Social media and content marketing can boost your endeavors, but far too many people are not willing to play the long game and put in the time and effort to have social media success. How do you reap the rewards and allow social media to do the work?
Apartments.com was joined by bestselling author and online marketing expert C.C. Chapman for the April edition of Training Series Live! to share the principles and philosophies you must embrace to find the success you seek with online media in the multifamily housing industry. I don’t want to give too much away, but here are a few highlights from this session.
First things first – you must embrace the idea that you are a publisher! Every time you make a social post, you are creating content. Deciding not only what, but where, you publish takes a lot of thought and a little bit of time to develop. Consider magazine publishers – they know what they’re running in the upcoming two or three issues. Use this example as a strategy to plan your social posts in advance to stay relevant and on schedule!
Speaking of planning, keep an editorial calendar. All good publishers maintain editorial calendars to outline topics and initiatives. Try setting up an editorial calendar at your property for the next three months, and plan to post online at least once a week. This not only keeps you on track, but is a great way to show your manager your initiatives for the quarter. Have fun with your social posts, too! In the Q&A session, a webinar attendee reported that at their property, only one out of ten social posts actually promotes the community, and engagement has skyrocketed since initiating this plan.
The content you publish can be reused and repurposed by anyone, so make it useful! Do you find residents asking your leasing office the same questions over and over? Capitalize on this by writing blog posts based off your most frequently asked questions. Think visually by adding images to all content you publish. Social sites love sharing images and automatically pull thumbnail photos to associate with your posts. Stay in control by uploading the images you want associated with your content on your own. Plus, potential residents need to see what they are getting when the rent, so it’s a good idea to always share images with your content anyways!
Finally, keep consuming. The only way you keep learning and staying on top of trends in social media or the multifamily housing industry is to keep consuming! Stay ahead of industry trends and subjects that are relevant to your residents by putting yourself in their shoes. Subscribe to industry newsletters and follow businesses relevant to multifamily housing.
I could go on and on, but why spoil it? Watch the full webinar and visit the Apartments.com Training Series Live! page to see other past recordings. If you have any questions or comments, tweet them to @Apartmentscom, using the hashtag #AptsTraining, or leave them in the comments section below.
