By Patty Webster, Portfolio Manager, Summerfield Management
It is one of the eternal struggles in property management, how can we drive more leads without going over the advertising budget?
I get asked all the time by our clients for cost effective ways to drive more leads to their apartment properties and one of my top suggestions is our old friend Facebook.
Yes, it’s 2024 and here we are still talking about marketing apartments for rent on Facebook. But the fact is, utilizing social media and specifically Facebook and Facebook marketplace to market your investment property is a crucial component of a successful digital marketing strategy in order to generate leads, leases and renewals.
Here are three ways to drive multifamily leads, leasing and renewals through Facebook:
Build Community
It’s worth noting that Facebook is still the leading social media platform in the world with 3 billion active users accounting for a whopping 60% of all internet users. So, you can bet that a large percentage of your current and future residents are among those users.
The first component of a successful and effective Facebook apartment leasing campaign is to build, optimize and maintain your Facebook page. Use captivating photos, post regularly, partner with local businesses, create infographics and most importantly, reach out to your existing tenants to build up your page following.
Ideally, you want to build a community of past, present and future tenants on your page. Think of it as an extension of your leasing office. Keep it regularly updated, bright, well-maintained and engaging. Highlight your floor plans, amenities, local attractions and simply engage your followers in friendly conversation. Your Facebook page can also be a great place to post and plan community events and can function as a messaging board for your apartment community.
At Summerfield, we give our site staff the tools and knowledge to cultivate and maintain an active and engaging online presence across social media. In 2024, perspective tenants are searching online for apartments and it is your job as an owner/manager to capture their attention. You can accomplish this by creating fresh content, sharing information and having meaningful conversations online.
If you effectively build up your Facebook presence and consistently engage with residents online while also sharing high quality content, it will result in higher tenant retention, renewals, referrals, new leases and better online reviews.
Utilize Facebook Ads
In our experience, Facebook ads are an incredibly efficient way for property managers and multifamily owners to drive leads and leasing at their properties. These ads are placed in perspective tenants feeds on both Facebook and Instagram and are surprisingly customizable.
You can also utilize Facebook ads to grow page “likes” and followers in addition to driving leads to your property website.
Recently at a 140+ unit property in our portfolio, we utilized strategic Facebook/Instagram advertising to bring occupancy up from 81% to more than 95% in just two months.
A word of warning however, Since housing is now considered a special ad category on Facebook, there are some additional hurdles to jump through when creating/placing an ad. Ads in special categories are required to abide by local laws and digital advertising regulations as to not discriminate against any group.
If you have questions about how to advertise apartments for rent on Facebook, feel free to reach out to us at Summerfield Property Management and we would be happy to discuss.
Get Active on Marketplace
Facebook marketplace apartments has become a hot topic over the last few years when it comes to posting ads for vacant units at a property. Some in the property management industry are even calling it “the new craigslist” since it offers a place to post for vacant units free of charge and it reaches an estimated 495.7 million users.
There are thousands of people searching Facebook apartments for rent every month on marketplace. If your site staff is not utilizing this free tool you are missing out on a quality source of local leads for your building. Using Facebook marketplace for generating apartment leads is one of the best ways to reach hyper local leads in your area, as you can post in specific neighborhoods and cities.
However, it is not without it’s drawbacks. In 2023, Meta made it more difficult for property teams to post apartment listings by no longer allowing Facebook business pages to post listings on marketplace. Instead, business pages can utilize paid placements directly from the page or post listings from non-business Facebook profiles. There are also several paid platforms that automatically include Facebook marketplace as part of a broader selection of placements that will generate exposure for your property across several social media platforms.
The benefits of a targeted social media strategy, including a Facebook marketing campaign are two-fold. Building a community and following on social media creates real relationships with tenants and fosters retention. It also creates a window for future/perspective tenants to look into your community and see if it might be a good fit.
By utilizing Facebook to drive apartment leasing, you can strengthen the position of your property while also becoming a resource for followers and current tenants. Doing this will ultimately convert more leads into leases and help to retain more existing tenants at your property.
If you need help planning and executing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, including a targeted Facebook marketing campaign designed to generate more leads and increase occupancy and renewals at your property, give us a call.
We’d love the opportunity to show what Summerfield can do. Book a call with us today.
