The goal of any landlord or rental property manager is to keep those units occupied with quality, long-term tenants. To ensure this, you’ll need to market your vacancies well, and social media has emerged as one of the effective tools for doing so. With droves of active local users, you’ll be able to reach more people, which will result in faster lead generation. Of course, to accomplish this, you’ll need a strategy. Here’s how to establish a plan that will get results.
Identify your audience.
First, you’ll need to define the “who” of your social media marketing strategy. Identifying your ideal tenants will help you determine which social platforms to use in each campaign. Keep in mind, there may be more than one, depending on how many properties you manage. For instance, to target older adults, your strategy should involve platforms that are popular with that demographic, such as Facebook or Twitter. For a younger audience, Instagram or TikTok might make more sense.
Spread the wealth.
Surely you’ve heard the term ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” This concept is crucial to social media marketing success. Remember – the goal of social marketing is to expand and increase your reach, so make sure you’re utilizing as many relevant platforms as possible. And, as we just touched on, different platforms may be better suited for different campaigns, depending on your portfolio and target audience. That said, even if you have just one property to manage, you should still diversify.
Put your best foot forward.
The beauty of social media is the instant gratification it offers. Users may spend hours of their day scrolling through their feeds, but they don’t necessarily spend a lot of time focusing on one or two posts. This means you’ve got to capture their attention and deliver your message as quickly as possible. Don’t waste time on wordy posts or try to cram too much content into one listing. Instead, focus on showcasing your very best features fast. And be sure to tweak this based on audience and platform. Amenities that appeal to one demographic may be of little to no interest to another.
Invest some dough.
Can you post things on social media for free? Sure. Will you get the reach you’re hoping for with this approach? Unlikely. If you’ve got a massive following on your social media accounts, then by all means – stick to sharing on your own pages for free. But if you really want to get the most out of social media marketing, you’ll need to invest in some paid advertising. Follow the same rules as above – keep it short and simple, and focus on the features that would most appeal to the audience you’re trying to target.
Track, measure and optimize.
Not every campaign you run on social media will produce the kind of results you’re hoping for. We strongly recommend A/B testing different strategies, ads and campaigns, as this can help you identify what’s working and what isn’t so you can further hone your approach. Also, keep in mind that with social media, you can be a lot more fun and playful than with other marketing methods, so don’t be afraid to try different things and be creative until you figure out what works the best for your goals.
