When staging model units and common areas for spring apartment tours, everyone loves a good comeback story—so dust off the doldrums of winter, and bring on the spring cleaning and spring flowers to bring out the spring in your step. Keep things bright and cheery and the feeling will bubble over to affect your prospective residents.

Springtime is an important time to sign up new residents after the winter lull. This is particularly true if you live in a college town, and residents are starting to leave after their semester and lease is over. To make this season a success, make sure your model unit will fit the bill for your spring tours.

Staging with “Clean” in Mind

Clean is In
Skip the clutter for your spring apartment staging. Keep it minimal, clean, and cheery, and most of all: make sure the apartment is spotless and sparkling. This will keep your possible residents focused on what they need to be: the amenities, the spaces, and the way their own things will look in the space. 

Welcome with Style
Don’t forget the entry. Keep it clean, organized, and welcoming. If you can find a very light, natural fragrance, that can help a place feel clean and homey, as well. A green laurel wreath or a welcome mat and even a sweet little potted plant next to the door can turn drab into fab (and a simple tour into a signed lease).

Staging with Spring Flowers

These Are For You
Spring brings lots of florals to mind. You don’t need to go overboard with this one, but you can definitely have some fresh cut (bright!) flowers in a vase in the kitchen or on a sparsely-set kitchen or dining table. Choose flowers that won’t be too fragrant when your residents walk in. We’d recommend staying away from Oriental or Stargazer Lilies, but looking instead to Daffodils if available. Be sure to cut the stems and replace the water regularly to keep them looking fresh. Wondering about other options? Check this list for flowers that could work for your staging and are low-allergen or hypoallergenic.

Greenery=Life
If you can’t get fresh cut flowers, place some low-maintenance potted plants (or succulents) throughout the space to signify new life and greenery. Yes, April showers bring May flowers, and spring staging brings the outside in. If you’re able to pot a small herb garden in the kitchen, that will be a nice touch for any amateur chefs who have developed a taste for fresh flavors.

Pro-tip: Improve resident retention with an inexpensive gift: Find a small potted plant, such as a mini succulent or cactus, and put a little tag on it: “Have a spike-tacular spring!” for your new or renewing residents.

Staging with Color and Contrast

Happy Accents
Staging for spring definitely calls for color. Keep most of your apartment simple and neutral, and figure out what bright, happy colors could work well in your apartment: mustard yellow? Light blue? Verdant green? If it works, find an accent color within your branding, and bring it into the model unit to help the prospective resident have a fully immersive experience with your apartment community.

I Sense a Theme
As far as contrast goes, spread your colors out throughout the apartment so that they pop where they need to (so, don’t just put in some colorful throw pillows)! Find a space in each room that you can carry the theme with color. It doesn’t have to be the same, but it should feel related. It will give a better sense of “home” to anyone touring the unit.

Staging for Spring Dinner Parties

Host With the Most
The (big) holidays are over, and now it may be the time that your residents want to start hosting regular dinner parties. Set the table with wine glasses, simple plates and nice placemats (in your favorite spring-y color) to show how easy it will be to host in this new space. Make sure the living area also has some guest-friendly amenities, like a cocktail ottoman outfitted with a tray to hold happy hour beverages or a big bowl of popcorn for movie night. It’s certainly fun to go out, but it’s also a ton of fun to stay in with friends for a board game.

Spring Staging for Your Audience

Show it Off
Only you know who your desired (and current) residents are or should be. Think about the apartment from their perspective and be sure to address any pain points you have with your current residents, and fix it up for the tour, or be prepared to address them head-on during the tour. If you have a lot of students that live in your apartment community, stage a small desk area. If you’re focused on senior living, show off the spaces they can work on their hobbies, like quilting, scrapbooking, or even bird watching from the windows or deck.

Spring is a season we can all enjoy to the fullest—especially if we have a wonderful place to live. Show off your units with spring staging that will convince your prospective residents that this is the place where they can finally bloom.

The multifamily market is competitive. If your metrics just aren’t cutting it, it might be time to start looking for answers—and evaluating your marketing strategy for common digital marketing mistakes is a good place to start. 

While marketing may seem like a small detail compared to day-to-day operations and maintaining resident happiness, it’s actually an integral component of keeping things running smoothly in your community. Marketing attracts prospective residents, helps to increase resident retention, and increases your brand recognition in the broader community for a plethora of invaluable benefits. But if you already know the importance of marketing and aren’t seeing the payoff, you could be falling victim to a few common pitfalls.

