Host: Ronn Ruiz and Martin Canchola

Guest: Charlotte “Charlie” Cocker

Martin: All right. Welcome back to the multifamily podcast with Ronn and Martin. Time to get pumped because today’s episode is going to be all about the future of social marketing, covering future potential social media trends apartment marketers do not want to miss. I’m so happy to introduce one of aApartment SEO’s very own rockstars, Charlotte Cocker aka Charlie, apartment SEO social media manager. Charlie, welcome to the multifamily podcast.

Charlie: Thanks, Martin. I’m excited to be here chatting with you and Ron. So, thanks for having me.

Ronn: Oh, yeah. I’m so excited about this. This has been long time coming. Charlie, thank you so much for your patience on getting on today’s call. Our schedules have been crazy but we’re so excited to bring you guys another action-packed podcast, Charlie, I just want to say that on behalf of myself and the entire team, like you seriously have, and I want to share with the audience how much of a rockstar you are, you have seriously like elevated the apartment SEO brand, the apartment SEO social media division. And I just, I personally have felt so much greatness from this elevation. And I have seen the progress and I know that we’re selling social strategies all day, every day, and you’re very much a part of it. So, for those listening, if you need social strategy, little shameless plug, you have the entire team, and you have this wonderful Charlie, who is right behind us. So, there you go. So, can you dive a little bit into your experience as an assistant property manager for Davlyn investment property management? What was the day in the life of Charlie back then, when you first entered the industry?

Charlie: Yeah, totally. So back when I was in college, I actually started out as an RA, which was company called EDR back then. I believe it’s now owned by Greystar. But back then I started out, you know, just kind of overseeing the dorms and, you know, occasionally giving tours and just kind of resolving any roommate conflicts. And then later, once I was finishing up my master’s program, and didn’t really have time for it anymore, I was actually offered a position with Davlyn investments at a nearby property just as a leasing consultant. And I loved it so much. And I just kind of naturally fell into the pattern and the routine of it and all the great people that I got to work with, and, you know, all of the residents, and I very quickly worked my way up to becoming assistant property manager there. So yeah, the day to day just kind of looked like overseeing all of the residents, dealing with all of like the payments, financial things, doing all the lease agreements, and just kind of the day-to-day interactions. And honestly, one of my favorite things I do have to say about leasing is just all the people you get to meet and, you know, there’s something so special about going through that whole process of touring someone and going through their application, and then their moving date, you know, you’re literally helping people find homes, and there’s something so fulfilling about that, that just made me love it. And you know, to this day, you know, now I’m in social media marketing, I still get to kind of help people out with that. So, it’s kind of come full circle.

Ronn: That’s awesome.

Martin: When you first broke in the multifamily industry, did that kind of play a role in you looking at apartment SEO? And how did that kind of play in, you know, how did you find discover us, really?

Charlie: Yeah, so I’m a little bit of background, my degrees in creative writing. So, I love writing, writing has been my passion since I was a little kid. And, you know, I fell in love with leasing and the multifamily industry. And I was like how can I combine the two? And I originally started out in content writing for a different marketing firm. And then I found apartment SEO and was just like, they stand for everything I believe in, like, you know, of course, you look into companies before and, you know, looking at what Ronn had to say, as well as you Martin and just kind of being like this as a company that, you know, I stand behind their beliefs, and I could see myself really thriving there. So, it was a great way to combine, you know, my passions together and find a great place to work and really fit in. So, thanks for having me, you know.

Ronn: Welcome, welcome, once again.

Martin: You’ve been rockin and rollin ever since. Okay, so now it’s time to get into the future of Social Apartment Marketing. So, Charlie, I was reading through a great post, it was on the social media examiner.com, I will link in the transcription when I post the podcast. On the topic of Social Media Marketing trends for 2023, it has predictions by the pros, Lisa Jenkins was the author. There was a total of 28 future potential social trends, covering a wide array of social media platforms. What I did, I wanted Charlie pick 10 of the most relevant topics for the multifamily industry, so we can get your perspective on each one based on your experience as an apartment marketer. How’s that sound?

Charlie: That sounds fantastic. Let’s do this.

Martin: Okay, so first social trend is short form video leads the content mix. What’s your perspective on short form video and how apartment marketers should be utilizing it?

