what better way to tell your story (and market your business at the same time!) than by blogging and using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn?
According to a 2009 CMO Survey, 3.5% of marketing budgets is currently spent on social media marketing and that figure is predicted to grow to 6.1% within one year — and 13.7% within five years. The social networking phenomenon has caused many companies to devote a larger part of their marketing efforts to joining online communities in order to engage both current and potential customers. Three important aspects of successful social media marketing are:
- Creating buzz or newsworthy events, videos, tweets, or blog entries that attract attention, and become viral in nature. Many successful viral campaigns have gathered steam through an amusing or compelling message, with the company logo or tagline included incidentally.
- Building ways that enable fans of a brand or company to promote a message themselves in multiple online social media venues. Fan pages in Twitter, MySpace or Facebook follow this model.
- Being based around online conversations. Social media marketing is not controlled by the organization. Instead it encourages user participation and dialogue. To be successful, social media marketing campaigns must fully engage and respect the users. (Wikipedia)
Developing Social Media Marketing for Your Company:
For your social media marketing to be effective, you must ask yourself: Who is my target audience? What kinds of social media do they use? How do they use social media? And what can I do to deliver a meaningful and compelling message that will enhance my success in the property management business? Because social media marketing allows you to deliver targeted messages to targeted audiences, you should develop a strategy for using social media that is unique to your company and its business objectives. HomeTownRent offers the following tips for property managers and rental advertising services to use social media to market your company, increase your rental leads, and improve your customers’ experience:
- Don’t let Twitter’s 140-character limit keep you from delivering your message in its entirety. Include the most important part of the message in your tweet then post a link to your blog so visitors can read the full article.
- Break up blocks of text on your blog by including photographs, diagrams and video clips whenever possible. Attract prospective tenants by posting pictures and video tours of the rentals you manage and assist current tenants by posting neighborhood maps and photos of recent community events.
- Think of your social media marketing campaign as a 24/7 focus group. Post polls, quizzes and surveys on your social networking pages and ask your tenants for feedback and testimonials about your service. Learn from the responses you receive and use them as opportunities to improve your property management business.
Due to the rapid increase in popularity of blogging and social networking websites, it’s clear that social media marketing is a phenomenon that’s here to stay. So use this phenomenon to your advantage by joining online communities like Facebook and Twitter and by blogging about your experiences in the property management business!
Filed under: Landlords & Property Managers | Tagged: blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, property management, social media, social media marketing, twitter
