By now you’ve probably been exposed to “social” ads. You know, the ones you see popping up in your Facebook or Instagram feeds? Maybe even on Twitter? Even if you haven’t yet taken the leap and set up or run any ads for your specific property or location, you’ve probably at least seen an ad for some sort of product or service show up on your page or newsfeed (maybe you’ve even made a purchase from an ad - I’m personally a sucker for t-shirts with cute slogans and any “baseball mom” themed items. Ha!).

But whether you’re already running ads for your company, community, product or service or still just getting educated on where to even start, these awesome tips and insights from the 2017 Multfiamily Social Media Summit should help get you on the right track:

How in the world can we use ads to compete like a big brand? Think about it this way. Nike, for example has a huge, diverse audience. Young, old, sports enthusiasts, casual athletes, sports fans, men, women, children - the list goes on and on. However, in multifamily, our target market and demographic pools are much smaller. Yes, we rent to people of all ages and with many different backgrounds and interests, but all of our prospects have one thing in common - they are looking for an apartment. They are renters. They aren't condo shoppers or homeowners (yes, sometimes they overlap, but most of the time they are solely in the market for an apartment). Nike could only market to avid athletes - but how many people who like and wear their brand would they be leaving out? Plenty of people who aren’t athletes and who don’t like sports, still purchase and wear their brand. After all, everyone needs a comfy pair of shoes and a pair of sweats to put on when they get home from a long day at work - right? So essentially, Nike needs to market to everyone. We (in multifamly) - don’t. This is our advantage.

So how does this affect our social ads? Our multifamily advantage (having a more specific audience) allows us to dominate the social ad space. Our target audience is “Dallas, Texas” whereas as Nike’s target market is the entire world. In all likelihood, we probably know our target market better in this industry than Nike knows theirs. Ask any on-site team, and they can probably tell you any of the following about their residents (and ideal prospects):

• Age

• Who their friends are

• Where they hang out

• Who their favorite sports teams are

• Where they work

• What their hobbies are

We have a unique opportunity to create content for these hyper-local groups and to distribute it in our markets where we operate - through social advertising. And the beauty of it is we can implement it quickly and inexpensively. Here are a few other notable insights from the Multifamily Social Media Summit 2017 regarding online ads:

• Ads are the best outreach platform we have. Today’s best marketers are taking monies that were earmarked for printed materials, collateral and design and instead putting it towards social ads - with the same goals (product/community awareness), but with significantly better outcomes

• People look at their phone 110+ times per day - just another reason you should be using social ads to promote your community

• Google search ads are also effective, but keep in mind these types of ads are for a different part of the sales funnel (the top). Social ads are better suited for prospects who are a little further down the sales funnel (think conversions, top of mind awareness for your warm leads, targeting friends of residents)

• There are many types of ads you can run:

• Local awareness ads - targets prospects based on geo-location

• Lead generation ads - drives traffic to a website or more preferably, a landing page for the customer to then “sign up” for something (an offer, incentive, tour, giveaway)

• Clicks to website ads - structured as a pay per click to the site

• Brand awareness ads - structured so you’re paying for “reach”

• Offer claim ads - tabs to collect important information from the prospect (telephone number, email address and more) and in exchange for giving their information, they get an offer or exclusive savings (“claim your $10 Starbucks card when you tour XYZ apartments by 4/30/17”).

• Boosted posts - designed to get one of your page posts or announcements seen by a larger audience

• There are numerous ways you can target that hyper local audience:

• With zip codes, specific geographic locations

• With interests and hobbies

• With specific keywords

• With and through people (and friends of friends) who “like” your page

• Facebook also allows you to run ads and target customers based on age ranges, sex, income level and other factors, but do be sure you are following all Fair Housing laws, just as you would with any other form of marketing or advertising

• Retargeting (this is where you can use the prospect’s information you collected somewhere else, such as from your website) and use it to retarget them with an ad when they visit Facebook. This is the perfect way to stay in front of prospects who have emailed, called or toured - but haven’t yet rented

• Ad budgets can be as hefty or as economical as you like, but the most important thing to remember is even the most cash-strapped communities can afford to run ads. A smaller ad budget may only get your ad up and running for a day or two, so exposure would be more limited than if you had a healthier budget, but social ads are do-able for nearly any type of property (urban, suburban, affordable, new construction, renovation, garden, mid-rise, high-rise, senior, student)

• Always keep in mind how an apartment customer actually shops for an apartment. Running an ad for an apartment community is a much tougher sell than promoting a cute t-shirt design that’s $19.99. An apartment is a MAJOR purchase - so as marketers we have to be keenly aware that most prospects aren’t going to click on an ad where the main call to action is “rent now” or “apply today”. Remember, if you’re being smart about your ad audience, most of them should be renters or people who are interested in moving. So consider things you want them to do just to get them (and keep them) in your sales funnel. Get them to sign up for something (so you can collect their personal information and have a way to follow up or retarget them later on), give them an offer or incentive to schedule an appointment or to tour or give them a VIP pass to your next wine tasting or social event. Sure, a coupon for a free application fee is nice, but most prospects haven’t even gotten to that stage of the sales/rental process yet. Of course that’s a great offer - once they’ve already toured and you’re trying to close the deal. But it’s not really of much value to the prospects who are higher up in the sales funnel who are just starting their search. Make sure the content you’re highlighting and the calls to action you’re showcasing in your ads really makes sense for the prospect. If they’re just seeing your ad for the first time, the next logical thing we want them to do is to email you, call you, schedule a tour, learn more. Not “apply now” (that comes later with some retargeting)

• Once you start to run your ads, watch the metrics. Pay attention to which groups are engaging, what is working (and what isn’t) - because you can adjust as you go. That’s the other really fun “marketing” piece of this. How many other advertising streams can you just change or update, in real-time? What an advantage this is! You can actually review and comb through the data, update your targeted audience, key words, budget, copy and more!

Are you running social ads for your community yet? Have you tried it? If so, do you manage these in-house or do you look for vendors and other experts to help you maximize your spend and reach? Would love to hear how you all are managing the process...and how it’s working for you!