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.

This was a very worthwhile event for the attendees, and we thought it would be valuable to recap the event on the latest edition of the Apartment Chat. Here are the highlights from that conversation:

What was your number one takeaway from #OptSum this week, and why?

• Toni Lawson Palmer: Applying Rockstar Thinking to Marketing. @mackcollier did a great job of showing how it all works together!
• Jamin Harkness: Number 1 takeaway — Be a part of the communities (Social Media Communities) that your prospects and residents are a part of.
• Zachary Kestenbaum: My number one takeaway is I should attend next time!
• Raina Toussaint: I have a list of favs. 1st to implement is Facebook pages and ads.
• Leigh Curry: My #1 takeaway was the number of avenues available — and it is only increasing.
• Jonathan Saar: My #1 takeaway — Create a movement not just a campaign (via @genochurch).
• Jamin Harkness: Find out where our prosp and resid are blogging /visiting online & join — if only to listen and learn and converse.
• Jonathan Saar: Start with realizing there is more to business than just leaseups — do something extraordinary and leases will happen.
• Mack Collier: How focused the attendees from the apartment industry were on wanting 2 know how SM wld work 4 THEIR biz
• Jon Harrington: Take a note from @bestbuy – have employees apply to become Social Media captains.
• Brian Owen: Find the people in your organization who are passionate already about SM and empower them.

We’re in the business of building offline communities. How can we build stronger online communities, too?

• Doug Chasick: Honest, open frequent communication WITH our customers, not AT our customers.
• Mike Whaling: The communication should reach beyond our customers, to other locals.
• Eric Brown: It is also about your “Community of Interest”, your larger “Community” your “Following”which far exceeds your resident base.
• Misty Browning: Become the comm/neighborhood expert. Know what is happening and share it.
• Jonathan Saar: Start by realizing the community exists outside of the sign at the entrance.
• David Kotowski: Be prepared to hear EVERYTHING, even the bad. Then try to continue the conversation instead of trying to stop it.
• Jonathan Saar: Remember how it feels when trying to talk to your credit card company and do the exact opposite.
• Eric Brown: Turn a portion of your Marketing Budget inward, Partnership Marketing.
• Misty Browning: Include follow/fan in all commun, signs, etc. i think res look, but don’t return. the right content will get them back.
• Eric Brown: Social Media Marketing is most successful when you “Let Go” Provide the platform & your Evangelists will supercharge your program.
• Dylan Schleppe: Everyone in an org should have the ability to engage. Who what etc… is context relative.
• Jon Harrington: If u want to build a comm. online, u need to provide residents & potential residents w/ value. Not sell.
• Doug Chasick: If we are building a community, don’t we have to reach out to ALL – even those not online?

How do you plan to determine success for your online communication efforts? Anything specific you’ll measure?

• Mike Whaling: Check out http://quantcast.com and http://www.socialwebsiteanalyzer.com/.
• David Kotowski: We’ve recently partnered with RentMineOnline.com. Not sure how well it works, but helps measure how often our info is shared.
• Dylan Schleppe: Revenue-net/effort cost. Has to measured long term.
• Jamin Harkness: To move Google Needle, make sure you have enough keywrds on frnt pge of website www.webconfs.com FREE analyzer.
• Rosa Green: I’m a PM and the residents who don’t ever call or come by are the ones interacting w/us on FB – can’t put a price on it.

What is one thinking you are doing differently this week because of something you learned at #OptSum?

• Raina Toussaint: I am on twitter, next week I will have my profile and photo done : )
• Jamin Harkness: Paying attention to what my customers are saying about me and my competitors online (at aptratings and other SM sites).
• Mike Whaling: Focus more on the tools that your audience is already using.

More Resources:

• Recaps and Links from #OptSum
• Full transcript from the March 26th #AptChat

Tami and her team are already planning to co-locate the next Optimization Summit with the Multifamily Brainstorming Sessions, which will be held in Dallas from September 15 to 17. Will we see you there?

If you attended the first #OptSum, what were your biggest takeaways? If not, what are your favorite ways to learn more about online marketing and social media trends?

Do we really need a business center? I’ve been touring properties lately and they are JAMMED with residents!

