Most Common Problem With Success In Social Media

Just my opinion, but I think this is the biggest reason companies/stores/etc have trouble with gaining momentum in social media. Yes, it's a wine shop instead of an apartment community, but the concept is the same: (Discussing the use of FourSquare)

Green Grape is a wine shop located in the heart of New York City's Financial District and offers customers who check in 10 percent off for up to 11 bottles of wine. For high-end wines, that is a fairly lucrative discount.

But owner Seth Datz said store patrons have infrequently taken advantage of the savings possibility. "A customer every now and then will check in, but hardly anyone does," he said.

Why not? Datz said his company has done little to promote the Foursquare offer other than a homemade sign or two advertising it in the store.

In other words, as Sorge from AJ Bombers suggested, a Foursquare page is not enough to get customers active on the platform. Retailers must also have a strong integration plan in place to reap the big sales.

Source: ClickZ

Agreed. But it's no different than any other marketing technique. I have a friend in the promotional product business. She met with a client the other day who still had 90% of the products he bought last year in his storage room. They're not magic pens and mugs. They don't work sitting in the closet.

Social media is the same way. Setting up a Facebook (or Foursquare) page and expecting it to magically build a community is unrealistic, at best. Any social media needs to be part of your overall marketing strategy and have some sort of resources allocated towards it.

You are so right, Jill. Back in a former life, we provided all sorts of collateral to communities to give out to their residents to share what their new program was all about. It was always amazing the communities who paid for our service, but never bothered to tell their residents about it...

My opinion as the geek at my company is that a lot of problems companies can have with a social media strategy is little understanding of the technical side of things. I took a small and unscientific poll in my office to gauge who tweets regularly. As a whole it was very few. Scarier than that is very few people even knew how Twitter worked. Before we can even dive into the amount of effort it takes to pull off a clear social media strategy, a lot of companies probably have to overcome major technical roadblocks as well.

I think people might be using Social Media the wrong way. If you are posting, "It's a great day to live at --- apartments," Or "Ask about our 2 bedroom specials!" then you are not using FB right. It's a social site. Talk like a person. Speak with your fans not to them. Post interesting factoids about your city, not just your apartment community. Ask questions. Post videos. Be funny. It is hard to engage a group of people who have nothing in common but the apartment they live in, so sometimes it's hit or miss. Like resident functions. One time you have five, the next you have fifty.

Foursquare is a niche thing right now, I think. Only young people and geeks are using it. So if you have a lot of those at your community, you should be on there. If you are a senior community, eh, not so much.

Twitter, I love as a "person". I have tried to use it as an "apartment community" but I have no idea if anyone will be enticed to lease by my clever tweetage. Though I did talk to one guy I found looking for an apartment. I searched the tweets and found him looking in my area. I felt so cool. Twitter is great for networking though!

@Donje - You're right on about using Facebook to speak with people instead of to them. I think a lot of people miss that point (and it's the most important).

I think you'd be surprised by the people who use Foursquare. While there are millions of users, I realize that's a very small percentage of the total who use Facebook... or even the internet. The thing to keep in mind is that location based networks are the next direction of social media. Facebook Places was recently introduced and even though not everyone is using it, now more people are aware of the concept. Foursquare saw a huge surge in new users after Facebook Places came out. Since "young people and geeks" were already using it, that leaves everyone else and now they're signing up too.

@David BTW, lest I offend, my husband was at one time the Mayor of Detroit Airport, so I'm married to a geek. I've only had three people every check in at my properties, so I don't feel like it is reaching our prospects or residents.

Ha. No offense. I fit both categories (young and a geek). I just think you'd be surprised at who is using Foursquare, especially now that the concept has been broadcast to so many people through a medium they're already comfortable using.

I have people ask me... "Why are you checking in?" "What's the point?"
To them I say "To get badges" or "To become mayor." The looks I get David are indescribable. Believe me..I do way geekier things so the FourSquare look pales in comparison to others I get. My point is that it DOES slant toward the geeky folk. Just sayin'.

@ Bill I completely understand needing to overcome technical qualms. But ten years ago that was an excuse not to use email. Can you imagine an apartment manager or leasing agent now saying, "sorry. I don't use email."? The answer to that kind of fear is the RIGHT kind of training.

If people in your office are already using Facebook with personal accounts, then I would start there. When the Facebook account is working smoothly, move on to the next area. It may take a year to get to that point. The training does NOT need to be the in-depth kind of training that social media professionals receive. It needs to be concise, specific and non-technical.

