7 Ways for Self StorageManagers to Master Their Brand

The Ultimate Social Media Playbook

The Ultimate Social Media Playbook: 7 Ways for Self Storage Managers to Master Their Brand | 2

What the heck is a social media playbook and why do I need one?

Before you get started using this ebook, let me share a secret with you: most storage owners don’t need to

be social media experts to use social platforms effectively. The purpose of this ebook isn’t to make all storage

owners and managers expert social media marketers - it’s to provide storage brands with the basic social media

tools they need to thrive online, and most importantly, translate social media capital into earned dollars for

your business.

If you’re looking for a guide that can help you set up your storage facility’s social media accounts in an easy-

to-manage way, you’re in the right place. This ebook is catered to the unique needs of storage brands and

written for managers and owners who want to maximize social media results with minimal effort. Even if

your storage brand has a marketing team, the insider tricks in this ebook will help you run your social media

accounts smoothly.

Why use this playbook?

This playbook will give you all the tools you need to get your storage business going on social media, with no

BS. The information in this playbook will help you engage and interact more effectively online, by showing you

how to:

• Set up your storage brand’s social media accounts the right way the first time

• Post content that leads and customers care about - easily and efficiently - without buying camera

equipment or learning how to use Photoshop

• Use social media reports to see the real impact your social media presence is making on your storage

business’s bottom line

Who is this playbook for?

Do you own, manage, or work at a storage facility? Do you want to bring in more quality leads? If the answer to

both of these questions is yes, this playbook is for you.

How do I use this playbook?

There’s no right or wrong way to use this playbook - skip the basics and get right into the meat of the matter,

or start from square one and set up your social media account as you go. To jump to the section you’re most

interested in, check out the table of contents below.

1. Warm-Up: Learn Social Media Marketing Basics ................................................................................................................. 3

2. Kickoff: How to Create & Set Up Your Social Media Accounts ........................................................................................ 7

3. Go-To Plays: Weekly Post Ideas & Tools ............................................................................................................................... 10

4. Pro Moves: 50 Out-of-the-Box Social Media Post Ideas .................................................................................................. 15

5. Performance Data: How to Use Reports & Analytics ........................................................................................................ 21

6. Future Game Changers: Predictions for 2017 and Beyond ............................................................................................ 26

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Learn Social MediaMarketing Basics

W A R M - U P

The Ultimate Social Media Playbook: 7 Ways for Self Storage Managers to Master Their Brand | 4

Whether you’ve successfully avoided social media for the last fifteen years, or you’re just curious what the latest

stats are for social media and self storage, this chapter will give you all the information you need to know before

you get started.

What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing is the act of using a free social media site - like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter - to

generate leads, boost revenue, and build brand awareness in your community.

Why should my storage business give a darn?

Because it’s huge for lead generation: people use social media to find new businesses and products in their

community - like self storage - and share them with their friends online.

Who uses social media?

In short, nearly everyone. User demographics like age, gender, household income, and interests vary across

platforms - Facebook’s user population, for example, is so large that its American user demographics are nearly

reflective of America’s societal demographics as a whole. Younger platforms like Instagram and Snapchat are still

growing rapidly and used mostly by digital-savvy students, young adults, and growing families. One of the most

important demographics? Income. Check out the charts below for demographics on the big three - Facebook,

Instagram, and Twitter - while keeping your ideal storage lead in mind.

Tweet this chart

The Ultimate Social Media Playbook: 7 Ways for Self Storage Managers to Master Their Brand | 5

Tweet this chart

Tweet this chart

The Ultimate Social Media Playbook: 7 Ways for Self Storage Managers to Master Their Brand | 6

While the majority of social media platforms were created for desktop use (on a traditional computer or laptop),

now most users access social media through their mobile device or smartphone. If you see someone using a

smartphone, chances are they use it for social media. This is important to keep in mind when you’re creating and

sharing content online - everything you post should be easily viewable on mobile devices.

How much do I have to pay for this stuff?

Nothing - it’s free! Creating a social media account, following other users, and sharing content (like images,

videos, and online coupons) is completely free, forever. There are many businesses (like storEDGE!) who use

social media, but avoid social media advertising by simply using organic content (unpaid posts) to successfully

grow their audience.