• Heather Blume: You need a biz center – faxing at least and WiFi.
• Eric Brown: Why wouldn’t you invite everyone into your business center?
• Mike Whaling: It’s an opportunity for people to test drive your community.
• Erica Campbell: Biz Center doesn’t even make our top 30 amenity list on @AptsForRent.
• Justin Dunckel: We find a lot of move-ins use our business center to sign up for renters insurance, utilities, etc. while there.
• Heather Blume: A printer is a must have. A lot of people don’t have their own anymore with the shift to more paperless work.
• Nessel Inc.: You can’t assume all residents have a laptop … computers in biz center still needed, providing wifi not enough.
• Doug Chasick: Cost of broadcasting WiFi over entire prop much more $ than to biz center.
• Leigh Curry: From my studies of business center and fitness center usage – only about 10-15% of residents use biz center, but they use a lot.
• Tim Grace (Apartments.com): Concur w/ @ericacampbell – less than 1% of our users search for biz center.
• Lesa LaRocca: Common area needs to have great resident energy. Lap top checkouts, avail printer, wi-fi all must haves.
• Lisa Trosien: My tours of new construction are showing larger and more lavish biz centers than ever before. Big social impact.
• Doug Chasick: Bottom line – if it saves one resident, is it worth it?
• Nessel Inc.: We ask residents to supply their own paper and bring their own mugs to the coffee bar.
• Mike Whaling: Our designs would be in line with what you’re seeing on your tours. Still big investments being made in biz ctrs.
• Nessel Inc.: We went so far as to post resume tips and local job openings in the biz center.
• Lisa Trosien: New Lincoln property has a Mac and PC area for their biz center. Largest Mac section I’ve seen yet.
• Tami Siewruk: Biz Centers R very expensive to maintain & NOT used. Better off with an Herb Garden!
• Lisa Trosien: Putting big emphasis on social aspect as well is important. Making it about meet and greet, too.
• Ellen Thompson: One of the communities in Philly suburbs had a biz card exchange in their biz center, speaking of meet and greet.
• Lisa Trosien: Archstone calls theirs “Click Cafe”. Nice name, great ambiance.
• Carmen Krushas: Partner w/fedex and set up satellite biz offices for real ancillary income.
• Mike Whaling: Why not host a tweetup or Yelp meetup?
• Eric Brown: Our @Urbane_Space, a clubhouse converted to a cowork space, has become a buzz of activity.
• Eric Brown: Co Work space has been the biggest draw we have done, absent community wide Free Wi-Fi.

Should tennis courts be repurposed? Removed? Lots of older assets have them.

• Heather Blume: Personally, I love the tennis courts. But I like to play, and I think they make a great space for outdoor events.
• Nathalia Cruz: If they are in an area where the climate lets you use it 365 days a year, YES, if not, waste of time and space.
• Doug Chasick: Depends on your profile; 4 me question is should they be lit for nite play!
• Christian Flickinger: I think youd have more residents that are happy with a “village green” (no pun intended), dog park, etc rather thn a tennis court.
• Justin Dunckel: Remove, remove, remove. Maintenance costs are incredibly high vs. usage. Agree w/ @spoons … get a Wii.
• Kristi Fickert: Heard abt tennis courts being repositioned for roller blading/skate parks. Prob depends on demographic.
• Ellen Thompson: I think this really depends on the geography. Courts are a must in FL, I think, but maybe less so where they aren’t 4-season assets.
• Lisa Trosien: @MBrewer tore his out and put in an outdoor movie theater for his residents. Smart move!

Should tanning beds be removed as an amenity? Or added? They are VERY popular!

• Kim Cory: Ours runs all day!
• Jonathan Saar: They cause cancer—out!
• Heather Blume: Tanning beds get leases out here. That would be because of the absence of sun, so it might be a regional thing.
• Erica Campbell: Personally I like them but they have 2 be sanitized properly & u just can’t rely on residents 2 do that all the time.