And not every form of social media works for every industry, or even every property, as has been pointed out. But if you find that a particular platform is "not working", it may be worth having an outsider look at how you're using it to determine whether the platform is a bad fit or if your strategy just needs tweaking.

Here are two examples of facebook being used by apartment complexes. One done right. One done so wrong. Care to dissect them and discuss what's right/wrong?

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1355206363&ref=ts (if the link doesn't work, just go to facebook and search townlake of coppell apartments).

www.facebook.com/woodlandcourtraleigh

Oh! Oh! Oh! I know the answer!

The first link is WRONG because they created a profile as though they were a person instead of making a Page.

Well, that was definitely one big WRONG. Not only is it against Facebook's terms of service. But no one can see what's going on in your community unless they add you to their friends. Is it a secret apartment complex?

So, what's right about the other one?

Jill I think there's a lot right with their strategy. They are providing links to community events, responding when individuals post comments, hosting contests... etc. Really excellent page.

I agree. It's one of the better apartment facebook pages I've come across. Which shows that it CAN be done

I would never disagree with you whether it can be done or not. No way. It will, however, take some companies a lot longer to get there. (I am referring to MINE!) Remember I speak of this as the head geek here. When I think of the amount of work it will take to get people up to speed, it gets me a little sick to my stomach. Excellent discussion.

Just to let you all know, Facebook is cracking down on businesses "posing" as people. They will take away your business profile, and if they can figure out who you are, they will take your personal page.

Also, before running any contest, you should check the FB very strict promotion rules here: www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php . Facebook is trying really hard to take all the fun out of it, aren't they?? :S

Thanks for sharing, Jill! I think the thing that jumps off the page for me is that everything is geared towards the current residents, and yet, it ends up being a fantastic marketing tool for prospects as well. And when prospects do look at the page, the focus is on the "community" rather than the community.

Their FB page kind of makes me want to live there. And I don't live in that state. And I own my home and have too many kids to comfortably fit in most apartments

I find their FB page MUCH more interesting than their website. But I think they're a perfect example of getting good at one area of social media before moving forward. Their Wall is fantastic, but they haven't really fleshed out the rest of Facebook's capabilities (no custom welcome page, for example). They don't participate on Twitter or Foursquare (that I can tell). So, they're clearly putting their efforts into FB.

And, Bill, I would imagine it will take many companies a long time for social media to become the "norm", and I'm sure by the time they do that there will be some new technology to resist. :lol:

I think everyone has made a lot of really great points! Social media should only be one of the tools in your integrated marketing tool box if that is an appropriate way to communicate to your audience. If it is, you can't just blast messages out to them. You definitely have to communicate with them (key word…”WITH”. The social media savvy consumer is very smart. If you aren’t using social the right way, they can definitely put you on blast. However, instead of just telling a few neighbors they can tell all their “friends” and “followers!”

The second FB page is definitely better than the first. When I clicked on the first one, I just looked at it…and took a deep sigh… lol. Woodland Court is sharing information that is definitely relevant to their residents. They community even gets residents involved through their various contests and community events. SN: Wonder if they have any chocolate left over…

Cool discussion. I will add only a couple of points. One of the reasons why the highlighted example Facebook page works is because there is complete buy in from the corporate office at Bell Partners. Where I see failure in social media outreach is where communities are left to fend for themselves in making a program work. It has to start at the top and it has to be a universal internal approach with clear goals revealed.

Lots of good points so far. Here's my $0.02. Social media is widely seen as something that will just successfully "happen" if you simply have a presence. You all know this isn't how it works.

With social media, you need to be shamelessly self promoting it. Make sure the typical links to your Facebook and Twitter pages are on every bit of printed and electronic material. Anytime someone sees your brand, they should also know where they can find you online. If you have a client base that likely won't be proficient in using these (ex- those wine shoppers w/ 4sq), then go the extra step and do a blog post or a newsletter or a printed flyer next to that homemade 4sq sign in the window explaining how to use them- anything to help educate them.

Odds are if you're the one educating them, they'll likely stick to your brand for a long, long time.

@DailyDerbi , @ChadW8

I just ran across an interesting program by an apartment community - they are voting for "Mr. and Miss Gathering 2010". (Their apartment community's name is "Gatherings Apartments"). They have it run through a survey on survey monkey - check it out: www.surveymonkey.com/s/H9CYSYK . I have no idea how they created the list of nominees, but I thought it was worth sharing!

