#AptChat

We know it’s not the sexiest topic in the world (well … maybe it is for some people), but this week’s Apartment Chat covered an issue that everyone has to deal with — accounting. And more specifically, accounting software.

What systems are you using, what is working well, and what would you like to see improved … we wanted to hear from you about your “wishlist” for your current accounting system. Here are some of the highlights from what you had to say. (Thanks to representatives from RealPage and Yardi for contributing to the conversation.)

What do you think is the best accounting software and why?

If you had a “wishlist” for changes to the service you use, what would be on it?

What are the limitations of what’s available? Is there anything that we shouldn’t be asking our accounting software to do?

Now it’s your turn. Which accounting system are you using? What features would you like to see, or what could your software do better?

We’re taking next week off for Memorial Day, but we’ll be back at our regular time (4 pm Eastern) on June 3rd. We hope you can join us then!

Social media may have recently surpassed email in terms of total share of our time spent online, but email is still an incredibly effective way to reach your audience (and email is still the most popular online activity on smartphones).

With that in mind, we asked Mark Juleen and DJ Waldow to help us understand how to get more out of our email marketing efforts. Mark (known to some as the Apartment Nerd) is the Director of Marketing for JC Hart Communities in Indianapolis, and DJ is the Director of Community at email service provider Blue Sky Factory.

They’re certainly not the only ones with something to say about the topic … it was exciting to see a number of faces – new and old – jump into the conversation to share their tips and ideas.

Here are the highlights from the discussion:

Why do I need to incorporate email into my marketing strategy? Aren’t the autoresponders to prospects enough?

• Jonathan Saar: autoresponders are not personal … you are in fact emailing people.
• Charity Hisle: Integrate, Integrate, Integrate! Tactics should work together to be effective.
• Heather Blume: Auto responders are never enough. They’re canned, impersonal, and often get filtered out by SPAM filters. Keep it human.
• Courtney Anderson: Auto responders are some of the most interacted with emails because they are real time – positively impacting deliverability.
• Erica Campbell: Auto responders can b effective if they r done correctly like using personalization & dynamic content to meet their needs.
• DJ Waldow: Why Email Marketing? Easy. According to the DMA it had a $43.62 ROI in 2009 (assuming you do it correctly)
• Courtney Anderson: The more interaction recipients have w/the email the more favorable the ISPs rate your IP reputation.
• Kim Cory: Auto responders are usefull and effective for certain situations. Better than no email at all, but has 2 be custom
• Kim Cory: If U send junk, that’s exactly where it will go! Don’t get lost with the other 100′s of emails your customers get daily. B unique.
• Michael Pickens: We send out autoresponder but require the properties to give a personal response within 2 hours.

Typical emails might be an auto-responder, then a custom response. How else can we use email to reach our audience?

• Courtney Anderson: Interaction based emails, welcome emails, drip campaigns, surveys, many more.
• Jonathan Saar: Newsletters for residents and non
• Kim Cory: We use email for surveys, resident alerts, announcements, holiday greetings, newsletters, promotions, list is endless.
• Meg Fowler: Most marketers treat people like opens, not readers. Content strategy exists beyond the blog.
• Erica Campbell: Email plays a huge role in multichannel marketing – other channels drive before the inbox and after the inbox.
• DJ Waldow: Send updates about cool new apts in their area. Targeted FTW.
• Laurel Zacher: Love email to drive new visitors to our site/fb/videos (from my sig). i just wish I could better quantify it!
• Mark Juleen: We do surveys, monthly news, notifications, introductions to social, etc. and more to come.
• Meg Fowler: How about emails with neighborhood profiles — links to amenities, stories of happy residents… along with rentals.
• Ryan VanDenabeele: Email is a great communication tool with residents. Not as invasive as text. I still wouldn’t like to get text from my community.
• Erica Campbell: Email is great 4 viral marktg, promoting sweepstakes/contests, internal cross promotion, affiliate program referrals.
• DJ Waldow: Consider pics and video when sending email to apartment folks. Keep it real, human, interactive.
• Meg Fowler: Don’t forget to link to social properties. you could even have “apartment love stories” of folks who found a great place.
• Meg Fowler: I also love the idea of checklists on how to assess an apt, how to set a housing budget, how to work out a lease…

