Pixel by Pixel: A Guide to Posting on Social Media

May 1, 2025

How to cater your marketing strategy to specific algorithms.

Social media is a powerful tool for multifamily marketers—but not all platforms play by the same rules. When it comes to posting on Instagram, TikTok, Meta, YouTube and LinkedIn, there are a few essential differences to note.

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Influencer “Day-in-the-Life” Copy: For Instagram and TikTok, captions can include fun language, emojis and calls to action. Due to the platform’s more casual cadence, text that breaks the rules or makes the audience laugh can further increase engagement. Image courtesy of Cordish Living — **Influencer “Day-in-the-Life” Copy:** For Instagram and TikTok, captions can include fun language, emojis and calls to action. Due to the platform’s more casual cadence, text that breaks the rules or makes the audience laugh can further increase engagement. *Image courtesy of Cordish Living*

“Instagram and Facebook remain highly effective for multifamily marketing, especially for targeted ads and community engagement,” noted Karen Zapkowski, a marketing strategist at Towne Properties. “TikTok and YouTube are also valuable, as many prospects use social as a search engine, so having a presence is important.”

All social media platforms are pretty viable for organic reach. But of the large ones, Facebook has the lowest opportunity to reach users who aren’t already followers. Its algorithm focuses on people you already know and staying connected with them, explained Bekkah Doyle, search team lead at REACH by RentCafe.

“With Instagram and TikTok, you’re optimizing your content with the hopes of landing on those pages to get in front of new users, the same way you do SEO for your website (but) on social media,” she said.

No matter the platform, both Zapkowski and Doyle follow the 80-20 rule: 80 percent engaging and non-branded content and 20 percent promotional and branded posts. This method ensures that the content benefits users in a range of ways.

“For our industry, social media should be close to the top of the funnel, with the goal being to intrigue users into wanting to learn more,” shared Doyle.

With so many platforms to keep track of, Nicholle Soendker, director of residential marketing at Cordish Living, uses a bimonthly calendar. “Content for the 1st to 15th is planned by the 25th of the prior month, with the second half of the month reviewed closer to (the beginning of the month),” she noted. “Timely content like resident events should be posted within a week of the event.”

But at the end of the day, every platform is different. Here are the nitty-gritty need-to-knows for each one.

Portfolio-wide, since implementing our social plan in December 2023, we’ve: increased our monthly reach by approximately 300 percent, increased our monthly followers by approximately 25 percent, increased our monthly clicks to site by approximately 55 percent.

—Data by Nicholle Soendker, director of residential marketing, Cordish Living

Instagram

If you are representing a brand or company with fewer than 100K followers, data shows that posting Instagram reels leads to higher engagement rates for comments and likes. Reels are also the best way for smaller companies to grow their audience. Yet carousels, or multi-image singular posts, typically get the most saves and drive higher impression rates for larger accounts.

For single images and stories, portrait orientation is usually the way to go to align with Instagram’s feed. According to Soendker, landscape can sometimes suit certain ads or carousel posts. The recommended image size is 1080 x 1350 pixels for a portrait and 1080 x 566 pixels for a landscape post. With either orientation, video posts often take the cake.

“Video content is king, particularly content that inspires enough curiosity to visit the community’s page or website, or showcases amenities, available apartments and resident events,” said Soendker.

But when is best time to post? The most popular sweet spots are in the morning and mid-afternoon on Monday through Thursday and Saturday. On Friday, prime time is in the afternoon, and on Sunday, early evening is usually the best bet. Overall, the least effective times are late nights and Sundays in general.
But remember, your audience might be different. To check your analytics, go to Menu>Insights>Audience Data.

The most important thing to remember for Instagram is that a mix of content is key. Be sure to post carousels, reels and single images, as well as the occasional story for some lighter content or resident reminders (stories disappear in 24 hours). And you can schedule posts ahead of time.

Influencer Hard-Hat Tour Longer videos uploaded as reels are a great way to increase engagement, show off units and amenities and give virtual tours or sneak previews of an upcoming community. Image courtesy of Cordish Living — **Influencer Hard-Hat Tour**
Longer videos uploaded as reels are a great way to increase engagement, show off units and amenities and give virtual tours or sneak previews of an upcoming community. *Image courtesy of Cordish Living*

“For Cordish Living, posting two to five times a week, with a minimum of one reel, is a good balance,” shared Soendker. “Consistency and content variety matter more than volume.”

Zapkowski has found that user-generated content often performs best on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. “After that, resident events, pet-friendly features and ‘day-in-the -life’ videos.”

TikTok

Yes, TikTok is back (for now). And if it’s here to stay, its critical for any good marketing strategy. Videos recorded in TikTok can be up to 10 minutes long, while videos you upload can be up to an hour.

Generally, the TikTok algorithm is shifting toward a preference for longer content. Initially, videos between 21 and 34 seconds garnered the most views. But more recently, videos that are a minute or longer have a higher engagement likelihood. This is, of course, subject to change.

Really, the length depends on the content, noted Zapkowski. She recommends seven to 15 seconds for quick content meant to grab attention and more than 30 seconds for longer videos like unit tours. A minute or more is OK for a longer property tour or even a testimonial, as long as it’s engaging.

Videos that are filmed vertically tend to bring in higher engagement rates. For even more impressions, the recommended resolution is 1080 x 1920 pixels, or a 9:16 aspect ratio, which ensures a full-screen experience for most mobile devices.

