In recent RentSauce posts we have looked at Facebook¹, Instagram, and Pinterest² and the role they can play in marketing for the Multifamily Housing Industry. Thus far we have not covered Twitter, one of the biggest social mediums in terms of usage and its impact on the way society communicates.

When Twitter came on the scene in 2006 it placed limitations on how one could communicate online. Twitter allowed users to send (and read) short messages, commonly known as tweets. However they placed a 140-character limit on those messages. A user now had to be concise and specific whenever they wanted to share an idea, tell a joke, or communicate with other users. Media experts doomed Twitter for failure because of this limitation; however, in July of 2012, Twitter passed the 500 million user threshold. Neat, Dave! But what does this have to do with the multifamily housing industry?

Glad you asked! Twitter has impacted the multifamily housing industry in many ways. I would like to discuss three of the more important ways that Twitter has influenced this industry, in:

1) Advertising

2) Communication with your consumer

3) Increasing your visibility online.

Advertising

Billboards are now infographics, commercials are now YouTube videos, and print ads are now tweets with pictures. Buddy Media found that tweets with images³ drive double the engagement. Engagement! That means people are not just passively consuming your ads, but they are actively engaged and then retweeting it to their friends and followers. This is what makes social media a completely different form of advertising. It allows your customers and consumers to become your promoters and advertisers. Perhaps futurologist Alvin Toffler was on to something when he coined the term “prosumer” back in 1980.

Communication With Your Customers

Twitter has become advantageous for everyday people to communicate with the company and brands that they love. This has been dubbed the consumer/customer to business (C2B) communication. Before social media, communication was mostly unidirectional. It was difficult for a consumer to voice their opinion loud enough for companies to pay attention. Twitter has changed this. Now consumers can tweet right to companies and brand voicing their devotion or dissatisfaction.

Your on-site staff can now send out promotions, rent reminders, and announce upcoming events on Twitter. They can respond to specific questions potential residents may have; e.g., Do you have any 1-bedroom floor plans available? Or, do I get a reward for referring a friend? Don’t miss out on an opportunity to engage with clients, whether they be current or prospective.

Increase Your Visibility Online

The benefits of creating a strong presence on Twitter through advertising and interacting with your customers are two-fold. In addition to the aforementioned benefits, you will also be building a strong online presence. Make sure you include your website's URL as you tweet about what floor plans are available at your apartment community— a study⁴ performed by Branded3 found that URLs receive a significant boost in Google rankings when they are shared on Twitter. This is very powerful, because it doesn’t matter how awesome your website is if no one sees it. Coupling a strong SEO campaign with a strong social media presence will increase your visibility online. You will forget what life was like having below 99% occupancy.

In short, tweet hard, tweet often, and get twitterpated with the effects of a successful Twitter campaign.

By: Dave Chalk

¹http://www.multifamilyinsiders.com/multifamily-blogs/google-has-no-love-for-facebook-likes

²http://www.multifamilyinsiders.com/multifamily-blogs/you-may-find-this-pinteresting

³https://business.twitter.com/photos-videos-content

⁴http://www.branded3.com/blogs/revolutionary-study-we-prove-that-tweets-do-affect-rankings/