Charlie: Yeah, so over the last few years, we’ve seen this huge increase in short form video and honestly, it is fantastic. It’s a really unique perspective that we don’t necessarily normally get to see if properties. You know, for example, when you look at websites and tourism leasing, it’s all very professional, very eloquent, very purposeful. And then you see social media where you get to kind of let loose a little bit more, you get to have a little bit more of that personality. And short form video just takes it to that very next step. And it makes everything so tangible, it makes leasing, and makes these properties seem like they’re right in front of you and like you can actually connect them. So, especially for property managers who are on site every single day, it’s a great place to start, you know, you have this unique perspective, because you are on property every single day, you know, you know things that a lot of other people don’t know, and you have a voice, and people actually want to hear it. You know, sometimes you might think like, I can’t come up with content, like no one’s gonna watch my Tik Toks. They are, people love these videos of like “Get Ready With Me” or “A day in the life of a property manager”, people want to see your point of view and people are watching. You know, you have some experiences that no one else can speak for and people want to see that. And if it goes hand in hand with promoting your community, then definitely do it. You know, of course, it’s something we wish that we could kind of do for a lot of more clients. But, you know, it’s that perspective of being on site every day. It’s a perspective that really only you can showcase. And we always recommend doing that supplementary to whatever, you know, social media package you currently have. Keep giving that point of view, keep filming on site, it’s going to go perfectly hand in hand and build a very nice social presence that everyone definitely needs.

Ronn: And I’ve always said that our industry could so have its own reality TV program. So, there’s so much content in the day and the life of the property managers as you mentioned, that we can do tons of shorts, right. And so, I say have at it, have fun and to your perspective. Yeah, give them the insight. Okay, so social trend, by the way, I love this Martin, where we’re gonna like to go into the trends and then hear from our subject matter expert. So social trend number two, so AI content recasts content creation models, obviously, there’s obviously a lot of buzz around with the rise of chat GPT and other AI enabled products. So, my question for you is, what are your thoughts on the AI Generated Content products like chat GPT and if it has a place in our toolbox as a apartment marketers?

Charlie: Yes, it definitely has a place. And I have to say the idea of robots is so terrifying, but they’re so helpful. In chat GBT, it’s one of my favorite resources. And like I can’t emphasize how much I wish it was around when I was in college, it would have completely changed the game for me. But now that we do have it, we need to definitely utilize it. And of course, just like any resource, it does have its pros and cons. I always tell people that it’s important to remember that this program should be used as a resource and not something that you solely rely on. You want to use it if you want to, for example, spruce up your writing, or offer you some ideas or kind of give you a starting point or a jumping point for a topic and essay and email, whatever you’re working on. But do not rely on it solely. You know, we always talk about room for human error and anything that people do, but there’s also room for AI errors simply because it doesn’t have that human understanding. It doesn’t have that human perspective. And if it did, that would be absolutely even more terrifying. Doesn’t but you know, later on I’m going to be talking about, you know how important it is for authenticity when it comes to your social media. And it’s so hard to sound authentic if you’re using content that is written by a computer. So, whatever you do utilize from your chat GPT or AI, make sure you’re still giving it that human touch and sprucing it up a little bit and not just solely relying on it, but definitely utilize it and play around with it.

Martin: Totally chat GBT. And it’s all based on the prompts you input to. So, if you have really bad prompts, you can get really bad results versus like really good prompts and how you prepare it. And you still got to QA it by a human because they’re still, it’s not perfect as of right now. So, much opportunity within that and even Google releasing their Bard as well. So, we really look forward to what the future holds for that part. Social Trend number three, brands prioritize LinkedIn and Tik Tok. Have you seen a rise in property management companies and communities wanting to utilize LinkedIn and Tik Tok more, Charlie?

