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Spring is here and in full swing, which means if you haven’t ramped up your real estate marketing for move-in season, there’s still time! If you’re looking for tips on how to handle your marketing tactics, we’ve got you covered. Take a look at our top 5 frequently asked questions regarding marketing toward different audiences in senior, student, and multi-family housing.
Senior Living
What content is right for senior living marketing?
Keep up with regular Facebook posts promoting the lifestyle, amenities, and community events for your property. Plan events like arts and crafts, cooking classes, movie nights, etc. and post photos & videos from these events to encourage your current and future residents to be engaged and active on social media.
Using your current residents as your brand ambassadors is a more personalized way to create content for your senior living community. Ask your current residents for quotes or video testimonials highlighting all of the reasons they love living in your community.
Boomers are also much more likely to engage on social media and ask questions than younger audiences, so be sure to keep up with those responses!
What social media platform is best for advertising to my demographic?
Keeping your website up to date is going to be your best bet when it comes to marketing for senior living. Because of this, it’s a great idea to include blog posts on your website highlighting amenities, answering questions, and even just providing tips and recommendations to your residents.
Increasing this engagement is a great SEO boosting tactic as well! Bi-weekly blog posts are the most common and are very effective in keeping prospective and current residents up to date!
Now, this is where it’s important to recognize that while it may not be the driving force for your digital marketing, social media is still going to be a huge part of your digital marketing campaign.
Facebook is the highest engaged social media platform for your target audience, so be sure to maintain a healthy and constant presence, not only for prospective residents, but current as well.
Posting regular updates, listing upcoming events, and sharing photos of your current residents and properties will be a great way to show your involvement with the day to day community.
What swag is best for my demographic?
Blankets and glasses cases are a great way to make prospective guests feel welcome and at home. Having something that can be regularly put to use is a great constant reminder of the care and thought you put into your residents’ day to day lives.
Subtle logo design will be the best for these products. Overwhelming and flashy designs are not what you are going for when it comes to this target audience. Simple, classic designs are going to be your safest bet when designing your swag for senior living.
Should I still be using direct mailers?
While direct mailers are a tangible way to get in front of your senior audience, have you considered digital direct mailers? Utilizing technology for our tech-savvy active adult takes your direct mailer targeting one step further.
Serve highly targeted ads and messaging using location-based technology that targets seniors looking to move or sell their home. Plus you can layer in demographic targeting to ensure that the households you are targeting meet your suggested age requirements for the community.
What are the most important features for seniors and how do I market them?
No one wants to move themselves or their family members into a community where they will be shut in and living sedentary lifestyles, so be sure and highlight all you have to offer in terms of keeping your residents active!
Health & wellness is incredibly important to seniors. They enjoy fitness centers offering group classes as a way to exercise and socialize. Whether it be yoga, aerobics / water aerobics, or dance class, these are must-have features for those looking into active adult communities like yours.
Community events like bingo night, dancing, movie nights, etc. not only encourage your residents to remain active within the community, but it also allows for engagement between residents and management.
This personalization goes a long way with prospective residents as it shows the attentive service and care that they will receive at your property.
Your senior living residents love to entertain family and friends. Pools and poolside areas, large community spaces, communal kitchens, and clubhouses are features to market to senior residents.
Bonus: it could result in increased prospective residents who could potentially come to visit current residents!
Student Living
What content is right for student housing marketing?
Video is the top content strategy when it comes to student housing marketing. This is the age of social media, with platforms like TikTok and YouTube being ranked as top online entertainment platforms for a student-aged audience. It only makes sense to follow those trends and include a variety of video content in your campaign.
Incorporate vlogs, reels, and Instagram stories in your marketing campaign while focusing on highlighting your amenities and lifestyle. Because many students are choosing between off campus housing and traditional dorm life, be sure to capitalize on the lifestyle and value that they can only get from your community.
Highlight what sets you apart from the norm – in this case, the dorm!
Have you heard about the rise of influencer marketing? Check out our blog on How The Rise of Influencer Marketing Could Enhance Your Real Estate Marketing can contribute to your overall student housing marketing plan and drive leases. To sum it up, people are looking for personalized experiences and they are highly influenced by people they trust.
Consider recruiting a local brand ambassador for your community, like a popular football player that may already live on-site, to drum up excitement by promoting your community and events through their social channels.
What social media platform is best for advertising to my demographic?
Instagram, Instagram, Instagram! We often get asked, are the days of Facebook & Instagram ads behind us? The short answer is no.
With Instagram being the top platform for students, take advantage of the variety of ways you can market on Instagram. Invest in ads, promotional posts, stories, and reels on Instagram to market your student housing property.
