At R6 Digital™ we manage a number of social media campaigns for our website clients. Social media is just that: a social tool for people to chat about all sorts of things. With the exception of LinkedIn, traditional social media like Facebook and Twitter are starting to prove their commercial worth in delivering new Self Storage customers.
Social Media can work for your Self Storage business.
In the devastating floods in Queensland in 2013, we created a page of dry Self Storage sites in Brisbane. We used social media to drive consumers to that page so that if anybody needed storage they could easily find a facility with spare space and merchandise.
It was very successful, with thousands viewing the page, and a number of Self Storage sites able to rent units because their product was exposed on this page.
This is one area where social media played an important role in the community; in a time of natural disaster. People relied on Facebook, Twitter to keep up to date with what was happening. The police and emergency organisations using Twitter, particularly to get their message across every few minutes.
Damage control is also an essential part of social media. If your site does not have a Facebook page or a Twitter account, you may not know what is being said about your business online. This is called your “online reputation”. It’s up to you to manage it. As an example, we receive a very informative marketing brief from one of the world’s best-known advertising agencies. Their newsletter had a number of links that just did not work. We, along with many others let them know that parts of the newsletter just did not work.
The advertising agency, full of very talented copywriters understood very quickly that their ISP was not delivering the service that they expected. The result-a newsletter letting everyone there are hundred and 160,000 contacts know just how good the service really is. When you come to trust an organisation its reputation is king and it needs to be managed and more likely than not the part of social media you need to manage properly is your reputation. Storers who feel badly done by, goods sold up and worse find it very easy to get on the forums, Facebook Twitter and let everybody know just how badly you treated them. Without a right of reply, you are seen to be not caring.
A simple way to test if your site is in the news for the wrong reason is to type ‘XYZ storage problems” into Google and see if you appear, Google should be able to find any posts or comments being made about your business online. Try a few other search items like “XYZ storage sold my gear”.
Monitoring your existing business may yield even more positive results. Social media especially Facebook is often in the media for the wrong reasons, but it does deliver instantaneous “comment” on all sorts of topics some correct, and some misinformed and some just wrong!
Facebook ads work.
As social media networks evolve, so will the value of them be more evident to you and your business.
The Internet has changed the way we sell Self Storage spaces and interact with their customers and social media is just part of the mix.
