You already recognize the power of Instagram to reach out to renters, but are you making the most of your Instagram multifamily marketing efforts?
In today’s marketing environment, the incredible potential of Instagram cannot be denied. In fact, according to the independent social media analytics company Hootsuite, 7.7 billion people (a full eighth of the total global population) now have Instagram accounts.
Even better, Intstagram is particularly effective at reaching key marketing demographics. Analytics data shows that 71% of Instagram users around the world are 34 years old or younger. Furthermore, Instagram use is at its highest (60%) among individuals who make more than $100,000 a year.
So how can you use Instagram in the rental property sector to maximize your multifamily marketing outreach? Well, in today’s competitive market, it’s simply not enough to create and maintain a standard company Instagram page.
If you want to tap into the full potential of Instagram, you need to educate yourself on what makes this popular social media site truly unique. Here are just a few multifamily marketing strategies that will optimize your Instagram presence.
1. Make Strategic Use of Hashtags
Although hashtags have become prevalent across the broad spectrum of social media, Instagram has built hashtags directly into the basic search functions of the site. In other words, hashtags are just as important as keywords when it comes to driving consumer traffic for marketing purposes.
By choosing your hashtags carefully, you can reach out to the Instagram users who are most likely to help you reach your lease-up goals. Precise location hashtags, for example #parkslopebrooklynapartments, can help neighborhood-conscious apartment hunters find your listings with ease.
Instagram is also uniquely positioned to help you capitalize on non-industry hashtags that are already trending. By piggybacking on extremely popular hashtags such as #tbt and #nofilter you can extend your reach into a whole new market.
2. Regram Relevant Posts from Others
Unlike its cousins Facebook and Twitter, Instagram doesn’t readily support reposting or sharing the content of other users. In fact, a preponderance of multifamily housing providers don’t even know that Instagram reposting is possible.
But with the help of third-party digital applications such as Websta and Repost, you can gain a considerable advantage over your competitors by regramming the relevant content of other Instagram users. This strategy can help you capitalize on the perceived authenticity that goes hand in hand with user-generated content (UGC).
In the realm of multifamily marketing, effective UGC might include a photograph of existing residents enjoying the apartment complex pool on a sunny day. Marketers can maximize the outreach of their UGC campaign by uniting it under a creative branded hashtag and encouraging residents to use this hashtag when posting content that relates to their living environment/lifestyle.
3. Use the Instagram Stories Feature
Introduced in 2016 to compete with a similar feature on Snapchat, Instagram Stories is an exceptional way to present time-sensitive content. Briefly described, Instagram Stories allows marketers to gather a number of images and video clips into a single piece of multifaceted content that will delete automatically after 24 hours.
Like the reposting of Instagram content, the use of the Instagram Stories feature is woefully underused by multifamily marketers, providing another great opportunity for you to get a significant jump on the competition. The Instagram Stories format offers an exceptional way to frame in-depth and timely information.
Consider using it to tell the story of ongoing structural renovations or present the highlights of an open house or a special event for residents. To promote your organization itself and its exceptional team members, you can use Instagram Stories to post a “behind the scenes” peek at the daily activities of a top property manager, leasing agent, or administrative executive.
4. Change Your Bio Link to Direct Traffic
While other leading social media sites allow users to post unlimited clickable links, Instagram restricts users to a single clickable link within the biography section of their profile. This may work great when it comes to keeping visitors on Instagram for longer periods of time, but it makes marketing on the site exceptionally difficult.
Wise marketers, however, can get around this clickable link conundrum by frequently changing their Instagram bio link to lead visitors to the most important promotions of the day. This strategy can really set you apart from competitors who have adopted a “set it and forget it” bio link approach that simply sends visitors to a generic homepage, landing page, or “about us” page.
Multifamily marketers can post pictures of vacant apartments on their main Instagram page after changing their bio link to an official website URL dedicated to that particular apartment. If you choose to pursue this strategy, just be sure to include a statement such as “click the link in our bio to learn more” next to the pictures that you post.
5. Pay Close Attention to the Brands Your Followers Follow
To create marketing content that will truly resonate with your audience, you need to tailor it after the content that they already love. To discover the other brands and organizations that your Instagram followers follow, begin by selecting one of your followers and clicking on the “following” count of that follower. From there, you can sort through the different accounts that he or she follows concentrating solely on brands and organizations.
Contact Bigeye to learn more
Bigeye is taking digital marketing into the future with innovative social media strategies that have proven to drive conversions. If you’re ready to push your multifamily marketing efforts forward, contact us.