What are some of the best ways to capture emails? (Online or offline)

• Duncan Alney: Email and SMS/text should both be opt-in with value added content.
• Meredith Mobley: SMS email capture is a good one.
• Gillian Luce: Homepage sign-up is a good one!
• Erica Campbell: Offline list growth printed materials, direct mktg, in-store display, CS/IT, reg, call center/outbound, tradeshow.
• Charity Hisle: How about capturing emails thru Facebook apps for those that want to learn more about your community?
• Joe Foster: Mailing list sign-ups at community events. Great for refreshing your resident list and scooping renters.
• Ryan VanDenabeele: Offline … we’ve been doing door hangers with tear-off tabs to submit emails to win prizes like ipads & TVs.
• Erica Campbell: I saw a newsletter sign up for weight watchers on the box of their microwave meal- pretty neat.
• Courtney Anderson: If I am in need of an apartment accepting my large dog, an email with properties that do is a great idea.
• Meg Fowler: As far as capturing opt-ins, I’m a big fan of eBook offers — give content sample to assure value.
• Sue Anne Reed: Apartment decorating on a budget would be a great ebook / lead generation campaign for multi-family.
• Sue Anne Reed: As someone who just recently moved, I think you should put a 9 or 10-month trigger on prospects.
• Courtney Anderson: Be compliant with CAN SPAM such as link to unsubscribe, physical mailing address, etc.

We mentioned timeliness earlier. Successful email campaigns are both timely & valuable. How do you ensure timeliness?

• Vacancy.com: Pick your days carefully. Don’t send out an email campaign late in the day- be aware of when your audience will view it.
• Charity Hisle: Email to Poll their move-in experience, Check-in again monthly.
• DJ Waldow: Capture “what is your timeframe for new apartment” info on email capture. Use to send timely emails.
• Resite Online: We find that our marketing emails get better response when sent in the middle of the week. We are B2B though. Know your audience.
• Ryan VanDenabeele: Traditionally Tues & Wed are best email days. Then after 9:30 But before Noon. Before 9, people get delete happy with morning email.
• Mark Juleen: Automate what you can. We often leave too much responsibility to a human scheduling an activity.
• Laurel Zacher: I think we can all learn from the ILS’ outreach emails: useful content about process during search, recontact 9 mo later.

Is your email social? What are some ways you can integrate it with the rest of your marcomm efforts?

• Erica Campbell: Decorating tips, integration w groupon, coupons, partnership deals w local bars ect r effective retention based emails.
• Mike Whaling: Once you have the email, use tools like Flowtown, Blue Sky Factory or MailChimp to see where else your audience is online.
• Resite Online: Include links to your social networks in your emails. You could even give them a taste by including your latest feeds.
• Erica Campbell: Take the HTML version and copy it into your FBML on your FB profile and create a monthly message tab.
• Mark Juleen: Email strategy needs to integrate w/ your social, or your social and/or email will only get you so far. LINK, SHARE, SYNDICATE.
• Meg Fowler: Email only as social as YOU are — if you’re just broadcasting, it’ll read that way. if you’re starting a convo, it’ll ring true.

What metrics are you using to evaluate your results?

• Courtney Anderson: Standard ones, open rate, click thru rate.
• Vacancy.com: A/B testing is a great way to see what worked best.
• Courtney Anderson: Leads per email sent, lead per email open help gauge performance ie bottom line indicators.
• Erica Campbell: For an ILS- guest card submissions, CTR, unique clicks, open rate, opens, % of traffic to overall site traffic.
• Charity Hisle: Subscription counts, web visits, email referral counts are all good metrics.
• DJ Waldow: Opens are a start, click-throughs better, conversions WIN.
• DJ Waldow: Shares/fwds create more eyeballs which increase opens and potential clicks & conversions. Double win.

