Exceptional reputation management strategies lead to better performance, improving brand equity. Your reputation is a valuable asset. This guide covers how you can manage your online reputation for your property management business.

1. Online Reputation
Management
FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS

2. 2 3
Let’s face it.
We live in a digital age and property
management professionals face
unique challenges today when
it comes to protecting your brand.
You can’t control what others are
saying about you, but you can –
and should – proactively shape the
agenda in the social ecosphere.
Is online reputation
management really
an issue?
Even if you aren’t active in the
social realm, social influencers are.
Past and current tenants, anyone
who has ever leased or lived in a
rental unit or home participates
in online conversations every day,
directly and indirectly shaping
community perceptions.
Exceptional reputation
management strategies lead to
better performance, improving
brand equity. Your reputation is
a valuable asset.
Not sure where to start?
Here’s a brief guide with eight
steps toward building a healthy
online reputation.
>>
Yes!

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YAHOO
LOCAL
GOOGLE+
LOCAL
AND BING
LOCAL
Step
1.
Make Sure Prospects Can Find You
In today’s market, a
prospect searching for
property management
services or vacancies
will more often than not
begin with an online search.
Make sure your property
ranks high with optimized
business listings.
Listing in online local business
directories is an essential
first step. You should at least
register with “the big three”.
Review your listings carefully. Fix spelling and grammar issues and
verify your address, telephone number and property name are accurate.
To add more depth to your listings, include
extended profile details like the ones below:
Extended profiles optimize your
listings and improve search rank.
Adding photos and videos elevates
your search ranking and enhances
customer experiences. Add those
elements — even if you have to
return to update your listings later.
Listing in more business directories
broadens your reach. Make a
point to get your listing on Yelp,
Citysearch, MerchantCircle and
other business directories as you
have time.
STAFF
BIOS
OFFICE
HOURS
PAYMENT
OPTIONS
FLOOR PLAN
OPTIONS
LEASE
SPECIALS
COMMUNITY
EVENT
CALENDAR
EMAIL
ADDRESS
WEBSITE
URL
BLOG
LINK

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Complaints on review sites are not
always the fault of the company,
but it doesn’t matter to the one
reading the negative review. Begin
by replying to negative posts with
a personalized response, include
a thank you, an apology, a follow
up, say something positive and
extend an invitation to continue
the conversation on an alternative
platform if allowed (i.e. phone,
email, etc.).
For the most part, people just want
to be heard. You do not necessarily
have to address every issue that
is mentioned. Focus on the key
issues and make sure the response
is personalized and thoughtful.
Set objectives for each review
response.
Respond to positive reviews occasionally,
in a natural way (meaning no canned
responses). Search engines will crawl
the review sites and help boost your
search results.
Responding to reviews should accomplish the following:
DEMONSTRATE YOU’RE
LISTENING AND YOU CARE
BE ACCOUNTABLE /
PROVIDE SOLUTIONS /
SOLVE PROBLEMS
REINFORCE THE POSITIVE
PROVIDE THE
OPPORTUNITY TO
EXPLAIN THE SITUATION
UNDERSTAND THE
RESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
WIN OVER NEW RESIDENTS
ATTEMPT TO CHANGE
PERCEPTIONS
Manage Your Reviews
Step
2.

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Train your staff how to ask for reviews. If you’re
wondering when to ask for reviews, here are some ideas:
IN STAFF-EMAIL
EMAILS
OFFICE VISITS/
GENERAL
CONVERSATION
DURING THE
LEASE SIGNING
PROCESS
DURING WORK
ORDERS OR
AS A FOLLOW
UP TO A WORK
ORDER
THROUGHOUT
THE RENEWAL
PROCESS
AT MOVE OUT
Avoid the review filter. It’s important to realize that Google search bots are
always looking for things that don’t quite look right. Here are few things you and
your staff can use to make sure your reviews appear “legitimate” to those bots.
>> Make sure everyone on
your team and everyone
you serve knows that an
honest review is a good
review.
ASK YOUR
CLIENTS NOT
TO POST REVIEWS
IN MULTIPLE SITES.
URLS IN
REVIEWS LOOK
SPAMMY TO
SEARCH ENGINES.
DON’T COPY
POSITIVE REVIEWS
FROM ONE SITE
TO ANOTHER
IF YOU NOTICE
REVIEWS ARE
MISSING, VISIT
HTTPS://SUPPORT.
GOOGLE.COM/PLACES/
NEVER BUY
REVIEWS OR
PAY INCENTIVES
FOR POSITIVE
REVIEWS.
Ask for Positive Reviews “HTTP//:+=”
Step
3.

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Some ideas for how to accomplish this:
Include compelling property
descriptions, beautiful photos,
and accurate contact information.
Photos and detailed descriptions
build credibility and
trustworthiness for users.
HIGHLIGHT POSITIVE
REVIEWS ON YOUR
WEBSITE AND SOCIAL
MEDIA CHANNELS.
HIGHLIGHT A
SPECIAL TENANT ON
YOUR FACEBOOK OR
PINTEREST PAGES.
USE BRANDED BADGES THAT
SHOW VISITORS HOW MANY
POSITIVE REVIEWS YOU HAVE
FROM YELP OR CITYSEARCH.
CONVERT
TESTIMONIALS
TO YOUTUBE
VIDEOS.
Turn Your Reviews into
Sharable Content
Optimize Your Listings
“ Nestled in next to
the park, this
property excudes
comfort and serenity ”
Jane Smith
CONTACT:
Step
4.
Step
5.

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If you’re already using Google
paid ads, ask your rep about
adding social annotation. You’ll
gain more traffic, and research
shows annotations increase
click through rate by 5%—10%.
Leveraging every opportunity
to increase social trust presents
more chances to dominate the
search engines. Gaining additional
indexing opportunities should be
a goal as you fine-tune your
reputation management strategy.
Whether you choose to use Google
Alert or one of the paid services
that allow you to monitor applause
rates and conversation rates, find
at least one tool that allows you
to track social engagement with
your online presence. There are
several third-party vendors, like
True Social Metrics, who offer free
trial packages designed to let you
explore options before committing
to a contract.
Start Tracking Behavior with
Reputation Management Tools
Consider Social Annotation
S M T W T F S
+8%
6.
Step
7.
Step

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Establish a social engagement
calendar to schedule blog posts,
tweets, FB posts, etc. Set some
time aside, even if it’s just a few
minutes, to browse social media
platforms for relevant discussions
and engage users by being part of
the discussion and offering helpful
information about your community
and properties.
This is also a good time to
monitor any comments or
feedback about your business
and respond publicly. Whether
it’s positive or negative
feedback, responding in a
professional and attentive
way shows users that you
care about your customers
and builds a foundation of
transparency
and trust.
Find Time to Post, Engage, and Respond
It’s important to realize that you can
never reclaim a missed opportunity.
Thanks for
your input!8.
Step