Twitter for Self Storage

With so many social networking options available it might be difficult to choose the one which is right for your self storage business. On the surface, all these services seem similar. However, if you take a closer look, you will see the rich marketing value they hold, especially Twitter.

Here are some helpful tips for using Twitter to promote your self storage business:

• Ensure that your tweets are informative and relevant.

  As the business owner, your tweets will always be relevant to you. But the real challenge is getting others to care about what you are tweeting. Shameless self promotion has its time and place however it won’t get you very far in the “twitterverse.” For example, you can tweet about your self storage business but also include information about general self storage news to keep your followers interested.

• Pay attention to the character limit.

  Twitter limits the amount of characters on a tweet to 140. Although there are many third party programs which will allow you to post beyond the standard limit, the average Twitter user will not be willing to read a one paragraph tweet. Try to get essential information out to your current and potential followers in the least amount of characters possible. Remember, you can say a little and still manage to communicate a lot.

• Do not spam other Twitter users.

  In your overzealousness to communicate information about your self storage business, you might find yourself responding to tweets where others might not even be mentioning self storage. Users often find this annoying and will not be hesitant to report you as spam. Once this is done, your account may be suspended and permanently closed.

• Read and respond to mentions.

  Whenever another twitter uses the ‘@’ symbol and then writes you name, this is known as a mention. You can use mentions to see when people are writing tweets about your business or twitter accounts. Responding to these mentions will show your customers that you are interested in what they have to say and will assist in building a better business-consumer relationship.

• Designate a real person to write your tweets.

  While automated Twitter programs might be helpful for tweeting messages about promotions, specials offers and standard information, you will want to avoid sounding like a robot. Twitter works best when you are able to create a dialogue. Who wants to talk to a computer? You will have to check your mentions frequently to see what others are saying about your business and respond to them in a timely fashion.

• Link your Twitter account to your mobile device.

  Whether it’s your tablet, or mobile phone, there is a Twitter app for just about every device. Having access to Twitter on-the-go gives you more flexibility in creating and maintaining your various Twitter campaigns. You also get alerted whenever you have a new mention therefore you can respond accordingly without having to manually check it.

Now that you have an idea of which direction to follow when promoting your self storage facility on Twitter, here are a few helpful applications which you can link to your Twitter account to enhance your profile even more:

• TwitVid and TwitPic

  With these applications you can post videos and pictures of your facility. For example, you can make videos of the various unit sizes you have so that potential customers can have a better idea of what is offered. You can use these videos or pictures to give a tour of your facility. Be sure to consult with Twitter’s Terms of Service to ensure that your postings are not in violation.

• Who.unfollowed.me

  This application gives you a detailed account of everyone who has unfollowed you. There is a free account which gives you access to your unfollower history for up to seven days and a premium account which allows you to search beyond that. You can even choose to unfollow those who are not following you back or those who have recently unfollowed you. This is helpful because you don’t want to follow people who will not reciprocate your follow and actively contribute to the discussions you might decide to post. Remember that every twitter user can freely follow up to 2000 people. After you reach that 2000 mark, Twitter limits the amount of additional persons you can follow. The limit varies by user and is based on the individual’s ratio of followers to following. Twitter will inform you of your daily or total limit once you have reached it.

• Bit.ly

  This URL shortener is useful if you want to include a link in your tweet but do not want to use your entire 140 limit on the link. While the ‘new’ Twitter now shortens URLs automatically, it does not shorten them to the length which bit.ly can—which will end up saving your valuable characters.

• Twitter for (mobile device)

  As previously mentioned, there are several Twitter mobile applications. However, you need to link the mobile application to your Twitter account before you are able to fully access the various features. When using these third party applications, keep in mind that Twitter imposes a rate limit; a restriction on how many times you can request data from its services in an hour. The current limit is 150 times per hour - this includes all searches, tweets, and following/unfollowing actions.

So, you have your apps and a plan in mind on how you’re going to target potential customers, you just need to brush up on your Twitter etiquette. Following these best practices for Twitter will ensure that you reach your audience while adhering to the rules and regulations of the service:

• Do not copy Tweets.

  While Twitter states that it does not intervene in personal disputes between members; it is generally frowned upon to copy a tweet without giving credit to the original poster of the tweet. If you see a helpful self storage hint or advice for self storage, do not copy the tweet and post it as your own. If you wish to share it with your followers, you can ‘Retweet’ the original poster. There is a retweet button conveniently located at the top of your Twitter profile so that you can share the tweets of others with your followers.

• Use hashtags appropriately.

  Hashtags are denoted by the ‘#’ symbol and used to mark keywords in a tweet. Do not use hashtags which are unrelated to your post simply to have your business or topic recognized. For example, if you are posting about self storage and #FacebookMessenger happens to be a trending topic, do not include this hashtag in your post just because everyone is talking about it at the time. If you are posting about Facebook Messenger, then that is permitted. However, a tweet such as “Check out our awesome self storage facility #FacebookMessenger” would be considered spam according to Twitter’s terms of service.