Videos responses from Mark Juleen:

• Q1: “Have an ongoing strategy to follow up.”
• Q2: “The sky is the limit.”
• Q6: “Besides metrics, keep in mind how you can be ‘top of mind.’”

More resources:

• Full transcript of this week’s #AptChat
• 50 Ways to Build Your Email List (Free ebook from Blue Sky Factory)
• Ways to integrate email marketing and social media (Presentations by DJ Waldow)

How are you using email as part of your marketing and communication mix? What is working well for you? What gives you the most trouble? Share what you’re doing … tell us about your experience with email marketing in the comments!

This week’s chat included 404 tweets from 56 different contributors.

With summer heat bearing down and air conditioners, fans and sprinklers cranking at full capacity around the country, we thought it would be a good idea to discuss ways to be more mindful of the energy, water and other resources we (and our residents) use at our properties. We connected with Kim Madrigal — a certified sustainable building adviser, certified energy auditor and author of GreenLandlady — who helped us out by sharing all kinds of great tips, ideas and resources to help us reduce, reuse and save in our property management operations. Here’s a recap of our discussion:

Starting with the ground up, what can MF mgrs do with existing landscaping?

(Submitted by Elizabeth Madrigal)

• Heather Blume: You can start by examining your watering procedures – timing of watering, aim of sprinkler heads, leaving grass longer.
• Kim Madrigal: Landscaping is water intensive. Plant native vegetation.
• Kim Madrigal: Mature plants need less water than young plants. Ck yr watering schedule seasonally. Consider smart irrigation system.
• Elizabeth Madrigal: Local arboretums are great places to start, and local universities and plant nurseries.
• Heather Blume: I’ve heard great feedback on putting rain sensors on your property – $1500 to install and saves at least twice that the first year.
• Susan Welker: Also consider rain water catchment systems. 1″ of rain on 1000 SF equals 550 gallons of free water.

I am interested in hearing about electricity savings … what tips are available?

(Submitted by Jonathan Saar)

• Susan Welker: Replacing incandescent lighting with Fluorescent, adding insulation, occupancy sensors and low cost energy savers
• David Kotowski: Billing residents for use of their utilities also helps with conservation.
• Kim Madrigal: Motion sensors or vacancy sensors turn lights/appliances etc. off when no one is around. I use them in hallways, kids rms!

Low-hanging fruit … if I’m on a budget, what are some things I can do that will have the greatest impact for my dollar?

• Kim Madrigal: Replace incandescent bulbs w/ CFL. reset water heaters to 120 degrees, lower pool temp to 78, install lting controls.
• Kim Madrigal: Better manage vacant units, weather stripping of doors & windows, aerators, low flow fixtures will pay for themselves.
• Elizabeth Madrigal: One thing we forget is the HVAC system “tune up”, which can save 15 to 20% on an energy bill even with old equipment.

What can we do to go green in the leasing office? Has the paperless office finally arrived?

• Elizabeth Madrigal: Let staff know you care about green management – and train them in it – and your NOI will increase. It’s good green economics.
• Heather Blume: Stop printing every report every week for starters. U don’t need physical back ups if you do a full system back up weekly.
• Christian Flickinger: VG (Village Green) doing paperless applications & leasing, also moving internal processes paperless. reports being send in PDF to corporate/owners.
• Gillian Luce: Recycle, change thermostat temp, shut-down computer & turn off lights. Tips 4 Going Green at the Office http://bit.ly/dCrkJ6
• Will Clark: Electronic check registry, file invoices remotely, accept automatic rent payments, reduce waste and hot machinery.
• Mike Whaling: Why not send an intro email w/ links to resources on your website? Get rid of the paper & boost SEO…
• Charity Hisle: Many of our customers use their blogs as newsletters rather than printing & distributing or emailing.

