5 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid

Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

When used right, social media is a highly valuable and profitable element in every multifamily marketer’s business strategy. But just posting photos with your listings, tweeting from time to time or sharing content is not enough. There are many dos when it comes to generating real estate leads and solidifying your community. And there are the don’ts—mistakes that cost you time, engagement and reach.

Multi-Housing News identified some of the common social media mistakes multifamily businesses make, alongside some tips for avoiding these errors.

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Being too impersonal

Sure, promoting your brand and listings is important. However, real value doesn’t come from sharing promotional content exclusively but from genuine interactions with your audience. Multifamily businesses struggle with coming off as too impersonal within the digital realm and renters are weary of businesses that publicize, rather than connect.

In order to avoid this common mistake, try putting yourself into your audience’s shoes. What are they like and what do they like? How is their tone and style of communication? Also, don’t be afraid of getting personal from time to time by sharing photos or videos with the property management team and the human side of your business.

Avoiding engagement

Social media is a two-way street, where you post something and your audience responds. The amount of activity you see on your page reflects the effort and time you put into interactions on said networking platforms. Unfortunately, many multifamily businesses focus on sharing content but not enough on engaging with their audience or community.

Social networks such as Twitter are text-focused and allow for a fast and easy response. Facebook showcases a page’s message response rate, which acts like a virtual business card of the brand and its relationship with its audience—a high response rate suggests that you are present, involved and interested, while a low rate signals the opposite. Talk about first impressions!

Not analyzing performance trends

Having a social media presence and high engagement rates simply won’t do it. To make the best of what the virtual world has to offer, you need to monitor the activity on the social networking platforms you are using to see what strategies and tactics work best, what kind of posts performed better, analyze audience behavior and track competitors.

Third-party tools such as Google Analytics help you evaluate your social campaigns’ performance across various social networks. If you’re not yet using a similar tool to track your social media progress, you are missing out on key aspects that can contribute to building brand awareness.

Ignoring updates & new features

Social medial is constantly evolving. Instagram, for example, is rolling out features and new functionalities almost every week—and the social network’s algorithm prioritizes the accounts which signed up to use these first. Considering this, it’s mandatory that businesses stay up-to-date with the most recent features and how these influence the platform’s algorithm.

Virtual tours have taken off thanks to live streaming, which a 2021 survey from HubSpot identified as having one of the biggest ROIs of all social media trends, just behind short videos. Moreover, filters and tasteful effects provide a great opportunity to play with your business’ fun side.

Inconsistency

Once you’ve got the creative ball rolling, another aspect to have in mind is timing—namely when and how often you post. While posting daily might sound like a good idea, the key lies in consistency. The content you create—the more original and diverse, the better—should go hand in hand with your business’ marketing strategy.

Every social network functions according to a different algorithm. This also means a posting schedule and content for each platform must be developed, as each network has certain periods when it’s ideal to schedule content. Consistent content flow will also improve your relationship with your audience, while the increased engagement will make your business get more exposure.