Using Facebook in your Apartment Marketing
August 21, 2017 4:15 pm 3 Comments
What do all of the following have in common: poking, tagging, and sharing? Things young children do to the annoyance (or elation, for the last one) of their parents? Close! They’re also Facebook actions. Now, as one of the first social media sites, Facebook is the most popular virtual network and should be your first site to consider with your apartment marketing. But even though we’re probably all familiar with Facebook, how might we use the site to generate lead interests?
Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is to take out a Facebook ad. Paid advertising goes a lot farther than organic reach, especially with Facebook. But like AdWords, Facebook advertising can be complex, and really expensive really fast. So, we bring you four easy and simple tips you can do with Facebook for free. We’ll cover Facebook advertising later in a more extensive post.
1. Use video
As covered previously, video is supposed to account for 74% of all web traffic in 2018. Social media users expect video, and will look for it in marketing efforts. Not only can you upload virtual tours of your floor plans, but you should also consider making your cover photo into a cover video. That’s right! As of August, 2017, Facebook is allowing users to turn their static cover photos into dynamic videos.
The other video aspect of Facebook to keep in mind is Facebook’s new “Facebook Live” feature, which allows users to live stream events as they happen. Other users can tune in and watch. Are there Live events nearby your apartment that your residents would be interested in, or perhaps potential residents would watch? Things like music festivals, cultural heritage celebrations, or parades could all be interesting and fun ways to engage residents. While you’re live streaming, be sure to throw in some shots in the background of your gorgeous apartment building!
2. Take into account resident demographics
Are you located near a university or college? Chances are that a significant amount of your residents are students, perhaps don’t own cars, and enjoy going out on the weekends. Be sure to create a “Resident Persona” for your average resident, and use that persona to tailor the content on your Facebook page.
Student residents will likely enjoy posts informing them of events happening within a walkable area, resident events with free food, organizational tips for small spaces, etc. Consider posting about local eateries and things to do in your city, if your residents are mostly new to the area.
If your resident persona is older with children, consider posting material advertising kid-friendly events, and recipes for fast and inexpensive dinners. Is your apartment pet-friendly? Why not post a link to the upcoming dog show or a map of the dog park nearby? Understanding your residents is crucial to your apartment marketing plan.
Creating a resident persona can be as easy as opening up a Word document! Based on Kevin’s persona below, we can speculate that he would be interested in marketing that: identified areas close to him that offered cheap or free resources, and he would be interested in recycling options in the building.
Make resident personas like this one for your target demographic
Not sure how to make a resident persona? Contact Marketapts for more info or comment below!
3. Craft constant but interesting content
Understanding your audience and what they want will help you create engaging Facebook content. Your intended audience is probably looking for a new place to live or things to buy when it comes to Facebook marketplace posts and apartment ads. Create a catchy headline or introduction that highlights the most alluring aspects of the apartment or product as your first step in grabbing their attention.
To present the home or item in the best possible light, use high-quality pictures or videos. Additionally, it’s critical to include all pertinent information, such as cost, availability, and location. Finally, be sure to interact with your audience by quickly responding to messages and comments. You can produce engaging and useful content for Facebook apartment ads and marketplace posts by paying attention to the advice provided here.
Residents have followed your page for a reason–they like you, and they want to support you. If you only post once every month, or blast their feeds constantly with move-in specials, they will likely block you. You want to create content that they will read, and (more importantly) that they will share on their own page. This will be one of your biggest revenues for potential leads–sharing! Be conscious and thoughtful about your content. Post at least once a week, ideally three times. Remember your resident personas, and craft content tailored towards those personas. This means you’ll have to do some research, and post more than simple statistics about your property.
A fun way to get residents and potential residents involved is through Facebook contests that relate to your apartment interests. Are you building a new pool in the back? Perhaps stage a Facebook contest where people vote on their favorite pool games, and post the winning game with a picture of your sparkling new pool!
Remember copyright laws, though! Use your own images, or get consent from third parties if you’re using Google images.
4. Follow-Through
Now that you’ve got people interested in your page (through your amazing content), how do you keep them? Advertising move-in specials or letting people know about deals is effective, when done carefully. Tie your deal into an engaging post (see the pool idea above). For instance, let’s say you want to advertise a move-in special that coincides with the start of school.
You know that from your resident personas, your complex is popular with students. Running a contest where people vote on what their favorite school supply growing up (or writing a blog post on “school supplies you’ll remember from the 90s”) will likely appeal to your target audience. This will lead (hopefully) to this audience sharing your content on their page.
In the blog post or the contest post, be sure to mention your move-in special and link to your page where they can get more information. Also encourage your residents to tag friends in the post, as that will increase your reach.
All of these tips are free to do on Facebook! If you’re interested in setting up a Facebook ad, stay tuned for next week!
If you’re looking for more marketing strategies and tips for your property, we want to help! Visit marketapts.com for more info, or email sales@marketapts.com.
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Categorised in: Apartment Marketing
This post was written by Market Apartments
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