• Do not harass others about following you.

  It is perfectly fine to send a tweet asking someone you follow for a follow back. However, the use of automated bots to message and invite other users is strictly prohibited. There is no guaranteed way to get others to follow you because unlike other services such as Facebook, you are not automatically “friended” simply because you choose to follow someone. Consider posting relevant and valuable information about the self storage industry and others in the industry and even those who are not, will possibly follow.

• Do not post copyrighted content.

  Remember to always include a link which gives credit to the original author of whatever you are posting. Never pass copyrighted content off as your own as this has legal implications.

At this point in time, you are almost a Twitter pro. You have been briefed on the marketing aspect and are aware of the do’s and don’ts. Now, after you follow this guide, how will you know if it works? Most advertising professionals will tell you that it is impossible to measure the ‘effect’ of advertising; we can only measure the effect of our communication efforts. With that in mind, we can take a look at the key elements to consider when evalutating your success on Twitter.

Your follower count is not reliable to evaluate whether or not your communication efforts are successful. While it would be ideal to have thousands of followers, it is better to streamline your efforts. Instead of looking at your follower count, you can instead look at how many people are actually responding to your tweets. If you have 1,500 followers, yet less than 10 are replying daily, then you can tell that the accounts following you are either inactive, spam or run by people who simply wanted a ‘follow back’.

The number of retweets you get is also another useful way of evaluating your efforts. If you are posting helpful self storage information then others may want to share it. If you notice that no one is retweeting your information, then you might want to consider revising your strategy. Do not simply post information about how great you business is. Ask the question: Why should others be interested in this? If you cannot answer this easily, then consider posting something else.

Tweeting about special discounts and promotions is an excellent start. You can use Twitter as a platform for informing potential and existing customers about the groups you may offer discounts to - college students, military members and which days these discounts apply. Also consider asking customers for they Twitter handle, if they have one, when they sign up for a storage unit so that you can find and connect with them.

Twitter is a great service for business promotion. However, if it is not used in the correct manner it might end up doing more harm than good. Your self storage business has a lot to gain from having a Twitter account as it is a great way to connect to others in the industry and even to keep an eye on your competition. If you follow the tips and recommendations we have shared, then you are well on your way to designing a Twitter campaign that should adequately complement your other marketing and advertising efforts.

Self Storage Online Marketing

The ability to plan and execute a successful online marketing campaign will make a big difference for your self storage business. Online marketing has quickly grown from simply having a company website to expanding into several new areas like social networking, online aggregators/directories, referral websites, and more. It is highly recommended that you start implementing at least one or two of these techniques in your next marketing campaign. To help you get started we have gathered information on the most popular and effective ways to market your self storage online which will enhance your existing self storage facility’s marketing strategies and help keep those storage units filled:

• Company website – Having a website has now become the norm for any type of business and it’s the starting point for basic online presence. There are many options available for creating company websites like do-it-yourself website builders (Google Sites, Webs, Yola) to full-blown custom websites. A basic website with details about your self storage facility and services should not break the bank. The most important pieces of information you should have on your company website are: facility description, unit types, sizes, prices, amenities, and pictures. If your budget allows for a custom build website, be sure to hire a reputable design firm and ask for previous work samples and references. A company website will be an investment that in the long run will pay itself and will have a positive impact on your business.

• Self Storage Aggregators/Directories – An online self storage aggregator/directory is an excellent option that will increase your facility’s online exposure. There are several advantages to listing your self storage business in this manner. They’re primary purpose is to provide you with customer leads. They are also cost and time efficient – many small businesses may not be able to afford to create and maintain a website so this is a viable alternative. Self storage aggregators will take care of listing the facility’s specials, units, prices, and specific information. One important feature of online aggregators is the ability to synchronize your facility’s inventory with its online profile -- this helps to keep the information always accurate and reduces the amount of time needed to set-up and maintain the facility’s profile. USSelfStorageLocator.com is one of the newest and fastest growing self storage aggregators available. They offer features such as online unit rentals, call tracking and recording, enhanced facility profile, email notifications, and activity tracking and reporting. There are other self storage aggregators available.

• Online Business Directories – These list businesses according to their specific categories. Your self storage listing would be listed along with other self storage businesses either in your state or town. Services such as Yahoo Local, Bing Local Business Portal and Google Places For Business are great to start with. Listing your self storage facility in this manner will help increase your online exposure and search engine visibility as you are getting the name of your business out there in an organic manner. One very important thing to remember when listing your self storage in online business directories is to make sure all your information is accurate and uniform across all directories. For example, you can list your business on Google Places, it can be found using Google Earth. In order to list your self storage facility, you must have a Google account. Once you have a Google account, visit Google Places and enter the information for your business. It is completely free of cost and very beneficial to your business.

