We’re into the second week of the new year, the new COVID-19 vaccines are being rolled out, and our economy and workplaces may all be able to be re-opened soon. If you haven’t been actively engaged with the tenants at your property, now is the time to get back in the swing! With everyone (hopefully!) headed back to our commercial properties, it’s time to reach out and let them know what’s going on. Read on for some effective communication strategies.

Social Media
In today’s world, social media will likely be the main source of communication to tenants. Our suggestion is that your company have social media pages or groups for each of your particular facilities. These accounts are a good way to keep in touch and let everyone know what’s going on with activities such as food truck events, blood drives, informal gatherings, or even cornhole tournaments! Familiar networks such as Facebook and Instagram are good choices, as is a newer platform that we really love called Band. Band is like a mini-Facebook but with private channels (called bands) that allow you to keep information within the band private. It has some really nice functionality related to calendaring, push notifications, private chat rooms, photo albums, polling, etc. If you wish, there are also public bands related to interests that you can peruse. There’s even one for property managers! Whichever platforms you use, the key is be active and engaging on your social media channels so that your tenants can see that you’re trying to communicate with them on a frequent basis.

Email
Email may appear to be old school, as it’s been around since 1971! However, it’s still an efficient and effective way to communicate information to your tenants. As you probably know, you can set up distribution groups, email specific contacts, and include attachments. If possible, it looks best to send a well formatted HTML email that includes images and topic sections. Keep emails to no more than four or five paragraphs with headers for the paragraphs. That way, people can scan the email for relevant information without necessarily having to read the whole thing. MOBLZ uses an templated email application called AgileMail Pro  from WTE Solutions, but you can use other systems.

Signage
As tenants return to the buildings you manage, definitely make sure your campus signage is up-to-date and easily read. More and more people are having products, including groceries and prepared foods, delivered. Good signage makes it easy on everyone and will help delivery drivers enter and exit your property more efficiently so that they aren’t clogging your interior drives. It might make sense to have equipment installed that you can use to attach temporary signage. This could be used for any events you have on campus, such as food truck rodeos, blood drives, or in the event of a utility issue that closes a road.

We at MOBLZ hope it’s a better year than 2020. One of the keys to having happy tenants is to keep them apprised of what is going on. We hope the above information helps you do that effectively. Welcome 2021!