Advertising on social media, however, is not free. Social media advertising is based on an auction system

(businesses bid against other businesses with similar audiences for ad placement) and can cost businesses

anywhere from $1 per day to hundreds of dollars per day, depending on your industry (businesses in saturated

markets pay way more than businesses in niche markets like storage). Some storage businesses use paid social

media advertising for a short time (think: a week or less) to promote the launch of their new social media page or

a major event happening at their business (like a grand opening or renovation).

How mobile are social media platforms?

DesktopMobile

Tweet this chart

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How to Hit theGround Running

K I C K O F F

The Ultimate Social Media Playbook: 7 Ways for Self Storage Managers to Master Their Brand | 8

Ready to get going? It only takes a few minutes to set up your business on social media. But before you get

started, you’ll need to gather a few things.

Laptop or computer

Smartphone

Internet access

Notebook (or the “Notes” app on your phone)

High-quality, digital images of your business

Digital file of your brand’s logo

You’ll need these things to access the website, set up your page, and preview it as others will be able to see it.

Should I create separate social media accounts

for all my facilities or just one account for all of my

brand’s locations?

Good question. While it may seem nice or more

personalized to have individual accounts for all of your

facilities, it can get really difficult to manage all these

accounts as your business grows. Facebook actually

has a fantastic feature for managing multiple locations-

it allows you to list and manage all your locations on

Facebook from one main account, so that everyone

can find you in Facebook search or find the store

closest to them when they land on your main page. On

Instagram, it’s easy to add location information to your

photos with geotags (an electronic tag that assigns

a geographical, mapped location to a photograph

or video posted on a social media website) so that

everyone knows where your facilities are located. On

Twitter, you can create just one account and share

facility location information and photos in your tweets.

What if I buy a facility and it already has it’s own social media page?

You have a couple of options in this situation:

• Option #1: Mark the social media page as “closed” and redirect them to the new page. This way,

whenever clients are searching for your business’s page or social media account, they’ll know it’s not the

same business and they’ll be redirected to your page.

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• Option #2: Take over the old social media page. A large social media following and a long history of

positive online engagement can be an asset to the business. In these situations, taking over the account

can help you maintain a consistent online appearance and give you instant access to lead information.

Usually, the page and its content are of very little use to the previous owner, so the social media account

assets can be transferred to the new owner (you) fairly easily. However, the previous owner may want

to keep control of the page and it’s content to keep a database of contacts and lead information. If you

want to take over the old social media page and it’s assets, make sure to write it into the contract of the

sale. This protects you from any negative action the previous business owner may take, such as dumping

accounts and passwords that are needed to get the social media account transferred over. When you

get control of the old social media page, make it clear to the business’s previous followers that it’s a new

business with a new owner. Transparency is key here - if the business previously had negative reviews on

the site, you can use this power to bring some of those contacts back to your business.

When it comes to Instagram or Twitter, all you’ll need to do is obtain the previous owner’s login information.

Then, you’ll simply change that information to your new email and password, and update the previous business

information with your new website and business information.

When it comes to transferring facility ownership from a multi-facility brand on Facebook, the previous owner

will need to add you as an admin to the facility page. Then, you can disconnect the facility location from the

previous owner’s account and make any edits or changes you need to reflect your new ownership. This transfer

of ownership is done frequently using Facebook Business Manager tools.

What you choose to do with the old social media account depends largely on how valuable the account is as

an asset to your business, as well as how cooperative the previous owner is in coordinating the account transfer

with you.

Getting Started

Click the graphic below to learn how to create and set up social media accounts for your storage business

across the big three platforms for lead generation - Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter - to get started fast.

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Weekly Post Ideas& Templates

G O - T O P L A Y S

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Your social media accounts are activated and you’re ready to start sharing content. But what to post? If you’re

drawing a blank or just overwhelmed by the process, check out these tips and tools. After you’ve gathered some

ideas, don’t forget to set a notification in your phone or work calendar to remind you to post.

What should my storage brand post on social media?

Just because you’re a storage brand doesn’t mean you can only post about self storage tips on social media.

Think about what things your ideal lead is interested in, and try to work that into your brand’s social media

content. For even more inspiration, follow other customer-focused storage brands (like Sparefoot or Extra

Space) to get a feel for what others are posting. Here are some great post ideas that you can easily re-use week

after week:

When should I post on social media?

