Firing On All Reputation Cylinders

Your first impression is critical! You might think of this as the moment a prospect walks through your front door. But in fact, the first impression was already made online.Your online reputation essentially defines this critical first impression. And how do you build and maintain a positive, memorable reputation? With thoughtful strategy, engaging content, and consistent responses. Yes, we’re preaching to the choir. Keep reading for ways you can make sure you’re firing on all cylinders when it comes to end-to-end reputation. 

Building Blocks 

FOUNDATION | Show Up Consistently.
Bring your voice and story to life across channels. Because you’ve laid your foundation with your website, you can translate your core values and your community culture through consistent use of tone, look and feel, imagery. No matter where you push content – via social channels (Facebook or Instagram) or by leveraging video (TikTok or YouTube) – you have an opportunity to connect with prospects, engage with them anywhere they find you, and turn them into loyal residents. 

BLOCK 1 | Build Awareness Broadly. 
Remember billboards? The large, in-your-face signs along major highways and in downtown metros? They’re placed strategically AND linger in your mind as you continue on your way. The same tactic is used across the digital landscape in the form of display (or banner) ads that you can use to geotarget audiences across hundreds of thousands of apps and websites. They pop up when you are doing something else…and sometimes they pop up at exactly the right moment. These advertising tactics are like a digital billboard: excellent for creating and building your brand to a wide audience (ie: staying in their mind so when they’re ready to make a decision, they know your brand). In other words, they create brand awareness.

BLOCK 2 | Build Awareness Socially. 
Yes, social media is still a thing and yes, it still works. With so many platforms resonating uniquely with so many different audiences for so many different purposes, social media strategy can seem daunting. But it’s where the people are and you’ve got to make sure you’re showing up for them. Whether via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat or other – posting genuine, authentic and captivating content is a must-do for any business. And it’s not enough just to post. You’ve got to ENGAGE on the platform regularly. This means liking, commenting, responding to comments, and sharing. This helps build your brand across the social networks, establish awareness for the right topics, and ultimately firm up your reputation for the same audiences who will eventually rent from you, renew with you, AND refer you.

BLOCK 3 | Target Intent-to-Rent Prospects Efficiently. 
Digital advertising finds renters before they know they are trying to find you. But further down the funnel, advertising is both at the helm when prospects actively search and even follows them when they’ve visited and then moved on from your website. Put another way: digital advertising delivers you the most qualified leads (those prospects with an actual intent-to-rent). Ads not only increase your brand awareness to more valuable prospects (the more times people see a name, the more they associate that name with credibility and familiarity), they meet intent-driven renters where they are searching, getting you more clicks…and ultimately more conversions (calls and forms). Digital ads are not just a nice-to-have in building your reputation, they are a must-have to find you more audiences. 

BLOCK 4 | Connect & Engage Consistently.
Think about the last time you searched for a restaurant when you were on vacation. Location and price point aside, pretty sure you checked the reviews. And if there weren’t any? You probably kept searching. And the best businesses engage with everyone. Positive or negative, you’ve got to respond. And not a copy/paste canned response. Your review responses are just another way to ensure your brand is coming through – that you care, that you’re human – and it just exemplifies the experience renters will receive once they’re a part of your community. Each review is personal, individual…and the reviewer clearly felt strongly enough to take the time and energy to write something. By responding promptly and authentically, you can not only win over the reviewer, you can build trust and a positive reputation to every other prospect who views the interaction.  

Takeaway?

Think of your reputation as an opportunity to develop content that tells your story across channels. It’s your time to brag, to show off, to stand out against competitors. Your website is just the foundation. You’ve got to take that content and repurpose it across all digital touchpoints and platforms (social, ads, reviews). Your brand is who you are. Your reputation is who prospects think you are. If the two don’t match, there’s a gap somewhere. Consistently firing on all cylinders ensures that you both capture new renters AND keep existing residents for the long term.