For a long time, property management professionals viewed social media marketing and online review sites as necessary evils — platforms that did little more than create fires that had to be put out.

However, it’s time to accept that today’s renters prefer to communicate via social media pages and review sites. By taking these platforms seriously and implementing a localized social marketing strategy, smart property management companies are closing the gap between online outreach and local action.

What is localized social marketing?

In the property management world, localized social marketing refers to building a local presence for each property — leveraging locally-driven communication channels to reach the specific local communities the properties serve. It includes everything from social media marketing to review sites and social advertising.

According to a research report from SOCi, real estate is the No. 1 industry leveraging localized social marketing. Property management companies that fail to add localized social marketing to their mix are missing out the latest trends in strategy — not to mention a huge portion of their most engaged audience.

Stay up to date on social media trends and the latest SOCi news. Sign up today.

Which platforms support localized social marketing?

Social media platforms are rolling out a growing list of features that enable localized social marketing at a property level, such as Facebook Recommendations, Google Q&A, and Facebook Local Pages. According to our aforementioned research report, these Facebook Local Pages are experiencing nearly 2X the impressions of corporate brand pages.

SOCi’s report found that Google receives more reviews than any other review site, and according to a report created by Moz, reviews make up 10% of a business’ SEO ranking in Google. That includes reviews from both Google My Business and Facebook Recommendations.

Why should my property management company care?

One of the main reasons to use localized social marketing has to do with the difference between low-value engagements and high-value engagements.

You can think of low-value engagements as one-click activities such as likes and retweets. In contrast, high-value engagements take more time and effort — we’re talking about replies, comments, reviews, and shares.

Through its recent algorithm changes, Facebook has been limiting the reach of content that receives low-value engagements. Therefore, it’s important to identify and double down on relevant content that receives comments, replies, and shares.

Today’s social-driven consumers crave relevance, and nothing is more relevant than locale. Property managers have the unique opportunity to share hyper-relevant, location-specific content like neighborhood Walk Scores, reviews of nearby restaurants and property events. Location-specific content gives consumers what they crave — the ability to like, share, comment on, and review the businesses around them.

These high-value engagements are important, but they’re only half of the equation. After all, social sites now double as review sites. In fact, 1 in 3 people use Facebook to look for recommendations and reviews. Managing your online reputation – in all the places customers leave feedback – needs to be an essential part of your marketing strategy. You can let the reviews and comments control the narrative around your property, or you can take control by responding to every bit of feedback you receive. 89% of consumers are willing to change a negative review depending on the business’ response to their criticism, so take advantage of these opportunities to turn disgruntled residents into loyal renters.

Everything from the content on your social pages to mentions of your brand in social conversations to the reviews left for individual locations impacts the overall visibility and perception of your property’s brand. For in-depth analysis regarding localized social content and review management, check out our State of the Market report. The factors discussed in this report can be the difference between your property being chosen or passed up in favor of other communities.

Find out how SOCi can help you use localized social marketing for your properties