You’ll maximize engagement by posting on

Wednesdays and Fridays, specifically during

afternoons and evenings. Try to aim for the time of

the day when your ideal lead is commuting, on a

break, or lounging at home.

How often should I post on social media?

Posting anywhere from 1-3 times per week is ideal for

most storage brands. Create a habit where whenever

you update anything on your website (like your images

or content), you also share the update on social media.

Community events

Is your hometown team going

all the way this year? Go ahead

and show your support. Posting

about community events and local

happenings is a great way to stay

connected to the community and

show your support.

Home organization tips

This can be anything from

organizing your closet to goal

setting for the new year. The

organization topic is relevant to

storage, and you’ll be able to

interest a wide variety of people.

Moving tips

Posting moving tips positions you

as an expert in self storage, which

helps the community trust you as

an authority on the topic. Anything

from how to rent a moving truck to

the most common mistakes made

by first-time home owners is right

on track.

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Related news

Did you see something on the

evening news about a baby

product that’s being recalled? Or

how the latest weight loss trend

is all about minimalism? These

are related news topics that are

relevant to self storage.

Behind the scenes

Show all the hard work that goes

into your storage business by

snapping and sharing behind the

scenes photos. This kind of content

can help humanize your business

and help you stand out from the

competition. Today’s social media

users appreciate transparency,

and these kinds of posts typically

see high engagement (lots of likes

and shares).

Seasonal topics

Anything from getting your car

ready for winter to summer

gardening tips - it’s all fair game.

Since self storage is so seasonal,

posting about any and all seasonal

activities is relevant.

Company awards + news

Did you win a chamber of

commerce award this year? Make

sure to post about it! Whenever you

get awards or recognition, share

about it - your business’s social

media page is the perfect place

for a humble brag. Small business

awards matter - they help you build

credibility and show that you’re

consistently providing excellent

service year after year.

National holidays

Definitely acknowledge major

holidays, like Veteran’s Day and

Mother’s Day. But you can also

post about fun, offbeat holidays

when you’re all out of post ideas.

There is a national day for almost

everything, including ice cream and

chicken dancing.

Customer testimonials

When you get a review that tells

a great story, ask the poster if you

can share it on social media! Maybe

you went above and beyond and

helped them out in a time of crisis,

or you helped them move heavy

furniture on a hot summer day.

Again, this is about humanizing

your business and highlighting

the fantastic customer stories that

stand out from the rest.

What NOT to post:

Before you post a photo, double check that you have the right to share it legally. It’s illegal to

copy and paste images from Google or other websites onto your social media feed or website

without proper attribution or permission from the original person who took the photo. Using

copyrighted images can get you into legal trouble and cause you unnecessary trouble. If you’re

looking for images that are free from copyright restrictions (non-copyrighted images), check out

stock images like these.

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Where can I find good content to post on social media?

All over the place! You can find great content to share on Pinterest, national news sites, and local news sites. The

key is bookmarking articles you want to share on social media in the future and organizing your post ideas. Here

are some tricks to find and organize great content to share on social media:

How can I make posting on social media easier?

There are dozens of tools to automate social posts

across all your accounts, but IFTTT (shorthand for “if

this, then that”) is our favorite easy and free tool. This

free service makes it easy to share content across all

your social media channels with just one post.

Here’s how it works: IFTTT uses “recipes” in applets

that create a cause and effect action among various

services, like Facebook, Gmail, Dropbox, Twitter, and

even smart home products like your oven or washing

machine. Users authorize IFTTT to connect their

services and select the applets they would like to use.

When a specified trigger takes place in one channel,

an action takes place in the other.

Set up a Google alert. Want to know whenever someone shares information online

about a certain thing? Sign up for keyword alerts from Google and you’ll get an

email roundup of everything that’s new for your keyword. To start, we suggest

setting up alerts for your name, your business’s name, your city’s name + self

storage, and your city’s name + storage units.

Use the Pocket browser extension. When you come across something you want

to remember for later, like an article, image, or video, save it in Pocket. Pocket

bookmarks things quickly and easily and helps you sort them into categories.

With Pocket, you’re able to bookmark articles and post ideas and save them for

later. Eventually, you’ll have enough articles and post ideas saved that you can

simply browse through your list of ideas whenever you’re unsure what to post on

social media.