Let’s talk resident education. What works best? How can we make residents more aware of their energy/resource usage?

• Jason Tripp: Resident education is the hardest, especially as it relates to Sustainable Development…the two aren’t always in sync.
• Resite Online: Resident portals and blogs are great places to post educational information for residents.

What are the most common misconceptions about “going green” that you hear from residents? From others in your company?

• Resite Online: People tend to see the costs before the benefits.
• Kim Madrigal: Misconception? That technology will fix things! Tech will help but it will require behavior mods as well.
• Heather Blume: “it’s too expensive” “takes lots of work” “it will b a long process” “it will cost us more 2 go green b/c it’s not easy”
• Jason Tripp: Most of it relates to the tangibility – are floors recycled, is a material green, perceptions on paper.
• David Kotowski: “Going Green” is pretty much just using less paper.
• Jason Tripp: Cost is hurdle – people want a green apartment, but aren’t willing to pay the premium. We have to appeal to wallets and hearts.
• Kim Madrigal: People aren’t often aware of the link between water and energy. Using less water means using less energy too.
• Kim Madrigal: Use 0.5 or 0.75 aerators on faucets including kitchens! In showers use 1.5 – 1.75 low flow heads. These are better than min stds.

More great tips shared along the way:

• Susan Welker, AIA: Those most ROI I would think in green apartments is insulation. Inexpensive and pays for itself in 1 year or less!
• Elizabeth Madrigal: If you haven’t seen the DSIRE website, check it out as it is a searchable state website for incentives, rebates, tax credits, etc.
• Kim Madrigal: Beware “green products”. To Quote @mfguide Reduce. Reduce. Reduce. We actually have to stop consuming so much.
• Kim Madrigal: Green leases? Be sure you have clause that allows you access to energy usage. May not need it now, but will in future.
• David Kotowski: We’ve started giving out reusable shopping bags as move-in gifts.
• Elizabeth Madrigal: We can’t control much in life, but we can control our own actions, reactions and behaviors. Living a sustainable life matters.
• Kim Madrigal: Check out the OccuSmart sensor for interior hallways, Vending Miser for vending machines.

More resources:

• Full transcript from the discussion
• GreenLandlady
• DSIRE (Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency)

What are you doing to ‘go green’ at your company? Do you have a resident education program focused on sustainable living? What other ideas or suggestions do you have to help save energy, water and other resources?

Thanks again to Kim and Elizabeth Madrigal for your time and expertise!

This week’s #AptChat included 294 tweets from 38 different contributors.

If there’s one apartment company that’s been recognized for its success using social media to reach it residents and prospects in the community, it’s Urbane Apartments in Royal Oak, Michigan. The founder of Urbane, Eric Brown, is a regular participant here on the Apartment Chat, but this time, we aimed the spotlight on him to learn more about how they’ve done it and where they’re going next. It was quite a chaotic discussion with a LOT of great questions from the group. Here are some of the highlights:

Urbane runs a successful, active company blog. What’s the secret sauce, and how do you keep it going?

• Eric Brown (EB): Participation and support to and at the community at large.
• EB: We use our Digital Reach to promote local businesses, restaurants, bars, and any other places our Residents hang out.
• EB: Think about your Community of Interest, (followers, friends) and its size and correlation to your apartment community.
• EB: SM Marketing is Word of Mouth on steroids, and when it works, your friends rent the apts for you.
• Erica Campbell: So true! “91% say consumer reviews are the #1 aid to buying decisions” (JC Williams Group)
• EB: Provide content that folks want/need, or find interest in.

With the myriad of other duties the property has, how do you prioritize their blog participation?

