Social media permeates the apartment industry, but according to the results of an ongoing survey announced at a Thursday session, “Resident’s Use and Perceptions of Social Media and the Multifamily Industry: Strategies to Evaluate Your Community’s Online Presence,” establishing an online community presence does not guarantee immediate resident and prospect engagement.
Joseph Batdorf, Principal of J Turner Research, a Houston-based market research firm, said the survey, which asked residents to share their social networking perspectives and behaviors, revealed that 93 percent of apartment residents have never visited an apartment community’s page on a social networking website.
Robert Turnbull, Co-Founder and President of RentWiki, said although resident engagement will be an ongoing effort, companies should embrace every social media opportunity.
“When I was at a company 15 years ago, we paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a feedback loop, and now we’re all getting it practically for free,” Turnbull said.
Panelists acknowledged the “inherent fear” associated with social media, including loss of brand control, negative advertising and time of upkeep, but said it’s important for owners and management companies to monitor--and address--a community’s reputation. “When doing so, don’t be defensive, be funny and transparent,” Turnbull said.
Jamie Gorski, Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing for the Bozzuto Group, said her company has taken advantage of their Facebook page by posting resident testimonials, floor plans and a job board. “When you do this you start to create more opportunities for exposure and in the end, that means more leads,” Gorski said.
“I liked how the panelists directed the session to the social media community as a whole and not just the apartment community,” said attendee Jay Duden, Regional Manager of North Dakota-based Goldmark Property Management.
Julie Brawn-Whitesides, Senior Vice President for California-based FPI Management, said the session will affect her strategy going forward. “The focus shouldn’t be what social media will do for us today, but what it will do in the future,” she said.
Five multifamily companies participated in the six-question survey, which was distributed to 54,573 people across 415 apartment communities nationwide. Between January and June 2010, 15,964 residents, representing an overall response rate of 29 percent.
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