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Recommended applets for storage businesses:

Auto Post from Facebook Page to Twitter

• Automatically cross-posts content you share on

your Facebook Page to your Twitter account.

Auto Post from Facebook Page to LinkedIn

• Automatically cross-posts content you share on

your Facebook Page to your LinkedIn account.

Auto Post Facebook Page Photos to Google+

• Automatically cross-posts images you share on

your Facebook Page to your Google+ page.

Auto Post Facebook Page Statuses to Google+

• Automatically cross-posts status updates

you share on your Facebook Page to your

Google+ page.

Auto Post from Instagram to Facebook Page

• Automatically cross-posts content you share on

your Instagram to your Facebook Page.

Auto Post from Instagram to Twitter

• Automatically cross-posts content you share

on Instagram on Twitter. Tweets your Instagram

images as an inline image, rather than a link to

an image.

Auto Post from Instagram to LinkedIn

• Automatically cross-posts content you share on

Instagram to your LinkedIn account.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Go to ifttt.com and click “Sign Up” in the top

right corner.

2. Sign up with the email you use to login to your

business’s Facebook Page.

3. After you sign up, recommended applets will

appear for you. Browse applets and select the

one you want.

4. To enable an applet:

• Click the applet card to expand it.

• Then, click the slider that says “Turn on.” A

message will appear saying “IFTTT needs

your permission to access” and the name of

the service you’re connecting. Select “Ok”

to allow.

• Next, a message will appear from the service,

asking you to verify or allow this action to

occur. Make sure it’s linking you to the correct

account, then click to continue.

• When you’ve successfully verified the action,

you’ll be directed to an “Applet on!” success

screen. The applet is now on and activated.

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50 Out-of-the-BoxMarketing Ideas

P R O M O V E S

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Want to take your social media page up a notch? Bookmark all of our creative social media post ideas so you’re

never stumped on what to post again. Plus, check out social media pro tips and tricks to learn more fun and easy

ways to market your storage business on social media.

Owned Curated Promotional

Pro tip: Balance the content you post using the golden ratio for social media marketing:

50 Out-of-the-Box Ideas

30% owned content

This is anything you created yourself, like a story about

a great interaction with a customer, fun posts from your

personal life, photos of your recently renovated office,

or tips for first-time renters.

60% curated content

This is anything you found that someone else created,

like a great article about storage trends, a photo of a

valuable antique found in a unit at a storage auction in

Las Vegas, or an infographic about moving & relocation

trends around the country.

10% promotional content

This is content focused around a call to action, like a

weekend special for 30% all retail items, a photo of a

banner advertising $1 rent for the first month on new

rentals, or a post suggesting community members rent a

storage unit to make more space in their home.

The Golden Ratio of

Social Media Marketing

30%

60%

10%

A day in the life

Share what a day in the life is like

as a self storage owner or manager.

Check out storEDGE’s day in the

life post for inspiration.

Sneak peek

Share a ‘sneak peek’ of something

new: whether it’s a new contest or

giveaway your hosting, or upgrades

to your facility.

Playlist

Share your favorite playlist to

listen to while cleaning out units

or organizing your office, then ask

followers for their go-to cleaning

playlist recommendations.

Podcasts

Share a link to one of your favorite

podcast episodes, or start your

own storage podcast by recording

a mini-episode about a topic of

your choice.

Tweet this chart

The Ultimate Social Media Playbook: 7 Ways for Self Storage Managers to Master Their Brand | 17

Mythbusters

Share a myth that haunts self

storage and bust the myth with an

explanation to your followers. Ask

your followers if they’ve heard the

myth before.

Evergreen content

Share a post to an article or video

that will remain relevant for years

to come, like how to properly box

up and store your household items

during a long-distance move.

Feel good stories

Share a feel good story, photo, or

video - like the Animal Adventure

Park’s baby giraffe cam, a fireman

saving a kitten from a burning

building, or a trending comedy

sketch of celebrities trying to

beat Guinness world records from

late night.

Statistics and data

Share new, relevant self storage,

moving, or home organization

statistics (psst - these posts usually

perform really well in terms of

retweets and shares).

