by Kerry A. Sullivan
Apartment companies risk losing valuable Facebook content forever if they post it under the wrong type of account.
Many apartment communities aiming to capitalize on Facebook’s massive audience and soaring popularity as a way to market themselves to prospective residents are inadvertently committing one of the most fatal sins in social media by choosing to do so through what are known on the site as “profile pages.”
For many of those suffering this consequence, the reason for losing all that hard work is a mystery. But a quick review of Facebook’s Terms of Service (TOS) shows that the Internet social media giant has the right to permanently erase profile pages created by businesses because it violates its contractual agreement with the user.
“I probably average a call or an e-mail a week from companies saying, ‘How do I get my page back?’ ” says Lisa Trosien of ApartmentExpert.com. “I tell them, ‘You don’t.’”
In this intuitive, learn-as-you-go, copycat world of online posting, choosing to create a profile page seems to be a logical decision. But the definition of the violation is stated right there in tiny, black-and-white type. Facebook’s TOS insists that profile pages can “only be used to represent an individual, and must be held under an individual name.”
Apartment communities and management firms, because they are businesses, do not qualify for this category, and therefore are rightfully subject to deletion by Facebook without notification. Photo galleries, Facebook “friend” connections and wall conversations, among other elements, are lost forever in a virtual black hole.
Apartment communities who currently use Facebook or are exploring marketing opportunities through the site are strongly advised to learn the do’s and don’ts about posting on Facebook. First and foremost, know that the proper choice is to market through fan pages.
Fan Pages Ideal for Marketing
Facebook created its fan page account option to allow businesses to promote their products and services. According to its TOS, “Fan pages are special profiles that may only be used to promote a business or other commercial, political or charitable organization or endeavor (including non-profit organizations, political campaigns, bands and celebrities).”
As the term implies, the fan-page account gives residents, prospective residents and anyone else on Facebook the option of becoming a “fan” of the apartment or company. This allows fans to see all updates by the administrator without having to share personal information from their own profiles. Fans are notified of new content on their account “news feeds,” in the same way a “friend” of a personal profile would be notified. Updates from the fan page on a user’s news feed serve as a regular reminder that the user is connected to the community or company and as a reinforcement of the company brand.
It is imperative that apartment communities and management companies use the fan page account option from the start, since Facebook currently doesn’t provide a means to convert profile pages into fan pages. Companies currently holding profile pages in violation must notify their “friends” of the page’s impending close, delete the account and open a brand new account with a fan page.
Finding Fans
The push for fans, says ApartmentExpert.com’s Trosien, most intuitively should be geared toward people who already live at the community featured on the fan page. Beyond that, the best Facebook members to reach out to are local businesses such as restaurants, shops and service providers, which in turn will attract prospective residents to the page.
“This way, businesses will post their specials and opportunities on your fan pages, offering you additional content for your residents and making your Facebook page a mini portal of sorts,” Trosien says.
Avoid spending time attracting fans who won’t have any significant impact on the community’s bottom line (e.g. sister apartment communities owned by the same company).
Content should be directed beyond the immediate apartment community to the surrounding neighborhood, to give the page more of a residential than marketing feel, she adds.
Initially, a community’s fan page likely will be populated with current residents more than anyone else, and will serve more as a resident retention tool than a lead generator. That will change as fan pages add and improve content and, consequently, virally grow their fan bases.
During a recent weekly online conversation called #AptChat among multifamily housing professionals on Twitter, Ryan VanDenabeele of Property Counselors Management Group noted that Facebook is a community—not an advertising channel—and should be treated as such. Some chatters agreed.
“I think too many people want to use Facebook as a way to capture leads,” says Ann Padgett, Creative Director for ReSite Online, “instead of as a two-way communication tool with a bit of personality.”
However, Multifamily Insiders’ Brent Williams commented that content used on Facebook fan pages for resident retention purposes also can be used for marketing. Through engagement with fans on the site, anything is possible. In fact, Nessel Development in central Dallas has used Facebook to drive traffic to the company home page, increasing Web site visits by more than 50 percent, according to Web site analytics that track referring pages, says Nessel’s Director of Marketing Chris Hudson.
Practical Applications
Milestone Management uses its Facebook page to brand itself and to communicate corporate culture—not to solicit new employee leads, although that is an option.
“Our main objective is to enhance company culture and deepen employee loyalty by providing another avenue for communication,” says Melanie Stiles, Director of Training for Milestone Management. “We do not use our page for recruitment; however, we have noticed an impact. Candidates have commented that they viewed our fan page prior to the interview, and felt this was the ‘culture’ for them.”
Likewise, Dallas-based Lincoln Property Company communicates the programs and activities available to residents and employees through its Facebook fan page.
“It really ties back into our mission to be a company for people and about people,” says Jennifer Staciokas, Lincoln Property Company’s Vice President of Marketing and Training.
There’s nothing wrong with communicating information about a community or company through a fan page, but multifamily technology educator Mike Whaling notes that some apartment communities “blast” specials on their Facebook walls, which compels him to hide updates from that particular account or delete his connection altogether. If this practice is so upsetting to an industry member, just imagine how a prospective or current resident might perceive it.
Kerry A. Sullivan is a freelance writer in Alexandria, Va.