Did you catch how to best handle negative reviews online? We hosted an action-packed Webinar with Grace Hill on the topic of how property management professionals can best monitor, manage, and maintain their online reputation. Speaker Charity Hisle is regarded as an emerging leader within the multifamily industry and she shared her expertise on how to manage review sites like ApartmentRatings and Yelp. This webinar was filled with questions and Charity was nice enough to write up some more answers below.
Yelp has removed 3 legitimate reviews from our website through their autofilter. Is there anyway to get the reviews back?
I’ve investigated these types of claims before and here’s what I found. In one case, the user was new and without even a profile picture. The only review posted was for the community and it was GLOWING. In another case, the user wasn’t new but they had previously left very positive reviews for other communities across the country. There is no way to get the reviews back EXCEPT if the reviewers start really using Yelp and Yelp’s algorithm picks up the activity and validates it as authentic. This is why soliciting reviews is bad – because Yelp will grow suspicious if only positive reviews are visible.
What is the best way to defend your site on apartmentratings.com?
A membership, responding appropriately to concerns and complaints, and using the site regularly will build credibility, visibility and authenticity.
Any top suggestions on the best way to generate reviews – hopefully positive ones?
Email marketing, signs in the office, and requesting prospects (preferably before they even move in) to leave a review. Share them on Facebook and in testimonials on your website and future email marketing campaigns to build credibility for your community.
What do you think about posting a sign in the office saying, “Like us? Have you reviewed us online yet?” LOVE IT! Share a picture and let us know how that works for you!
Can you provide a list of all the search sites please? Search all of these sites for your community name: Google, Set up Google Feed Reader, set up Google Alerts, SocialMention, Kurrently, Twitter Search, HyperAlerts, Bing, Yahoo, Yahoo local, ApartmentRatings, DoNotRent, Yelp, Citysearch.com, etc.
Can you ever get negative reviews removed? It depends on the website. ApartmentRatings will remove ratings that violate their terms of service. Yelp also has guidelines that, if violated, may result in the review being removed.
Is it worth paying the companies that offer to pay to fix your online reputation? I read an article the other day about black hat reputation monitoring. Basically, some companies hack into the website to remove the negative postings and post code that prevents the postings from displaying in search. This is illegal – so please be careful who you hire!
Most of our bad post results from security deposit disputes. Residents feel they weren’t responsible for the damage that was caused to the unit. How do you suggest we respond to those posts without sounding defensive? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Perhaps start with all new and current residents (flyers/email/website). Explain the most common damage that takes place during the normal course of residence and how to prevent the damage. In the case of reviews already posted, if they are older than 12 months, let them go. If they are current reviews, perhaps explaining the common types of damage, why your community needs to recover the costs of repair, and offer to speak with them offline (provide your name, contact info). Find more from Charity’s site, Socially Engaged Marketing
Our friends at Multifamily Insiders have a survey and if you take a few minutes to share your thoughts, you get the results for free, so you can see what strategies other apartment communities are using: Share how you handle ApartmentRatings.com.
We hosted a great webinar with Grace Hill where presenters Doug Miller (Founder & President of SatisFacts) and Mike Whaling (30Lines) shared results from the national survey: Inside the Mind of the Online Renter.
Doug and Mike discussed what the top priorities are for today’s online renters and how property managers can best position themselves against their competition and manage their online reputation. One of our favorite slides highlighted how the ability to pay rent online if there is no convenience fee was the #1 factor that impacted what apartment applicants will rent in the future. Here’s the recorded webinar.
Many participants submitted great questions during the Webinar and we wanted to follow up with Doug and Mike’s answers below.
Is it legal to offer a gift in exchange for a positive review on apartmentratings.com?
It is legal, but the gift must be disclosed by the person leaving the review. If it’s not disclosed, you can be subject to a $25,000 fine from the FTC.
Should I ask residents to comment on apartmentratings.com or is that asking for trouble? DM – It’s only asking for trouble if you are not consistently delivering superior service in the areas that matter most to residents…tied into the work order process, the related team effort required (driven by the office staff performance as they are the beginning and end of the work order process), communication, and what we at SatisFacts call a “culture of responsiveness.”