Photos that have nothing to do

with your business

Share photos that convey the

feeling behind your brand. For

example: Starbucks shares photos

on Instagram that associate their

brand with warmth & friendship -

not just coffee.

Time lapse video

Share a timelapse video of your

employees helping a customer

move a lot of items into a large

unit. Learn how to take a timelapse

video with your iPhone and share it

with a funny caption or entertaining

background music.

Slideshares

Share a slideshare presentation

that users can click through. If you

want a slideshare that’s already

proven itself to be popular, check

out the ‘Trending in Social Media’

section at the bottom of the

Slideshare homepage.

Chart or graph

Share a chart or graph about self

storage or moving that would

interest your followers.

Your desk

Share a photo of your neat and tidy

desk and show what you can’t live

without on a typical work day.

Fun fact

Share a fun fact about yourself or

one of your employees, or ask an

employee to share a fun fact about

you and see what they say!

Write a profile on an employee

Share a profile on one of your

facility managers, including their

favorite foods and favorite memory

from working in self storage.

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A link to your website

Share an old blog post from your

website, or a link to your updated

‘about’ page, tenant login, or online

Rental Center™ page with an eye-

catching photo.

Humorous drawings or comics

Share a funny drawing or comic

about storage, moving, or

organization. Bonus points if you

drew it yourself!

‘Caption this’

Share a photo and ask your fans

to come up with funny or creative

captions. Share the best one and

give a shout out to the winner.

Thank you

Share a picture thanking your

customers and social media

followers for their support. A simple

thank you can go a long way.

Fan photos

Share a customer’s photo on

Instagram or Twitter by looking for

photos of your business in relevant

hashtags and geotags.

Post a ‘true or false’ question

Share a true or false question

about a self storage fact with

your followers and let them guess

whether it’s truth or myth.

A link to another local small

business

Share a friend’s business page or

a beloved local business, or even

partner with them on a shared

social media campaign.

Ask what they want

Share a post asking your followers

what issues or problems they’re

needing help with. Then, write a

step-by-step explanation or record

a video that answers their question.

Hold a giveaway

Share a post announcing a

giveaway and ask fans to comment

to enter. The winner receives a

gift card to a local restaurant or

coffee shop.

Creative storage use

Share a post with a photo of a

storage unit or moving truck being

used for a creative purpose and

ask your followers what they think

of the idea.

Your pet

Share cute photos of your pet to

make them the unofficial mascot of

your business.

A link to a helpful group

Share a link to a helpful resource

for people who have questions

about moving or relocating to the

area you’re in.

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Someone else’s sale

Share the love by promoting a

complementary (not competing)

business’s sale, or even about the

great deal going on at the donut

shop down the street.

Your most popular

Share your ‘most popular’ posts,

such as your most popular unit

size, your most popular blog

post, or your most popular

facility amenities.

Nostalgic posts

Share an old picture of the first

dollar your business earned or a

vintage snapshot of the business’s

founders at the facility’s grand

opening. Bonus points for 80’s hair.

Volunteering

Share a photo or video of you

and your team volunteering in

the community during a crisis or

assisting with a home build for

Habitat for Humanity.

Recommended products or

services

Share your recommended

products for storage and

local recommendations for

moving services.

Storage calculator

Share a link to your website’s

storage calculator to give

prospective customers a helpful

tool for selecting the unit size

they need.

Ask for predictions

Share a post asking followers to

take a guess at this year’s Super

Bowl winner or predict how much

snow you’ll get in the blizzard

this weekend.

Infographic

Share an infographic related

to moving, home organization,

or storage that can help your

followers with relevant issues they

may be experiencing.

Quotes

Share humorous, inspiring, or

motivational quotes. Anything

you think your leads would

enjoy and fits your storage

brand’s personality.

Community service

Share a photo or video of your

team’s community service efforts,

like your food pantry donations

or your team cleaning up trash in

the neighborhood.

Random tips

Share a random tip or trick with

your followers periodically that

they would find useful. Hint:

using random tip numbers adds

interest to your post (e.g. Tip #358:

__________.)

Polls

Share a poll asking your followers

to vote on a an industry or

company issue or improvement.

Doing so also shows you value

your customers’ opinions.

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Pro tip: Create professional-looking, shareable graphics for FREE on

Canva.com.