Plot twist, you have two demographics! Your students may be on Instagram, but their parents are on Facebook. We’ll address how to effectively market to parents later on in this post, but we encourage adjusting your Facebook ads messaging to cater more towards the parent demographic. After all, they are an important part of the decision making process.
A bonus question that often gets asked in regards to social media marketing is: How often should I post on social media? While there is no magic formula to exactly how often you should post in a week, month, etc.. Staying active on your social media accounts is what will drive the most traffic.
1-3 Instagram posts per week is your safest bet. While you want to make sure you are putting out enough content to boost your engagement, you don’t want to flood your followers either. If you can’t get everything out that you’re looking for in your weekly posts, take advantage of stories and reels!
These are excellent ways to post more personalized content to promote what’s going on in-the-moment. This kind of raw content feels more authentic and organic to your student following.
What swag is best for my demographic?
Student housing is a market where just about any promotional items you give out are going to be well-received. However, some of the top swag items for this target audience include: koozies, water bottles, drawstring bags, fanny packs, and (believe it or not) pens. Each of these items allow for functionality which will increase the likelihood of residents and prospective residents to use them and rep your brand.
Include your logo, tagline, location, and anything else you would like to promote on these products, just remember not to overwhelm your design with too much information. Only the most important pieces should be included in your swag.
How do I market to students?
Digital marketing is going to be your best friend when it comes to marketing to prospective residents at your student housing community. The days of flyers and bulletins posted around town are over, and it’s all social media, all day.
Students are already spending so much of their time on Instagram and TikTok, so this is where you should be focusing your marketing efforts. Instagram and TikTok allow for quality, engaging content which creates brand awareness and drives website traffic.
Just because Meta has received some negative press, ad spending on Facebook & Instagram isn’t decreasing anytime soon and these platforms are here to stay.
The rooms, amenities, and lifestyle you offer are going to appeal to students the most. Focus on differentiating your property from the dorms, your student housing competitors, and non-student apartments.
Here’s a list of selling points you can consider for students:
- Proximity to campus
- Proximity to bus stops
- Private shuttle service
- Private and shared room options
- Size of rooms
- Fully furnished
- Private or group study rooms
- Smart home technology
- TVs included
Remember: when it comes to student marketing, representation matters. When curating content for your organic and paid marketing campaigns, keep your content diverse.
The last thing you want is for someone to see your ads, visit your website, or scroll through your Instagram feed and think, “This place isn’t for me.”
How do I adjust my messaging to advertise to parents?
While the types of amenities offered to students are also important to parents, safety and value will resonate the most with parents. Here’s a list of selling points you can consider for parents:
- Courtesy patrol officers
- Surveillance cameras
- Well-lit parking lots or parking garages
- Gated community
- Secure entry
- Individual locking doors
Since most parents are going to be the ones footing the bill for their student, emphasize the value they will be getting by choosing your property.
- All inclusive rent
- WiFi included
- Individual, by-the-bed leasing
- Roommate matching
Multi-Family
What content is right for multi-family marketing?
In order to resonate with the multi-family market, there are a few areas you should be sure to focus on when it comes to deciding which content to create for your real estate marketing campaign.
Don’t forget, you’re not just selling a property, you’re selling a lifestyle. Think about your target audience and ask, “What do they like doing?” “What do they care about?” “Where do they like going?”
If your audience is primarily young singles or couples without children who love and spoil their pups, highlight your dog park and proximity to walking paths or hiking trails. Who doesn’t love a good adventure waiting just around the corner?
Health & wellness continues to be a priority across all target audiences, so promote your state-of-the-art fitness center, yoga studio, or ample green space/zen garden to encourage both physical and mental health among your residents. Bonus if you offer group fitness or meditation classes! Everyone’s wellness journey looks different, and it’s important to offer and promote spaces for those different journeys.
We recommend social video as the top content strategy when it comes to this audience, and here’s why: this is the age of social media, with platforms like TikTok and YouTube being ranked as top online entertainment platforms for this target audience.
Keeping that in mind, it only makes sense to follow those trends and include a variety of video content in your campaign. Incorporate social video content in your marketing campaign through vlogs, reels, and Instagram stories.
A bonus question that often gets asked in regards to social media marketing is: How often should I post on social media? While there is no magic formula to exactly how much you should post in a week, month, etc., staying active on your social media accounts is what will drive the most traffic.
