Skip to main content

IDEAS FOR RENT - Developing a Reputation Management Plan

Let's be honest. Very few in our industry like online review websites. They are a constant struggle. Very rarely do they provide a sound mechanism to generate leads and more often than not, they lead to bad reputations, decreased lead generation, and fewer renewals.

However, we still need to deal with them. Online review sites are here to stay and should not be ignored. Hoping they go away won't solve the problem. However, if you have the right plan, you can make sure you are setup for success.


It's essential, if not vital that every community today develops a plan on how to deal with online reviews. The goal of any good Reputation Management plan is to minimize the impact of adverse reviews while improving the number of positive reviews left by renters and tenants.

STEP #1 - Respond to Negative Reviews

A Reputation Management plan starts with responding to reviews in a timely, understanding and mature manner.  
  1. React Quickly and Politely - Not responding to negative reviews can be the worst thing a community can do. Ignoring it doesn't make it better. Respond to every review quickly and politely.
  2. Address Criticism - When responding to a review, acknowledge the criticism if it is valid. You must address the issue "head-on." Making excuses or passing-the-buck can only lead to more criticism and worse reviews.
  3. Empathize with Complaints - What would you write if you had the same experience? Empathizing with a renter or tenant about their issues shows you understand them and can sympathize with their problems.
STEP #2 - Ask for Positive Reviews

One way to use review sites to your advantage is to ASK for reviews from residents. There are several software systems available to do this such as BirdEye (birdeye.com) , Reputation Loop (www.reputationloop.com), Podium (www.podium.com) etc. You can also use online resident surveys to ask for positive feedback as well as direct solicitation of your residents through flyers and snail mail.

Always remember to direct residents (or potential tenants) to leave positive reviews for you on sites like Yelp and Google Local Search!

STEP #3 - Negative Review Minimization

To mitigate negative reviews, you can use something called Negative Review Minimization. This process centers around the creation and optimization of strategic content across all web and social media channels to increase rankings of "positive review pages" thereby minimizing the impact of sites with negative reviews.

This is accomplished by building and maintaining SEO friendly web pages and content that will (over time) rank higher than sites with negative reviews posted to them.

While the Negative Review Minimization process of building and maintaining a positive online presence is time-consuming, it a necessary component of any long-term Reputation Management program.

Whether you decide to handle your Reputation Management in-house or use a 3rd party firm like BreadBox (shameless plug), it is an essential step in the long-term success of your communities leasing efforts!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Top 5 Social Media Tools for Apartment Marketing

Social Media is now an integral part of any apartment community or portfolios marketing. However, many don't have the right tools to handle the daily struggle of creating and managing their social media presence and campaigns. That is why we brought together our top 5 favorite Social Media tools to make the process easier and ultimately, create a better social media experience for your apartment marketing . Buffer | buffer.com Buffer is a stripped down, yet intuitive social media posting tool. It makes it very easy to schedule posts, analyze performance, and manage all your accounts in one place. It works with all major services (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, etc.), and has a "queue" system to post based on a predetermined schedule. It's a great platform to manage all the Social Media posts for your apartment community or portfolio.  PRO TIP: Get the Chrome buffer extension. It allows you to share web pages or images directly from your browser without ev...

David & Goliath - Top 5 Marketing Tips for Smaller Apartment Communities

How do you beat the "big guys" at apartment marketing? While many large property management firms and developers have substantial budgets for their apartment marketing , a considerable number of smaller apartment communities don't, so it takes a unique and creative approach to generate leads for your community. With that in mind, we have put together the top 5 marketing tips for smaller apartment communities. Local Co-Branding Promotions While promotion through local businesses, hospitals and colleges have always been a staple of "local" marketing, try taking it one step further. Instead of merely leaving a flyer behind at these locations, try a "co-branding" promotion. An example would be a promotion with a local pizza shop that offers free application fee with the purchase of a pizza. Same can be true on your end. Allow that business to place a flyer in your community. The key to this is building relationships with high-value local merchants. M...

Top 5 "Kid Friendly" Amenities for Apartment Communities

I recently posed a question to a group of developers...What if you started looking at your communities from the standpoint of children being the residents, instead of the adults?  Now obviously, I'm not talking about a community where every unit is filled with slides and see-saws or kids roaming the grounds like Lords of the Flies. But it's a question to highlight what can be done if the primary motivation for the planning of amenity space, marketing and the overall feel of a community was done with children in mind. With 33% of all renter households (14.3 million) having minor children, it's an important question. And as more and more residents with children decide to rent instead of buy, having a true "family friendly" community can become a huge differentiator in the marketing and retention of tenants. So what would a community that is designed around the family and actual children look like? Onsite Daycare This may be a game changer when it comes t...