• Social Media – This is perhaps the most cost effective online marketing strategy currently available. Many of the features that are offered by the various social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn – are completely free of cost. Social networking is extremely popular. Facebook alone has over 100 million users. Therefore, you can reach a large number of people with very little effort. The establishment of a Facebook or Twitter page will only begin to scratch the surface of what you can accomplish marketing via social media. You have to be interactive. Remember, people prefer to interact with self storage businesses which are represented by real people – not automated bots which routinely post status updates forcing a product on the consumer. Try to answer the questions which your website did not (if you have one) on your social networking pages and take careful note of what users are saying about your business. Using Twitter, it is easy to search in real time what every user (with unprotected tweets) is saying about any topic. You can use this feature to find out what people are saying about self storage and target your marketing efforts more efficiently. You can use Youtube to show videos of your self storage facility. This is helpful if you want to give users who rent online an idea of what to expect from your facility before they commit to rent. Adding your videos to Youtube is easy. You first need a valid email address to create an account. Then, choose ‘upload’ from the upper right hand corner. You can record a video from your webcam or navigate to a video file on your computer. Videos can be up to 15 minutes in length, HD, and in a variety of formats. When you’re done, you can auto share your video across different social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. It’s that simple.

• Referral Services – These rely on the recommendations of online users who are familiar with your services. These recommendations can come from customers, friends, family members, or business peers. Services such as Stik.com allow people to connect to goods and services based on the recommendations of friends on Facebook. You can use your Facebook page to create more exposure about your self storage business and have people who ‘like’ your page recommend you on Stik.com. Yelp.com is another useful referral website. On this site, persons who are familiar with a company can provide reviews and recommendations to others detailing their experience. Listing your self storage company on Yelp and encouraging your satisfied customers to leave positive review is an excellent way to create interest in your business. You can also encourage your customers to leave reviews on Kudzu.com, which is similar in functionality to Yelp. All these services are free of charge.

• Email Marketing – This creates a direct link to the consumer as you are able to tell them exactly what sets your business apart from others in the form of an email. There is however a method to sending email blasts however. You have to ensure that the content of your email is not labeled as spam and sent directly to the recipient’s junk or spam folder. You can ensure this by having a reasonable word to picture ratio – if you include images, ensure that there is more text than pictures in your email blast. You can run your email blast through a free spam checker such as SpamCheck.com before sending. This service gives your email blast a score and will tell you the likelihood of your email blast making it past the popular spam filters for most email services. Popular email blast systems such as Constant Contact and Mail Chimp provide affordable email marketing services. For upwards of $15 a month, you gain access to email templates, one click editing and customer support to assist you with constructing email blasts that will help you get more targeted results.

The marketing possibilities which you can employ online are practically endless. As you can see, a few of those listed are interconnected (E.g. Stik.com and Facebook) so when designing your marketing strategy you should keep this in mind. You can use your existing self storage company website to link to your various social networking profiles to create even more exposure for your self storage business. Whether you choose to use one or a combination of the online marketing strategies listed, you can be confident that your self storage facility will benefit greatly from it.

If you work in the self storage industry you know that, like any other industry, it can be hard selling your service when there are hundreds of other businesses offering the same service. It is challenging to distinguish your business in the market and to get people interested. Self storage isn’t the most glamorous and exciting of industries so it is difficult to find the right mix of communication techniques to not only get people interested, but to get them to use your service as well.

Online marketing can help you reach your goals cheaply and easily. Implementing social networking and online marketing initiatives circumvents the costs of expensive television and radio advertisements. Marketing in this fashion allows the business owner to take greater control of the marketing program and be as detail-oriented as necessary.

However, smaller self storage businesses may not have the resources and time necessary to implement an a full blown online marketing campaign. For these smaller companies, listing on a self storage search engine such as USSelfSelfStorageLocator.com is a viable option. You will have the opportunity to attract customers to your site and we take care of listing your specials, units, and prices for you.

For those self storage facilities who have the time and resources to dedicate to an extensive online marketing campaign, there are three important elements that need to be present in order ensure your success. First, you must have a service that is worth marketing. Even if you get millions of customers to go to you site but it is inefficient, runs slowly, or has a host of other problems, this will not improve the bottom-line for your business. Spend sufficient time working on the various aspects of your business so that you have an invaluable service to provide.

Second, your website must be easily found. There are several options available to you to do this. You can employ the use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO involves increasing the visibility of your website in search engine results organically. This method is unpaid. You could also use Search Engine Marketing (SEM). SEM is a paid way to increase the search ranking of your website; you pay every time there is a click on your listing.

Thirdly, get people to rent once they visit your site. This is possibly the most difficult element. The best way to do this is to clearly spell out the offers and discounts. Avoid misleading your customers with a low price just to get them to come in and then changing your offer later. If you build consumer loyalty by being straightforward and honest, your business will thrive.

The marketplace is becoming increasingly competitive. It is not sufficient to have a website if it does not generate any traffic. The more traffic that comes to your website, the greater your chances are of getting more rentals and increasing your revenue.