MW – You should absolutely ask your residents to leave reviews for you on Apartment Ratings. That said, each site has different terms, so be careful about this … for example, Yelp discourages asking for reviews, but they’re not opposed to you promoting the fact that you have a Yelp page for your business.
Is texting another way to have things in writing?
You should ask your attorney whether this is sufficient. Personally, I would prefer to have anything you need in writing confirmed through an email, not a text message.
What is the difference between Google Ratings and apartmentratings.com?
Google ratings are the star ratings and reviews that are found on your property’s Google Place page. Google sometimes pulls in the reviews that have been left on Apartment Ratings, but these are definitely two separate locations where people can leave feedback about your business.
How can I best use Facebook to rent units? DM – By not spending time trying to rent units via Facebook. How many times have you gone to Facebook to buy merchandise, rent a hotel room or the like? It is not a primary source of traffic and there is no functionality such as found on an ILS or your property portal. Use it primarily as an online newsletter that focuses on community news (projects, new staff members, service related items) and events. Let the relatively small percent of people who go to a Facebook page to help with a buying decision see who you are and what you are about…a feel-good to validate what kind of community you are.
MW – I agree with Doug about not trying to sell, although I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to list your properties there through a custom tab. Use Facebook as an opportunity to get residents, local business partners and other interested people to talk about you, either between friends or directly with your company. Give them interesting thoughts/links/things to share, and use tools like RentMineOnline to take your resident referral program online and get people recommending you to their friends.
How much are properties investing on average for SEO?
It really depends on your current situation, internal resources and what you’re ultimately trying to achieve. If you want to rank first for a highly-competitive term like “apartments,” expect to make a huge investment. Also, most apartment marketers are trying to optimize their website, when they really should be trying to build a broad online presence that positions them positively in a number of different places where prospects might be searching. Some other reports indicate that as much as 80-90% of prospects are starting their apartment search from a search engine like Google, so the more you can invest in optimizing your presence, the better. Educate yourself first about the SEO services that you’ll need (on-page optimization, link-building on external sites, incorporating social ranking factors, in-depth keyword research and Web analytics), then find a partner that can best address your specific needs.
We hosted a great webinar with Grace Hill on the topic of ways to immediately improve your leasing success.
Lisa Trosien covered five ways to improve upon even the best leasing pro’s skills. We had record-breaking registration and reached the maximum capacity for GoToWebinar! Here’s the recorded webinar with a few questions we didn’t have time to answer below that.
Many participants submitted great questions during the Webinar and we wanted to follow up with Lisa’s answers below.
Do you have any ideas on new ways to complete with people buying or leasing homes?
You can point out how maintenance free it is to rent an apartment. People who rent a house usually still have to do some routine maintenance and yard work / lawn mowing / snow removal. Point these things out gently to the prospect.
As for purchasing, it’s tough to fight that if the prospect has their heart set on it and the corresponding tax breaks. However, there is no guarantee that the house will hold its value and for people first moving into a home, the ’start-up’ costs can be high. Purchases of things like lawn mowers, yard equipment, home repair items can add up. Unless the house is in pristine condition they will need to budget accordingly for replacement and repair. Those are things they don’t have to worry about when renting from you.
What industry Facebook pages do you recommend for us to follow?
Here are a few I suggest. If you have another one that’s great please add it in the comments:
I always suggest that you look at the content on an industry page. If it appears to be informational or educational and not heavy on the self promotion, that’s a good one to follow.
Through my office, I manage four different properties. How do you avoid steering?
This is where the questioning of the prospect is really important. You need to zero in on what their needs are and then determine which property best meets their needs.
When a bad review is given on a website such as apartmentratings.com should the manager go on there and respond to it?
Absolutely!
Can you recap the two authors + books you recommend?
Anything by Robert Cialdini and Paco Underhill are very good.
