The holiday decor is out, holiday desserts have filled the shelves, and holiday PTO is right around the corner. But, before you head out and enjoy your much-needed time off, you’ll want to leave your renters feeling joyful while they reside in your community this December. What’s one fun, simple way to do this? Social media contests.

Below are 3 social media video contest ideas to make the holiday season a little brighter for your residents.

During my research, I saw many great contest ideas in industries outside of multifamily. Observing other industries is a good way to refresh marketing strategies — you can leverage the same tactics in multifamily. So, I’ve provided a few contest examples from other industries for reference. Then, I add Instagram caption templates tailored to multifamily for you. Let’s hop in.

Pet Costume Video Contest

Have your community participate in a pet photos contest where the winner(s) gets a special prize. Participants will dress their pets in holiday costumes, post a short video on social media, and tag your community. Partner up with a nearby pet store to give away the prize. The winner could receive pet food, pet care items, holiday candy, and other relevant items.

Here’s an example from Bulletproof running a coffee giveaway contest on Instagram.

Now, let’s take this example and apply it to your pet video contest. First, you’d want to post a video of one of your team member’s pets dressed up in a holiday outfit. Video content will engage your audience and stop the scroll, especially because it’s a cute pet dressed up. Next, you’ll want to create a caption like the template below (feel free to use it but update the italicized text to fit your information):

Instagram Caption Template

???? Attention Ashley's Community residents! ????
Whose animals are ready to break out their holiday costumes? We’ve teamed up with The Pet Store to give three lucky winners free cat or dog food for 3 months!

How to Enter:

1. Must follow @AshleysCommunity and @ThePetStore
2. Like this photo
3. Create a short video of your pet
4. Post on your Instagram Story
5. Tag both @AshleysCommunity and @ThePetStore

Winners will be selected on 12/15. Winners will be notified through DM on Instagram. Open to US residents 18 years of age or older. This is not sponsored by Instagram.

Caption Contest

A caption contest is a bit easier for renters because it doesn’t require much participation on their part. This kind of contest involves providing details on a video or image and asking your audience to comment on the post with their answer. Here’s an example below (you could also swap this idea with the pet contest idea or combine them):

Now, let’s apply this multifamily. You could post a picture of an on-site team member in a holiday outfit and ask renters to comment where they think this team member is traveling for the holidays. This would also be a great way to introduce your team members to new renters! Remember to offer a prize for the correct answer, like a holiday gift basket. Below is an example caption you could use:

Instagram Caption Template

Caption Content for Ashley's Community residents: This is Ashley McGovern, one of your leasing team members. Ashley is ready for the holiday season and excited for some much-needed PTO, like many of you. Have you met Ashley – where do you think she’s off to visit her family and friends? (E.g., Arizona, Tennessee, or Colorado).

The first person to guess correctly will receive a holiday gift basket! Here’s how to enter:

1. Follow @AshleysCommunity on Instagram
2. Like this post
3. Comment a state
4. Tag a friend in the community to get them to participate!

The winner will be selected on 12/15. Winners will be notified through DM on Instagram. Open to US residents 18 years of age or older. This is not sponsored by Instagram or anyone.

Baking Video Contest

Food videos are taking over Instagram and TikTok. Try to get your community to be a part of the fun by running a dessert baking contest. Have participants record a video of the entire process of baking cookies. Then, they could post it on Instagram and tag your community. You could make the winning prize a gift card to a local bakery. Here’s another contest example post:

This is a great example if you plan to have different prizes for each winner. Let’s apply this example to multifamily. Below is an Instagram caption template:

Instagram Caption Template

???? Competition time! We are running a dessert baking contest to show our love for the holidays (and food). As seen on TikTok, we know how much fun it can be to record yourself baking. So, why not have a chance at winning a prize while doing it?

Here’s how to enter:

1. Create a short video clip of your holiday dessert
2. Post on your Instagram story
3. Tag us @AshleysCommunity

Here are the winning prizes:

1st place: $100 gift card to the Local Bakery
2nd place: $50 gift card to the Local Bakery
3rd place: $25 gift card to the Local Bakery

Winners will be selected on 12/15. Winners will be notified through DM on Instagram. Open to US residents 18 years of age or older. This is not sponsored by Instagram or anyone.

Closed Contest

After your contest has ended, don’t forget to update the caption on your existing post that outlines the contest details, but don’t delete the post. It’s important to keep posts up for prospective renters to see your resident engagement efforts during their research. Here is an Instagram caption template to use when your contest has ended:

“GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED – ALL WINNERS HAVE BEEN CONTACTED. To celebrate this holiday, we’ve teamed up with… (the original caption follows).” Here’s an example from Yeti:

I know… the capitalized sentence is a bit much. However, it draws viewers to this sentence rather than the other information in the caption.

Video Content Contests

Creative video contests get your audience active and engaged with your community. Video brings in a new level of authenticity compared to a static image. You get to know the person a bit more when you hear their voice, see their body language, and watch them tell a story. The best part about video content is that it’s transferable for many different situations, not just contests.

As a multifamily professional, try using video more in your marketing, email follow-up, tour offerings, and other resident engagement efforts this coming year. These resident retention ideas will spread holiday cheer through your halls, especially when it’s made through video.