Although Facebook has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, it’s still one of the most effective advertising platforms that we, as digital marketers, have at our disposal. Anyone trying to come up with new apartment complex marketing ideas should be testing various strategies on the social media giant to see what works. Equally as important, however, is understanding why some methods work better than others.
In early 2018, Facebook made some changes to its News Feed algorithm that spelled trouble for business that weren’t paying attention. The advertising side of things hasn’t been affected, but brand pages are going to have to adapt to survive in this new News Feed.
“The first changes you’ll see,” Mark Zuckerberg said on January 11th, “will be in News Feed, where you can expect to see more from your friends, family and groups.”
More posts from friends and family means fewer posts from companies and brands. Brands should still be posting updates, but it’s now more important than ever to be engaging and relevant with those posts.
At this point, you’re probably wondering how your pages can keep up with the changes. Pay close attention to this Zuckerberg quote from the Jan. 11th announcement:
“Pages making posts that people don’t react to or comment on could see the biggest decreases in distribution. Pages that prompt conversation will see less of an effect.”
The brands that survive will be the brands that post great content. Your brand’s Facebook content should be shareable — it should prompt conversations and inspire interaction between friends.
Below, we’ve laid out five things we’re telling our clients to help them roll out new apartment marketing ideas that work with Facebook’s algorithm changes.
- Invest in more Facebook ads.
Increasing ad budget and using different types of ads can make up for the decline in News Feed exposure. Facebook gives priority to ads that use newer advertising methods, such as their new “Dynamic Creative Ads” which let businesses test variant ads to determine which features are most effective.
- Pay attention to the ad quality source
Changing out ads more often will reduce ad fatigue and boost the relevancy score. We recommend prioritizing quality over quantity by cutting back on unengaging “filler” ads and spending more on high quality paid ads that boost ad quality scores.
- Remember to be engaging
Quote from Facebook’s announcement — ““We will prioritize posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions.” We work with a lot of apartment communities, and we tell these clients that they should host resident events, have giveaways and promote partnerships with local businesses – these are the types of posts residents engage with.
- Don’t forget about Twitter and Instagram
Having a diverse social media presence will reduce the negative impact of Facebook’s algorithm change. Consider investing in a photographer or videographer for visual posts on Instagram, and remember to use new features like live videos on Twitter and Instagram.
- Be proactive with your Facebook page.
Engagement is a two-way street, and businesses will have to be proactive to combat the decline in News Feed exposure. Social media managers should be following people, liking posts and replying to comments on their posts and posts from local businesses.
So, you’re ready to combat the decline in News Feed exposure with new apartment marketing ideas. Now, let’s talk about a few tips to consider when crafting your new social media plan.
- Use video, because posts with video have a 109% higher interaction rate.
- Tag other pages, because tags will help you steal audiences from other companies
- Write blogs, because you know what kind of content your audience will share.
- Never spam for engagement, and avoid phrasing like, “comment/like if you agree!”
- Instead of recycling ads, test different copy and images to see what works best.
Between social media management and social media advertising, Facebook is a tricky tool to use properly. When it works it works wonder, however, so it’s worth taking the time to learn about best practices. Here at Threshold/Carve, we spend our days coming up with new digital marketing ideas for apartments. If you’d like us to handle your Facebook page so you don’t have to, please feel free to shoot us an email or give us a call today.