Apartment Trends Magazine February 2019 | Page 16

MARKETING ASHLEY TYNDALL | CRITERION.B 3 Steps to Developing a Strategy Around Your Property’s Social Media F acebook ad revenue is expected to outpace total print ad spending by the end of this year. Ad spend on social media is also on pace to outgrow television ad spend for the first time. With more and more businesses shifting their marketing budgets and ad dollars to the web, developing a social media strategy is more important than ever. Chances are, most multifamily professionals understand that they should be using social media, but they probably do not know why or how. Social media is key to attracting and engaging with residents, but it’s not enough just to set up your accounts and schedule a few haphazard posts a couple of times per month. So, how can you leverage today’s powerful platforms and online communities to achieve your property goals? It all starts with developing a strategy. 14 | TRENDS FEBRUARY 2019 STEP 1: IDENTIFY YOUR GOALS In our experience, many multifamily professionals are on social media because they think they should be, but they likely do not have set goals around their activity or track any key performance indicators (KPIs) on a regular basis. For most property managers, KPIs like occupancy rate and tenant turnover are crucial, but it’s important to dive deeper to think about how your online platforms impact those KPIs to determine campaign goals. For example, if your biggest priority is to increase apartment lease-ups, we recommend leveraging social media advertising to boost blog content, social promotions, and apartment ads to the right audience. Facebook advertising offers detailed targeting capabilities to get in front of a specific group down to the zip code, job position, salary, lifestyle, and even recently moved. Perhaps you are looking to drive engagement. One of the biggest perks of social media as a marketing channel is the ability to create an engaged, online community of the individuals that build up your target audience. For example, Criterion.B launched a “Mark the Moment” campaign for Preston Hollow Village (PHV), a Dallas-based mixed- use development. The goal was to spark engagement among customers and retailers. The campaign encouraged patrons to share their moments with #MarkTheMoment at any of the PHV retailers. This campaign not only resulted in more engaged residents and locals but also a 50 percent increase in website traffic. www.aamdhq.org