Fair Housing Compliance and Social Media
Fair Housing compliance and social media can co-exist. However, there can be many challenges for property management professionals. Join us as we discuss how to ensure that your social media is Fair Housing compliant.
Consistent Use of Social Media and Fair Housing Compliance
If there is no content plan, then typically what happens is the traditional default of showing a picture of the pool, the gardens, and/or the front entrance sign. But this does not have to be the case.
The goal with social media marketing and Fair Housing is to be diverse. Diverse marketing takes content planning. When you can strategically plan out your content over a span of time to demonstrate diversity you can set yourself up for marketing success. This takes solid communication from corporate down to the site teams.
How Does Fair Housing Apply In Marketing Ads?
This is an ever-evolving topic based on what options are available on digital ad platforms. Google and Facebook have been under scrutiny for the options that are available to marketers. You can see items like location, familial status, sex, and other categories that have been made available to be specifically targeted.
Obviously, this is fair housing red flag for all of us in the property management sector.
The bottom line is that it is our responsibility to be in compliance with Fair Housing no matter where we are advertising. We know the law better than any digital tool that is out there. We just have to do our part.
Social Media Marketing and Housing Sectors
Student Housing
Let’s talk about social media marketing and advertising in Student Housing. There’s a general view that when you share living spaces, such as roommates, that there is some flexibility, especially about gender. So if you’re going to rent a bedroom in your house, normally, you absolutely could not advertise, for rent room for a female but under these circumstances, you are able to for lack of a better word, discriminate and advertise for a specific gender.
Senior Housing
Another segment in housing is senior housing. Often referred to as retirement living, senior properties, and probably the most common is called 55 and older properties.
One major exception in senior community advertising would be that you can have statements restricting children, in any way you choose to.
What Should I Do About Resident Posts that are Defamatory or Discriminatory?
This is a common concern among property management professionals. It was just a few years ago that the approach was to ban all comments and tagging features associated with social media channels.
In the age of transparency, many are reversing that course. With that reverse comes the responsibility of engaging with your audience on these digital platforms. This is where you can set the Fair Housing tone.
By making clear public transparent statements about how your company views that type of rhetoric, you are sending a message.
You need to have policies in place to address these issues, and you need to have people assigned to monitor your social channels so responses and next actions can be swift.
How Can We Make Sure Our Social Media Posts are Fair Housing Compliant?
There is a tremendous opportunity for property management companies to showcase what is the true heart of the community. Often you can get overly invested in trying to showcase your amenities because that is what you want to advertise and create awareness of. And you may think that using this kind of content in your social media posts keeps you Fair Housing safe.
That is one potential approach. But is that the true heart of your community? Why not showcase your team? They are the face of your community. They are the ones that residents see every day. They are the ones you want prospects to get to know.
This is but just one example of many that highlight how with some creativity you can develop social media content that is Fair Housing compliant.
Source: FairHousingInstitute.com
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