Other great amenity ideas and comments along the way:

• David Kotowski: I’ve become a huge fan of salt water (saline) intead of cholorine. It’s green and cheaper to maintain.
• Justin Dunckel: There’s a big cost difference in providing global Wi-Fi in 1 highrise or midrise vs. 30 garden bldgs.
• David Kotowski: I wish some space could be set aside for a fenced dog area. Pet walks are huge!
• Heather Blume: List yourself as an available meeting space on www.meetup.com.
• Tami Siewruk: There is no blanket answer 2 amenities it is all location & profile, case by case strategy.
• Mike Brewer: Highly trained – highly professional – highly responsive people are the key amenity…all else pales in comparison.
• Heather Blume: Just allowing DOGS is huge for student communities. The dorms don’t let you have them.
• Doug Chasick: Partner w/ local biz that offer the amenities you need to compete.
• Zachary Kestenbaum: How about the “community” amenity? Encourage socializing, events, etc.
• Heather Blume: A good amenity that you can create – Guest Suites – by setting aside a couple of apartments.
• Mike Whaling: Why only promote events to residents? Why not introduce your property to other locals?
• Zachary Kestenbaum: Make the most of your amenities by letting residents view availability and reserve online.
• Joe Goers: I would think a Nintendo Wii in a clubhouse or the New Playstation Move in a clubhouse would be an Amenity.
• Heather Blume: An in-house loaner closet is a great thing to have – rug doctor, games, jumper cables, etc.
• Eric Brown: Marketing takeaway: Understand your target demographic, and what they want, and build your brand around them.

Resources:

• Blog post: Is The Apartment Gym Useless in Resident Retention?
• ForRent.com’s Top 15 Searched Amenities in February

You can read the full transcript here.

What do you think? What did we forget? Are there amenities that are working particularly well for you? Are there time-honored amenities that don’t seem to generate the oohs and ahhs they once did? Share your experiences and observations in the comments!

(This week’s #AptChat included 443 tweets from 53 different contributors.)

This was one of our most active chats ever — people are clearly passionate about this subject. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get right to it:

Do I need a blog for my apartment community? What are the potential benefits? Potential downside?

• Ann Padgett: Blogs are a great way to increase your digital footprint.
• Charity Hisle: Do you need a blog? Maybe. Depends on what your goals are.
• Judy Bellack: Blog benefits . . . connections with and among residents, enhanced retention, great communication platform, SEO opportunities.
• Jill Corya: Blogs build stronger relationships and brand loyalty.
• Resite Online: Blogs are a good way to handle FAQs and related topics for your residents.
• Ryan VanDenabeele: I wouldn’t say you “need” one but they are an added value for your clients, team members and prospects.
• Eric at Buildium: It depends on the community & its size. Blogs have both direct & indirect benefits. Need to weigh them.
• Justin Dunckel: View a blog as an amenity, especially if content is local, relevant, and interesting.
• Elysa Rice: Benefits: increase content for search engines & local involvement; Downside: must keep current, no blog is better than ignored blog.
• Jill Corya: Blogs, in an intranet environment, can be an excellent way of sharing knowledge within the organization.
• Gillian Luce: Blogs: Gr8t way 2 get content in virtual space, increase brand awareness & engage current residents (& prospects) providing value!
• Mark Juleen: A blog can and should be the social media hub for your community.
• Eric Brown: Community Blogs can be Outreach on Steroids.
• Judy Bellack: Blogs not done well (lack of response to comments, stale content, etc.) can hurt rather than help.
• Trevor Henson: A blog also helps us keep ambient contact with the owners and investors of the building.

Where do you get the content? Who decides on ‘the voice?’

• Christian: The community, the employees, the company, qualified voices from your corner of the market.
• Ryan VanDenabeele: Content depends on your audience. Can be links from new papers, free article data bases, your people.
• Joe Foster: The great thing about multifamily blogging is that this bidness is already so incredibly personality-driven.
• Judy Bellack: Content has to be relevant, unique, fresh, interesting; and should utilize writers who know your stuff!
• Judy Bellack: You can use linked content, original content, content from residents, employees.
• Meredith Mobley: Talk to your residents. What are their FAQ? Start there…
• Charity Hisle: Ultimately, audience should become the voice. To start, anyone that cares, understands the audience can be the voice.
• Jonathan Saar: How about community site improvements, schedule of curb appeal updates, photos of changes?
• Elysa Rice: The great thing about blogging is content can be inspired from life, other blogs, movies, ads, emails, pretty much anywhere.
• Erica Campbell: Most communities already have content. Start with your newsletters, testimonials, interns, videos, photos, events etc.
• Nessel Inc.: Lists do very well. “Top 5 Places for Lunch”
• Erica Campbell: never replace your newsletter with a blog. Newsletter are so powerful and email drip marketing has so much to offer.
• Mark Juleen: Property teams can create the content. No excuses. Hire better people if you don’t think they can handle it.
• Meredith Mobley: Multiple voices can definitely be helpful. You dont have one type of renter, so its okay to have more than one voice.
• Elysa Rice: There’s a property that posts local business of the month — doctors, restaurants, all nominated by residents.

