If you are an aspiring film industry professional, be sure to check out the sites!

Allow me to start by saying that I do not work for NCI! However, I do believe that their product provides a greatfoundation for us to be successful in our social media marketing initiatives, if that is your company’s goal.

Community Sherpa’s blogging helps increase your community’s search engine optimization through the use of strategic keywords, Facebook helps keep your residents and prospects engaged, and Twitter allows you to further promote your community while “listening” to conversations of people who may be looking to move. (More on that in my 2012 Marketing Trends post.)

I have come across several Facebook pages (even some of TriBridge’s own) that are backed by Community Sherpa but have zero activity! Many community managers are under the impression that Community Sherpa will bring traffic to their social media sites and keep them engaged. Wrong! Sherpa creates blog content, feeds it to Facebook and Twitter, and they may occasionally post a status update or two. The rest is up to us!

So I’ve decided to share a few ways that you can complement Sherpa’s strategy to make social media work for you!

1. Put it on paper!
Promote your blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts in print! Put your accounts on a flyer, brochure or even your letterhead.

2. Put in online!
Make sure that your social media accounts are accessible through your community’s website. An icon following your e-mail signature wouldn’t hurt either!

3. Speak up!
We are so used to putting things on a flyer and thinking that the residents will get it. Most residents don’t read! I am sure that you have residents coming in every day to pick up packages, submit service requests, etc… Don’t forget to mention the trivia that you’re running on Facebook or the giveaway that’s happening on your blog! Word. Of. Mouth. It’s powerful, it’s memorable.

Now that we’ve promoted our social media accounts, let’s discuss how we get our fans talking. Considering that you’ve allowed your on-site teams to post content to Facebook and Twitter…

4. Train your employees!
This is SO important! As the marketing manager at TriBridge Residential, I don’t have time to manage 30+ Facebook pages. However, I do make time for monthly training webinars in which I teach our employees how the accounts work and how they should respond. (How to communicate online is especially important!)

Sidebar: Sorry for the use of so many exclamation marks. I get excited.

5. Give ‘em somethin’ to talk about!
Your on-site teams will need some engaging content to post on Facebook and Twitter in order to get their fans talking. Unfortunately, fans don’t always pay attention to Sherpa’s blog posts. The majority of Sherpa’s posts don’t receive very many likes and I’m okay with that. Sherpa is just helping us keep the page active so that we stay present in the minds of our fans. So be sure to always keep the page fresh with the latest news in entertainment, sports and even company news and community events!

6. RESPOND!
The only absolute way that you can keep your residents and prospects engaged (other than giving away iPads all the time, but that get’s expensive) is to respond! Engage! You’ve produced great content, great. Now, when a fan leaves a comment, respond! Keep that conversation going and keep them coming back for more!

7. Utilize the appropriate tools…
to make your job easier. HootSuite.com, SocialOomph.com, and Seesmic.com are some of my personal favorites. Schedule posts in advance. Post on several accounts at once. Learn these tools and use them to your advantage.

At the end of the day, whether you use Sherpa or not, these strategies should help with your social media efforts. Try these tips and let me know how it goes!

1. Check all e-mails when you arrive to work. Start with the oldest unread e-mail. One by one, reply to your e-mails in one of three ways:
- If the e-mail is something that can be replied to within sixty seconds, reply to it.
- If the e-mail requires you to do something quick like make copies of something or sign and return a contract and is not urgent, put it your task list to complete by the end of the day or by its deadline.
- If the e-mail requires time for research, brainstorming or production, set aside time on your calendar to complete it. That’s right. Set an appointment with yourself on your calendar and do not break it! This appointment can range from one hour to four hours, depending on the time needed to complete the task. Also, remember to prioritize. If the e-mail doesn’t need a response until next week, you don’t have to schedule an appointment for it right away.

2. Block of the last 30 minutes or hour of your day to complete items you have assigned to your task list that are that day. (Tomorrow’s tasks can wait until tomorrow.)

3. Once all of your e-mails have either been answered, assigned to a task or put on your calendar, you are ready to start your work day!

4. If someone interrupts you during the day and gives you another task, jot it down and add it to your task list or calendar at the end of the day. Do NOT stop what you are doing unless they tell you it is urgent.