Did you have time to catch the Webinar we hosted yesterday with Grace Hill? If you did, you probably learned a few great tips on how to get more done in your property management business. Hosts Kara Rice and Virginia Love shared time management best practices. Kara is the CIO, a trainer, and co-founder of Grace Hill and Virginia is the head of marketing and training for Waterton Residential. Both speakers are experts in juggling a busy schedule on the road to success. They outlined the importance of planning and scheduling your time so that you can avoid the “Brain Traffic” and “Time Bandits” that keep you from spending time on more important tasks. Below is a recorded version of the Webinar for your reference.
We just finished hosting an informative webinar featuring Mike Levy, author of the book “50 Interviews: Successful Property Managers.” Over the summer, he re-interviewed some of the property managers from the book and used this updated information in our recent webinar. The webinar shared what these successful property managers saw as their primary challenges and uncovered their key strategies and initiatives for the coming year.
Based on his interviews, Mike covered these 10 Best Practices for 2012:
We hosted a great webinar with Grace Hill on the hot topic of Facebook for Property Managers. Charity Hisle, speaker, trainer, and social media consultant at Socially Engaged Marketing, covered lots of engaging content on how you can use Facebook in your property management business. The webinar focused on how to use Facebook, tools to help monitor what others are saying about your company and ways to differentiate your community from the competition.
Many participants submitted great questions during the Webinar and we wanted to follow up with Charity’s answers below:
When having site staff manage Facebook posts, what is your position on a social media policy? How do you overcome spelling, grammar, and most of all, the occasional attitude that shows through? You definitely need a social media policy in place before you adopt any strategy. As for spelling and grammar, pre-scheduling posts through a tool like Sendible or HearSay will allow you to see what’s being posted for the week in advance. Any spur of the moment posts should first be typed in Microsoft Word and spell-checked. Training will help with any perceived attitude. Also, have the corporate office respond to complaints, rather than the on-site team, to prevent natural self-defensive responses. Remember that on-site should be the friendly face; let corporate handle conflicts.
When doing a contest on a property Facebook Page, such as a cutest pet contest, or something similar, is it required to get a contest App, or can the contest simply be done through the Page wall if a prize is being given?
It is pretty much required at this point to use an app. Wildfire is the cheapest one I’ve seen. Facebook can pull your page if you run a contest that violates their terms of service. You can take a risk, I have in the past, but understand that you could lose everything you’ve worked to build. Here’s a link to the Facebook site for specifics: http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php
Speakers at AIM mentioned that we should be getting signed model releases from residents and staff displayed on our Facebook Pages and we should be displaying the fair housing logo prominently on the Page. What do you think?
If you have a legal team that can create the releases for you, go for it! However, a release isn’t legally necessary to post pictures you’ve taken yourself. Just be considerate: Always remove a picture upon request, put up signs to notify residents that you are taking photos and videos that will be posted online and that their attendance implies their consent. Putting the fair housing logo on your page isn’t a requirement, more like a suggestion. You can place it in the lower corner of your profile picture without taking up too much real estate. Remember, the size of the profile picture can be 200 pixels wide by 600 pixels high.
Our office has multiple locations in different regions. Do you recommend that we have different pages or is there a place to list multiple addresses?
There is not a place to have multiple addresses. One page per region should be sufficient and will prevent having multiple small communities instead of larger communities. This is a good opportunity to build brand recognition as well.
Is it a good idea to have more then one admin for your Page?
I recommend having more than one for any business page. Please use at least 2 admins in the event one user has a Facebook problem.
How much time is it taking people to actively manage their pages well?
About 30 minutes a day, after you’ve set it up and integrated it with your other online presences. 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes before/after lunch, and 10 minutes in the afternoon. Use HyperAlerts to monitor pages so you do not have to be online all day.
My property has a profile page not a fan page. Is there a way to convert the profile page to a fan page? If so, what are the steps?
Here is the link to learn more: https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=18918
What if I started a group first and then I started a Page and now I want to get rid of the group? How do I go about deleting the group so that people are not confused by which to join?