“Post as often as you can consistently create high-quality content—quality always matters more than quantity,” commented Zapkowski. “It’s also crucial to maintain a manageable posting schedule so you can actively engage with your audience and respond to comments. A strong social media presence isn’t just about posting for the sake of posting.”

According to Doyle, to perform well on TikTok, brands need to stay abreast of trends and the climate of the platform. The videos that perform the best are more organic and casual and opposed to perfectly curated.

“TikTok users are looking for that authentic experience, which is why things such as local food reviews or pop culture trends perform much better than sales-pitch-based content,” she said. “People use TikTok as a mental escape in a sense; they want to be entertained and distracted from the burdens of everyday life.”

Meta (Facebook)

Facebook uses a “relevance score” to bring posts to users’ feeds. To score highly, you need to increase your interactions and how long a user spends viewing your post. To do so, you should:

Boost your SEO by using popular keywords and hashtags;
Add music;
Use built-in tools such as filters, text and other effects;
Post high-quality, engaging content; Avoid blurry videos,  videos with watermarks or posts with borders.

Facebook is a good space for targeted ads and community engagement, noted Zapkowski. It’s a great place for multifamily marketers to promote community-building, such as resident highlights, maintenance announcements, events and updates. It also works well for local advertising.

“Organic reach is limited but still valuable for resident engagement,” she continued. “For reaching prospects, it’s largely pay-to-play—boosted posts and targeted ads drive much stronger results.”

In terms of layout, Facebook recommends a vertical or square aspect ratio: 1080 x 1350 pixels for a 4:5 ratio for feed posts and 1080 x 1080 pixels for reels. The platform also recommends the carousel format for images and using call-to-action buttons to draw attention to your posts and ads.

The best time to post on Facebook to increase engagement is early morning, from 5 to 7 a.m. on Monday through Thursday and Saturday, and later in the morning on Friday. Posting on Sunday generates the least engagement.

Like Instagram, a mix of content is key for performance on Facebook. Long-form content, informational posts and content-rich posts all perform well, according to Doyle. It can also be an especially resourceful platform for social media campaigns with limited resources.

Soendker noted that the platform is particularly useful for engaging mature demographics and sharing news and events, as opposed to driving aspirational content like Instagram.

“You don’t want to let your Facebook slide—when your residents ‘check in’ to your property, or if you utilize Meta advertising, it’s best to have a fully fleshed-out profile, with correct information and great visuals,” she said.

LinkedIn is becoming more and more popular as a social media space. To capitalize on its growth, marketers need to up their posting numbers and look at their audiences.

The LinkedIn algorithm is known for quickly devaluing content that’s low-quality or spammy. On the other hand, posts that quickly gain engagement are pushed out to a larger audience and can fuel organic social media growth.

The algorithm also promotes content that is scheduled frequently and consistently. Content that is original, uses appropriate hashtags, includes emojis and features high-quality images also performs well. Outbound links can be a no-no.

The content that generally commands the highest number of likes on LinkedIn are multi-image posts. Single-image posts and video content also perform strongly, ranking interchangeably in second and third place. If you are looking for a higher number of shares, Social Insider shares that video content performs the strongest.

Penthouse Vibes If you are posting a video, quality is absolutely critical. Avoid videos that are blurry, choppy, watermarked, or have borders. Image courtesy of Cordish Living — **Penthouse Vibes**
If you are posting a video, quality is absolutely critical. Avoid videos that are blurry, choppy, watermarked, or have borders. *Image courtesy of Cordish Living*

According to LinkedIn’s 2023 B2B content marketing report, posts with fewer than 1,500 words performed better than longer posts. Also, unlike the other platforms discussed here, LinkedIn posts should cater more toward professional and business updates.

“Brands really lean into highlighting their community, growth and successes on LinkedIn,” said Doyle. “It’s a bit of digital posturing to show everyone, especially your competitors, ‘Look how good life is over here.’”

Zapkowski recommends content like company culture, new community updates and employee spotlights. “Posts that showcase a company’s human side and professional success perform best.”

YouTube

Statistically, the amount of time consumers spend watching videos is rising exponentially. And when it comes to sharing videos, YouTube is the most popular platform.

YouTube shorts rival other social media platforms in terms of their brand-building ability. But YouTube is more efficient at reaching a variety of audiences and age groups than other platforms, according to Google Marketing insights. It is also now the most frequently used platform for podcast streaming in the nation and one of the most popular search engines.

Most marketers find that videos between 30 and 60 seconds are most effective, followed by videos between one and two minutes. For multifamily, however, this time frame might not be ideal.

“The truth is: no user will see a brief video on YouTube and sign a lease,” observed Doyle. “YouTube really lends itself best in our industry to being a place where companies can host their videos, but not necessarily a place to be discovered.”

What matters more than content length, in terms of consumer interaction, is the quality and content. For a video to stand out, 4K content is recommended, or approximately 3840 x 2160 pixels. This could go even higher for 8K videos. The lowest recommended resolution for a quality video is 1920 x 1080 pixels.

More so than Instagram reels and TikTok videos, YouTube videos and YouTube shorts generally require a more time-intensive, professional and SEO-oriented editing regimen. Quality matters more than quantity here.

“It isn’t beginner friendly, and ultimately content that isn’t high quality performs poorly on this platform because of the standard set by content creators in this space,” said Doyle. “For every minute of your finished product, you oftentimes have 10 times more content that ultimately got edited out.”

Read the May 2025 issue of MHN.