Most of us belong to a professional association or an organization of some kind. For property managers, the most notable groups include the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM) and the National Apartment Association (NAA), especially their local chapters. These organizations have events, meetings and resources, and the advantage is clear – we get the opportunity to meet people and learn new things from one another.

For example, we hope to see you at the national NARPM Conference in Virginia next week – stop by the Fourandhalf booth!

Face to face networking is great, but another valuable tool is social networking. This includes social media and any other online networking that we have the opportunity to participate in. There are some property managers who believe social networking is a waste of time. However, there are groups and vendors in social networking circles who you should be paying attention to.

When used properly, social networking can become your strategic advantage as some of the shrewdest industry leaders Engage, Share and Educate themselves online. We suggest 3 ways to engage in online networking. If you take advantage of these opportunities, you can increase your knowledge, get feedback on specific strategies or improvements you are considering, participate in “mission critical” discussions and learn how your peers solve specific business problems.

  • LinkedIn. Become a member of the relevant LinkedIn groups that are available.  These groups have thousands of members and they are raising serious questions and discussing real issues. Here are the top 3 groups we would recommend joining:

National Association of Residential Property Managers

Residential Property Management Professionals

Tech Savvy Property Managers

  • Facebook. Connecting with local NARPM chapters is easy to do on Facebook. You can stay on top of local news, get some information on new local regulations and learn about regional events. These pages are often active, and it would be a good idea to like the groups even if you are not a member. There are interesting nuggets of information available, and you can get a glimpse of how other property managers work and stay organized.

A few of the notable NARPM Chapter Facebook Pages:

NARPM Orlando

NARPM Santa Clara

NARPM National

NARPM Florida State

A few Facebook pages with educational content:

Fourandhalf

Appfolio

Buildium

  • Blogs. It is important to follow blogs in order to get good information and find out what experts in the field are thinking. Blogs are timely and full of interesting and relevant information that pertains to property management. Some of the most prominent blogs that we would recommend you follow include PropertyManager.com, by Appfolio. This blog provides webinars, educational information and a lot of great tips on leadership, marketing and other topics. All Things Property Management is run by Buildium and as an example, this blog just recently talked about election signs on properties and how to handle them. Relevant and timely, right?

Propertymanager.com blog

Our blog at Fourandhalf.com strives to provide you with all of the information you need on property management technology, Google apps, Internet marketing and new tools. We have interviews with exciting new property management technology companies and tell you about new services and resources that might help you do your job.

So, keep doing your offline networking, because it’s important. Just make sure you incorporate some online networking into your daily routine too. The 3 things we recommend to pay attention to are LinkedIn discussion groups, Facebook pages of NARPM and other organizations and property management blogs.

If you have any ideas, or if you have come across other online resources that will help other property managers, please share the URL link in the comments below this article. And as always, call or email us with any questions you might have.

We hope to see you at the NARPM National Convention next week!