(Jason Falls also asked a great question about how social media sites like Twitter are impacting blogging. Are you focused more on blogging or social media? Are they two unique audiences? Tell us in the comments.)

Who should be the target audience for an apartment community’s blog? Residents? Prospects? Investors?

• Ann Padgett: I would think the investors would be a target audience at the PMC level, not the community.
• Judy Bellack: All of the above!
• Eric at Buildium: All of the above because information targeting one is indirectly pertinent to others.
• Mike Whaling: Have a blogger relations strategy. Who else is writing about the neighborhood? Link to them first.

Lisa Trosien asked about the goal of a community blog — is it to improve rankings in search engines or to increase engagement with your target audience? Here were some of the responses:

• Jennifer Kennedy: Our goal is both!
• Erica Campbell: Our focus is the on the user first then SEO second. Our SEO is other initiatives that are behind the scenes.
• Jason Falls: It depends. If SEO drives business, prioritize it. If engagement drives customer satisfaction, etc.
• Mike Whaling: Keywords & other on-site tweaks now account for less than 25% of SEO (per SEOMoz). Focus on creating great content.
• Charity Hisle: It is cheaper to keep residents, there should be a lead/retention balance in the strategy.

I’ve seen “fake blogs,” where a staffer pretends to be a resident. Is this a good idea?

• Eric at Buildium: Horrible idea. It’s usually pretty easy to tell. Bad image.
• Jason Falls: Never.
• Erica Campbell: This is a bad idea. That is not begin transparent and can come back to haunt you in the long run.
• Apartments.com: It’s all about transparency. No need to jeopardize your company’s reputation.
• Ryan VanDenabeele: If you get caught doing something unethical these days, the consumer will spread it on social media and kill your reputation.

What about buying blog content from one of the content providers out there? Is there a transparency issue there?

• Ellen Thompson: How is posting local events and restaurant reviews from a third party unethical if blended in with messages from the property mgrs?
• Bob Gura: The bought content of newsletters doesn’t get read.
• Dylan Schleppe: Hard to be “your message” if you bought it, eh?
• Duncan Alney: Do you like canned newsletters? If not, why would you like a canned blog? No one like artificially anything (OK, well Nutrasweet maybe).
• Tami Siewruk: Buy content all you want as long as it’s appropriate for your target audience.
• Judy Bellack: Its all about balance; you can buy great content occasionally, and combined with hyper-local and original content, a great formula.
• Tami Siewruk: You have to mix the content with your own but buying is fine as a supplement as long as it focused.
• Erica Campbell: There is a huge difference between canned content and quality re-purposed content.
• Realty Data Trust: Rather than canned content, try elance.com or similar resource for copywriters.
• Elysa Rice: I much prefer [Urbane Apartment's] route of having residents create content than repurposing other stuff.

When it comes to blogging, what’s the biggest challenge facing your organization? Scalability? Motivation? Buy-in?

• Ellen Thompson: The biggest reasons customer say they are looking is lack of time and writing skills a the property level.
• Erica Campbell: Finding appropriate ways to monetize it.
• Eric at Buildium: Blogs are not scalable… if you are writing original content then they take time. Biggest challenge is time.
• Tamela Coval: Answer may be “Trust” in the blogger.

There really were TOO MANY great comments and side conversations this week (we had 572 tweets from 62 different contributors!) — ranging from measuring success, to search engine optimization, to your favorite blogging tools. For all the good stuff, check out the full transcript.

