CLASS Leasing: Twitter Party

So you have your apartment community or business listed now on Twitter...great...now what? Twitter is probably one of the more extreme examples of social media that is not beneficial unless you are actively engaged on the website, making your brand name known by getting it out into the stream of conversation. With roughly 200 million users on Twitter generating over 200 million tweets per day, there is quite a bit of conversation being thrown around, so it takes some work to get your brand name recognized in the Twitter world.

One such way to actively engage a Twitter audience and push your company name out there is through a Twitter party. First off, what is a Twitter party? A Twitter party is no different than say a grand opening of a store, in which it is organized to get as many people aware of the store opening as possible and gets them to come see what the store is all about. The only difference of course with a Twitter party is that it is all virtual. The same steps that are taken with a grand opening in person are still taken with a Twitter party: theme, or occasion; promotions through all social networks; sponsors; gifts; etc. Let's say your Twitter party is being thrown for an apartment community grand opening (assuming you've built an expanded following prior to opening), offer waived application fees, or discounted rent for those interested in becoming a resident from your party. This will right away show that you are not only a community that will be actively involved with its residents, but are a community that will go above and beyond the expected to have fun as well.

There are many other reasons, or occasions that a Twitter party would be perfect for and here is a brief list of some, because after all, who doesn't like a reason to have a party?!(thanks @PartyBizConnect):

"1.You are looking to launch a new product.
2.Your business wants to create some buzz with online users.
3.You need to expand your influence in social media.
4.You want to connect with a targeted group of people that care about what you do.
5.You prefer to encourage word of mouth advertising than use push marketing.
6.Your business wants to build influence in its niche.
7.You love a good party."

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: World's Skinniest House

I know that I have written blogs before highlighting the obscure lack of space many individuals live in, often times to show our leasing specialists that apartment size objections could be worse. With that being said this particular example definitely takes the cake when it comes to living in an extremely small space. Currently being designed in Poland, the "wedge" house only offers a living width of 52 inches!! I understand that the living quarters are designed with the artistic resident in mind, but let's be serious here. If any person that lives in this house has the slightest inclination of claustrophobia, they are going to be absolutely miserable. There is hardly enough room for living let alone even the most conventionally sized furniture. This article blew my mind when I came across it on Twitter (via @adamsconsulting), but as much as a surprise as it seems, I am willing to bet that these "conventional" sized houses will probably have a huge demand once they are seen.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: G+ Versus Facebook

Google G+ Versus Facebook...this battle of social media titans is only in the beginning stages of what will surely be a drawn out, epic, technological, masterminded duel. G+ versus Facebook is like pitting Batman versus Superman (I couldn't resist the analogy), in that both forces strive to do the most good for their respective societies, but ultimately in the end there may only be room for one powerhouse, or superhero.

Obviously Facebook has the upper hand with over 750 million users, compared to G+'s 18 million, but consider also that Facebook has been around for over 7 years while G+ is still a baby of only a few months. Despite the difference in time in circulation, it must also be taken into account that G+ is still only on an invite only basis and is only now in the beginning stages of potentially becoming available to all parties interested.

To really get a good grasp on the similarities and differences between G+ and Facebook, it is important to breakdown each social media player individually. This schematic goes into great detail about both G+ and Facebook, but there are a few key characteristics that set the two apart. Both Facebook and G+ allow users to group friends by topics, but G+ is exponentially easier to manage each of the individual groups. Facebook has a much more interactive news feed allowing its users more options of convenient upload with pictures and videos, which G+ is not yet capable of doing. Both sites allow for social chat, with Facebook teaming with Skype, but G+ is compatible with a much broader list of internet browsers. The business end of the spectrum is presently heavily favored towards Facebook, because a Facebook Page can actually serve as a business's webpage and be their top producer of traffic. G+ is still in the process of producing a business relevant option and could pose some serious competition to Facebook in this department. The main reason behind this potential problem for Facebook is that since G+ is a product of Google, they are already and will be able to continue to incorporate much fewer ads than Facebook, since in probably one of the largest understatements imaginable, Google really doesn't need the money.

