Social Media Perspective, If You Please

There's a torrent of social media mania coursing through multifamily marketing circles because of the Horizon Realty story last week. The hyperbole has been ratcheted up to Defcon 2 by many social media proponents in and out of the apartment industry.

To be clear, this post is not intended as a general swipe at social media or at those obsessed with it, but rather to point out the illogical connections some people are making because of a single incident. Just because someone yelled "Fire!" doesn't mean there was really smoke. The relevance of social media in multifamily is a complex issue that we can debate in other posts. This post is more of a plea for reason.

Complaints (oops, sorry, "conversations") from residents are nothing new; what is new is the resulting hysteria from any topic handcuffed to the word Twitter. If a resident frowns on your management team in a public forum, chances are said team had fair warning and could have taken steps to tighten the blast radius. Multifamily managers and marketers should not ignore the myriad new venues available for people to publicly opine, but they should maintain a rational perspective. They need to be aware of all PR threats, all the time, hardly a new concept. Social networking broadcast channels merely allow the message to spread faster (in some cases) and broader (sometimes) than before. But to people who care? That depends, but unlikely.

In the recent Horizon blip, the newsworthy story was not about the moldy tweet or the fact that the, um, <20 followers ignored it. In fact, traditional media outlets (yes--I said it, traditional) were turned on by the story because of Horizon's train wreck of a PR response, giving the story wind to take flight. And the subsequent social-media-fueled fire that ensued was too sticky to let go of. Social media NEEDED this story. But make no mistake, mainstream media sources made this story big.

Advice about monitoring ALL social media channels ALL the time is irrational and ridiculous. Monitoring resident satisfaction at all times, and having a solid PR reaction strategy ready to roll is a more reasonable course of action. Social media is but one ingredient in that mix. Had Horizon tweeted a reply, would it have made a difference? Would their Facebook Fans (if they have any) have cared about the their side of the story? Does it really matter? PR gaffes are hardly new and any positive outreach moves on Horizon's part would not have germinated the same Twitter-fest as the original story.

So, Mr. Social Media Consultant ... are you saying that the old adage "there's no such thing as bad press" has been overshadowed by the rise of the all powerful conversation? #Really? Another day, another trending topic.