Charlie: Yes, 100%. LinkedIn, we always see it being a great resource for property management companies and specific people within the multifamily industry and professionals. It is one of those things that because it is b2b, rather than b2c You don’t necessarily want to see it for individual properties. But you definitely want to use it to connect with other individuals, use it to connect with vendors, use it to just build a network and just really represent the corporate account on there. I don’t know if I can give this away just yet. But we do have a new corporate account option coming out soon for social media and apartment SEO. So, I’m gonna throw that really quick as well and it’s it really is a great opportunity. LinkedIn is absolutely amazing for corporate accounts. Your posts are gonna get so much reach, you’re really going to build a brand and just connect with other individuals in the industry. So, I highly recommend utilizing it as much as possible and sharing things share on the daily, share like it is a social media platform for professionals like it is. Tik Tok on the other hand, it’s great for properties, but not so much for corporate accounts, I kind of say that they’re one or the other. So, you know, as I already mentioned, Tik Tok is a great way to build that authenticity and reach. But sometimes we kind of find a very thin line between authentic and unprofessional. So, you always want to consider timing and balance. You know, for example, if you kind of have an emergency going on at your property, there’s a flood or you know, something bad is going on, and your viewers are seeing you posting like a dance video on Tik Tok, they’re gonna be like, dude, come on, you can’t answer my emails, but you can dance on Tik Tok. Like it can use people you know, or like, you know, you have a very professional CEO doing these like, Tik Tok challenges and stuff, like you might lose a little bit of respect for them, unfortunately. So just make sure everything you’re doing represents who you are and what your brand is, because those Tik Toks can come back to haunt you, you know, so just be very, very considerate of what you’re putting out onto the internet and into the world. Because we are our own brand, you know.

Ronn: It’s very powerful. Yeah, don’t let the fame get to you, right? Getting sillier and sillier and then you lose your credibility. Very cool. So, social trend number four, Facebook messaging becomes an important revenue channel. It’s about time, right? So, based on your experience, do you see an increase in message volume for qualified leads for our industry?

Charlie: Yes, we definitely do. Social media, as you guys already know, it makes it so much easier to connect and communicate with other people. The only downside that we generally see to this, is we have a generation of people who are just used to instant gratification. You know, we kind of expect that if we message a property at two in the morning, when we’re, you know, apartment hunting, or on Zillow, and looking at our dream houses, that we’re gonna get a response at 1:30 in the morning, and sometimes it’s just not feasible. Simply because property managers and leasing agents, they’re people, they need sleep to. So, something that I personally always recommend to property managers, and anyone who’s in the industry is to make sure you have your automated responses turned on, even if it’s something just as general as thanks for your message, we’ll get back to you at 7am tomorrow, when we’re back in office. Just something so that people are getting a response, they know that someone is listening, and that they know that they’re going to eventually get the answers that they need, even if it is not instant. But this is also kind of a great way to circle back into AI because there’s a lot of great AI technology that can respond to those messages for you. And answer those just general you know, what is your pricing on a one bedroom? Where are you located? That kind of thing that you don’t necessarily need a staff member to answer but AI can do that for you.

Martin: Yeah, handle real time. You’re still sleeping, get that qualified lead in the door.

Ronn: And acknowledge.

Martin: All right, social trend number five, SEO supports expert positioning and discoverability on Tik Tok, do you see Tik Tok becoming a more relevant search engine for people to discover and find their apartments in the future?

Charlie: Yeah, so you know, over the last few years, we’ve seen this kind of shift in Tik Tok where originally it was just kind of lip-syncing videos and dancing. And now people kind of use it as a source of knowledge, I’ve learned so much on Tik Tok. At first, I was very like, okay, I need to avoid it, I need to not be on there because I’m going to be addicted to it. And the next thing you know, you’re addicted to it. And you’re watching all these videos that just teach you like these life hacks that you had no idea about and these recipes and all this crazy stuff. So yes, you want to use Tik Tok to kind of talk about your community and just get your voice and your name out there. While you might not necessarily see it as one of those instant generations for residents or for prospects, it is a great way to just kind of reach out to people and kind of get that followers which can then turn to people who visit your website, who can eventually least with you. But you’re not necessarily going to see that huge turnover rate or not turnover rate, let me rephrase that. You’re not exactly going to see that conversion of followers to prospects like you would on Facebook or Instagram, where people are on there specifically looking at your page, because your videos could show up to just about anyone due to the algorithm in Tik Tok, so you kind of have to just stick with it. And also make sure you give people the resources where if they click on your link, or they click on your profile, they’ll be able to visit your website and see all your information. So, just make sure you’re giving them the sources so that they can follow through as well.