These are only a few key differences amongst the two sites and the schematic in the previous paragraph does an excellent job breaking down the positives and negatives to G+ and Facebook. One interesting and quite honestly, intriguing aspect of G+ right now is in regards to its number one followed user...Mark Zuckerberg.

It will be interesting to see how G+ progresses in its development into a social media force. There will be some glitches along the way and only time will tell if G+ will be the next Facebook, or just another firework website, such as Friendster. Either way G+ is in an element of its own being a byproduct of Google and as one such article puts the potential into perspective, "it is not the beginning of the end for Google but it is the end of the beginning."

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Utilizing Space

I would be willing to bet that one of the universal objections that occurs at nearly every apartment community nationwide at least once a day is that the apartment a prospect is interested in is too small. Often times this objection is made before the prospect even lays eyes upon the apartment, because their last apartment was X amount of square footage and they need at least that much, if not more. I am guilty off this as well in that my most recent apartment is right at about 800 square feet and I immediately thought that sounded small based upon my previous apartment. The square footage of an apartment is an important detail, but it is really how the area of the apartment is utilized which dictates how large an apartment feels.

I always enjoy finding videos of small apartments of how the resident has managed to either find unique ways to make the apartment feel larger, or have just decorated the apartment utilizing every single square foot of the apartment. Here is another such video from Apartment Therapy that shows how this individual was able to transform a small Brooklyn apartment into a unique and accommodating home.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Tiger Woods And Negative Reviews?

For any person that is in business, at some point in time they have probably had to deal with online comments made by a customer, whether they were positive or negative (i.e., ApartmentRatings).

Obviously handling a positive comment is significantly easier to address. A "thank you for your business and positive feedback" will suffice as a great way to follow-up the comment, because you always want to show that you are listening to your customers, especially when they are positive.

Now, in the event that one is attempting to address a negative comment, then the situation must be dealt with much more carefully when it comes to addressing the disgruntled patron. The worst way to handle a negative comment is by getting in a war of words with the customer accusing them of making false accusations attempting to deface the product or company. It is best to let the individual know that as a company, you are sorry that the person's expectations were not met and hopefully they will give the company the opportunity in the future to make up for the unfortunate transgressions that occurred during their first experience with the company.

One great venue that a responder can put together is a video response that addresses the negative comments of the critic. This will show that some real thought was put into the response to the customer and it also allows for some creativity to flow in the response. I found an awesome example on Social Media Examiner of a response EA Sports collaborated that not only addresses the critic directly, but does so with some humor and creativity.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Additional Craigslist Tips

In follow-up to my blog from yesterday, I came across another helpful page of information that I wanted to share with everyone for posting on Craigslist. This site provides some additional tips that can be used in order to test the waters of Craigslist to determine what potential renters respond to. The thing to keep in mind is that Craigslist response will vary from city to city, so it's important to try many different ads until you figure out what draws the most attention. If you have a tip to posting, or something that you have had success with in a particular area, then feel free to share!

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Social Media Mobile Apps

With the advancement of today's technology, just about anything can be accomplished from the convenience of a user's mobile phone. The Iphone has basically revolutionized the business world allowing important tasks and decisions to be made out of the office setting with a touch of a button on a phone screen. Mobile applications for the Iphone, now at over 500,000, have engulfed individuals' lives with endless possibilities of business, as well as pleasure, tools available for the mobile devices.

I am probably one of the remaining few individuals (thanks Sprint) that does not have an Iphone, therefore, I am still locked out of the endless application stratosphere. I am not completely convinced that me not having access to the mobile applications is a bad thing, because I know myself and I would probably have every possible application that could fit on my phone downloaded.

There are so many great mobile applications, but I find that the best ones are the social media apps that can be used in day-to-day life, allowing the user to accomplish work and stay connected outside of the formal business setting. Social Media Examiner put together a great list of the top 44 useful social media apps that really highlights all realms of social media one would need. Many apps on this list are apps that I have definitely heard of (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Flickr), but the best part about the list was learning about those that I have not heard of (i.e., Dragon Dictation, DocsToGo, Chomp).

This is a very useful list if you are involved in any aspect of social media and will make it tremendously easier to stay connected in a multitude of ways outside of the office environment.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing