Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Protecting Your Apartment Community's Online Reputation Requires More Than Just Playing Defense via MultifamilyBiz.com

Matthew Kilmurry, director of marketing at Arlington, Va. based AvalonBay Communities watched the Sears delivery guy lug the appliance into his home and set it up. But his job wasn’t quite done yet. The worker had one more task—he asked Kilmurry to give him a five-star rating for service when he received a customer service follow-up call.

Kilmurry was more than happy to oblige. And, he thinks the apartment industry should follow Sears’ example. “Other industries have led the way on this,” he says. “We don’t have to be shy about telling people how important it is to us that we have strong ratings online.”

If apartment owners aren’t more proactive revealing that they have happy customers with positive reviews and responding quickly to bad reviews, they could be in trouble. Kilmurry says about 65 percent his residents look at online reviews. And with things like the incorporation of Google Places into Google searches putting company ratings and reviews directly in front of potential residents, reputation management means more than ever. “Prospects are taking a serious look at reviews and it’s impacting us,” Kilmurry says.

Read more...Protecting Your Apartment Community's Online Reputation Requires More Than Just Playing Defense - Multifamily News Headlines – Breaking News, Stories, Top Headlines :: MultifamilyBiz.com

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