Along with many other things in our culture, social media has the potential to significantly impact the rental industry for landlords and prospective tenants. This is true from the screening and application stages of the process to the relationship and termination stages of renting. This article offers landlords helpful information about the potential benefits of social media, including screening, advertising, and maintaining relationships with prospective and current tenants.
Screening Prospective Renters
Social media screening has the potential to verify or contradict items that are permitted in an applicant screening process, such as pet ownership or employment status. Unfortunately, using these tools also comes with a risk of violating fair hiring practices as it relates to individuals in a protected class. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on factors such as gender, disability, race, national origin, and others. Obtaining subjective information from a social media site that would otherwise not be obtained through the screening process, especially for individuals in a protected class, presents significant liability for the landlord.
Deciding whether or not to use social media for screening purposes depends somewhat on the specific site. Professional sites such as LinkedIn, for example, are safer territory because they can be used more directly to verify employment and job history, which are standard elements of a rental application. Analyzing an applicant’s peer group or social habits thorough a nonwork site such as Facebook or Instagram, on the other hand, can be problematic. Unless applied in the same way to all applicants with a clear list of look for’s that align to fair screening processes, social media screening should be avoided.
Advertising
Given the cost of print advertising and the constantly rising rates of social media use, advertising through social media can be very cost-effective. It can also broaden your reach exponentially further than newspaper or billboard advertising. Landlords and property managers should identify their target rental market and analyze user statistics for several sites to determine the ideal place to advertise their rental properties. Staying current on social media trends and the advent of new sites is critical to the success of this process.
The specific advertising strategy can also be customized to the specific social media site. Facebook, for example, has many parent groups. This would be a smart place to advertise for a landlord looking to rent a multi-bedroom house in a family-oriented neighborhood. Similarly, landlords with rental property in college towns could advertise on the university’s student group page. On Twitter, they could tag the university’s handle or use several of the university hashtags in their advertisement. Similar tagging strategies could be applied when posting pictures on Instagram.
Effective Social Media Communications
In addition to the broad advertising suggestions listed above, there are several effective communication strategies that are even more granular, some proactive and others reactive. One proactive strategy relates to message size. Social media is characterized by a high volume of messages or images that users scan with the scroll of their thumb while multitasking or on a short break between tasks. Keeping messages short and catchy will increase the likelihood that they are seen and/or attended to. Using keywords with embedded hyperlinks is also an effective proactive strategy. The easier a prospective renter can access your content, the better.
On the reactive side, response time and response content are critical. The instant gratification element associated with social media applies directly to desired response times. Landlords who advertise through social media should set up alerts or notifications on their devices to ensure they respond promptly to prospective renter inquiries. When responding, it is important to get the biggest bang for your buck. That means keeping the response as succinct as possible and directing people to your listing page where they can find more extensive information. You can even consider highlighting similar properties when responding to an inquiry.
Maintaining Renter Relationships
Social media can also benefit the relationship between landlords and their tenants after the screening and application phases are complete. This is true whether landlords choose to connect via a professional social media account or if they connect through their personal pages.
Connecting through a professional page creates an access point for fast, easy communication because it leverages channels that the renter is likely already using. If a tenant is a frequent Facebook user, for example, they can send the landlord a quick message about a needed repair, upcoming payment, or another maintenance issue. One drawback for a landlord is that renters may use different sites, requiring them to maintain multiple pages to offer this convenience to all renters. Another consideration connects back to the risk of discrimination, as landlords cannot discriminate against renters based on information seen on their social media page.
Connecting through a personal page creates an opportunity to develop a more personal relationship between the renter that could aid in renter retention. Seeing photos of your landlord’s kids or their favorite past times can help build trust and familiarity. These qualities are helpful in a rental relationship, especially if challenges or conflicts arise. The risk with connecting this way is that is can blur boundaries if not approached with caution. To prevent that, landlords and renters may consider limiting the sections of their profile that the other party can access if they decide to connect in this way.
When approached thoughtfully and strategically, social media has the potential to benefit landlords and renters in all stages of the rental process. Reviewing the information provided above can help landlords feel confident about their approach to social media use with renters. Whether you are a new or seasoned landlord, give social media a try and see for yourself how beneficial it can be.
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