The Official AppFolio Blog

Last week we participated in the 22nd Annual NARPM Convention and Trade Show in Seattle and it was a very busy week.

Wednesday, Oct. 13
We were sponsors of the First Annual NARPM Past President’s Charity Golf Tournament, supporting Creative Living Options (CLO), a non-profit agency that provides supported living services for adults managing developmental disabilities. I didn’t actually golf, but everyone who did had a great time – it was one of the most beautiful days in Seattle. More pictures here.

Thursday, Oct. 14
We spent the day on the tradeshow floor talking with customers and other attendees interested in learning more about property management software. And in the evening we hosted our 2nd Annual Appo-Tini Party at the beautiful Fairmont Olympic Hotel. Everyone enjoyed their blue Appo-Tinis! More pictures here.

Friday, Oct. 15
After a great night of Appo-Tini-ing (it’s a word!) Friday morning I presented on Social Networking 101 for Property Managers. Here are a few highlights of my presentation:

• We discussed the importance of listening for your brand/company on Google, Yelp and Yahoo Local – your customers are online and it is vital that you participate in the conversation.
• I shared some examples of property managers who are blogging and using Facebook to creatively connect with their customers.
• I talked about being interesting (please, don’t be boring!) – if you’re just posting new vacancy listings or announcements like “don’t forget rent is due!” on your Facebook page or blog, people won’t listen to you for long. Think of your audience, what do they care about…then write about that! (Hints…they care about their neighborhood, fixing up their homes, saving money, having fun, etc).
• We covered the nuts and bolts of Facebook – how to set up a business page, some ideas on how to get fans and what types of content is *not boring*.
• Finally I ended with a suggested 3 steps to get started: 1) Listen for your company name, set up Google Alerts, claim your local listing pages and unlock your Yelp company page. 2) Start blogging 1x/ week! 3) Use Facebook.

If you’re ready to sit down and spend a little more time, I’ve uploaded the entire presentation here.

Then in the afternoon we learned that we were chosen as the 2010 NARPM Affiliate of the year for the second year in a row! This means that the NARPM members voted for us as the partner who has demonstrated their commitment to furthering the goals of our industry. We really enjoy providing education to the community and we are so proud to have won this award. Thank you NARPM and we’ll be there next year in Texas!