November 2009 – For some, they may never have heard of the term “social networking” and on the flip side there are those who simply can’t get enough of it. Over the past few years, email has been the foundation of owner, developer, investor, employer and community communications. This mundane form of communication is taking a back seat and social networking sites and technologies have taken off like a rocket. EBMC has taken notice of and several of the most mega successful social networking sites include Twitter, Face book, LinkedIn, MySpace and YouTube. We realize that before we know it, social networking will be integrated into everything we do. In addition to public sites, property portals are now in high demand.
With this new “social networking” evolution, EBMC has focused marketing and customer service technologies over the past year on enhancing its customer service experience through the implementation of “EBMC Portals”. Some of EBMC Portal features include:
- Residents and tenants can pay rent, assessments and other expenses regardless of office hours
- The expense and hassle of residents mailing payments has been eliminated
- By paying online, customers can eliminate cost and frustration of incurring late fees
- Residents and tenants can review their personal payment histories
- Multiple payment options available (Electronic Check, MasterCard, Discover, or VISA)
- Residents and tenants can make a one-time payment or establish a recurring payment
- Maintenance requests can be created and histories can be reviewed
- Residents and tenants can access contact information for the community including mail, email, office location, telephone and fax numbers, office hours and much more
- An optional Facebook link is available to our residents and tenants which identifies other community residents who also have Facebook links. Helping provide a sense of community
- Driving directions are accessible so that family and friends can find the property easily
- Walking directions from the property to community activities, schools, shopping and restaurants
- Property documents, photographs, floor plans and other community information can be made available at the property owners or communities direction
- Apartment and single family homeowners enjoy the ability to market unit availability
EBMC is working to create portals for its entire apartment, association, commercial and single family portfolio at http://ebmcportals.net. If you would like to learn more about EBMC’s services please contact loriburger@ebmc.com.