Ronn: That’s fabulous. Yeah, and with the, I mean, you spoke to our love language and multifamily property management, where, you know, what is the conversion for that traffic. So, I think that we’re still learning the value of it when you’re, you know, paying the bills. And it definitely takes time to obviously get those out there, but you can definitely create a brand voice and you know, represent yourself accordingly. So, speaking of Tik Tok, YouTube leans further into shorts, right. So, with the massive rise of Tik Tok that you’ve been speaking of, YouTube shorts is a great alternative for apartment marketers. But do you see it as a viable option or alternative to just Tik Tok?

Charlie: Yeah, so as we can tell Tik Tok is doing something right. And every single platform is taking something away from it. You know, we now have Instagram reels, we now have YouTube shorts. People are really catching on to the short form video content, which means it is doing something right. You know, a lot of the time we’ll see these trends kind of picked up, but they won’t necessarily translate to other platforms. When you kind of think about YouTube, for example, you see it more as a search engine, right? You go on Tik Tok, you look at your feed, you see whatever is given to you based off of what you generally like. YouTube on the other hand, you go on there with kind of a mission. So, you know, if you’re sitting down on the evening, for like, your nightly scroll, right? You’re gonna go on Tik Tok, you’re not gonna go to YouTube shorts necessarily. So of course, we’re still kind of learning about it. But I think in regard to the apartment marketing industry, it might be a great place to start simply because people are going to be looking for those things. You know, if you don’t think your videos necessarily going to show up on a for you feed on Tik Tok, it could on YouTube, because people might be looking at like, you know, apartment hacks or apartment living videos, that kind of gives you a much more niche audience where you can really thrive. So, I would definitely recommend giving YouTube shorts a chance, as well as Tik Tok You can even use your same content or format across both and see which one it’s lands better with and just kind of change your tactics based off of your results. 

Martin: Yeah.

Ronn: That’s great advice.

Martin: I’m totally an active user of YouTube, you know, it being the second largest search engine is well, you know, I’ll be using YouTube, you just refresh it and then it’ll automatically give you like new videos and stuff that are probably recommended based on your search history and what you watch before. But what I noticed for the apartment marketers, that there’s not as many competing YouTube shorts, so there’s a lot of long form video with YouTube that are, you know, just regular YouTube videos, and the YouTube shorts, they have to be like vertical video, 30 seconds to about a minute. And there’s less of those actually competing. So, if our apartment marketer’s property management companies actually start building these out and start getting that exposure now. And that positioning, I mean, they have a good opportunity to kind of be showcased pretty well. So, next, let’s get into social trend number seven, brands embrace YouTube ads and performance Max, I still feel like these two campaign types are still pretty underutilized by apartment marketers. I feel like the biggest thing holding them back is actually video content, what would you recommend to them to help them, you know, kind of get over that and somehow get that video and embrace YouTube ads and performance Max campaigns?

Charlie: Yeah, 100%, I agree with you on that, and video content is completely underused in the multifamily housing industry. And it’s a shame. You know, during COVID years, we did see a big increase in virtual tours, and people utilizing videos more than ever, and we kind of moved away from that, and I don’t think we should be, I think you have a lot to show on these videos. You know, just simply walking through your property or, you know, sitting by the pool or touring through one bedroom, or comparing your different floorplans, there’s a lot of footage that you can work with, you just kind of have to get a little creative with it. You know, we really recommend taking the time to film some beautiful on-site videos. And that’ll differentiate you from the competition. Because, you know, if you’re actively searching for apartments, you know, you’re gonna have a lot of ads come up that are about apartment living, and a lot of communities and properties. And you know, those video ads are another opportunity for you to reach this audience that a lot of people aren’t utilizing. So, this is a great time that I would highly recommend start getting in on those and take a chance with YouTube ads, see how it goes. And just, you know, next time you have a professional photographer and at your property, asked him to do video content as well, or, you know, do the video content yourself, just get out there, start filming, you know, you can definitely even go in and edit it yourself and resize it and you’ll have a lot of content to work with that you can even utilize on other, you know, video formats as well, such as Tik Tok and YouTube shorts, just start filming and you never know what you’re gonna get from it. But it’s always a great place to just start.