Some example apartment community blogs submitted by #AptChatters:

• Lincoln Property Company
• The Green in the Village (Lincoln Property Company)
• The Place on Millenia (Lincoln Property Company)
• Paragon Life (Paragon Apartments)
• Coastal Orange County Living (Surterre Properties)
• The Urbane Life (Urbane Apartments)
• Regional blogs (Village Green Apartments)

Finally, there were a couple links to studies about the benefits of blogging that were shared during the conversation:

• Blogging Businesses Experience 126% Higher Lead Growth Than Non-Blogging Businesses
• HubSpot Study Shows Small Businesses That Blog Get 55% More Website Visitors

So what do you think? Are you blogging for your apartment community? Are the example blogs provided getting the job done? Got a link to another great apartment community blog? Share your thoughts in the comments!

What’s your resolution, how can you put it into place, and how’s it going to work for you?

• Kim Cory: My resolution is to take my knowledge in SM (social media), set goals & use practical tools to build a bigger picture for my brand.
• Buildium: Our goal is to improve our communication. We are in the process of making this a S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) goal.
• Niman: My New Year’s Resolution – Get all tenants to pay rent online.
• Erica Campbell: My first resolution is to clean my Outlook which is currently a hot mess:)
• Jennifer Kennedy: My resolution is maximize all of the wonderful resources we have. Focus on utilizing all of our tools to their potential.
• Jonathan Saar: Goal is to get my peeps on board with Social Media & to use it regularly.
• Jonathan Saar: Social Media had definitely helped with our brand awareness and in 2010 that path will continue.
• Houston Apartment Association: Engagement is our key #resolution for 2010; planning to hire a SM/online brand person for HAA.
• Justin Dunckel: Goal is to expand the business a bit more & create some jobs….seriously!
• Tim Grace: Pretty much only one resolution re: Apts.com – delight more users in 2010. All other great things will come from that.
• Kristi Fickert: My goal = my site folks HAVE 2 understand SM, how it works, how to market w/ it (even if someone else does it for them).

Obviously, it appears that a lot of folks are looking to integrate social media tools further into their businesses in 2010 … I guess we shouldn’t expect anything less from this bunch! (Personally, I also appreciate that there was a strong focus on serving our customers better.) In fact, besides the Houston Apartment Association, a number of other companies are bringing on additional staff specifically to help with social media, including Worthing Southeast Management, For Rent Media Solutions and Village Green Apartments. (Here’s the job description for the position at For Rent if you want to get an idea of the skill set they’re looking for.)

How are everyone’s budget’s coming? Leaner than last year? What’s the word on those?

• Kim Cory: Budgets for 2010 are similar to 2009, but with a few minor cuts. We had strong cuts in 2009.
• Kim Cory: (My budget) was cut about 9% in 2009 and in 2010 I worked hard to not cut anymore, so same amount in 2010 for marketing.
• Erica Campbell: I completely reallocated my budget today for a whole new strategy than i had a few months ago.
• Jonathan Saar: It’s not the time to stop investing in what works – keep plowing forward.
• Elysa Rice: I think look at all marketing avenues & see which are producing & which aren’t. Don’t cut based on numbers, cut based on results.

Any major lessons learned from 2009 that changed your outlook for 2010?

• Lisa Trosien: Just don’t labor under the belief that Social Media is free. It’s clearly NOT.
• Buildium: One thing we would like to do in 2010 is give our interns a voice. One option we’re using is CoTweet.
• Erica Campbell: Big lesson- LOCAL CONTENT IS KING.
• Tami Siewruk: 2009 was about learning social media. 2010 will be about figuring out how to use it well.
• Erica Campbell: Lesson 2: Media fragmentation has produced a fundamental conundrum.

What are you doing to improve retention?

• Elysa Rice: Engagement, engagement & engagement!
• Erica Campbell: Bundling packages & adding value add services.
• Kim Cory: We would like to have our residents more involved, feel part of the process & decisions made at the community.
• Kim Obert: Treat people nicely (i.e. “service” in customer service).
• Claire Collins:Look for opportunities for engagement. Interest groups, etc.

Take the time to read the full transcript — there were a lot of great side conversations and insights shared throughout the discussion.

I leave you with this: As Lisa noted during the chat, “your goals are more easily achieved when a) you put them in writing, and b) you have an audible or visible means of tracking them.” You took the first step by putting your goals in writing. Now, what are you going to do to make sure you follow through on them in the coming year?