5. If you all of a sudden have to stop what you are doing to work on a new priority task, rearrange your calendar immediately. Place your new task in the current time slot and move everything else down. This may cause some of today’s task to fall over into tomorrow or maybe even next week.

6. At the end of the day, check your inbox again and browse it for any high priority e-mails (usually marked with an exclamation mark in Outlook). Go through these, reply to those that can be responded to quickly and add everything else to either your task list of your calendar. If your office is as busy as mine is, you will have a fresh batch of e-mails when you arrive the next day.

And the cycle starts over again.

That’s all, folks! I hope this helps. Let me know if it works for you!

Update on July 13, 2011

It’s amazing how Beyonce continues to dominate this pop music industry. Every song, every video, every show brings thousands and millions of viewers and listeners. And that’s what I love about her. I believe that most people love Beyonce because she’s beautiful, talented and confident – and I love her for that, too. But what I love MOST about Beyonce is that…

She.

Never.

Stops.

Beyonce is no one-hit wonder. She’s not one of those artists who produces a hit record and then you don’t hear from them for months. Since she was a child, Beyonce has been committed to working on her talent. She invests so much time and energy into her craft. If she’s not working on her music, she’s working on her clothing line. If she’s not working on her clothing line, she’s working on a movie. If she’s not working on a movie, she’s working on a community service project. The point is that she is always working to improve herself. That is why I admire her.

Think about that. If each of us put as much time into our businesses as Beyonce did, wouldn’t we be just as successful?

Speaker:  David Berkowitz, Sr Dir Emerging Media & Innovation with 360i (www.360i.com)

Topic:  “Social and Location: The Consumer Perspective”

How are people really using location-based social media? Find out what’s trending, what’s essential, and what’s overhyped. Learn what works today and how these shifts in consumer behavior provide clues as to how location will matter even more in the years ahead. As leading digital marketing agency, 360i excels at understanding what motivates consumers and executing strategies that bring them closer to your brand.

Speaker: Adam Steinberg, Co-Founder of PlacePunch (www.placepunch.com)

Topic:  “Incorporating location-based check-ins into loyalty and marketing programs.”

PlacePunch makes it easy for brands to incorporate location-based check-ins from all of the major social networks into marketing campaigns. Adam will discuss how loyalty programs, social media, and location can all work together for any business to increase customer loyalty, develop personalized ongoing communications with customers, and build a lasting relationship through any social or location based network.

Speaker: Dorrian Porter, CEO, Mozes Inc. (www.mozes.com)

Topic:  “The Intersection of Social Media & Mobile at Live Events”

Brands are realizing new levels of consumer engagement, lead generation and commerce by creating exciting promotions that integrate social and location-based experiences on the mobile phone. The leader in mobile engagement, Mozes connects brands with consumers at live events such as concerts, sporting events, conferences and more. Dorrian will speak about the engagement opportunities that exists before, during & after an event. Combining social media and location-based marketing with mobile technology at events presents a unique opportunity to establish relationships with consumers that extend far beyond the check-in.

May marked one year of Corporate America experience for me. I was one of few grads who was lucky to land a job right after graduation. I started working at TriBridge Residential right before Memorial Day last year. I joined the company as an intern, then three months later I was promoted to salaried associate, and a few months after that I was promoted again. My main task is to do research on and provide marketing strategies for all properties in our portfolio. I also train our employees on how to use social media and provide social media consultation for our properties. (More details about what I do.)

Because my job is so flexible and because we are growing so fast, I have been able to do many things a normal entry-level employee would not have the opportunity to do. My accomplishments over the past year are as follows:

• Led company is raising more than $9,000 and collecting 5,000 canned goods for the Atlanta Community Food Bank
• Created the document and established the procedures used to provide marketing strategies for our properties
• Conducted an internal educational video campaign for nearly 400 employees
• Assisted with rebrand of the new company, TriBridge Residential
• Assisted with the rebrand of three Austin-based student properties
• Wrote the company’s social media policy
• Trained more than 200 employees on how to use Facebook

I can’t complain. I enjoy what I do and I’m lucky to work with great people. Now if only they’d let me travel more…

Feel free to brag about your accomplishments here, too!

P.S. In the photo above, you’re looking at me giving nature a big hug in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I think it’s a good representation of accomplishment.