Ronn: That’s great advice. And I know that a lot of people were even doing something as organic as just still texting, you know, the prospect, if they needed additional info, right? So, whether it’s on your website or on your social channels, even just having that content to get to send out in real time. Like here’s your actual unit that we’re talking about on the phone. Here’s a virtual tour. Super cool. Okay, well, here’s social trend number eight. If you’re ready, we’re almost wrapping up to our top 10, right. Real relevant stories when on YouTube. So obviously there’s a massive opportunity for, we’ve been talking about this for organically ranking YouTube videos on Google’s number two search engine, as Martin mentioned. If apartment marketers took the time to capture these stories and moments, could they really ignite their website traffic? So, what are some ways TMCs, and communities can embrace organically to videos to create more immersive visual experiences?

Charlie: So, as I was talking about earlier in regard to the multifamily industry really being about home, you really want to feed into the concept that, you know, it’s a home, you’re helping people find a home. And the motion is key when it comes to this kind of thing and when it comes to these videos, it is literally your job to help someone find that home. And it really should not be overlooked. And when you are creating content, think about who’s going to stop and take the time to watch your video. You know, and talking about Tik Tok earlier, attention span has gone down significantly. If people weren’t interested within the first couple seconds, they’re gonna stop watching. So, you know, give people something when they start watching it, they connect to do it. And everyone can connect to this concept of home. So, tug on those heartstrings if you can, tell the story of someone in your community, who may be moved across the country and found a home in your community, of course, with their consent to talk about that kind of thing or if they want to sit down and film with you. Or you know, someone who is scared to make that big move across the country. Tell their story, because people will connect to that. There’s so many people who were always contemplating moving or taking that big leap of faith. And if they see someone else doing it, they’ll be like, hey, I could do that too. And this community looks like they’re so accepting, and they were helpful with it, so, I can do that too. And you have an amazing team on site, right? You have your leasing staff, you have your maintenance techs, you have so many people who were just there was so much knowledge that needs to be shared. One of my favorite viral videos that was going around for a while was the things I wished my dad taught me, I don’t know if you guys got a chance to see those ones in the past. But it’s just this dad who teach us stuff that he wishes his dad would have taught him. Like how to change a tire, how to fix your AC, what type of oil to cook with. It’s basic things that if your dad didn’t teach you, like it feels good to know. You know, and no one wants to ask that kind of thing. You know, so these videos are so great. And there’s a lot of things like that, you know, as someone who lives in an apartment where I’m like my AC went out, is that something I can fix or do I have to call up the maintenance team, I’m gonna look it up and see if I can fix it. And if I come across someone with a great insight, I’m going to believe in them. And I’m going to want to get to know them and watch their videos and see what else they have to offer. So, you know, talk to your staff, see if there’s something they want to share. You know, if you have a maintenance tech, with an amazing background in repair, or auto mechanics, or just anything that you think people will want to know, ask them to film and just tap into these emotions and share knowledge and connect to emotion. And that is honestly a recipe for success when it comes to these videos.

Martin: Can you help me lease my first apartment? All right, social trend number nine, Twitter spaces takes hold. I know there’s been quite a lot of moving and shaking around since Elon Musk took over Twitter. But what’s your opinion on Twitter as a place for marketers to be and Twitter spaces overall?

Charlie: Yeah, so Twitter has definitely, like you said and gone through a lot of changes and a lot of emotions and a lot of mixed opinions. Generally, we don’t see too much of a success when it comes to apartment marketing through Twitter in general, simply because its very text based, right? If you see a tweet come up that says like lease our apartment, you’re gonna be like, okay, cool. Like what do I know about that, and you’re still limited with text, photos are a huge part when it comes to Apartment Marketing. And without that it kind of limits you a little bit. And Twitter spaces is kind of, it’s this new platform that I would almost compare to like clubhouse right. So, it’s going to be kind of an opportunity to sit down and to talk and utilize knowledge of others, which makes me think it would be a great place for corporate accounts to start, rather than, you know, properties themselves. You know, if you want to find a spot to sit down and discuss marketing trends with vendors or other property managers or other corporate accounts, I would recommend checking out Twitter, it would be a great place for, you know, corporate to start.

Martin: That’s a great idea.

Ronn: That’s a totally great idea. Okay, social trend number 10. Authenticity rolls over curated perfection in the Instagram feed. And obviously, we always know that IG isn’t always what it seems. What’s your take on more authentic content creation for apartment marketers on Instagram over curated perfection?

