Instagram Ideas for Your Apartment Marketing
August 14, 2017 3:32 pm 3 CommentsVisit our updated FREE social media guide for apartments.
We know you’ve heard the mantra, a picture is worth a thousand words, but have you heard this one: A picture is worth a thousand leases? Ok ok, depending on the size of your property, maybe not a thousand, but with the fastest growing social media site dedicated solely to images, pictures are an absolute must for your multifamily marketing strategy. Instagram apartment marketing is the way ahead for great results and more leases.
Instagram was much like any other social media site when it initially appeared on the scene back in 2010: it was full of selfies, pictures of animals, and images of all types of food. Instagram has almost finished becoming a full-fledged marketing channel from a straightforward photo-sharing service.
Instagram, a social media site along with the likes of Facebook and Twitter, is a media-sharing site that is dedicated solely to pictures and videos. The visual-driven site boasts 700 million users, and is only expected to grow in the upcoming years. That’s a lot of potential residents that could be yours.
We’ve compiled some tips for using Instagram to advertise your multifamily property. Try these out and let us know what works best for you in your instagram apartment advertising.
Use Enticing Pictures
Because Instagram is built around visuals, make them as visually appealing as possible! Good lighting, satisfying composition and staging all contribute to a successful apartment picture on Instagram. Instagram allows you to apply filters to pictures, as well as change settings like contrast and saturation. We recommend checking out a couple of popular Instagram accounts that have dedicated followers for inspiration.
Instagram is a fantastic platform to advertise an apartment for rent, as well as for sharing images and multifamily property videos with friends and family. Instagram presents an enormous opportunity for property managers and landlords wishing to market their vacant properties due to its visual nature.
Great photography is integral to apartment marketing campaigns! If you don’t feel confident about your own photography skills, check out some companies that will do it for you! Professional apartment photos will only enhance the experiences for your potential tenants. Quality photography will help your apartment Instagram posts not only be seen, but be trusted as a good representation of your property. Don’t miss out on this chance to get more quality leads.
Be Smart about Hashtags on Social Media
Instagram uses an inter-linking system of hashtags to direct users to similar photographs. You might have seen the following accompany pictures: #insta #instagood #UseHashtagsOnInstagram. Ever wondered what’s up with these number signs masquerading as decoration? Well, each hashtag can be searched on the Instagram database, as well as clicked on to access other photos that use the same hashtag. This means using common hashtags like #apartment or #apartmentrentals can direct audiences to your picture, even if they’re not following you.
Hashtags are proven to be effective in garnering attention, as Instagram posts with at least one hashtag have 12.6% more engagement than those with no hashtags. Don’t get crazy with the hashtagging, though! Recent studies suggest the optimal number of hashtags on a post is 11. We recommend using popular, but not viral, hashtags, as your post might get lost in all the other posts using common hashtags.
Using branded apartment hashtags, that refer back to your property, help in brand visibility and awareness. Be sure to hashtag your property so that others can find you on Instagram!
Use Geotagging
For this tip, remember the old real estate mantra: location, location, location! Turns out, it holds true for online marketing as well. Instagram can pinpoint your location and share it along with your picture. The location, called geotagging, is clickable and can locate you for prospective residents.
The location will appear in blue below your picture and will show up as an option under the “Add location” tab. Put in your address to let people know how to find you.
This strategy may give you a better chance of remaining visible because a local Instagram user searching for a geotag or hashtag may still come across your image.
People are promoting you for free when they tag your physical location in Instagram posts. For your information, consumers are more likely to believe content from people they personally know than content from brands. This would be a bonus, free advertisement for your multifamily property.
Instagram Contests
Instagram is great for posting contests, promotional events, and special deals. Release codes or special promos through Instagram to garner hype, as well as get residents to share your post. Once others start sharing your post, or using your hashtags, your marketing campaign is working!
Usually, the goal of a contest or giveaway run on Instagram by businesses or social media influencers is to raise awareness of the business or influencer in order to generate interaction or grow a larger following. Contests can be a really fun way to engage your community and are a great park of your multifamily instagram marketing plan.
Virtual Tours of the Property
25% of Instagram ads are videos, meaning it would be a good idea to add a video or two to your Instagram feed every so often. Virtual tours are a great way to showcase your apartment. You can find examples and prices for virtual tours online if you don’t feel comfortable making one yourself!
You do want to be careful about length. Videos more than 60 seconds long will likely lose you viewers, and most Facebook videos are watched with the sound muted, so if you add music, be sure it’s not necessary to the video.
