Tenant Contest

I have a question for all the brainstormers out there...

We have recently taken over an older apartment building to manage without an ounce of prior marketing. What are some fun contests that you have used or thought of to accomplish the following:

- existing tenant sign up/ give email address for monthly newsletter
- social media traffic (FB, Twitter etc)
- attract new customers

In the past with our other buildings we have used:

- $200 off next months rent
- iPad giveaway
- event passes
- dinner gift card to their favorite restaurant and movie tickets
- $200 visa gift card

I am just in need of some fresh ideas for contests as well as ways to present this to our current/new customer base.

Thanks everyone.

Pet show...like a pet beauty contest. Everybody is proud of there pets. Leashes please!!! Also one time I built a homemade "wheel of fortune" out of an old cabinet and a bicycle wheel. They went well.

You need to know you residents to determine what they would prefer. For example, the majority of my residents work and are either single or single with children.

According to our trash container, they eat out a lot. They always seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere.

What would that type of resident really enjoy?

I would do donuts and coffee, juice early as they exit and hand out tickets for a drawing later.

Pizza to go with fresh salad, garlic bread, canned drinks, to go plates with bags so it is all easy to carry.

Again, hand out tickets for a drawing. Have a lot of prizes instead of a few expensive ones. Everyone loves to win!!!