First start by migrating your group members to the Facebook page by encouraging them to go “like” the page. Warn them in advance that you are deleting the group page. Then create a “We’ve got a new page” event from the Facebook page and post a link to the event on your group page. Finally, delete the group under your group admin settings.
We always enjoy Lisa Trosien’s presentations. In our webinar today with our co-host Grace Hill, Lisa focused on how to generate more leads and then turn those leads into leases. Here is a recap of the important highlights and we recorded the whole webinar, too, so you can watch it again and again!
Generating More Leads Starts with Great Ads
Photos Really Matter
Be sure your Ads have great pictures – a small investment up-front in taking professional looking photos will go a long way in getting more leads. Ads with 5 or more great interior photos receive 28% more leads than if you only have a couple per ad. Interior photos must have furniture in them so that renters can get a sense of scale and comfort. Lisa suggested www.virtualstagingsolutions.com to enhance your interior shots especially if you have vacant properties.
Use Targeted Ad Sources and Know Your Price Per Lease
Lisa prefers ad sources that are targeted like an ILS, your property website or Craiglist, instead of using broader advertising like putting your ad on local shopping carts. Maximize your presence with these sources and use every advertising opportunity available.
In an audience poll, we asked what is a fair price per lead – here are the responses:
$25/lead = 45% of audience
$10/lead = 16% of audience
$20/lead = 11% of audience
Don’t calculate cost per lead = 28% of the audience
Do Your Homework!
Find out what the #1 most searched amenity is in your market. The examples today were that renters in Dallas are looking for air conditioning but in Chicago renters prioritize parking. Ask your leasing team to find out the top 3 reasons prospects lease from you so you can use these in your ad copy.
Track Your Lead Sources
Remember, renters don’t really care how they heard about you, so formalized lead tracking of some sort is really essential to have a handle on what is and isn’t working to provide your property with leads.
Make Sure Your Ad Stands Out
Use Compelling Copy RentandRetain.com held a survey and almost every listing described property features using the same adjectives like “lush” landscaping, “gourmet” kitchen, and a “sparkling” pool. When renters see the same text in every listing, they no longer look special so always use compelling copy that shows personality and flare to stand out from your competition.
Include Floor Plans 3DPlans.com is a tool that you can use in your Ads to make your floor plans come to life. This will help your Ads stand out.
Use Local Phone Numbers
Use local phone numbers instead of ‘877′ prefix, use local numbers to see an increase in response to your ads.
Converting Leads to Leases – Ask For the Sale Every Time
Quick Response To Prospects Is Key
Lead Tracking Solutions conducted a survey of renters and 40% said that the #1 reason a place didn’t rent is because there was no follow up to interested requests.
Show Real Time Availability
Apartments.com surveyed 1800 renters and uncovered that 64% are looking for real time availability but 25% of renters are starting to search 5 months to 1 year in advance so you must have a systemized approach for follow-ups.
Capitalize On Your Phone Leads.
These are your best leads!
How To Convert More Leads To Leases
Lisa described several ideas on how to convert more leads to leases: respond to prospects within 2 hours; mark your leads that come in as hot, medium, and cold and establish a different strategy for each; communicate with leads on their terms so if they prefer to use email, respond to them via email. If you are writing an email, try to keep it brief and offer to call them in the email so you can ask them more questions and set up a time to show them the property.
You Must Track Your Cost Per Lease
This is very important. If you are unsure how to do that, you can email Lisa and she can help.
We also asked the audience their opinion on a reasonable cost per lease:
Our most recent webinar with Grace Hill featured Fair Housing Expert, Trainer Donna. Donna covered a range of issues and offered many great best practices on how to stay compliant with Fair Housing laws. The webinar was so popular that we hit our maximum attendance again! Below is the recorded webinar.
Our next webinar is in May, featuring Lisa Trosien. Stay tuned for more details!
Are apartment complexes allowed to restrict large dog owners to the first floor?
Yes! Dogs are not a protected class. However, if a person with a disability was to request a higher floor level it would be a reasonable accommodation.
