Get with the Gram

How to up your property’s engagement and reach on Instagram.

By ASHLEY TYNDALL, Chief Relationship Officer at Swifty

With over 95 million posts created daily on Instagram, users are inundated with content, making it challenging for properties to be visible. For apartment communities, Instagram is a great platform that allows them to showcase the neighborhood, city and property visuals. Nonetheless, increasing reach and engagement on Instagram is difficult.

To interrupt the habit of scrolling aimlessly, you should create content that is eye-catching.

Instagram Marketing Tips for Apartments

The number of social media users globally grew 10.1% in January 2022 to 4.62 billion. In comparison, January 2023 saw a modest 3% growth of +137 million users. And a significant percentage are the target demographic for many apartment communities nationwide. Instagram, like Facebook, prioritizes resident engagement, making it an ideal platform for showcasing the personality of your community through picture and video-sharing. With a variety of formatting options available, including photo and video editing tools, Instagram provides a highly interactive and visually-rich social media experience.

Whether you want to highlight the luxurious amenities of your property, promote community events or share local hotspots, Instagram marketing provides a range of options to engage and inform your residents. And with its mobile-friendly design, Instagram is an ideal platform for quick and easy scrolling, ensuring that your content reaches and resonates with your audience.

1. Post relevant content that caters to your audience.

When it comes to creating posts, make sure they are relevant and interesting to your followers. You don’t want to be too salesy or post content that isn’t useful. Showcase what makes your property unique and highlight the features of living in your community. You can also post fun content related to your area or share resident stories.

2. Publish high-quality images and video.

On Instagram, aesthetics are just as important as captions, if not more so. Your feed, profile image, daily posts and Stories should all have a consistent look and feel that reflects your brand. Consider the overall aesthetic you want to achieve, whether it’s a luxurious or bright and white feed, and whether your images should match your brand colors.

To achieve this, work with a digital marketing agency, graphic designer or social media specialist to create a strategy that includes consistent filters for all your images. Additionally, make sure to only use high-quality, clear images that showcase your property in the best possible light. Fuzzy, cluttered or unprofessional images can quickly turn off potential residents and result in lost followers.

3. Use hashtags and tag other accounts.

Include hashtags in your posts as it will make them easier to find, both now and in the future. You can use hashtags related to your product, city or industry that are relevant and reach a broader audience. You can also tag other accounts that are related to your post. This will help increase visibility and build relationships with other local businesses.

4. Promote your resident events and property features.

When it comes to your everyday resident communications, consider how can you create visual interest. Are you opening the pool this weekend? Share an armchair view! Are you prepping for a resident event? Show them! Are there cupcakes in the lobby or amenities your residents are not taking advantage of? Make sure you’re sharing the imagery.

Before you start, however, make sure you know what tone or personality you want to convey and which property features you want to highlight.

5. Don’t forget about Instagram Reels.

As one of Instagram’s newer features, Instagram Reels is quickly gaining ground. Reels allow users to create 15- to 60-second videos and share them on the app. The main benefit of Reels is an extended reach and brand awareness, as these are posted into an easily discoverable feed.

Reels are featured on the Explore page, offering properties the ability to have their content seen by people beyond their followers. Instagram has placed a strong emphasis on Reels in its latest algorithm, which means its generally easier to reach a wider audience with Reels versus static images. What does this all mean for your property? That it’s time to find a trending Reels sound and get creative with your content!

6. Engage with your residents.

With millennials and Gen Z as the most active user base on Instagram, multifamily properties should consider how they can use the platform to create opportunities for engagement and content creation. Inviting your residents to participate in an Instagram contest is perhaps the simplest way to do so.

Create a call-to-action for your residents to submit pictures: “Share your poolside pictures this month for a chance to win a gift card!” Offer an incentive for participation. Establish a timeline. This achieves a number of goals – people engage with your page, residents are creating content for you so you are not constantly looking for photos to snap, conversation and interest is sparked so people will continue to keep up with your page. It is a win all around.

Keep in mind that when participants share pictures of your property on Instagram, those photos also appear on the newsfeed of their followers. A well-planned Instagram marketing contest has great potential to generate awareness of your property to relevant audiences. The Instagram platform presents several opportunities for marketing your multifamily property, you just have to think visually.

Make Instagram Your Second Leasing Office

Instagram marketing is about more than just scheduling out some posts and letting it be. To get the most out of your efforts, you need to use it as another leasing tool for your property. Your Instagram should inform, engage and delight your residents – enough so that your prospects not only want to follow you but also want to schedule a tour to learn more about your property.

Ashley Tyndall is Chief Relationship Officer at Swifty. Swifty is changing the lives of property owners and managers with the easiest and most affordable multifamily marketing platform. You can now turn more leads into leases in less time and reduce the stress on your team.

Visit https://beswifty.com/AAGHOU for details.