By Megan Stanish

If youre looking to fill a position at your self-storage facility, you may be considering the use of social media as a way to drum up candidates. Twitter allows you to attract followers who match your company culture, generating better potential hires.   

According to eMarketer, which provides research and analysis on digital marketing and media, and the Pew Research Center, a non-profit organization providing information on American issues, attitudes and trends, approximately 8 percent of U.S. Internet users were members of Twitter as of March. That number may not sound impressive, but theres a good reason to focus some of your limited employee-recruiting energy on Twitter: Company culture.

Article after article, study after study, and expert after expert declare that one of the top predictors of new-hire retention is culture fit. If you have an exceptional employee who doesnt match the cultural expectations and norms of your organization, its almost a given that his tenure will be shorter than that of someone who fits inoften by his own decision.

Your people are your culture. If you infuse positive staff into your company and ensure they stay, particularly in leadership ranks, their positivity will be mirrored throughout the organizationlikewise with other attributes, such as aggression, ethical behavior, negativity or perseverance. As management leans, so lean the employees.

Consider Employment Brand

A recent Cornell University study of 102,000 users and 129 million tweets over the course of six months (Happiness is assortative in online social networks, by Johan Bollen, Bruno Gonçalves, Guangchen Ruan and Huina Mao) revealed that Twitter users tend to follow others who have similar natures to their own. Positive, upbeat tweeps follow other positive, upbeat tweeps, while individuals of a pessimistic nature tend to follow others like them. Employers seeking great job candidates need to give serious consideration to their employment brandthe true heart and soul of their organizationsand if they are reflecting that brand in their companys tweets.

If you only tweet job listings and the occasional flat notice about an event, you may attract only serious, unemotional followers focused strictly on business. By that same token, if you seek to hire innovative individuals or lifelong learners, tweet about exciting ideas your organization is exploring or links to articles citing industry predictions. If you pride yourself on employee appreciation, demonstrate that publicly through your tweets. You get the idea.

As with any marketing effort, ensure your messages are market-appropriate and wont get you into a legal bind. If you cover these bases and make sure your message appeals to your candidate poolin tone as well as contentTwitter can greatly support and enhance your efforts to hire exceptional employees who are a great culture fit.

Megan Stanish, director of client services for Michaels Wilder, has been involved in recruiting and recruitment marketing since 1994. Her professional experience includes client support, operations and management. She provides guidance on recruiting and employment trends, recruitment marketing, and interactive tools and social media. Michaels Wilder is a marketing and talent-management services company delivering Internet, mobile, print and broadcast advertising solutions. For more information, call 800.423.6468; visit www.michaelswilder.com .

Hiring Tips for Owners

By Amy Campbell

When it comes to finding the right person to manage your self-storage investment, there are several things to consider. Because so many diverse tasks are expected of a facility manager, not everyone is right for the role. Here are three tips owners can use when evaluating candidates for employment.

1. A good resume. Look for people who have organization skills, sales experience and attention to detail. Is the resume riddled with grammatical and spelling errors? Or are there large gaps of unemployment? Is the resume clear and focused or disorganized and filled with information that has nothing to do with the position in which theyre applying? All of these could be red flags.

2. What to ask during the interview. The interview process is your chance to determine if the person in front of you is a good fit for your self-storage operation. Of course, you want a manager with a positive attitude; but also ask questions about previous job performance so you can get a sense of how hell perform on the job. Ask for examples of past accomplishments, how he handles stressful situations and what hes looking for in a job.

3. Conduct a background check.  Unfortunately, there are shady people out there, and its your job to protect your staff, tenants and business by not hiring one of them. Your managers will have access to financial records, personal information and cash on a daily basis. Making sure theyre good citizens and not in a critical financial situation of their own is always worth the investment. You may also want to include drug testing.

The California Self Storage Association (CSSA) is appealing to its members for help in fighting Senate Bill 279, which could have adverse affects for self-storage operators in the state. Introduced to the legislature in February by the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA), SB279 has been presented as correction to an error in Assembly Bill 655, which passed in the last session. The CSSA contends the new bill is not the mere technical change CNPA suggests.

