6 New Social Media Tips for Apartment Marketing

Jessica Fiur, Managing Editor

Social media is a crucial tool to incorporate in your apartment marketing plan.

Duh.

We all know this. It’s 2021. Everything is on social media. I just bought some yoga pants off of a targeted Instagram ad, got some running tips from a Facebook group, learned a new dance on TikTok and got sore thumbs from mindlessly scrolling Twitter. And I haven’t even finished my coffee yet!

You already have a social media plan to attract new renters and engage with current ones, of course. And you know to have a call to action so people know how to get in touch with you and to post pictures of your super fun resident events and shimmering pools. Just like everyone else.

So here are some new tips to help your social campaigns stand out. 

Jump on trends and memes. Right after President Biden’s inauguration, people thought it was hilarious to post memes of Senator Bernie Sanders, and his mittens, sitting everywhere—a NYC subway, the moon, other memes. It was actually pretty funny. You could have posted a picture of him sitting in front of your community. Everyone was in on the trend, and you would have shown some personality in your feed.

Image courtesy of knowyourmeme.com

But consider your timing. Are you getting ready to post a perfect Bernie meme now? Don’t. That meme is so played out now. It’s been, what, a week since the inauguration? That’s a million years in social media. Post it now, and you’ll basically be that meme of Steve Busemi from 30 Rock personified. (Which is also played out, but, what can I say, I like the classics.) When you’re marketing your apartment community, try to stay relevant.

Work with micro influencers. People with huge social media followings are often leveraged to spread the word about a brand or product. Yes, you’re thinking of the Kardashians. You don’t need to hire one of them to get the word out about how cool your apartment community is though (although if you can afford them you should kertainly konsider it). Look into micro-influencers, who are people who still have a large set of followers (maybe 1,000 to 100,000) but aren’t A-list. For an apartment community, you might even be able to go smaller (micro-er?)! Recruit residents who have a decent-sized following and ask them to post about the fun events you had at your community, the cool amenities, a day in the life in their apartment, etc. You can either pay them or offer a discounted month of rent, or something similar. This might be be particularly useful at student housing communities.

Have captions for videos. According to Martech Advisor, branded video content viewership went up by 258 percent on Facebook and 99 percent on YouTube in 2017. Videos are especially helpful for marketing apartments because potential renters can really get a feel for the property. When you post videos, though, make sure you have captions that come up automatically. This will help with your SEO. It will also allow people to get information without stopping whatever podcast they were also totally listening to at the time.

Use hashtags for what they’re actually for. Hashtags can help grow engagement, attract new renters, bring attention to features of your property (for example, if you’re pet friendly), among other helpful uses. And that’s what they should be used for. Don’t use a million in a post, which will just make it look really busy. And stop with the joke hashtags—they really don’t have a place in a business post, and they are really annoying. #notthatyouddothat #overliketheberniememe #thatscalledacallback 

Spellcheck. OK, look, I know this isn’t a new tip. But it’s important. You’re a professional, and you want people to actually want to come look at your community and for your residents to be proud of their homes. It’s great to show personality, but you also don’t want people thinking this is just same fake ad and when they show up they’ll end up waking up in a bathtub and missing a kidney. And, people, please. I’m begging you: Learn the difference between “everyday” and “every day”! They are different! This is the hill I’m willing to die on!

What other tips do you have? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Post your comments (on social, obviously) on our Facebook page or send a tweet to @MHNOnline or @jfiur.