Using Social Media to Boost Engagement With Self-Storage Customers

How many times each day do you check your Facebook, LinkedIn and e-mail accounts? While digital and social media are important factors in how we communicate today, they also can be great ways to promote your business—if used properly.

Effectively implementing social platforms and digital marketing at your self-storage operation can be challenging, particularly considering that consumers have learned to tune out promotional sales pitches. So, how can you get through to your tenants and prospects to make the most of your online efforts?

The biggest factor in successfully employing social media is to ensure the platforms you use are part of your sales funnel, which should lead clients to your website and, ultimately, your physical property. The end goal should be to rent units. The key is to have your social media channels push traffic to your website rather than use your website push users out to social platforms.

In addition, any communication via social media or other digital platform should have a clear call to action. Once customers reach your website, you want to keep them there. Convince them your facility is the best place to store their belongings. A great example of inward-facing social media is to post content or a promotional special on your Facebook page with a link back to a related page on your website.

Another factor to success is consistency. It’s important to regularly post content that’s relevant to your business and interesting to your customers. This gives people a reason to come to your social pages and website. It also keeps your business top-of-mind, even if a prospect isn’t quite ready to rent a unit. Examples of good content include spring-cleaning tips, or advice on packing efficiently and preparing to move. These relate to self-storage and can be meaningful to consumers.

Finally, using multiple digital-marketing channels can make your efforts more fruitful. Having a Facebook page is great, but coordinating it with an e-mail campaign is better. There’s a rule of thumb that suggests we must “touch” potential customers at least seven times before they’ll be ready to buy. Each digital touch helps push prospective tenants closer to choosing your services.

Social media and other marketing platforms can be great tools for your self-storage business. They key is to use and leverage all the tools available to create a competitive advantage!

Alyssa Browning is the assistant marketing director of Easy Storage Solutions, which launched in 2008 to provide various products and services to small and mid-sized self-storage operators. The company’s offerings include management software, search engine optimization, call answering, accounting and access control. For more information, visit www.storageunitsoftware.com.