(Submitted by Jon Harrington)

• EB: I think the time constraints of a Social Media Program is overrated.
• EB: Bottom line, we still need/must rent apartments, but we also carve out the req time for effective SM marketing.
• EB: One thing we cut out were “Tours”, We use a Go Solo Program, (lots of folks don’t agree with this angle) I love it.
• Mike Brewer: I think the really successful companies will resign themselves to the idea that it requires more than 9 to 5.
• Lisa Trosien: Have seen properties been able to cut their ‘out of office’ outreach marketing time by investing in SM.
• Gillian Luce: Social Media shouldn’t replace but rather act as a complement in your marketing mix.

You talk a lot about the benefits of partnership marketing? Can you explain this & provide an example?

• EB: We just partnered with Coke, and their Vitamin Water brand, Partner with like demographics to your brand.
• EB: The Big Red Machine (Coke) drops off product to use every week for Move In Packages, plus stocks a branded fridge in Urbane.
• EB: We partnered with Chevy on a project, and were included in thousands of targeted tweets and word of mouth chatter.
• Lisa Trosien: It would make sense to me for them to go with a major player, larger bldgs, more residents, etc.
• EB: You would be surprised what Big Brands will do if you just ask.
• EB: Remember, Local Brands can and are very effective to partner with, too.
• Leigh Curry: Eric’s ex-employer at Village Green has done a very good job of co branding.

I’m sure you hear that you can do what you do because Urbane is small/niche. How can we scale it? Can it scale?

(Submitted by Doug Chasick)

• EB: We have LESS resources, not more, that is a myth.
• EB: If I had a large portfolio to work with, it would be intoxicating the things you could craft.
• EB: Large portfolios are still segmented by region, there are just more of them.
• EB: People, Training and Culture, but mostly Culture.
• EB: All regions should be operating under the same premise.

What are the top things you would recommend to a company that wants to use social media to reach their audience?

• EB: Start with a Community/Company blog, That is by far and away our biggest lever.
• EB: Next would be tossing out your own dumb rules that some desk jockey originated.

What do you think of outsourcing blogging and/or SM efforts?

(Submitted by Sara Graham)

• EB: I think in most cases you must outsource blogging and SM Marketing.
• EB: I also think when you outsource blogging and SM, the focus is lead generation.
• EB: All of our bloggers are profiled on the blog, and 98% of the comments are answered by the blog writer.

Check the transcript for more details on the Go Solo program and other topics discussed throughout this week’s chat. Thanks to Eric for giving us some insight into his operation, and thanks to everyone else who participated.

What tips can you share from your own experience about successfully building buzz and incorporating social media into your efforts? Who else should we interview for a future #AptChat?

More Resources:

• Full chat transcript from WTHashtag
• The Urbane Life blog
• Eric Brown’s blog at TheUrbaneWay.com

Most of the time, this is a great industry that we work in. But at any given apartment community on any given day, we all know that anything can happen, from burglaries fires to rapes, drug busts or worse. Yet many apartment operators don’t have media policies and the training tools in place to help on-site staff react appropriately and communicate effectively when the media shows up. We asked Heather Whaling, owner of Geben Communication, to join us to share her expertise in the fields of crisis communication, PR and interacting with the media.

There were a LOT of great comments throughout this chat — this recap is a bit longer than usual, but trust me, it’s all worth the read. Here are the highlights from the discussion:

Why is a crisis communications plan important? What should be in it?