Their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1233225806

@Chad QR Codes on your printed materials are an upcoming way of promoting your social media sites and allowing people to instantly access your information.

Very cool that Gatherings planned a Mr. and Ms. contest. Too bad their Facebook page is set up as a personal page.

Interesting discussion. I think the "Mr. and Ms. Gathering" is a great idea--any new, creative way to get people involved. We recently held a contest to see who could come up with the best poem to acknowledge all the hard work maintenance managers put in. We used the winner's poem in a maintenance manager blog post bit.ly/a6Tu0v and encouraged everyone to post their own poems as comments. We had a pretty good turn out and some hillarious poems.

In the spirit of social media, I put together this survey bit.ly/bb6wbI to see how the multifamily industry is using social media and different ways they have been successful with it. I will let you know how it goes!

Just checking back on old comments and noticed I never posted the results here to my social media survey way back when. Here's a link to the report! info.propertysolutions.com/newsletters/2...IAL_MEDIA_SURVEY.pdf

Sorry for the delay!

This is a GREAT discussion and I'm only sorry I didn't join in sooner. I work for a vendor as their social network marketing specialist and it's a constant challenge everyday to get people to follow your FB page or twitter account etc. I honestly believe that it's a precise mix between traditional media and social media. You look anywhere nowadays and you will see follow us on Facebook/ Twitter; on store signs, TV commercials, on the radio and in magazines.

A lot of it goes back to the old marketing question, what's in it for them? Why would would these people want to read or watch what I'm putting out? But remember great content can only go so far. If you put out awesome blogs or posts but you only have a few followers than nothing really is going to come of it.

Let's keep this discussion going!

Honestly, I think the most common problem with having success in social media is very simple. We need to remember what social media means...really, it's not about advertising, it's not about promoting. You may be thinking...what?!! That is exactly what it is. I disagree. What do you do when you go to a party? You mingle, you small talk, you laugh, play games, have fun, reunite with friends, make new friends...this is what social media was ultimately designed to do. This is why it is so powerful. It's a constant, party online that anyone can jump into and add their 2 cents to. So yes, advertising & promoting can happen on social media applications but it is most effective when used in a way that you would talk about it with real friends at a real party.

Would you open the door at a Super Bowl party and yell "Hey, come check out my 3 bedroom apartment, great location, sign YOUR lease today!!!"? You (hopefully) are saying, no Alisha, I wouldn't do that. Then really, it should not be happening on social media applications. Social media is a fabulous tool to build relationships with tenants, to create that family-like connection. Prospects will come across this on facebook pages and what to be a part of that community. Just remember, this doesn't happen over night. It is something that builds over a long period of time, but no worries because like any party, once you get a good group together the momentum begins, the laughs go on and on, and the friendship circle gets bigger and bigger. People will be attracted to your business because you're likable. This is what social media can do for you. It's powerful and no money can buy this. The problem is people don't have patience to understand this. Sit back. Have fun. and Party.

Wow, I'm surprised as well that I missed this conversation 3 months ago. Glad it has been resuscitated.

Here's my $.02 that I know are echoed by most folks who have dealt with their companies social media responsibilities.

1.) Social media is about interaction, period.

2.) It's not about marketing and not about sales.

3.) However this interaction leads to more acceptance of marketing and hence more sales.

Talk about a conumdrum.

Thanks for sharing Kaitlyn! This part of the survey drives me absolutely crazy. At least 93% of responders are using at least one social network (Facebook) and yet only 59% have a social media strategy. This means that 34% of responders are almost completely wasting their time. Ok, maybe not every one of them - maybe a couple randomly stumbled on social media success without having a strategy, but the vast majority of those communities are simply not going to get anything from their labor investment. And that doesn't count those in the 59% category that have severely flawed strategies... There are some really quality companies out there to help with creating strategy that it truly is a shame that there are any out there at all with this problem. Try out Firebelly Marketing, 30Lines, several independent consultants like Toni Blake, David Kotowski and Charity Hisle, plus I'll bet some of the service providers such as 4Walls ResPage and Fetch+ would help provide strategy, as well. (Sorry if I missed anyone - this was purely stream of thought!)

Thanks for the mention, Brent!

I wouldn't say that companies are absolutely wasting their time if they don't have a "social media strategy." I think it's more important to look for ways to incorporate social components into a broader communication strategy, and make sure you have that broader strategy right first. When you get that right, it becomes pretty clear where you need to be and what works there.