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When you ask apartment marketers their number one reason for not having a dedicated social media strategy, one of the most common answers you’ll hear is “it’s too time consuming.”
It’s true that social media marketing takes up a good deal of time. However, most apartment marketers actually spend more time than they should. Worse, they’re wasting time on tasks that don’t produce results.
Instead of spending hours sending out ineffective Tweets, dedicate just 60 minutes to implementing any of these 10 social media hacks and you’ll be surprised by how much more you’re able to get done!
It’s a sad reality, but too many apartment marketers have useless bios on their social media profiles. They’re not descriptive, engaging or informative. As a result, they get overlooked.
Your bio is typically the first thing people see on your profile, so it should clearly state what makes your apartment community stand out, where you’re located and attract your ideal renter.
If you’re one of the few pet-friendly multifamily communities in your area, put it in your bio. If you’re in the luxury apartment rental space, make it known.
Not only does optimizing your bio make it easier for potential renters to learn about your company, but it also improves your chances of showing up in social media search results. Include keywords (organically) that people might use to search for your apartment community.
Don’t let your bio go to waste.
Time to complete: 5-10 minutes
This social media hack is all about data. Diving into social media analytics gives you insight into who your audience is, what content is performing the best and other important information that’ll help improve your social media strategy.
A few social networks like Facebook and Twitter give you a good amount of data with their own analytics.
You can use social media management tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social to get even more data. Of course, Google Analytics is another great source.
When you’re reviewing your analytics, some key things to look for are:
Now you have a better idea of what type of content to create/share, when you should post and who to engage with.
Time to complete: 20-30 minutes
This is easily one of the best social media hacks you can implement. If you’re not scheduling Tweets and Facebook posts, you’re losing out on valuable time.
Before the days of Buffer and Edgar, apartment marketers were limited to posting to social media during business hours. In order to be successful with social media marketing, you need to be able to deliver content around the clock, not just when it’s convenient.
Dedicate part of one day to scheduling out your main posts for the week. Then, you can spend the rest of the week engaging with your audience instead of searching for content to share.
This graphic should give you an idea of how many posts you need to schedule for each network. These numbers can vary depending on your audience.
Most social media management tools have browser extensions and mobile apps. Whenever you come across a good piece of content you want to share, you can easily schedule a Tweet right from your browser or phone.
Time to complete: 45-60 minutes
Have you ever considered making graphics specifically for Instagram or Pinterest? Most apartment marketers don’t, which is what makes this social media hack so powerful.
Visual content generates 65% more engagement for Facebook campaigns. Also, marketers rate using photos or images as the most important tactic for social media optimization.
You can use a visual editing tool like Canva to make graphics perfectly sized for each social network, even if you’re not a graphic designer.
For apartment marketers, Pinterest and Instagram should be at the top of your list. Creating infographics, apartment decor guides and other visual content are great ways to build your brand without stretching your budget or taking up too much time.
Time to complete: 10-50 minutes
You should be engaging with new people every day on social media. Whether it’s a potential renter, influencer or another business, start replying to posts and @mentioning other users.
Not only will you make new connections, but you’ll also build your following by engaging with people who were previously unaware of your brand.
Finding people to engage with is simple. Just do a search on any social network for keywords relevant to renters, or your area.
For instance, you could do an Instagram search for #apartmentliving and reply to relevant posts.
The key is to leave a thoughtful comment. Just writing “cool” won’t make you stand out. Come up with a genuine reply that’ll catch people’s attention, and you’ll be able to draw them to your page!
Time to complete: 10-20 minutes
Most companies just use their home page URL for the links in their social media profiles. It’s quick and simple. However, you can get even more out of this link by using a trackable URL.
Instead of using the raw URL (yoursite.com) in your profile, use a tool like Bit.ly to make it trackable. With a Bit.ly URL, you’ll be able to see exactly how many people clicked your profile link.
You can dive even deeper by integrating UTM parameters with Google Analytics. UTM parameters are tags you add to a URL to get more info on people who visit your site through the link.
You’ll be able to see what pages they’re visiting, how long they stay on your site and other helpful data.
Trackable links are also great if you’re running a special. You can monitor exactly how many people are reaching your landing page from your social media profile. If the numbers aren’t as high as you hoped, it could mean you should optimize your bio, or make other changes to entice people to click.
Remember to use a different Bit.ly link for each social media profile. That way you can distinguish Pinterest visitors from Facebook and so on.
Time to complete: 5 minutes
When you have a new unit available, you automatically think of heading to apartment listing sites to advertise it, right? In addition to those platforms, you can also upload images to social media.
Use Instagram to list new apartments. Take high quality pictures, and upload them to your Instagram account. In your caption, include important information about the apartment like you would on any other site.
Thousands of people list their apartments for rent on Instagram using hashtags such as #apartmentforrent.
You’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone by promoting your new rental while adding new content to your Instagram page.
When you upload a photo of a new unit, you can even put “Link to full listing in bio,” then change out your profile link to the apartment listing. That way, people know exactly which unit to reference when they call or email you.
Don’t forget to geotag your photos.
Time to complete: 5-10 minutes
If you have a blog and share your posts on social media, don’t just Tweet a link once and forget about it. Get in the habit of sharing each post multiple times across your social media channels.
The secret to this social media hack is not to use the same exact copy for each Facebook post or Tweet. Split test to see what gets the most engagement.
For example, if your post is “5 Best Restaurants in D.C.,” you could split test your Tweets like this:
Both Tweets are for the same article, but the copy is different. You’d have to monitor your analytics to see which performed better.
You can also test out different posting times. This ties back to social media hack #3. After you publish a new post, schedule it to be sent out to social media on multiple days at different times.
Time to complete: 10-15 minutes
9. Save Your Top Twitter Searches
Twitter Advance Search is a social media hack in its own right. Putting together different search strings can uncover highly targeted Tweets.
When you come across amazing search results, it’s a good idea to save the search. That way, you can come back to it and see the latest Tweets for the query.
Saving Tweets is easy to do. After you do a search, click on the “More options” tab, then “Save this search.”
Time to complete: 1 minute
Social media is one of the first places renters go to complain about their current apartment. Whether their space is too small or they don’t get along with the landlord, social media is a great way to find potential leads that are contemplating moving.
Start by finding people with complaints about their current apartment. You can do an advanced Twitter search such as the one below.
Make sure you check the negative sentiments box. This filters your results to show people Tweeting about something sad or disappointing. You can even set your location to target Tweets in your city.
With less than five minutes of work, you can find Tweets just like this one that could be potential leads.
I want a cat or dog so SOO bad but my apartment doesn't allow animals and I move back and forth between living locations every few days :(
— myrah (@hellaish) May 8, 2016
The next step would be to reply to the Tweet, letting the person know your apartment community might be a better fit.
Having a CRM of some kind can help you track your social media conversations and get them into your database. Many popular CRM’s like Salesforce integrate with social media, so check to see if your CRM tool has a similar feature.
Time to complete: 20-30 minutes
These 10 social media hacks will help you become a more productive apartment marketer, and generate real results.
If your social media strategy isn’t where it needs to be, contact us to see how we can help you build your brand and nurture leads with social media.