On behalf of Lisa, I’d like to thank everyone who has made the Apartment Chat what it is today. Thanks for a great year — we look forward to seeing you again in 2010!

Question 1: What is THE most important thing in retaining talent? Money or recognition?

• Heather Blume: Hands down 100% recognition.
• Christian: Go hand in hand. if you recognize someone but pay them poorly, same as paying someone well and never recognizing.
• Claire Collins: Neither money nor recognition this year — it’s stability and benefits.
• Joe Foster: I think recognition affects job performance, but in terms of retention? Gotta get paid, Sal.
• Heather Blume: Key Carrot Manager series quote for me: People don’t leave jobs, People Leave Managers.
• Charity Hisle: Maybe it isn’t either/or? What if it is fulfillment as a whole?
• Lisa Trosien: Money may not always motivate, but lack of money is a huge de-motivator!
• Jonathan Saar: Make sure the ladder to climb is clear (compensation for achievement).
• Claire Collins: Building trust: a quarterly conference call with CEO answering anonymously submitted questions re: state of the company.
• Rory Ellis: Take some time to study Mazlow’s heirarchy of needs and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory on job satisfaction. Very insightful.

As part of this discussion, many people suggested specific ways to recognize and reward employees for a job well done. Here are a few of the ideas suggested:

• Claire Collins: Our recognition is more subtle — emailing a stellar CallSource call audio around, vs. giving an award.
• Mike Whaling: Could a reward be that you get to be the person who works on your company’s social media channels?
• Heather Blume: To go to NAA or brainstorming when you’re a site employee who is passionate a/b the industry…big reward.
• Patrick Kantrim: We teach managers to speak more financially and pay them like CEOs. After all, they manage multi-million dollar portfolios.
• Nessel Development: Studies show “if-then rewards” work when there is a simple set of rules and a clear destination because they narrow focus.
• Elysa Rice: We post recognition company wide via memo and we also post who is going to tradeshows on our intranet, along with awards.
• Duncan Alney: In a world where there is no time for family, give employees time with their family as a reward.

Question 2: How do you keep leasing professionals happy when there is no ‘career path’ for leasing?

• Rory Ellis: Employee empowerment creates loyal and driven partners instead of just workers!
• Mike Brewer: I think people want to know that they are part of something bigger than themselves.
• Laura at GABP: New challenges, ideas, have an open dialogue on what else they see for opportunities.
• Gary Katz: Who says there is no career path for leasing pros? They can go into training, marketing, management, etc.
• Jen Piccotti: I’ve seen recognition of ‘levels’ of leasing experience work well. Level 1 are the mentors; Level 2 seasoned professionals, etc.
• Lisa Trosien: I started out in part time leasing! There sure IS a career path; often, you have to make it yourself though.
• Rory Ellis: Not everyone wants to be a manager, but everyone should want to better themselves. If they don’t strive to succeed, why employ them?
• Kristi Faris Fickert: Sometimes for a leasing consultant, a “career path” can be created … Example: From Leasing Consulant to Senior Leasing Consultant.

Question 3: Does community make a difference? Do leasing professionals and property managers like their job more if they have better relationships with residents and neighbors?

• Kim Cory: Absolutely! They take more interest in wanting to be involved with events and interact with residents on a daily basis. It becomes their home.
• Mike Whaling: I think, if done well, social media channels will improve employee retention as well as resident retention.
• Kim Cory: I have two college students who have worked 4 for me 3.5 years now! I truly believe besides the money, it’s the culture, learning and connection.

Toward the end of the conversation, Elysa Rice asked if anyone would be attending the upcoming Multifamily Brainstorming conference in Houston. A number of people responded that they would be there … Heather Blume summed it up best with this:

“This many people at Brainstorming requires that we have a tweetup! ”

(If you’ll be there, make sure to connect with your fellow AptChatters face to face — there are some great minds here who are always willing to share their knowledge and experience. Both Lisa and Mike will be there, too, so feel free to track us down if you have topic suggestions or other ideas to improve #AptChat.)

Back to the subject at hand, what are you doing to retain your top talent? Is there something that your company has done that has had a significant impact on employee retention? As an industry, what can we be doing better to attract and keep great people? How would you answer the questions highlighted above? Make your voice heard … let us know what you think in the comments!