AB655, which was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger last September and went into effect Jan. 1, created improvements to the states self-storage lien law for facility operators. The culmination of a three-year legislative battle, the new law addresses the "Declaration in Opposition provision of the lien law, resulting in a more cost-effective process, provides for a more reasonably priced lien-sale notification procedure.

SB 279, authored by Senator Bill Emmerson, proposes to change section 21707 of AB655. In both versions of the law, an advertisement of each lien sale must be published once a week for two weeks consecutively in a newspaper of general circulation. The existing law states this newspaper should be circulated in the county where the sale is being held; the proposed verbiage stipulates the newspaper must be circulated in the judicial district where the sale is to be held.

According to CSSA, the change would reduce the number of publications in which self-storage operators can legally advertise a storage auction, possibly decreasing the number of potential buyers and thereby increasing the cost to advertise each sale. In addition, the association says it is difficult to determine the judicial district boundaries.

CSSA Director Erin King recently requested a map of California judicial districts from the Los Angeles County Clerks office. An e-mail sent to CSSA membership said the map King received was from 1951 and unclear on judicial districts. The County Clerk was unable to provide additional assistance. Internet searches for "California judicial districts result in maps of California counties, CSSA said.

According to the CSSA message, Now is the time to expand the options for advertising lien sales beyond newspapers of general circulation, not reduce them. Storage operators should be able to meet their statutory lien-sale advertising obligation by posting notice of lien sale on publicly accessible websites or advertising in publications that are actually read by auction buyers but may not be in the illusive judicial district.

The CSSA is asking its members to submit a letter of opposition to SB279 to local assembly members, claiming the legislation is unfair and will not achieve the sponsors stated purpose. Assembly representatives can be found at www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html. Members can also send their letters directly to the CSSA, which will submit them on their behalf. Letters can be e-mailed or faxed to King at erin.king@cssaweb.com or 949.861.9425.

SB279 passed the Senate in late March and has moved on to the Assembly. Information about the legislation can be found at http://info.sen.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_279&sess=CUR&house=B&site=.

Two renowned industry experts will share their knowledge of self-storage marketing and sales at the Inside Self-Storage World Expo, Oct. 4-6, in a special back-to-back presentation on day two of the show.

Tom Litton, owner of Litton Property Management Inc., and Brad North, owner of Advantage Consulting & Management, will each present two-hours sessions during the educational event, focusing on areas of critical importance to self-storage operations. Litton will highlight 50 cant-miss marketing strategies for attracting new tenants. North will teach attendees how to close more sales on the phone and in person.

The ISS Expo will take place at the Hotel Murano and the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center in Tacoma, Wash. The annual fall conference includes four education tracks on a range of topics including online advertising, self-storage financing, facility management, construction, development, staffing and much more.

It will also include several seminars specific to Canadian self-storage operators, who have been especially invited to participate in this event. In addition, the show will feature four workshops, multiple networking events and an exhibit hall with more than 75 of the industrys leading suppliers. Show information and registration can be found at www.insideselfstorageworldexpo.com. 

Mario Feghali, co-founder and chief operating officer of SpareFoot.com, will present a free webinar for self-storage professionals on June 8 titled Five Common Website Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. The online seminar will focus on Web-based marketing for self-storage operations including topics such as:

• Online presence: perception vs. reality
• Having a website is just the start
• Getting traffic: how and for how much money?
• Ongoing optimization: its a must

The webinar will take place at 2 p.m. ET. To attend, participants must complete the free registration process at Ministoragemessenger.com/webinar.

Feghali will also speak at the upcoming Inside Self-Storage World Expo in Tacoma, Wash., Oct. 4-6, addressing consumers online behavior and how to help customers find self-storage facilities on the Web. Hell talk about how modern consumers shop and behave online; devices consumers are using to shop online and how these effect self-storage businesses; how to reach customers who are shopping with smartphones; best practices for local search; new marketing channels for self-storage operators to be competitive and more. The ISS Expo comprises three full days of education, exhibits and networking opportunities. Show details can be found at www.insideselfstorageworldexpo.com.