1-3 Instagram posts per week is a safe minimum. While you want to make sure you are creating enough content to boost engagement, you don’t want to flood your market either. If you feel like you can’t get everything out that you’re looking for in those couple of posts, take advantage of stories and reels! These are great tools to focus on smaller content posts like individual amenities.
No matter what you decide to include in your content marketing, we challenge you to take it one step further. People are influenced by other people. Photos and videos of your community on your website are perfect for getting people in the door. Photos and videos of people and pets enjoying your community and surrounding areas keep them coming back.
What social media platform is best for advertising to my demographic?
We always recommend that you couple your paid advertising strategy with a strong organic strategy to increase qualified traffic to your website. We often get asked, are the days of Facebook & Instagram ads behind us?
The short answer is: no. Instagram is the most used social media platform among the multi-family demographic. Invest in ads, promotional posts, stories, and reels on Instagram to market your multi-family property.
You may not realize that Google Business Profiles can double as a social media platform. Building a strong Google Business Profile increases your legitimacy and can offer a look into real time reviews from former and current residents. Be sure to engage with them regularly and post responses to reviews to help boost engagement and your organic rankings.
GBP posts look and feel very similar to organic posts on Facebook & Instagram, and we highly encourage you to start posting to GBP if you haven’t already started. GBP posts are a useful tool in highlighting your community and special offers while also building upon your SEO. Stay active and keep your GBP profile up to date as you would other social media channels as a necessary SEO strategy for organic traffic growth.
What swag is best for my demographic?
Koozies and reusable shopping bags are going to be the most well-received promotional items within this target audience. Each of these items allow for functionality while increasing the likelihood of use, therefore reaching a larger audience.
Include your logo, tagline, location, and anything else you would like to promote on these products, just remember not to overwhelm your design with too much information. Only the most important pieces should be included in your swag.
How do I market to Millennials and Gen Z?
Digital marketing will be your best friend when it comes to marketing to both Millennial and Gen Z target audiences. Social channels, like Instagram and TikTok, allow for quality, engaging content which creates brand awareness and drives website traffic.
Just because Meta has received some negative press, ad spending on Facebook & Instagram isn’t decreasing anytime soon and these platforms are here to stay. In your advertising, be sure to focus on amenities and access to local attractions (restaurants, bars, sports stadiums, schools, employers, etc.).
Don’t forget, you are trying to appeal to your audience while also letting them know exactly what sets you apart from the rest.
Take your advertising one step further. Millennials and GenZ look for a more personalized experience as consumers and tend to purchase from brands who value what they value. Show them that you’re interested in what they’re interested in.
Sustainability ranks highest among GenZ, but they also value action. Dropping buzz words like “eco-friendly” isn’t going to cut it. Show them how you support sustainability through organizing a fundraiser for, and donating to, a local non-profit committed to sustainable efforts.
Display your commitment to sustainability by showcasing that your community is LEED certified and your commitment to maintaining LEED certification. Maybe you offer EV charging stations, community bikes, a recycling program, LED light bulbs, or that you are located on a bus route or near a train station.
What are the most important amenities to include when marketing multi-family living?
Pet friendly properties are going to be the most popular across the board, especially if you also include pet friendly amenities such as dog parks, dog washing stations, and fenced in yard space to accommodate for their furry friends.
Remember, your target audience is going to be mostly millennials and GenZ, and boy, do they love their fur babies!
Highlighting access and proximity to local hot spots are a great way to entice potential residents. How close are they to downtown? The best restaurants? Best bars? Best coffee shops? Take advantage of what your area has to offer!
Because Millennials and GenZ are environmentally conscious, more and more people are looking to take advantage of public transportation, so highlight your proximity to public transit options or if you offer a bike share program in your community.
After all, location is a huge consideration for prospective residents, so be sure to let them know in your marketing efforts exactly what they can get from your location.
Millennials especially love the extra space to be able to work-from-home or turn a spare bedroom into an in-home office.
GenZ on the other hand is looking for more of a hybrid working situation, so if you have an area for co-working in your community where there may be an opportunity to work around others and even potentially network, GenZ will be all about it.
Updated properties are going to be a huge promotional point to capitalize on when it comes to multi-family housing marketing. Updated kitchens, bathrooms, flooring – whatever it is that you have to offer them, be sure to highlight it!
Now that you’ve got the answers to these common marketing FAQs, what are you waiting for? Let’s get this marketing campaign started!
Before you go
Don’t forget, we’re experts when it comes to crafting marketing strategies that drive leasing results and building high-ranking SEO-friendly custom websites! Need help? Reach out to a CSM or any of our team members to get started on taking your marketing and SEO to the next level, see an increase in traffic, and watch the leads roll in.
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