What’s New in Social: Testing, Tools, and Apps

It’s crucial for property management professionals to find innovative ways to connect with prospects and generate business, and social media is a powerful tool to help. For this reason, Property Management Insider has created a weekly series to keep readers up-to-date on the latest trends and updates in social media.
Here’s what’s new in social:
Live Video and Collage Tools from Facebook
Over the past year, the use of live video has grown significantly through apps like Periscope and Meerkat. Now, Facebook is testing a feature to allow users to post and view real-time video directly through the channel. When creating a live stream, users can add a description and determine the audience they wish to share it with, then track who is watching and commenting. The video is then automatically saved on their timeline to be viewed later. While this feature is currently only available to a small group, we expect Facebook will roll this out to the public soon if the test is successful.
Facebook made another announcement this week, introducing a new collage tool for iOS that groups uploaded photos based on where and when they were taken. Users can still add and remove images, and they also have the ability to rearrange the order. Will your multifamily community integrate live videos and collages from Facebook to market your multifamily properties?
LinkedIn Flapship App Gets an Update
This week, LinkedIn made a few updates to their Flagship app to add value to their overall mobile experience. As part of the site’s multi-app strategy, the application will work in tandem with other key LinkedIn apps such as Pulse and Job Search. The network has now segmented the all content from the app into five categories of interest: Me, My Network, Your Home Feed, Search and Messaging. These new features will let users get the most from their LinkedIn profiles from mobile or tablet devices. Forbes reports that LinkedIn receives over half of their weekly user engagement from their mobile application, giving LinkedIn a major reason to make many of these recent changes.
Multiple Account Support Testing from Instagram
If you use Instagram as part of your apartment marketing strategy, it’s likely you constantly have to log in and out to access your personal and business accounts. Now, Instagram is beta testing a support feature that would eliminate this hassle and allow Android users to easily go back and forth between two or more accounts. This change has also prompted Instagram to update its developer policy to restrict many third-party apps designed to post and view feeds from different accounts at the same time. No word yet as to when this feature will open up to all users, but we will keep you updated.
Taking advantage of social media helps property management professionals reach more prospects and improve their multifamily businesses. How are you integrating the latest social trends into your apartment marketing efforts? Stay tuned for more updates on What’s New in Social!