• Don’t know how to use Photoshop? No problem. Canva is an

easy-to-use tool with thousands of social media image templates,

perfectly sized for sharing on social media with tons of editable

graphics. Sign up for free to create, save, and share customizable

social media images and graphics. Create shareable images online

or download the app for on-the-go editing from your iPhone or iPad.

Interview with an expert

Share quotes from a conversation

or interview with an expert on an

industry topic - this one is easy to

do at a self storage trade show.

Your life

Share posts that show you’re a real

person, like your favorite picture

from vacation or the amazing seats

you had to the game last night.

Pictures from a trade show

Share a picture or update from

a self storage trade show you

attended - don’t forget to use the

event hashtag for extra exposure.

Answer a question from Quora

Look for a self storage question on

Quora, answer it, and share the Q &

A on your social media page.

Top lists

Share a list of your top five favorite

blogs for moving and self storage

tips, or a fun list of your top five

favorite movies of all time.

GIFs

Share a humorous or entertaining

GIF related to self storage or

moving from giphy.com along with

a witty caption.

Blog post excerpt

Share an excerpt from a blog post

you found insightful or a blog post

on your website, then link to the

full article.

Weekly round-up

Share a post of your top 10 ‘must

read’ articles or ‘must watch’ videos

of the week.

Sponsorships

Share a photo or video of the little

league team or homeless pet that

your business sponsored this year.

Show a how-to

Share a video showing people how

to do something, like how to safely

hook up a moving trailer to a truck.

A great book

Share a post about a great

book you’ve read recently

that would interest your social

media audience.

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Using Analytics toSupercharge Your Marketing

P E R F O R M A N C E D A T A

The Ultimate Social Media Playbook: 7 Ways for Self Storage Managers to Master Their Brand | 22

Data. Even if you already use social media, you probably avoid data like the plague. With all the social media

analytics tools available to choose from, it can be a little intimidating to sit down and really dig into your

company’s social media stats. If you’re just wanting to measure the basics on social media, there’s no need to

pay a pretty penny for analytics tools. All you really need to track your progress is access to your social media

accounts and a pen and paper (or you can use our free social media tracking template). If you also have a

Google Analytics account, you can use that information to dig much deeper into how social media is affecting

your conversion rate and impacting your business’s bottom line.

What do I need to track?

To keep it simple, all you really need to look at from month to month is:

• Your number of followers on social media

• Your number of posts on social media

• Bonus points: Website clicks from social media

Read on to find out how you can learn more about your social media audience and measure the value your

social media presence brings to your business.

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Facebook Insights

Login to Facebook and navigate to your business’s Facebook Page. In the white nav bar at the top, select

“Insights.” This will take you to an overview of your Page’s data.

• To see last month’s data in “Overview,” adjust “Page Summary” from “Last 7 days” to “Last 31 Days.” Now

you’ll be able to see a broad summary of last month on your Facebook Page.

• To find out your total Facebook likes (fans), click “Likes” in the left side nav. Your total page likes (as of

today) will be featured here.

• To find out how many Facebook posts you made this month, click “Posts” in the left side nav. Scroll down

to “All Posts Published.” Here, you’ll be able to see all of your posts with dates and times, and you can

count the number of times you’ve posted this month.

• To find out how many website clicks you received from Facebook this month, click “Actions on Page” in

the left side nav. Select “1M” in the top data bar to see all of last month’s clicks in “Total Actions on Page.”

Here, you’ll be able to see how many people visited your website from Facebook and how many people

clicked your call to action (CTA) button, as well as other Page click information.

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Twitter Analytics

Navigate to analytics.twitter.com and sign in to your business’s Twitter account, then click “Get Started” to go to

Account home. Here you’ll be able to see an overview of your last month’s activity on Twitter.

• To find out your total Twitter followers, view “Followers” at the top of the page. Your total followers as

of today will be listed here, including a trend showing how many new followers you gained over the last

month.

• To find out how many Twitter posts (tweets) you made this month, view “Tweets” at the top of the page.

Your total tweets for the month will be listed here, including a trend showing if you tweeted more or less

than you did the previous month.

You can find more information - including website visits, conversions, and all actions taken on your site - by

logging into your Google Analytics account and adding your business’s social media information.

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Instagram

Open the Instagram app and sign in to your business’s Instagram account.