• Heather Whaling: There’s a saying in PR about crisis: If you’re not quick, you’re not relevant.
• Heather Whaling: Crisis plans should include: Crisis team, spokesperson, contact info (internal & external), approval/protocol process.
• Heather Whaling: Plans shld also include responses/messages for potential situations. Prepare ahead of time for to mitigate damage during crisis.
• Lesa LaRocca: Level headed on site team who manage their emotions and get authorities and corp exec immediately in the know.
• Heather Whaling: Think about a variety of tactics: letters, emails, “town hall”-style meeting, video blog update, etc.
• Heather Whaling: (When asked about an acceptable response time) Quick depends on the specific situation. Typically, 24 hours is way too long …
• Justin Dunckel: Designate one Media Spokesperson and stick with it. Communicating w/ residents via website bulletin board or txt message is huge.
• Heather Whaling: In crisis plan, you should ID internal & external audiences. Residents, media, maybe greater community or investors?
• Justin Dunckel: Create a manifest…know who is impacted and follow-up a ton. Overdeliver information and updates.
• Heather Whaling: Think through a variety of tactics. The situation will dictate what’s effective.
• Heather Whaling: PM, reg. managers & corporate should work together before crisis to develop a plan. Preparation is key.
• Gillian Luce: Brainstorm worse case scenarios, prepare hypothetical responses and implement them in2 ur crisis management plan. (i.e. Fire)

Who do you recommend for spokesperson? Same for residents vs media? (from Laurel Zacher)

Heather Whaling: Doesn’t have to be the same person. For media, needs to be someone who can do well in front of a camera.

Unfortunately, many props don’t have good email lists, and many don’t have blogs. Any recommendations? (from Lisa Trosien)

Heather Whaling: Traditional communication still works. Letters in the mailbox are still effective.

What do you do when the media contacts you? How do you respond?

• Heather Whaling: Before a crisis, property should identify an “official” media spokesperson. Seek professional media training if necessary.
• Jonathan Saar: There should be standard response statements in place.
• Heather Whaling: Employees shouldn’t interact w/ media during a crisis. They may not know all the details. Instead, direct media to spokesperson.
• Misty Browning: Everyone in the company needs to know the one person they can direct the media to. Do not have many diff people communicating.
• Lesa LaRocca: Keep it polite & professional, never speculate. Allow residents their privacy & designate one exec team member / PR rep.
• Heather Whaling: Spokesperson needs to answer questions honestly. No “spin.” Emphasize steps being taken to fix the situation.
• Gillian Luce: Need 2 prepare, ask what ? is & deadline. Call back w/statement. IMPORTANT to represent co in best way!
• Apartments.com: If U already have relationships w/ local reporters, turn 2 these trusted sources to help get your message out.
• Heather Whaling: I’d suggest not having a third-party PR person as the “official” spokesperson to the residents.
• Lesa LaRocca: Keep list of residents who are witnesses as they will become a media target at some point. Keep close to that situation.
• Heather Whaling: In crisis, things move quickly. Give reporters fact sheets or other documentation to make sure they have the facts.
• Justin Dunckel: Waiting for “legal” people only puts you that much further behind in crisis recovery.
• Heather Whaling: Before the crisis, ID what kinds of problems req legal counsel & have initial statement approved.
• Heather Whaling: “No comment” should always be avoided.

My property had a rape and its all over the news. How do I handle the press? The residents? The prospects?

• Heather Whaling: 1) Cooperate w/ legal authorities.
• Gillian Luce: Need 2 inform residents & share what measures are being taken 2 keep them safe. A ‘town-hall’ style meeting would be gr8.
• Heather Whaling: 2) Stay in constant contact w/ residents. (This is why social media [blog, FB, Twitter, Ning] is so important!)
• Heather Blume: There’s a prop in my college town that has been fighting this for over 13 years. they educate the residents @ MI
• Erica Campbell: First and foremost you need to make your residents feel safe and that the issue is being handled by law enforcement.
• Heather Whaling: 3) Re: press: Explain that you’re cooperating w/ authorities; priority is finding suspect & that u r taking steps to increase security.
• Erica Campbell: Make residents aware of any support groups that might be offered.
• Heather Whaling: 4) Perception = reality. Be proactive. Can you add lighting or add’l night-time patrol to make residents/prospects feel safer?
• Heather Blume: What the prop in my college town did was work with a”campus escort” system already in place – exten the service to the prop.
• Lesa LaRocca: What about informing your closest competitors so they have accurate info and not fabricate?
• Sean Williams: Be sure you tell the truth, no speculation. Push attys on this – they typc’ly want to clam up.
• Lesa LaRocca: What may grow from the experience is closer community, resident ambassador program, crime watch program. Find the good.