Learn more about the biggest digital marketing mistakes multifamily communities are making with their digital marketing efforts and how you can avoid them for more effective strategies.

Not Prioritizing Branding & Design 

While your logo, website, and brand colors may seem like a small detail, it’s actually a factor that makes a big impact. Your branding should appear on every piece of marketing material you create, from flyers to direct mail postcards to your social media profiles. It’s an effective way for you to increase your brand awareness, drive recognition, and start to build a relationship with your current and prospective residents.

Instead of using a generic design, consider creating a logo and community branding that is influenced by your community’s design aesthetic. If you have a sleek and modern space, your logo should match. If your community is bright and colorful, on the other hand, consider branding that is more playful and fun. No matter which approach you choose, you should be consistent with using it across all of your marketing from emails to social media to your website to ensure a cohesive, professional, and polished look that will instantly set you apart from your competitors.

Not Creating a Strong Digital Presence 

While the multifamily industry can sometimes be viewed as “old-school,” it’s important for communities to stay on top of their digital presence to attract renters. Nearly half of all renters are millennials and nearly 30% are of Gen Z. These digitally native groups were raised with the internet, smartphones, and social media at their fingertips. As a result, their natural inclination is to start their search for everything—including their next home—online. 

From apartment listing services like Apartments.com to Instagram and TikTok profiles, crafting a strong and recognizable point of view for your community across digital channels is pivotal to attracting prospective residents—but simply creating profiles isn’t enough. Sharing unique content regularly across these different marketing channels shows everything that your community has to offer. Engaging videos, social media series that you post regularly every week, and well-designed websites are all can’t-miss elements of a comprehensive and effective marketing strategy. Don’t undervalue the impact they can make on your lease-up rates and resident retention.

Targeting the Wrong Audience

The digital world is vast. But just because someone is a user on Instagram or visited your website, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re the right person to target as a prospective resident. Defining your ideal audience is one of the first steps you should take to create a well-rounded and effective marketing strategy.

No matter how amazing your marketing is, if you’re targeting the wrong audience, you’ll never be effective. If your community is filled with young, single renters, for example, but your marketing efforts are targeting families, you’ll likely not be able to see the results you’re looking for.

Defining your target audience includes identifying demographic information like age, gender, and income, but also their psychographics, like their values, priorities, and hobbies. To get started, take a look at your existing residents and the apartment’s location. There’s a good chance that patterns will start to stand out. Maybe your community is filled with young professionals climbing the corporate ladder of companies headquartered nearby. Maybe it’s popular among empty-nesters or retirees. Whatever the case, create an avatar of the people that you’re trying to reach with your marketing efforts so you can better define what success looks like.

Using the Wrong Channels to Communicate

Once you’ve defined the right audience, it’s time to also evaluate which marketing channels you’re using. Younger demographics tend to gravitate toward social media like TikTok and Instagram, while older audiences use channels like Facebook. Email marketing is a great tool you can use to reach a wide range of audiences, always consider tailoring your messaging to the things your audience cares about. 

If you have a lot of corporate employees, a communal workspace like a business center could be a key selling point. For young families, on the other hand, an outdoor playground would be a must-have amenity for prospects. Think strategically about who you’re talking to, how to reach them, and exactly what to say to make your marketing more effective and to avoid any major digital marketing mistakes. 

If you’re ready to level up and want to avoid the common pitfalls that multifamily communities make with their marketing, it could be time to enlist the experts. At zipcode creative, we’ve worked with communities all over the country to totally transform their branding approach.

Get in touch today to learn more! 

Areum social graphic is ©Fairfield Residential  |  Work executed by Stacey Feeney, owner of zipcode creative, while under creative direction and employment at Fairfield Residential.

Handling negative comments on social media is as important for managing your online reputation as social media is key in marketing your apartment community. Social media is great for leveraging leasing incentives, showcasing available units, or promoting upcoming events. But how and when to respond to mean, rude, or upset comments is an even more important factor. Respond too quickly to a disgruntled commenter and you risk not having enough information or too much emotion. Respond too slowly and your social media audience will critique you for being—you guessed it—unresponsive. Social media is a great tool, but sometimes good things can go bad. Keep things on the sunny side with a few extra tips.

Let’s go over the right steps to take when handling negative comments on social media:

Before Handling Negative Comments

It’s Not Fight or Flight

Take a deep breath and calm your nervous system.

