The results of a national US-based survey by J Turner Research suggest social media may not be the most effective marketing strategy when it comes to apartment residents.
The survey, which is based on responses from 15,964 apartment residents collected during the first 6 months of 2010, found that 24 percent of respondents do not visit any social networking websites at all.
When it came to the idea of visiting an apartment community’s page on social networks, the results showed even less enthusiasm - 93 percent of residents had never checked in on their apartment community’s social page.
Of the seven percent who had, 62 percent said they visited the page to “see what other people were saying about the community”. 57 percent were there to “conduct preliminary research about the apartments, floor plans or unit availability”, while 37 percent came to “find discounts or deals related to signing a lease”.
Only 11 percent of residents said they were visiting the page to “contact a staff member about scheduling an onsite visit,” nine percent to “refer a friend,” and eight percent to “initiate the leasing process to live at the community.”
In light of all the mind-blowing figures about the continued growth of social media, it’s easy to forget that not everyone is using platforms like Facebook and Twitter to help make decisions about real estate. Luckily, we’ve got tips on how to reach potential clients in more traditional ways - start with our tips for email newsletters, along with our advice on how to gain media attention for your company.
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As the owner of a company that specializes in developing and marketing social media design and programming for the multi-family industry, I find that this report may be a bit skewed. First, it states that 93% of apartment residents don’t check their communities social network pages (primarily facebook/twitter). The obvious reason is that residents aren’t aware of the network and the use of it for their purposes. This is mainly in part because the typical community hasn’t effectively designed and marketed their social media programming. When done correctly, we have seen time after time the far reach of new testimonials, referrals and new residents for our clients.
Here is an example of work: http://www.facebook.com/AspenPlaceApartments
In just over 30 days, this community has amassed over 1,200 fans, has generated 65 leads and 15 rentals, all without concessions or promotion. Their search ranking on google and bing now places them on the first page and their website referral page shows that Facebook is the third referral source outside of google and Yahoo.