Multi Housing News March 2012 : Page 25
tinel, a provider of apartment marketing manage-ment software, recently launched Social. The new product gives leasing agents the ability to manage social media sites from the RentSentinel platform. Social provides property management companies control and visibility to their communities’ social media portfolios and delivers detailed reports that gauge social success. Users can monitor results, manage workfl ow and share content across the most popular social sites from one centralized location. Social also allows property managers the ability to monitor reviews from ApartmentRatings and Yelp. Since reviews land at the top of search results, Hisle says to respond to positive reviews with the name of your company and repeat the compliment to boost search results. Don’t repeat negative com-ments or your company name when responding to these comments, and don’t respond to attacking or offensive reviews. As one attendee pointed out during the Q&A following Hisle’s webcast presentation, “Most of our bad posts result from security deposit disputes. Resi-dents feel they weren’t responsible for the damage that was caused to the unit. How do you suggest we respond to those posts without sounding defensive?” According to Hisle, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. “Perhaps start with all new and current residents (via fl yers, email and the community website). Explain the most common damage that takes place during the normal course of residence and how to prevent the damage,” she suggested. “In the case of reviews already posted, if they are older than 12 months, let them go. If they are current reviews, perhaps explain the common types of damage, why your community needs to re-cover the costs of repair, and offer to speak with them offl ine. Provide a name and contact informa-tion,” added Hisle, whose blog can be found at So-ciallyEngagedMarketing.com. can manage your company’s reputation and also see when the reputations of competitors take a hit.“ Hisle suggests using Google Feed Reader for key-words and phrases; Google Alerts for web results, blogs, news, groups and videos; and SocialMention, Kurrently, Twitter Search for social networking mentions. HyperAlerts, she adds, is the best solu-tion for monitoring your Facebook pages and the pages of your competitors. New solutions are coming to market. RentSen-Hisle suggests searching all of these sites for your community name: Google, Google Feed Reader, Google Alerts, SocialMention, Kurrently, Twitter Search, HyperAlerts, Bing, Yahoo, Yahoo local, ApartmentRatings, DoNotRent, Yelp, Citysearch. com, etc. An important part of managing an online reputation is to keep track of all mentions and re-views of a building. Set up Google alerts and track everything on a spreadsheet. This way property managers can follow up on reviews and know who to reply to. A better way to generate positive reviews is through email marketing to residents, signs in the Preparing Students: Tomorrow’s Renters If you’re in student housing, consider offer-ing a reputation management workshop for residents as part of your community-build-ing activities. According to reputation.com, a Silicon Valley-based company devoted to empowering individuals and businesses to control their privacy and reputations online, “students are some of the most active users of social networking. They spend much of their time creating and fine-tuning their online personas. However, the digital identity that impresses friends may not have the same positive impact on col-lege administrators or potential employers. Recruiters and hiring managers are review-ing candidates’ online reputations; will the information they discover help or hinder?” offi ce and requesting prospects (preferably before they even move in) to leave a review. Share these on Facebook, says Hisle, and in testimonials on your website and future email marketing campaigns to build credibility for your community. Consider posting a sign in the offi ce saying, “Like us? Have you reviewed us online yet?” The best way to defend an apartment community on Apartmentratings.com is by purchasing a mem-bership to the site, responding appropriately to con-cerns and complaints, and using the site regularly. This will build credibility, visibility and authentic-ity. Keep in mind that if negative ratings do appear, ApartmentRatings will remove those that violate their terms of service. Yelp also has guidelines that, if violated, may result in the review being removed. When to engage: positive comments, those that thank your brand for the value or experience. Thank everyone for positive or thoughtful comments left on your social networking sites. Online and real-world reputations are merging. Professional connections begin with search engines and social networking sites. It is equally important to manage the reputa-tions of team members and executives. MHN To comment on this story, e-mail Diana Mosher at dmosher@multi-housingnews.com. www.multi-housingnews.com | March 2012 25 ☛
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