Highlight the Resident Experience at Your Community
Instagram is the ideal platform to showcase your apartment community and highlight the experiences your residents are having because of its visual and interactive features. You can give prospective tenants a glimpse of what it’s actually like to live in your community. Let your Instagram account help them see why your property is the perfect place for them to call home when they see that current residents are having a great time living there.
Because it demonstrates your concern for your residents and the community you’ve built, you should emphasize the resident experience on Instagram. You are recognizing their significance in what makes your community unique by highlighting their experiences. It shows prospective tenants in your community that it’s a great place to live by giving them social proof. People are more likely to want to participate in your community when they observe others having a good time there.
There are a lot of easy ways to highlight the resident experience on your Instagram. As we mentioned, you can create a distinct and simple-to-remember hashtag especially for your community to use. When posting about their experiences in the neighborhood, encourage your residents to use this hashtag. You could even provide rewards, such as a monthly prize draw, for the best image or video that used that hashtag.
Making Instagram Stories with resident takeovers is another fantastic way to highlight the resident experience. Give one of your residents control of your Instagram account for a day so they can show their followers what life is like in your neighborhood. This gives your prospective tenants an accurate and intimate view of what it’s like to live there.
Last but not least, remember to highlight neighborhood events and services on your Instagram page. When you show off the features and activities in your community you give prospective tenants a taste of what they can expect if they choose to live there, whether it’s a pool party, game night, or new fitness center.
Using Instagram to highlight the resident experience in your apartment community is a potent marketing strategy that can help you draw in new tenants and keep hold of existing ones. You can build a strong sense of community and convince potential tenants that your neighborhood is the ideal place to call home by coming up with a distinctive hashtag, featuring resident takeovers, and highlighting your amenities and events.
Other Quick Instagram Marketing Ideas for Your Apartment Complex
Instagram, as a social media platform, makes it easy for you to use it for your apartment marketing. If you need even more Instagram marketing ideas for your apartment building, we can help you with these quick tips. With a little effort, it will be easy for you to attract the tenants you’re looking for to your community. Figure out what works and just keep trying with our simple ideas below.
1. Make your own template to use for your Instagram stories! Show off your brand by including your apartment complex’s logo, colors, and any other unique design elements you have. You could add your brand colors to Canva and make posts and fun visuals for your stories while easily keeping to your brand identity. You can use this template to highlight fun neighborhood activities or all your apartment amenities. If you keep your brand consistent across your posts and in your stories, your whole Instagram page will look more cohesive, polished, and professional.
2. Interact with your audience by asking questions in your stories. You’ve probably seen other people you follow do this, even if you haven’t yet done it yourself! You can ask your followers about apartment living at your property or about apartment life in general. Find out what their favorite thing is about living in your apartment complex or what they think the biggest perk of apartment living is. Asking questions on Instagram is a super simple way to not only get your followers to interact with your page but to get important information about what your prospective renters are looking for. It’s a nice way to get some feedback without sending out a formal survey, and since it only takes a few seconds, your renters are more likely to respond.
3. Work with other companies in your neighborhood. Team up with a nearby restaurant or a favorite local coffee shop to give discounts or perks to your residents and advertise it on your Instagram page. This is a super fun way to get more involved in your community and build a thriving local culture centered around your property.
You can take it a step further and collaborate with a local influencer to write a sponsored post that showcases your apartment building. This will help you reach a wider local audience and it gives you a chance to show prospective renters how involved you are in your neighborhood. So many people are hoping to support the small businesses that make their community unique and this gives you a chance to show you care too.
4. Try making a carousel post on Instagram! You can show off your apartments in an original way by featuring the kitchen, living room, and bedroom in a series of pictures that highlight the best aspects of your apartments. With carousel posts, you can give potential tenants a thorough understanding of everything your apartments have to offer in a single post.
5. Don’t forget to communicate with your followers. Create a sense of community on your page by promptly responding to comments and direct messages. By fostering connections with your audience, you’ll develop a devoted fan base that’s more likely to suggest your apartment complex to their friends and relatives.
Your community really can benefit a lot from using marketing on Instagram. You can develop a powerful social media marketing strategy that will help you stand out from the competition while developing great relationships with your followers.
Ready to launch your Instagram campaign for one of your apartment communities, but unsure of where to begin? Or wondering how to advertise an apartment for rent all across your social media channels? Contact marketapts.com for more information on how to start a social media campaign, how to market your apartment and any other questions you have on digital marketing! Instagram marketing for apartments is a great next step in reaching your goals.
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Categorised in: Apartment Marketing
This post was written by Isabella Housel
Isabella Housel is a passionate and versatile professional writer with a deep love for words and a commitment to crafting compelling content that engages, informs, and inspires. With many years of experience in the industry, she has honed her skills across various genres, from creative storytelling to informative articles and technical documentation.
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