Genuine community-building leads to multifamily social media love
Your residents and potential renters notice when you pay attention to the multifamily details and when you draw out their best emotions. Fully embracing the lifestyle potential of your community can make for multifamily social media gold.
Community-building aligned with marketing
The best social media strategy takes marketing to a deeper level. When done with finesse, social media becomes a community-building strategy that happens to have marketing benefits.
When you focus first on creating genuine experiences and connections for your residents and guests, social media becomes a natural byproduct. Residents post out of genuine excitement about their home or the community spaces you offer. Prospective renters convert at higher rates because they see social proof of the lifestyle and sense of belonging they seek.
When posting on behalf of your property, keep in mind that your audience seeks a sense of home, safety, belonging and fun. In other words, they want to see emotion.
This social media company explains further:
“Different emotions can significantly influence how consumers perceive brands and products. Some of the most powerful emotional triggers include:
Happiness: Brands that evoke joy create positive associations and increase brand loyalty.
Sadness: Content that touches on loss or nostalgia can foster empathy and deeper connections.
Fear: Fear appeals are particularly effective in prompting quick responses or initiating changes in behavior.
Trust: Building trust through authenticity enhances consumer confidence, leading to higher conversion rates.
Surprise: Unexpected elements can capture attention and prompt shareability.
A study by Nielsen revealed that advertisements with emotional content perform 30% better than those that rely solely on logic.”
Don’t forget the love, joy and fun, either. People want to feel – and feeling good about themselves and their lifestyle translates into feeling good about their apartment community home.
Creating fun micro-stories
Every corner of your property is a potential plot point.
Community and lifestyle serve as the narrative backdrop, but small, meaningful moments of joy and fun can encourage residents to share the love on social media.
For example:
- We have a fitness center
OR
- Watch our residents crush their Monday morning workouts while the city wakes up behind them
Which one makes you want to learn more and, better yet, join the party?
Property managers who succeed with social media think about the real-life moments their amenities support. A rooftop lounge: Where neighbors meet for sunset drinks; where someone gets engaged; where a resident discovers their new favorite running route.
Train yourself to notice these moments as they unfold, and then give residents the permission and tools to capture and share them. No professional photographer or a massive marketing budget required. It does require curiosity, accessibility and the willingness to let your residents become your storytellers.
Activating overlooked spaces
Most properties have at least one or two spaces that are underutilized—a corner lobby, a narrow courtyard, a hallway with good light, a stairwell with an interesting view. Make these blah spots something special.
Here are a few ideas to start:
- A forgotten lobby corner. Install a small seating nook, rotate local art, add a coffee station. Now you have a gathering spot residents will photograph, especially if it’s Instagram-worthy.
- A blank wall. Partner with a local street artist or muralist to create a rotating gallery. Each new installation creates an event, a photo opportunity and a conversation starter. Your residents will tag it, share it, and bring friends to see it.
- A stairwell. Good natural light? Encourage residents to use stairs instead of elevators and photograph their “stair climbs.” Create a fitness challenge around it. Make it a place people want to be seen.
- A loading dock or side entrance. Add a mural, planters or interesting lighting in these “behind the scenes” spaces. These small touches signal that you care about every inch of your property and everyone who passes through it, including contractors and delivery drivers.
- The parking garage. Paint it. Add interesting lighting. Create designated photo spots. When residents don’t dread walking to their car, they’re more likely to share positive feelings about your property.
Do a walk-through with your team and have them point out potential spots for adding new interest and social-media-worthy moments.
In addition to making the most of your available space, check out this article from MultiHousing News on how to partner with local influencers to create more social media buzz.
Choose authenticity over perfection
A perfectly staged photo of your fitness center will get fewer genuine engagements than a candid video of three residents laughing while trying a new fitness class. A polished shot of your pool will underperform compared to a resident’s genuine post about the first warm day of spring when they finally could dive in.
You’re not aiming for magazine-quality production value. You’re aiming for real moments that feel true to the experience of living in your community. Encourage residents to post unfiltered, unpolished content. Share their blurry photos and shaky videos.
Importantly, authenticity requires two-way communication. Comment on what residents post. Ask follow-up questions. Have actual conversations in the comments section instead of just dropping a heart emoji.
For example, one property manager started a weekly “Resident Spotlight” where they interviewed a different resident about their favorite spot on the property. The team shot these videos on a smartphone with no script. The engagement rates were triple their previous content because people connected with the authenticity and the sense that real humans actually lived in and loved the space.
Ready to find creative ways to activate your social media and marketing strategy? Reach out to us for a complimentary discovery call.
