How To Humanize Your Apartment Community on Social Media

We all know that maintaining an active, engaging social media presence for your multifamily apartment community is a must. But something that so many communities get wrong is forgetting to use these tools to humanize their brand. These are perfect platforms to showcase personal content that produces more engagement, and it will go the extra mile in strengthening the relationship you have with your current and future residents.

Show Your Personality

You care about your residents and strive to give them the best living environment possible. Transfer these feelings to your social presense by showing your personality in your posts. Remember that social media is a casual, conversational environment. Talk colloquially, using everyday language and local jargon. Being too formal will kill engagement and scream corporate. If humor comes naturally to you, use it. Don’t be afraid to be yourself!

 

 

Put in Face Time

Showing your personality goes beyond the copy you choose. Social media is a visual world, so showcase your style even more by posting plenty of pictures of the on-site team. Residents are more likely to engage with you when they see friendly faces they recognize and aren’t being sold something. In the above example, Ink Block Apartments shared an exciting achievement to their Facebook page. Because a great photo of the team was showcased, engagement on the page increased. Facebook users use the platform to keep up with their world, and that involves people. So when you post photos of the on-site team, engagement will flow naturally.

 

 

Showing faces on your social accounts is also important for prospects researching the community. Let’s say a prospect reaches out to set up a tour, talks to Lisa in the leasing office, and then visits the Facebook page. If there’s a great shot of Lisa engaging with residents and showing her personality, the prospect will immediately feel more connected and comfortable when they arrive for their tour of the community. Showing friendly faces on your social campaigns will make it more likely that you’ll drive a lead through the door. Make sure to identify team members using first names so current and future residents will get to know them, be more likely to think of them as a friend, and less likely to write a scathing review when their fire alarm goes off at 2am.

 

 

Give a Behind-The-Scenes Peek

Social networks present a great opportunity to give your audience a peek at what’s happening behind the scenes at your community. Instead of just presenting the finished product (e.g., a resident appreciation breakfast), document the set up of the event and any details you think people would engage with. Residents and prospects will connect with your community more if they better understand it. This is especially important for buildings in lease-up. Evoke excitement for your brand new community with exclusive updates on your construction progress and first looks at amenities and model homes. Station 650 gives a great behind-the-scenes look at the hard work going on at their construction site, something a renter wouldn’t normally think about but can definitely appreciate.

 

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Respond To Your Fans

Whether they are residents, prospects, or followers, anyone who takes the time to engage with you deserves a response. Facebook ranks a comment as a more valued engagement than a “‘like'”, so make an effort to start a conversation with your audience and try to evoke a more meaningful interaction. Responding in an engaging way will create a stronger connection with the commenter while simultaneously increasing your page’s relevancy in Facebook’s eyes. On Facebook, make sure to monitor all posts to your page, comments on posts, private messages and reviews (read this for help on responding to negative reviews).

While there’s a tendency to respond the most on Facebook, don’t forget about engagements on your Twitter, Instagram and G+ pages as well. These are just as important. There’s nothing worse than a brand that doesn’t respond to their fans. In the above example, 327 Sunset does a great job not only by utilizing social to listen to listen to their residents, but also by responding to each commenter, working to gain more comments with questions, and driving the commenters back to the goal of filling out the survey.

 

Start A Blog

One of the best ways to humanize your community is to give it a voice through an on-site blog (if you don’t have one yet, explore these reasons why your apartment community needs a blog. Social platforms are all about getting your message across in as little characters as possible, but a blog really lets you speak your mind and demonstrate your community’s personality. Experiment with strategies like speaking in the first person and signing off with your own name. Saying “I” instead of “we” makes the writer appear more human and less like a corporation.

Let your personality really shine through with blog topics like “Manager’s Choice: Best Neighborhood Restaurant” or “Meet The Team.” In the above example, Alta at K Station did a great job showing their personality and sense of community in this blog post while also diving into a hot local topic and subtly advertising their building amenities.

Have any other tips for humanizing your multifamily apartment community on social media? Leave them in the comments below or hit us up on Twitter at @GoToMyApartment!