|
Oct 31
2009
|
Setting Yourself Up for Failure: It's Easier Than You Think
Posted by: Lisa Trosien on Oct 31, 2009 01:00 Tagged in: Social Networking , Multifamily , Communication , Apartment Marketing , Apartment Leasing , Apartment Community , Apartment
|
|
Everyday, I get a phone call or an email from a company that has a problem that needs fixing. Now, as a consultant and educator in multifamily, this really shouldn't surprise me. But what IS surprising is how many of the problems are 'self inflicted'. Here's a quick overview of the three I hear on a regular basis.
FAILURE #1: Trying to beat the system on Craigslist. You know what I'm talking about here. The constant refreshing of ads by making 'small tweaks' so the ads are not exactly the same. (But who are we kidding? The ads essentially ARE the same). The we've got the properties who are trying to use a variety of ISP addresses to 'fool' the system, etc. The list goes on and on. And then what happens? Craigslist busts them and blacklists them. And then my phone rings and everyone says the same thing: "We got blacklisted on Craigslist! What do we do?" And I ask the same question, "What were you doing that got you blacklisted?" And we go on from there, discussing how they were trying to get around the Terms of Service (TOS) and basically got caught. (Charity, I think this is a great opportunity for you to weigh in here on this particular failure.)
FAILURE #2: Running your property page as a profile page on Facebook instead of a "Fan Page". This is a violation of the TOS on Facebook. There's no way around it; it's wrong. And you run the risk of losing your entire page - all of your links, videos, photos, comments, 'friends' and more. And sadly, you won't be able to get it back. It will be GONE and you will have no choice but to start over, hopefully as a fan page.
In a call with a client yesterday, they reported that they had 'lost' three pages just that morning. Luckily, they've been switching all of their pages over to fan pages, so the loss wasn't quite as extreme as it could have been. But please, take my advice and BEGIN SWITCHING THESE PAGES TO A FAN PAGE. Please.
FAILURE #3: Failing to stay 'in touch' with what's going on at the site level. This is a corporate failure, not a site level failure. As a corporate employee, you need to know what's going on out there. What are your teams hearing from residents? From prospects? Reports don't tell you the whole story. Talk to your teams; ask them their opinion. They know A LOT about their individual markets. Take the time to talk to them. They'll save you a lot of research time by explaining the story behind the data that you review about their property and their market.
What failures do you see that are 'self inflicted'? How do you handle them? And do you have a strategy to stave off such failures before they happen?
Lisa Trosien is a multifamily educator, strategist, speaker and consultant with over 20 years of industry experience. Contact her by phone at 630-898-8898 or via email, Lisa@ApartmentExpert.com
You mean posting your Craigslist ads to your Facebook page over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over isn't a good strategy?
Or Tweeting your specials over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over isn't a good strategy?
Thanks for your input!
LT
-
- +0
-
-
It's like Trick or Treating! If you play by the rules you'll get a treat: good results from Craigslist. If you don't play by the rules you'll get a neat little trick: it's called 'ghosting' at first but then it will become a disappearing act of all your ads.
I plan to rock the boat, shake things up, make a difference in our industry by teaching one property at a time how to use these sites effectively. My views are considerably different regarding the use of these free social sites. It's quite simple really, I play by the RULES.
If your ads are being removed, you're just wasting time (which = money). Would you waste money advertising in magazines or on billboards no one will see? Just like all marketing efforts, you should have an effective Craigslist strategy in place before you begin posting.
-
- +0
-
-
Thanks for your comments! I know you are the "go to" person for Craigslist questions, so when you say to play by the rules, you know what you're talking about!
LT
-
- +0
-
-
Lisa - I especially like your suggestion of corporate employees staying in touch with the site level operations and really understanding the realities. When I worked for a property management company, our Senior VP had each corporate employee spend a 1/2 day with the leasing office and a 1/2 day with maintenance - with the expectation that we actually did the work with them. It was an eye-opening and irreplaceable learning moment for all of us. Our respect for the amount of work and the multitude of scenarios they deal with daily increased tremendously, and we were able to work more closely and more effectively as a result.
-
- +0
-
-
Subscribe to this comment's feed
I'll add another one: trying too hard to use these sites how YOU want, rather than how your audience uses them. Facebook is a great example -- no one will care about your page if you only post specials there. Want a boring page that no one pays attention to? Just keeping posting those specials. You'll have 37 fans (all will be members of MFI) in no time.