Can you elaborate on the breed limitations for service animals?
A housing provider may exclude an assistance animal from a housing community when that animal’s behavior poses a direct threat and its owner takes no effective action to control the animal’s behavior so that the threat is mitigated or eliminated. The direct threat provision of the Fair Housing Act requires there be an existence of a significant risk, not a remote or speculative risk. The determination cannot be the result of fear or speculation about the types of harm or damage an animal may cause, or evidence about harm or damage caused by other similar animals.
Do we have to simply take their word for it that their pet is a service animal? What kind of documentation can we ask for?
You can request a letter from his/her health care provider verifying that he has a disability (but no details about it) and has a disability-related need for this animal.
Is there a limit to the number of service animals allowed per resident?
If a health care provider says the person needs 3 animals for their disability then that’s the requirement for that person. But you then need to determine if this is a reasonable accommodation for your area, city ordinance, etc.
Where may I go to find information about the rights of a landlord when there is harassment coming from residents?
Be sure to discuss the situation with your supervisor, human resource department or corporate attorney to get directions or guidelines for handling. Most companies have policy and procedures for this sort of harassment.
If I received some phone calls throughout the day where I stated that we had a certain type of apartment available and than an application is returned from the day before along with a deposit, do I have to call back everybody I spoke with to let them know the apartment is no longer available? Should I always state that I have a certain number or type available at this time but that could change at any given moment?
When letting telephone prospects know what’s available it’s a good idea to let them know that availability could change. More importantly is ensuring you have written documentation of your availability ever day!
If a prospective resident says he/she has allergies & wants the carpet removed & the floor tiled – we can have them pay for this modification, correct? Do we have to make this modification?
Yes, you could require the prospective resident pay to have this done. Do you have to make the modification would depend on if it was a reasonable accommodation for your community.
If a person applies for an apartment and the property does not have a handicapped accessible unit, who converts the unit and does the person have to put funds in escrow to replace the unit back to original condition?
A person should be allowed to make a “reasonable modification,” and when doing so management may request that the work be done in a professional manner and that required permits be obtained. The management company may also require funds be put into escrow to put the apartment back to original condition if the modifications will interfere with the next person living in that unit. The Department of Justice and HUD published extensive guidance regarding reasonable modification issues in a document entitled Reasonable Modifications Under the Fair Housing Act which can be found on HUD.gov.
Would we have to provide handicapped parking for an older resident who requests it? When is handicapped parking required?
A state disabled parking permit is sufficient proof of need for a reserved accessible parking space. Or, if they provide documentation from a health care provider.
Why is it acceptable to say “no college students” (on mvfairhousing.com list)? Isn’t this age discrimination?
It depends on your state and local laws. If students are an additional protected class in an area then this would not be acceptable. Keep in mind that the word list is a guideline not the law.
The webinar with Jackie Ramstedt and our co-host Grace Hill was such a success that we had record high attendance and hit our maximum capacity of attendees! Jackie is an energetic presenter who offered many great ideas on what you can do to increase resident retention in your portfolio. Some highlights from the webinar polling questions included an almost unanimous response from attendees that when it comes to monthly increases in rent, residents think that $25 (max) is still affordable and that residents consider same day service a quick and appropriate response to service requests.
And, of course we ran out of time so Jackie was gracious enough to answer questions from the audience:
How often should you send out resident surveys, and when should you send them out? You should definitely survey people within the first 30 days to see if their “expectations” were met during move-in. Then, I recommend a “touch point” after 90 days to call the resident and ask how things are going.
If they have made a service request, it is important to confirm that the problem was fixed and that everything is good. About 120 days before your renewal goes out, you should send a “How Do You Like Living Here?” survey which asks them to rank their experience so that there are no surprises at renewal time. This also allows you to correct a problem well in advance of asking for that renewal increase.
Also post the results in your newsletters and with your company to show the performance of your on site efforts. CAUTION: Make sure that what you are posting for the world to see IS “improvement” and positive. If you receive negative feedback, this is your opportunity to correct it FAST!
