Instagram's Highlights is Now a Key Part of RangeWater's Strategy 

With potentially tough economic times ahead, apartment companies might look at cutting marketing expenses as a way to save on expenses. Not so at Atlanta-based RangeWater Real Estate.

Senior Director of Marketing Dana Pate this week offered her thoughts on what it takes to land No. 1 on search results, including a special focus she has with social media, specifically Instagram.

First, she talked about her company’s marketing budget and how her spend is performing:

Our team has always made it a point to prioritize our digital curb appeal as a first impression. Pre COVID, 70-75 percent of our marketing dollars were earmarked for online opportunities.

When the pandemic struck, our partners and team stayed the course and did not pull back on our budget. We positioned ourselves confidently and were able to increase overall impression share across most of our submarkets – in some cases upwards of 35 percent with the same monthly budget from March to April.

We experienced what most everyone did with regard to search engine traffic (a decrease of 25-30 percent) implying less people were looking for an apartment during the initial weeks of the crisis. Most companies scaled back immediately, cutting advertising spend wherever they could. Because RangeWater was able to hold firm, we saw our communities start to show up on Page 1 of the results more frequently than before. Of the traffic coming in, we were – and still are - able to grab a larger percentage of it at the same budget previously approved.

What trends have you noticed in social and online engagement overall since the pandemic?

Pate: Studies and articles published over the past few weeks share similar findings: Engagement is UP! In fact, a Kantar Media study of 25,000 consumers across 30 markets showed social media engagement increasing 61 percent over normal usage rates (April 2020). This same study shared web browsing up 70 percent, and social platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram have all experienced a 40%+ increase in usage from under-35-year-olds. This isn’t specific to multifamily, per say, but it does tell us where our renter audience is spending their time these days.

What’s so special about Instagram?

Pate: Instagram is our No. 1 priority among all social media platforms currently. Its audience, reach, analytical tools for business and creative authority allows our teams to communicate their property’s personality. Each of our assets are unique in their location, design, tone of voice and overall brand. Instagram is where our target demographic is, so that’s where we are.

How about your community’s website?

Pate: We are very much focused on our websites and have ensured they feature content that is most relevant given our “new normal.” Additions to website verbiage and keywords encouraging virtual live tours, recorded videos, interactive walk-throughs and even self-guided tours have been a great undertaking, but a results-driven one. We think of Instagram as a mini website. Whether you find our community via a sponsored post, paid ad, shared repost from a friend or even Google, we want to provide as much information as possible in an organized fashion.

Similar to the navigation menu on the homepage of a website, Instagram Highlights are a great way to feature and streamline content. It’s also great because once a visitor starts a Highlight, it will auto-play others so they’re able to digest even more of what you’re serving up.

How do you evaluate Instagram as a marketing channel?

Pate: Instagram offers great built-in analytic tools for business accounts to measure engagement, followers, audience, sponsored ads, etc. We look at a variety of metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of an overall Instagram account, not just the Highlights. We’re looking mostly for engagements per follower, comment sentiment, follower growth and reach. Highlights are first stories, a ‘24 hours and it’s gone’ tool to more casually communicate. We watch these metrics more than the static Highlight replays themselves.

What is the ideal length of time you'd keep Highlights on your IG account and how many Highlights should you have on your profile at any one time?

Pate: No ideal time, necessarily. Each highlight can hold up to 100 photos or videos, and you can create as many Highlights as you want. But thinking back on the comparison to a website, you want to consolidate and categorize content as much as possible. If a prospective resident feels overwhelmed at any point, you’ve lost them.

Have many apartment operators perfected the use of Instagram?

Pate: Some are great and some aren’t. It really depends on the team managing the account and what kind of emphasis, training and otherwise the management company themselves place on social media. Those with younger audiences have the most to gain from a strong social presence, but we’re seeing engagement increase across all generations especially during this pandemic. People are eager to connect any way they can.

Thanks, Dana. Stay safe.

Note: Dana Pate shared some of these points during the weekly Multifamily Leadership Huddle Zoom call held May 8 and moderated by Jamin Harkness, Executive Vice President, The Management Group in Atlanta.

Paul Bergeron is a freelance reporter who covers the apartment industry for Thought Leadership Today. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.