Charlie: Yes, I have a lot of opinions on this. I already mentioned it a couple of times, authenticity is key. You know, on social media, we live in a time of Kardashians and Photoshops and filters and perfection and no one relates to that. You know what I mean? Instead of, you know, I don’t look at a picture of these people and be like, wow, that feels like me. No, I see like a Tik Tok of someone living with their cats and eating Taco Bell and I’m like, yeah, that’s me, you know, be authentic. People love authenticity and people relate to it. So, yes, what we want to see is people living their best lives in their apartments. So, for example, if I see an authentic post from a property about one of their residents cat celebrating a cat birthday, I’ll be like, yeah, I want to live there. If I see a photo of a perfectly staged apartment unit that’s completely empty with no personality. I’m gonna be like, okay, you know what I mean? There’s like huge difference. You know, these apartments are where we live and seeing these blank empty shells of a house does not give us a feeling of a home. So, I would much rather see a photo of, you know, if you’re doing a pool feature, right, show us a pool with friends and family lounging around, and hanging out, don’t show me a stage picture that supposed to like look elegant, and something that I always compared to is like those Vegas ads, right? Where you see the people walking out of the pool and some motion with their giant, some hats. And it’s just like, if I see that I’m like, I don’t want to go there, I want to go somewhere fun. So, always think about how you’re making your audience feel, are you going to make them feel secluded, if you’re being authentic, they’re going to feel like they belong. And that’s something that you really, really need to tap into. So, when you take a look at your Instagram feed, for example, or your own profile, just take a minute to just really look at it and see if you are a prospective resident, do you relate to the content you’re putting out there? And if the answer is no, it’s time to reconsider your approach. And it’s always fine to restart. You never need to say like, oh, we’ve already been doing our posts for two years, we can’t restart. No, restart. Come up with a new concept. Keep posting, don’t delete your profile, but just start doing a new voice, do a new approach, and you will definitely notice a difference.

Martin: Audience, are you listening to this? This is some great advice.

Ronn: Totally great advice. Okay, and I love it. I’m sorry, I love it where people think that they can’t just start change the voice. How dare they, right? But it’s like, I mean, worst case scenario, you can try it out. Right?

Charlie: Totally. And I feel like there’s so much authenticity and rawness of being like, hey, we tried something, it didn’t work, so we’re going to try something else. You know, brands that do that when they rebrand, you don’t think less of them, you think more of them, because they’re listening to their audience. And that’s how people want to feel.

Martin: Yeah.

Ronn: We are marketing to different walks of life, different social and economic backgrounds. Yes, certain properties, obviously, you know, what their rents are, they have a select audience, I’m sure that could afford it. But you definitely want to show that authenticity about everybody that can afford it, it doesn’t, we don’t all look the same, work the same, have the same jobs, right. So, you know, maybe you’re a cat person, I’m a dog person, like, you know, bring it all.

Charlie: Exactly, showcase to everyone and, you know, social media, as we all know, it changes, something that worked last year might not work this year. So don’t be afraid to try new things. Like honestly, people are sometimes to put out a post that looks different to what they normally do. But what is the worst thing that’s gonna happen if you put a post out, it doesn’t land, it doesn’t get as much reach as it normally does. And that’s okay. That’s how you learn. You know, don’t be scared to try something new. Because you might just kind of knock it out of the park or it might be a swing or the mist, but you don’t know until you try. So, keep trying, keep learning and everything that you do, just take it as experience and learn from it. Never be embarrassed or ashamed to say I tried it and it didn’t work. You should be proud to say I tried it and I learned from it. So, keep trying, you’ll get there.

Ronn: Amen sister.

Martin: Okay, so we went through the top 10 from the article, but we want to give the audience a little bit of a bonus. Social media trend number 11. Charlie, what’s one other future social trend you see taking place over the next year, that apartment marketers will want to keep an eye on?

