LOW BUDGET MARKETING FOR LOW INCOME HOUSING Using Social Media To Rent Units

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Aiming for local community, through business and potential tenant contacts.  Many businesses of all industry choose to stick to their old fashioned marketing tactics, often with little to no return.  When we first begin to think about being successful in renting units on our properties, in our communities…what do you think of?  Marketing/Advertising/Reputation/Community Presence/Business Contacts such as Vendors with Employees/ ????  Limited manpower, budget, and time can cause massive roadblocks.  Referrals-building a contact list, “community business-based outreach”.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Web Site  Establishing a home page for your business is relatively inexpensive and can reach many people.  Always include a phone number or address so that interested visitors can contact you.  A downloadable pdf of your application is also good.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Lists  One of the most overlooked or ineffectively used marketing tactics continues to be marketing.  Manage your contacts!  Once your lists are ready to go you can start to think about how to communicate to these recipients in the most effective ways possible.  TIP: Sign up for a couple subscriptions to receive marketing from successful companies. This is a great way to find new ideas and to see what effective marketers are doing.  Eddie Bauer, Apple, Outside Magazine, VS!  Use Professional, Relevant Messages in Your s.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Lists  If you are going to spend time and money marketing to prospects and clients, then make sure that you are sending them quality material.  Programs like MailChimp and iContact and Constant Contact provide some useful templates.MailChimpiContact

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Lists  One of the best ways to do this with marketing is to only send your s at the most opportune days and times of the week/month.  Avoid weekends as lots of spam gets sent during this time.  Avoid evenings as lots of spam is sent then and you may risk having your message included in a mass delete.  Avoid Mondays as this is usually the busiest day for most people.  Avoid public holiday periods and summer holiday rushes.  TIP: The best days and times to send campaigns typically fall mid week, during working hours.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Facebook  Make sure it's easy to find your company's contact information, including phone numbers, business address, and website details.  In addition, add a customer support tab that includes an FAQ or Q&A section, plus practical information such as how to get an application.  TIP: Don’t Overpost- "With great power comes great responsibility." Nothing turns customers off faster than being inundated with Facebook posts.  Reward “Fans” for participation. A business gives you a lead for instance, you highlight them on your page.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Facebook  Social Media Examiner's Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages for 2012  #1: How to Market Your Horse Business  #2: Recruit Military  #8: Legendary Whitetails  #9: Dog Pack Snacks

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Facebook  What helped these sites?  Great photos  Informative/entertaining posts  Engagement with viewers  Publishes a good variety of content  Lots of recommendations.  Harder Industry Is Ours! But think about what you can incorporate to draw interest to your page, and ultimately your properties.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Twitter  Twitter is quickly developing into a useful marketing tool for small and midsize companies that sell products and services.  Some big companies have a knack for tweeting in a way that drives their business.  Study what they say and how they get a rapport going with their customers.  Some of the best are Levi’s, Nike, Zappos, and Chow.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS Web Site/Facebook/Twitter

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Twitter  When you set up your Twitter account you can follow companies, and the tweets of those companies will automatically come to you.  Pick and choose carefully.  When a company you’ve selected retweets interesting posts from others, it is much like a referral.  In general, experts in B2B Marketing recommend you follow customers, analysts, partners, potential customers, media, and bloggers in your industry.  Recognize the people and companies with the most to offer your company.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Real Estate Listings/Directories  Your area of interest. State-wide. National.   

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Linked In  Many people still call LinkedIn the "most boring" of the three major social networks.  Twitter & Facebook are the top two…  …but LinkedIn has really done a great job over the last year in order to keep up and maintain its position on the top 3 podium.  Start Your Own LinkedIn Group!

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Traditional Marketing Options (Social Media Equal)  Press Release (Twitter & Facebook)  General Flyers (Facebook & )  Direct Mail (Twitter & Facebook & )  Public Service/Sponsorship (Twitter & Facebook & )  Yellow Pages  Apartment For Rent Signage (Twitter & Facebook & )  Bulletin Boards (Twitter & Facebook & )  Newspapers (Now Online Versions as well)  Tenant Incentives ($25 gift card for finding an applicant/leased tenant)  Word of Mouth  Business Cards vs. Business Card Marketing (listing Social Media) (250 cards for $25…10 cents a copy).

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO RENT UNITS  Additional Tips  Who are your very best customers? Make sure your advertising reaches them.  Can you sponsor a community event?  Positive exposure in the community can bring in new applicants/residents.  Piggyback advertising. Is there someone in your area that send out a lot of mailings?  Split the postage. Pay a small fee to be included.  Key your ads! Put something in the ad to let you know where a response comes from. Put a code that will record what and where.  Ask every applicant how they found you. Make sure it is on your application.