How to Improve Your Apartment’s Online Visibility (Webinar Summary)

August 27th, 2009 by Matt DiChiara| Posted in Apartment Marketing | 1 Comment »

This morning I attended a webinar hosted by Aimee Miller of Appfolio Property Manager and Brent Williams of Multifamily Insiders, featuring a presentation by Mike Whaling of 30lines discussing how apartment communities can improve their online marketing strategies.

Mr. Whaling detailed the basics of how apartments should lay the foundation for establishing an online presence, using the web to brand their community, all to help keep vacancy rates down. He laid out a strategy that every apartment community, no matter the size or location could utilize cost effectively to capture new and retain existing residents.

Before the presentation began, participants were polled to see how multifamily professionals were using which online tools. According to the poll, most apartment communities had a website, used free classifieds and an online advertising service like MyNewPlace. Conversely, not many people were using social networking sites and even fewer were keeping a blog.

The presentation began by citing Multifamily Marketing in the Internet Age (excerpt), MyNewPlace CEO John Helm’s first white paper; the internet is now the primary tool for renters to find apartments, as more than 70 percent of renters begin their apartment searches online and more than 50 percent of leasing activity comes from online sources.

Mike’s debut presentation this week (of which I hope there will be more) focused on building and optimizing an overall online presence, which includes building out an appropriate site, using other online services and getting involved with online social media.

The first step recommended was a simple one, google yourself; by typing in the keywords that someone would use to find your apartment, such as your apartment’s name and variations, the neighborhood where you are located and the city or town in which your apartments are located, you can get a great first impression of if and how online renters can find your property.

Next, by dividing your audience into residents, potential residents and local businesses or people, you can build out appropriate “communications hubs” designed for each. This will help design the foundation for an expanded online presence based on the types of conversations that should be taking place; current residents have much different needs than prospective renters, and there are tools and sion the internet that are designed for each.

For example, Facebook pages work really well as supplements to resident portals, because they allow people to get to know one another and stay appraised of community events and news. Facebook pages do not, however, work well as a way to reach potential renters, since Facebook is not the online tool where renters search for apartments.

These types of examples and outlines are great first steps to help property managers and leasing professionals make strategic steps towards online visibility and functionality that will help retain residents.