From Building to Tweeting to Traditional: ASHI Covers all the Public Relations Bases

Building Alliances

Building alliances is a component of the strategic plan. Here’s what has been happening recently.

ACI Bob Sisson (left, above) met with Michael Beaudry (right), executive VP of NADRA (North American Deck and Railing Association) at the Baltimore Deck and Renovation show. Sisson serves on the ASHI Public Relations Committee and is president of ASHI’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC-ASHI). NADRA is one of the many organizations that ASHI hopes to work with on mutually beneficial initiatives.

 ASHI was there when the National Association of Realtors held its annual conference in New Orleans, Nov. 5-8.
“NARdiGras 2010” presented the perfect opportunity to educate agents and broker about the importance of choosing a third-party certified home inspector. A live hookup to “Find an Inspector” allowed attendees to practice finding ASHI home inspectors in their local areas. To learn more about the conference, visit NAR’s website, www.realtor.org/convention.nsf.

Bruce LaBell, ASHI director, represented the society at the Rebuilding Together (RI) annual conference in Las Vegas in November. ASHI is exploring ways to strengthen and expand its long-term relationship with Rebuilding Together, an organization committed to preserving affordable homeownership and revitalizing communities. ASHI members can identify with an organization that provides free home modifications and repairs, making homes safer, more accessible and more energy efficient through its 200 local affiliates. Watch for plans to work with RI on national and local levels.

At the speed of a tweet

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn allow ASHI instant access to those who have expressed an interest in home inspection news. For instance, when Randall Pence, ASHI’s federal lobbyist, alerted ASHI that the IRS had issued guidance on tax implications of property losses due to corrosive drywall, it appeared almost immediately on all three of our social network sites.

Most of the two or three messages posted every week for the past year have been created by ASHI, but others are gathered from the Internet and shared with an audience that otherwise might have missed them. Recently, ASHI tweeted a story from Newsday.com that quoted ACI Steven Rosenbaum, president of the Long Island chapter.

• How do you know if your house needs more than a paint job? An ASHI certified home inspector can weigh in! @newsday http://ow.ly/2Om2M
• Another was from the New York Times, just because it promoted home inspections.

• A home inspection isn’t just for potential homebuyers – divorced couples might want to hire an ASHI home inspector too. http://ow.ly/33eJA

Most popular Tweets in September

Our latest click report is from mid-September and these were the most popular tweets so far for that month:

Sept. 8 – Inspect your Deck video

Sept. 16 – Thinking about buying a home in foreclosure? An ASHI home inspector is a MUST!

Sept. 1 – If you’ve inherited a house, one thing you should do before making any decisions: get a home inspection!
Everything that appears on Twitter also appears on the ASHI Facebook Fan page.

ASHI’s LinkedIn attracted more than 200 participants within weeks of being launched. It is reserved for ASHI members.

Links to all three social networking sites can be found at the bottom of ASHI’s home page.

Traditional public relations going strong

ASHI receives a steady stream of requests from print, broadcast and web reporters and freelance writers. Occasionally, the request is for a local home inspector who can address a local issue. In September, Robert Kraus responded to a request from the FOX affiliate in the Ft. Myers, Fla. area. More often, ASHI’s national leaders are tapped for this service. ASHI director Jack McGraw, Hickory Hills, Ill., was interviewed on the radio program Real Estate Today, which was then tweeted on ASHI’s site.

Alliances, social media, responses to media requests and soon to come, wire-distributed press releases: ASHI continues to work its public relations program to promote home inspections, the society and its members.

We’ll keep creating good buzz.