• To find out your total Instagram followers, click to view your profile by selecting or your profile image

in the bottom right corner (or the top right corner, if you’re viewing Instagram on desktop). Your total

followers as of today will be by your profile name and photo above “followers.”

• To find out how many Instagram posts you made this month, tap to list your images one by one.

Under the caption of each image, you’ll see a date. Scroll back to the first post you made this month, and

count your way to the latest post. To see more follower insights, tap in the top right corner. (Note:

many of these insights are only available after you have over 100 followers.)

You can find more information - including website visits, conversions, and all actions taken on your site - by

logging into your Google Analytics account and adding your business’s social media information.

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Social Media Predictionsfor 2017 and Beyond

F U T U R E G A M E C H A N G E R S

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What’s in store for social media in the next coming years? As business owners know, it’s important to stay on

top of social media and keep an eye on rising trends. For example, no one could have predicted the sudden

(and short) popularity of Pokemon Go, but businesses who knew about it were able to capitalize on it during the

height of the craze. By keeping an eye on social media happenings, your business will be able to use the next

social media novelty to gain new storage customers.

Snapchat

Snapchat’s 10-second videos and images are already

extraordinarily popular as a storytelling tool for other

industries. In the near future, the app could become

popular as a way to tap into the ever-increasing buying

power of millennial customers.

Virtual reality

The Samsung Gear VR is already one of 2017’s most

popular tech gifts. In the near future, self storage

brands could offer virtual reality tours through their

facility - or even a virtual reality move-in experience -

all through social media.

Chat

Real-time chat is growing more and more popular,

and we expect to see a push toward offering these

services on self storage social media pages and

websites. Chat would offer instant troubleshooting for

online users.

Live streaming video

Video has long been popular on social media,

but the recent emergence of Facebook Live and

Instagram Live videos shows a strong trend toward

live streaming. Live videos offer a genuine, behind-

the-scenes style of storytelling that users enjoy on

social media.

Wearable tech

The growing popularity of wearable tech like the

Apple Watch will require social media to adapt to

be wearable-friendly. Keep an eye on social media

changes and apps in production for smart watches.

Self Storage Technology by storEDGEstorEDGE® is a technology company backed by a team of dreamers, visionaries, perfectionists, and inventors

who believe technology can always be better. Created specifically for the self storage industry, storEDGE is

designed to level the playing field for independent business owners and bring in the highest ROI for facilities

large and small. We are proud to make innovative software that runs your business, modern websites that hook

new tenants, online rental centers that allow customers to serve themselves 24/7, and integrative services to

make daily work easier.

Request a free demo

The Ultimate Social Media Playbook: 7 Ways for Self Storage Managers to Master Their Brand | 29

Marketing WebsitesstorEDGE self storage website design services are tailored to your brand to get you results. We use our

experience in search engine optimization to craft your responsive website intelligently with high-performing

unique content. Plus, we provide all the tools you need to turn the leads you gain into customers. Just visit your

website’s dashboard where all of your crucial facility data is ready to be analyzed at any time.

Rental Center™The storEDGE Rental Center™ is a convenient online interface where your tenants can serve themselves. Tenants

can view your storage unit sizes, choose their perfect space, and complete the entire move-in process in mere

minutes, all from any device with an internet connection. Whether you provide a self-serve station at your facility

or add a link to your website, your customers will love how easy it is to rent with you online, 24 hours a day, seven

days a week.

Management SoftwarestorEDGE online storage management software allows you to easily manage and grow your self storage

business. Convert your leads to tenants, manage customer relationships, bill and collect rent, and increase

your profits — all from one beautiful interface. With 100% cloud based technology, all of your facility information

is stored securely and accessible from any device, anywhere in the world, eliminating the need to download,

install, and maintain software.

About the AuthorJana is a marketing content writer at storEDGE living in Kansas City. A graduate of South Dakota

State University with a degree in psychology and business, Jana enjoys bringing technology,

web marketing, and industry news to self storage owners and managers.

Natasha is a designer at storEDGE specializing in graphic and web design. She is a graduate

of Kansas State University with a degree in graphic design. When she’s not designing, Natasha

likes to explore Kansas City, cheer on the Royals, and relax with her cat, Albert.

About the Designer