SpareFoot.com is a free self-storage locator site operating nationwide. Feghali has grown the SpareFoot network to more than 100 websites with more than 80,000 monthly visitors. He uses his extensive background in psychology, statistics and analytics to help thousands of self-storage facilities generate more tenants online, and writes frequently about free tools that help facility owners track their results and increase traffic to their own websites.

Despite concerns by residents, the council in McNab/Braeside, Ontario, Canada, last week approved a rezoning amendment for the development of a self-storage facility.

The request had been tabled after council members asked the developer, Neil Stewart, to address concerns from residents voiced during a public hearing. However, after visiting the proposed site, one counsel member said many of the neighbors concerns are unwarranted. She noted that traffic will not affect the people in the area, nor is the facilitys visibility an issue.

Although the rezoning application was approved in a vote of 4-1, a few residents continued to speak out against the self-storage development. They are hoping to appeal the decision with the Ontario Municipal Board.

The proposed development includes 20 to 24 units. The facility will be located on Stewarts property at Highland and Sawmill roads in the hamlet of Waba.

A break-in and theft at Al's Mini Storage in Hayes Township, Mich., sparked a police chase that resulted in two men being arrested on May 10 after crashing their truck into a ditch and then fleeing on foot.

With assistance from a tracking dog, Clare County Sheriff's deputies apprehended and arrested a 30-year-old and a 20-year-old, charging them with resisting and obstructing police. According to the source, authorities also suspect the two men of stealing a motorcycle and an all-terrain vehicle from the self-storage facility before they were apprehended. The recently stolen vehicles were discovered in the back of the crashed truck. Upon interviewing the men, deputies also recovered stolen items from three separate break-ins. The sheriff's office is in the process of obtaining warrants to charge the men with breaking and entering, and theft.

Clare County, Mich., is in the north central part of the Lower Peninsula, about 100 miles north of Lansing. Al's Mini Storage is located on Clare Avenue, north of the town of Harrison and just east of U.S. Route 127.

Two men caught breaking into a Gaylord, Mich., self-storage business may also be linked to thefts at other North Michigan self-storage facilities, according to an article in the Traverse City Record-Eagle. The suspects, arrested by police on May 6, admitted to burglarizing similar businesses, including some in Grand Traverse County.

Police may link the suspects to the breaking in of self-storage units at Williamsburg Self Storage on East M-72. Several units at the facility were ransacked, with locks and interior walls cut.

After last weeks arrests, Gaylord City police said they recovered thousands of dollars of property. They believe two or three more people may be involved, and they are working with police in other areas to get warrants and identify other affected self-storage sites. More information will be available as the investigation continues.

A new U-Haul self-storage facility has been proposed for a former Cub Foods site at 4716 Verona Road in Madison, Wis., which has been vacant since early 2009. The facility would also offer truck rentals.

The proposal is just starting its way through the city planning process. U-Hauls request to rezone the property will be considered by the plan commission on June 20 and the city council on July 5.

Local residents had hoped another grocery store or a business with potential to create more jobs would open on the site, an alderman told the source. U-Haul has had discussions with community members about potential employment opportunities and ways the company can help the neighborhood.

There are two other U-Haul truck and storage sites in the area.

A Big Yellow Self Storage facility on the far Northeast Side of London, England, is donating 18 free boxes and free use of one of its units to a local family after its home was waterlogged and smoke-damaged from a fire.

Tarek Elafi, who lives in the Gants Hill neighborhood, made local news in London after he was able to get his wife and three children out of their burning home on May 4. Elafi told the source the family home will be uninhabitable for six months while the cleanup and remodeling is underway, creating a need for self-storage. The Big Yellow facility, also located in Gants Hill, saw reports on the news and decided to step in.

Store manager Ibrahim Khan told the source, "We always like to give to charities and help out the community in times of need. This was a very sad and shocking incident, and we hope this small gesture will help Tarek and his family through a difficult time.

Big Yellow Self-Storage has 61 facilities in the United Kingdom, with most concentrated in Greater London.