Basic Facebook Getting Up & Running

By: Becca Wilson, President/CEO

• Why bother with Facebook?

• Success Stories

• Facebook 101

• Maximize Your Facebook Exposure

If you manage your product & reputation on social networking websites like Facebook….. you will receive:

• Viral marketing that delivers qualified traffic = rental income

• Brand awareness – shows you care enough to bring your company and product TO THEM…where they work and play…online.

• Loyal residents (customers) that connect with your brand and work as ambassadors thru preferred employer discounts, resident referral programs, etc.

Mobile devices are accessing Facebook as much as desktop devices.

Has built in shortcuts to social media sites like Facebook & Myspace so prospects and residents can lease online and interact with your community via email, texting, Facebook, instant messaging, etc.

What is your goal in using Facebook?

• Expand the footprint of your brand overnight

• Network with potential new employees

• Collaborate with existing employees (private groups)

• Connect with residents living at your communities

• Prospect for new residents

• Resources for investors & lenders

• Search engine marketing

• Market your apartment vacancies

Facebook 101 – Get Started

Facebook requires communicating….not advertising!

Think about who should be in charge of your brand.

Do you entrust the management of your Facebook pages to your onsite leasing team?

Can one marketing director manage multiple Facebook pages with valuable worthwhile content that is updated constantly?

Content is KING with social media networking.

Simple to Setup A Facebook Account

Five Types of Facebook Pages

• Individual Profile Pages For individuals (not companies)

• Public Profile Pages for Non-Fans For corporate brands (content open with limited interaction options – read only type content)

• Public Profile Pages for Fans For corporate brands (special content and offers for “fans” that is not available to “non-fans with lots of opportunities to interact with your company/brand)

• Group Profile Pages Private groups collaborating

• Marketplace Pages Marketplace gives you the ability to buy, sell, give away or ask for anything you might need.

Example of a “Fan” Page in Facebook

Fan pages are open to the public so they get indexed with Google fairly quickly.

Always a positive to be indexed (listed) with Google.

Example of “Group” Page on Facebook

More than 4 million users become fans of Facebook Pages each day! Fans = loyal residents & motivated prospects = revenue!

How to maximize your Facebook exposure & enhance your brand with the Facebook audience to reap rewards?

The Exponential Power of a Resident Referral Program on Facebook

The average Facebook user has 120 friends on the website. 200 million Facebook users available.

Ask your residents to send out a resident referral broadcast to their friends which is a POWERFUL endorsement.

100 residents x 120 friends each = 12,000 prospects would see a trusted “friend endorsed” introduction to your apartment community. If just 1% of these friends leased at your community, then you’d have 120 new leases.

Why use “events” in Facebook?

• Import your address book from your blackberry, mail software provider, etc to invite everyone you know.

• Use “the more the merrier” by asking invitees to invite their own friends.

• Invitees are encouraged to RSVP and invitees can also see how many are coming and who is on the list which is motivating.

• Facebook sends email reminders before the event to the invitees email address on record. Keeps your name in front of your Facebook friends.

• Send email blasts from within Facebook telling invitees to return to Facebook to see photos from the event.

Cross pollinate your social networking sites

How to build a facebook badge you can place on sites like Myspace.

Building Your Facebook Strategy:

X Find existing conversations, fans, groups and events around your brand. Don’t rule out websites like ApartmentRatings.com, Yelp.com, etc.

X Search related fan pages, groups and events for positive mentions of your brand or your competitors.

X Find out what your competitors are doing on Facebook.

X Test conversion tools – content, coupons, etc to define keywords relevant to your brand, product category and target audience.

Facebook Strategy continued……..

X What can you offer people “on Facebook” that they will find valuable?

X Are you ready to respond to your customers and encourage them to talk about your brand?

X What assets – tools and content – can you leverage?

X Define a publishing schedule for your content and stick to it!

X Do you have your company behind this social marketing campaign with resources available?

X How will you measure success?

Measuring return on your social marketing investment….takes some effort!

1. Engage fans & friends – invite them to comment and upload content

2. Provide incentives or coupons and then measure redemption

3. Post website links to alternative sites

4. Provide opportunities like resident referrals or preferred employer offers to enlist ambassadors for your brand & products.

5. Add social web links to your branded website(s).

6. Use Facebook advertising to promote your products & brand.

7. Measure ROI from Facebook – Lexicon and web stats

Why is it valuable to use Facebook Connect on YOUR website or an Internet Listing Website?

Juicy profile information about the website visitor – profile information you could NEVER get them to give you upfront while they are shopping for an apartment!

Reserve apartment units from your Facebook page

Using Facebook in hiring of employees

CareerBuilder.com 2008 Survey

• 22% of hiring managers use social networking websites to research candidates.

• 33% reported they found information to disqualify potential employees for these reasons:

41% posted info about their drinking or using drugs 40% posted inappropriate photographs or info 29% had poor communication skills 22% used discriminatory remarks 21% were linked to criminal behavior

Does your new hire application ask them if they are on Facebook?