Most crisis situations happen when the corporate office is closed. What do I do when I’m ‘on the spot’ with no instruction?

• Apartments.com: Crime can happen anywhere. Educate residents on how 2 prevent crime by locking doors, don’t buzz anyone in you don’t know, etc.
• Heather Whaling: This is why a crisis plan is necessary. Scenarios & responses should be thought out in advanced whenever possible.
• Misty Browning: That is y it is so important to have a point person to deal with the press. Your first priority is your residents.
• Laurel Zacher: We’ve given our teams 4 safe responses if pinned down and my cell to call 24/7.
• Heather Whaling: Don’t ever say no comment … even if you’re put “on the spot.”
• Heather Whaling: That’s the difference btwn a good PR person and a not so good one. Good PR understands social, too.

What do you do if your owner/boss makes a boneheaded remark? Like Horizon Realty did with the ‘mold tweet’? (from Lisa Trosien)

Heather Whaling: Apologize if possible … be proactive and aggressive w/ the “right” communication going forward.

Can the media camp out on my property? Can I make them leave?

• Heather Whaling: Media can’t camp out on private property. But, they can be in the streets, on sidewalks, parks, etc.
• Heather Blume: Yes you can make them leave… but make sure you understand ramifications of your actions & do it in a PROFESSIONAL way.
• Heather Whaling: Don’t make a situation worse by creating a scene. Tell media when & where you’ll have info to share.
• Justin Dunckel: In my opinion the quicker you ask them to leave, the longer they stay and dig. Get the story,report facts, move on.
• Heather Blume: One side note on the media thing – don’t forget that anyone with a cell phone COULD be a camera man… this includes your residents.
• Heather Whaling: *Most* reporters aren’t out to “get” you. They want facts. If you’re quick & forthcoming w/ info, you’ll be better off.
• Sean Williams: TV lives on visuals – calm, collected and respectful makes lousy TV – so that’s what you give em!

How do you ‘recover’ from something like a murder, assault or fire at your property?

• Justin Dunckel: Not a plug for our blog at all, but I believe you can recover by taking this stuff head on. http://bit.ly/c0meaG
• Heather Whaling: It takes time to rebuild trust. Couple strong communication w/ meaningful actions to show you’re making necessary changes.
• Heather Blume: Honesty honesty honesty – and be realistic about the time it takes to rebuild a reputation.
• Gillian Luce: Implement new safety procedures, comm on regular basis w/residents, be sincere & understanding. Ppl will identify.
• Heather Whaling: Put yourselves in residents’/prospects’ shoes. What can you do to rebuild trust and credibility?

Other good nuggets from throughout the discussion:

• Erica Campbell: Google RSS Reader is a great free tool to monitor all of your mentions -if crisis occurs be on top of reputation monitoring.
• Justin Dunckel: (Our) manual is bright red, yes it’s at every prop, and yes they sign off at orientation. Review all the time.

For more on PR and media relations, we encourage you to check out Heather’s blog at PRtini.com.

More resources:

• 5 Steps to Develop a Crisis Communication Plan (From PRtini.com)
• 3 Case Studies in Social Media Crisis Management (Shared by Apartments.com)
• Top 10 Simple Ways to Discourage Break-ins (Shared by Heather Blume)
• Full transcript from the April 9th #AptChat

Does your company have a crisis communication plan? Do you have regular media training in place? Can you share an example of a situation when your crisis plan worked like it’s supposed to? Leave your experiences in the comments!

(This week’s #AptChat included 401 tweets from 49 different contributors.)