Charlie: Yes, so something that I have seen this year, that I’ve always seen that it’s constantly growing. And something that stands out a lot to me personally, is talking about and showcasing your employees, how your company treats their employees, tells consumers how they’re going to be treated. So, for example, like if you walk into a leasing office, and the staff looks overworked and miserable, that’s going to reflect on how they think they’re going to feel as a resident because their leasing staff works with them every day, if you’re not treating them, right, how do they think they’re gonna treat the residents. So, a happy team leads to your team believing that what they’re doing, believe in what they’re doing. And that means that it’s going to help everyone all around. So, I always recommend spotlighting your employees on your social media, find reasons to talk about them, celebrate their anniversaries, celebrate their birthdays, they got married, give them a shout out, whatever they’re doing, show the world about your employees and show that you care. You know, once this has developed, you will see significantly more employee advocacy and your employees will want to share posts and they’re gonna want to engage with you. They’re gonna be like, hey, look at my company gave me a shout out, my company likes me, my company believes in me, and who knows someone’s grandma might be the next person that moves into your property because they shared that post. You know, when you look at a company’s posts, just in general, you’re gonna see that the ones that get a lot of engagement and likes are the ones about the people, because the people stand for what you’re putting out there. You know, when it comes to multifamily housing industry, specifically when I see posts of, you know, the leasing team looking happy, celebrating a birthday, it makes me happy because if their team is happy, then I know that they stand behind what they’re putting out there, and that they’re proud to lease those apartments. You know, it says a lot. It really does about how you treat your employees. And one of my favorite social pages to look at is Patagonia. I’m not sure if you guys are too familiar with their social pages, but they are fantastic. Their employee advocacy is truly admirable. And it reflects in their numbers. You know, so because they do have a lot of clothes, for example, rather than showing them on these models, they show them on their employees, they show their employees going out camping and wearing their jackets. And, you know, if there are people stand behind their product that they’re selling, it says so much, like I already said, but I’m reiterating, it says so much. You know, and they share things, like they shut down their office so that their employees can go vote. They show pictures of like their vice presidents, kids celebrating birthdays, they make their employees feel like they are the brand. And that resonates with just about everyone. And this tip isn’t just about the multifamily industry. This is for everyone. You know, what you say and what you share about your employees reflects, and it’s going to do a world of good if you start kind of spotlighting them a little bit more and making them feel loved because it will reflect in the work that they do.

Ronn: That’s great. That’s wonderful advice and to your point, it’s not just for multifamily and you definitely have validated as well. Our brand voice with that and I love seeing the review or seeing the post but also seen the responses. And you know, to your point and maybe somebody’s grandma or mom, or sibling or relative will like it and comments and it just continues to give them warm and fuzzy feeling. So, I love that. Thank you. I also get to know whose birthday it is because we’re getting bigger, bigger so I’m like, oh wait, I didn’t realize it was their birthday this month. Okay. Happy birthday or happy anniversary. Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, that obviously covers our top 10 plus bonus for Social Apartment Marketing Trends. From our very own Charlie, honestly, this social media maven, we love you Charlie, thank you so much for joining us on today’s multifamily podcast. I mentioned before, I just love everything that you brought to the table for us, and I know that you have just gotten started. And you have a growing team and so bring it on. Let’s do it.

Charlie: Yes, thank you so much. Thanks for having me today. And thanks for just giving me an amazing place to thrive. You know, I love apartment SEO and I stand behind everything that we do. And you know, it shows on how you guys treat us and that reflects in the work, you know. So I’m so proud to be a part of this team and to have the opportunity to sit down and just chat with you guys and talk about social media and I’m pretty passionate about this stuff. I hope that comes across. So yeah, this is so much fun, and I can’t wait to talk more about it and see it progressed. So, thanks.

Ronn: Well come on back anytime.

Martin: Always. Yeah, we really appreciate you being on the show today. Charlie, thanks so much for joining us and I always appreciate it like our little conversations we have, you know, for after the podcast and just you know, you’re such an interesting person. You have so much you know, going on and you know, we have a lot of things you know, you’re all about the scary stuff too. So, I really think that about you. So yeah, so I just love everything about you. So, keep up the great work and you know, keep really helping our clients really take it to the next level for their social strategy. All right, you know what time it is? Make sure to subscribe to The Multifamily Podcast at MultifamilyPodcast.com. We are on iTunes, Spotify, so please leave us a review as well. Also don’t forget, get your free marketing analysis and reputation report card at ApartmentSEO.com, to learn more and how we can help your communities thrive online today. Until next time, bye everybody. 

Ronn: Bye guys.

Charlie: Bye.