VAMACON Speaker Donje Putnam: Plan Preventive Maintenance on your Digital Marketing

Plan Preventive Maintenance on your Digital Marketing
By Donje Putnam, RAM, ARM, 30 Lines
2021 VAMACON Breakout Session Speaker

  
Preventive maintenance is an important part of managing your apartment community. Taking the time to care for your property’s, appliances, HVAC, your team’s equipment, and the buildings themselves will save you money in the long run. Measures like changing the smoke detector batteries, cleaning the refrigerator coils, changing the filters, and powerwashing extend the life of the asset and build value with your residents as well.
 
Have you ever thought about performing preventive maintenance on your digital marketing?  While websites, Internet Listing Services, Google and Facebook Ads, chatbots and auto-responders are something that we may tend to do once and then forget, it is worth the time and effort to layout and plan preventive maintenance on all of your digital assets. Doing so can help give your prospective customers a better experience, make sure you don’t miss any valuable leads, and help make sure you maintain your ranking on search engines.
 
Here are some key elements to perform a bit of preventative website maintenance and a recommended time frame.
 
●  Weekly
        ○ Review specials for accuracy.
 
Have you ever visited a site in 2021 and seen a special that expired in 2020? We are always eager to get the new offer up and secure those leases, but it’s important to make sure we take them down, or adjust the expiration dates. Well-designed advertising sources will allow you to put expiration dates on the content so that the text just disappears when the date passes, but even then, if you extend your special, it’s important to go and update that information. Depending on your policy and how often you are changing concessions, set a reminder to update the website for the most updated special on a regular basis.
 
●  Monthly/Quarterly
        ○ Check forms for connection on ILS and your website, as these sometimes break. 
        ○ Make sure all assets, such as pop-ups, chatbots and other tools are in good working order. 
        ○ Review Google My Business Listing for upcoming Holidays and other changes.
        ○ At the same time, “Secret Shop” team for response time and check the auto responder and content for your CRM/ any auto-responders, update as needed.
        ○ Change out pictures for seasonality on ads.
        ○ Check website for updates that require manual installation.
        ○ Post your resident events, if possible.
 
It is the nature of things to break. Updates to plug-ins, changes in Application Programming Interface (API) feeds and all those technical connectors that push information from the property management software to an Internet Listing Services (ILS) or your own website and then pull it back into your Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) have so many points that could fail. Keeping an eye on the functionality of your website will help make sure you don’t miss out on leads and give you the opportunity to refresh photo content for seasonality, check your team's response time, and review your auto-responders for the most current photos and information.
 
●  Twice a Year
        ○  Review and refresh text content on your website.
        ○  Review ILS listings to make sure that all of your features and benefits are displayed.
        ○  Change out photos on your website.
        ○  Review and refresh content on assets such as email nurturing campaigns and chatbots.
        ○  Check youtube, vimeo and other video services for expired/old videos.
        ○  Review any staff changes/ update contact information as needed with all your digital services providers.
        ○  Revisit SEO needs and update keywords.
 
Change is good, and it is one way that search engines such as google use to determine that your website is still alive and being used. Plus, a pool is not as appealing in the dead of winter as it will be in the hot, humid Virgina summer. Review and plan moving your photos around twice a year, and update your text to reflect what is going on at the property, making sure to mention what makes your community unique and why people want to live there. 
 
We all like that personal touch of sharing our on-site teams, but one downside is when a prospect goes to the property and no one from the team video or photo on Facebook is there anymore. Or if you have a video about your spa and volleyball court but you’ve removed them both, it can be disappointing for the prospect. Update your team information periodically.  Not only is this important from a prospect standpoint, but if you use unique emails for your on-site teams, make sure that all of your digital marketing partners have the correct person’s contact information.
 
Make sure to check the tools working for you in the background. Review your ads, email drips and chatbots for up to date copy and photography. If your property is 5 years old, it’s not “Brand New” anymore, and that text should be removed from your advertising. If you have real-life photography, take down the pre-existing renderings. 
 
●  Yearly
        ○  Consider photography and video on an annual basis – you don’t need to reshoot everything but adding a few choice shots can spice up your advertising
 
Fresh photos should definitely be scheduled after major updates to your model and clubhouse or landscaping and after adding capital items like a dog park or playground. It’s also important to take fresh photos periodically as things change. Spring and summer are definitely the best time to take exterior photos, but interior photos are sometimes best shot on semi-cloudy days to reduce glare from windows.  Videos are becoming crucial to your digital marketing tool belt and budgeting to have them shot professionally, can give you an asset to use throughout your advertising.
 
Your website is the only online asset dedicated to providing ONLY your property leads. Internet Listing Services, Social, craigslist and other online sources allow the customer the opportunity to see other properties and also have their company’s bottom line in mind, not yours. Take the time to plan out your preventive website maintenance to make sure that you are getting the most out of your exclusive online real estate.
 
 
 
Donje Putnam, RAM, ARM, is a self-described Multifamily Fanatic and has over two decades of hands-on experience in apartment management. As the Director of Strategic Initiatives for 30 Lines, she is responsible for ensuring that her high-level multifamily clients are properly positioned for long-term success. With a passion for marketing, sales, and social media, Donje provides her clients and her 30 Lines team with enthusiastic expertise no matter the need.