Do you have any ideas on how to get the residents to respond to the surveys and return them back to us? Have an incentive for them to send the survey back! Even if it is a discount or a “BOGO (buy one get one) coupon or a $5.00 gift card for gas, people want to be rewarded for taking time from their already busy schedule to fill it out. Also remember that the survey shouldn’t be more than 6 to 10 questions “tops” and can be done easily through a scale method of satisfaction, i.e “1 for worst, 5 for best”. Make sure to leave room for comments for those who DO want to tell you more than just a quick “score”.
How do you make things easier for the residents and keep them happy? You need to know your residents, but reducing stress and increasing convenience is really the key. If you manage student housing or cater to a younger audience, then it is very important to make things fast and easy for them to access information as they prefer to communicate via email and be able to pay their rent online. If you manage housing for seniors, they may want some “face time” with you.
Having systems in place with a variety of options by which your residents can communicate and conduct their business with you when “you” aren’t around is VERY important to them. AppFolio’s resident portals gives your residents that advantage by allowing them to pay their rent on line even after your office is closed and it’s the last day to pay.
Everyone is on a “tight schedule” these days so you really have to balance between “too much contact” and people complaining that they never hear from you. Utilizing the “tools that are available” in our industry will help keep your residents happy!
How should we handle a resident that is paying $200 above current market rates and wants a rent reduction? We are focusing on moving forward from a down economy. This is a real problem and difficult to actually answer without more specific information. With the economy the way it has been the past few years, our market rates have been all over the map! Obviously we don’t want to give the resident a $200.00 cut in their renewal, so start by researching just what was going on at the time they signed their current lease to be paying so much above the current market rate now. Sometimes it was because they had a longer lease term holding their rent amount “higher” all through the “bottom falling out of your local market area”. If you can’t reduce their rent…you might have to “increase” another floor plan to offset the pricing. You have to ask yourself….”Can I afford to lose this resident and gain another vacancy?”
How do you deal with a renewal that had a great concession from last year due to the recession? This is much like the question on the rent being $200 ABOVE market rent. You need to educate your residents during the year. If you think that the rent is below market price, show them the market increases and offer to go a “percentage” on the difference in price from what they are paying now and what the current market rate is for their floorplan. Don’t forget about Fair Housing perceptions! Whatever you decide on should be based on “supply and demand” of a particular floor plan, NOT on the resident themselves. The key is to give the residents plenty of notice and remind them of the value in their current living situation in your market and document your monthly policies of why you are charging what you do for your renewals.
We are a new management company that has taken over a property that didn’t charge pet fees. On our renewal we are going to now charge $25 per pet. This is upsetting to current residents. What is the best way to explain it to them?
Anytime there is ANY change with a community, the residents will begin to complain about many things opening with the line, “But the old management didn’t do it this way!”
Question: Is this a “one time charge” or an added amount per month? Explaining just “why” you are charging for these pets now and what the money is going for while reminding them of the “costs” the company is incurring due to pet excrement removal, etc. Find out what is going on in your market area and what other properties are charging; typically it is higher than just the $25.00 you are charging, so they are actually saving money by living at your property.
We supply a maintenance survey with each work order. Is this to many times?
Not really, many companies even add a “fake invoice” stating that if you had to pay an outside person to do this service request it would cost “X” amount of dollars! But because you live here, it is part of what your rent pays for. Reminding your residents of the “value” of the service you provide is what gives credibility to your rental amounts AND to the professionalism of your service team.
However as with anything, if your response isn’t getting better, then maybe you should hold off a while, and start again in a month or so. Too much of anything regardless of its purpose, can have a negative impact.
Is there a time of year that is typically slow for most properties as far as leasing is concerned? Sure, however trends vary from state to state especially when bad weather sets in…i.e. snow and blizzards in the northern states. Also depending on your resident profile, traffic and leasing can be very different from a normal conventional community to a student housing property. Overall, here is what most properties experience:
Most trends follow the school year, meaning June, July and August seem to be the “most active” months for people.
Once September comes and people settle in to their routines and school starts, traffic begins to slightly slow down and continues right through the end of the year with all the holidays.
However, January, February, and March are typically the slowest times of year, again, depending what type of property you have and where you are located in the country. Talk with other properties in your market area.
My renewal notice looks as boring as your example! How do I make it look more inviting? Think of it this way. This is the most important form of communication to your residents that shows your professionalism and pride. Purchasing really “good” stationary to print the letter on is a must. Even adding in a handwritten note with that “official” letter to give it an “individual” more personal touch is good.
What you say about them as a resident and how much you enjoy having them at your property is crucial. They want to know you “want them to stay” besides giving them the “official information” needed per your lease contract stipulations. Lastly, the “way” you send this letter makes a huge impact too. Of course, depending on how large your property is and how many you have on your staff makes a difference in your method. If possible, deliver the letter in person with a beautiful token of appreciation “gift” (one that your budget can afford). If you have been keeping in touch with them throughout their lease term, the “increase” should not be a surprise, and much easier of them to adjust to.
What is a good way to get residents involved in activities? Make them plan it! There are always residents that want to be involved, so make good use of that, “Can I help?” offer from them. If possible try and find a “representative” from each building or floor (in high rises), to be the “go to” for resident activities. Build a “team effort approach” with the residents. After all they know what’s going on with their neighbors more than we do! Get them to spread the word and the excitement AND the volunteering to do things needed for the event. Residents helping residents…great way to get people involved!
Our webinar with Todd Breen was packed with great ideas and best practices on how to use video in your property management business. From shooting fantastic marketing videos to using inspection videos to communicate with owners, Todd Breen (CEO of VirtuallyIncredible.com) provided so much information we ran out of time for questions. So…here they are (along with the recording of the webinar, streaming from YouTube of course!):
How do you use AppFolio with your YouTube videos?
We upload our Video Tours to YouTube, and cut and paste the link to the YouTube video into the Marketing Information in the Property / Unit Record. Many of the vendors like RentalHomesPlus.com will actually feed the videos to their sites, and the Craigslist ad generated by AppFolio references the video tour as well.
How hard is it to set up your own channel on YouTube?
Pretty easy. If you’re not sure how to do it, just ‘YouTube’ it!
Do you video the current residents condition or last known video/pictures?
We will sometimes include a video of the current resident’s condition in a paid Annual Property Review.
What is your favorite video format?
If you buy a YouTube ready camcorder, they’re all my favorite.
What is your average video size in MB? With that, image size?
Depends on whether you shoot in Standard or High Definition. Standard def is under 100Mb, while HiDef takes 500Mb or more.
About how long, on average, are your videos for properties?
The pace of the video is actually more important than the length of the video. However, in general, I would not exceed 5 minutes for a condo or apartment and 10 minutes for a house.
Can we have access to Todd’s training videos? Is there a cost?
There is a property management video package that comes with everything including sample videos for your reference. This costs $299. Find more info here – http://www.virtuallyincredible.com
I know you said with the right training video editing is not necessary, but can you recommend a software that can do some light editing at a low price point?
I used to use the Windows editing software called Windows Video Maker. Now I have a MAC computer and it comes with iMovie. Right now, YouTube is developing simple video editing tools that people can use to edit video and post it to the Website.
Do you have dedicated employees that video exclusively for your company? This seems like a full time job for someone.
You don’t need slick video skills to make these property videos. You want someone who is knowledgeable about the property and can describe its features. So it is best to train your property managers to film the videos.
Do you think it is necessary to include pictures of the property in online ads and Websites if we are going to have a video?
Yes, because video does not replace photos. If someone is viewing your ad or Website and likes what they see in the photos, then they will invest the 5 minutes to watch the property video. People expect to see both.
Do you recommend Flip video cameras?
I usually recommend the Kodak z18 for a video camera but lately I have been loving my iPhone 4 videos! Be sure to check out the review of the iPhone4 that I posted on my blog at http://virtuallyincredible.com/video-blog/.