Know Your Audience

Is this person a resident, applicant, or not attached to the community? Know where they are in the “funnel” so you can address the problems in the right way. 

If it’s an internet troll (someone who is there to just disrupt your business and harass your company) take the appropriate steps. Report or flag the comment and block the account for bullying/harassment. Let the social media “police” take it from there.

Don’t Take it Personally

You represent a brand, not your person, on this social media account

Do Your Research

Ask your colleagues or manager if this problem has come up before. How has it been addressed? Quickly email your coworkers to find out if it’s been addressed or is in the process of being addressed so you can give those details (or some of those details) to the commenter.

While Handling Negative Comments

Apologize

That’s if you’re aware you did something wrong. Or if they’re upset. Sometimes a simple “I’m sorry this happened” can diffuse the situation and make the commenter feel heard.

Customer Service to the Rescue

Just responding through a comment shows off your best customer service through visibility and kindness. When you are responding, lay out the steps you’ll take to address it, even if it’s a simple: “I’m going to check in with our manager to make sure this never happens again.”

Get in Touch

Give the commenter a contact method off of social media: a phone number or email so they can take steps to contact you a different way. Be expecting that call or email so you can respond immediately and continue to fix the problem.

Ask Questions

Saying “when did this happen?” can be helpful in determining whether it needs to be fixed right away, is a recurring problem, or has just come to light recently. This will help you address the problem appropriately. It also gives the commenter the idea (which should be correct) that you’re actively working to find a solution.

Freebies

If the situation calls for it, give the dog a bone—offer a rent credit or a free gift by way of apology. For example, you can give the resident a gift card to a local coffee shop, and tell them that the coffee is on you! If an apology + $5 or $10 can keep a resident happy, do it.

After Handling Negative Comments

Follow Up if Necessary

Check back in with the commenter via DM, or if you have their contact info, take the opportunity to follow up within a week or two of the resolution

Investigate

Put your detective glasses on. Look into the root of the issue that was brought up so it won’t be a recurring problem.

Move On

Know that once you’ve done your best, there’s nothing more you can do. Hopefully all these steps helped resolve the issue, but sleep easy knowing that some people can’t be pleased!

Extra Tips on Social Media Reputation Management

If you’re struggling on social (even beyond negative comments), use zipcode to help you craft your feed to keep it light and breezy, with plenty of lead generation. Social graphics and social posts are our jam. If you’re not on social media, jump in! (It’s not as scary as we made it sound.) It’s actually a lot of cute animals and entertaining videos–speaking of which, check out our blog on creating videos that will be a hit on your social media.

Still need a few extra tips on social media reputation management? We got you.

Have responses in your notes section, with some customizable areas. Double check that everything is correct before you post it. This can help you have “go to” phrases that will make your response faster, while giving you a semi-scripted way to address the problem (removing emotion a bit, is always helpful–while still allowing some empathy to come through.)

Post regularly. Don’t be an absentee social media account. This will keep your audience coming back to see what else may be going on–whether it’s a resident event or a new lease incentive. If you’re having trouble figuring out what to post, create a social calendar, and schedule it out using graphics or photos straight from zipcode creative!

Tap into existing real estate trends to promote your community on this booming social platform, TikTok.

While marketing on social media channels like Facebook and Instagram has become the norm for multifamily communities, it’s important to not just do what you know works—but to explore new platforms to expand your audiences. 

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms, with 1 billion active users as of January 2022. Over 150 million videos are streamed per minute, making it a practical way for you to expand your content creation and make a name for yourself on a new platform. It’s also a strategic area of expansion for multifamily communities. With 40% of renters under the age of 35, targeting a young Millenials and Gen Z demographic is vital to leasing up faster and generating buzz about your apartments. Nearly half of TikTok users are between the age of 20-39, giving you a practical place to better connect with your target market. 

TikTok is already chock-full of real estate trends, so there’s an ongoing conversation that you can easily insert yourself into instead of starting from scratch. Try jumping into these existing categories to speak to a younger demographic and expand your audience on this new, popular platform.

Apartment Tours

Property tours have taken off in popularity on TikTok. Accounts like @aarongrushowhomes showcase luxury properties and give people an up-close-and-personal look at how the other half live. But it’s not a trend reserved exclusively for multi-million dollar properties. Use TikTok as an opportunity to show off your available apartments, creating a dynamic and exciting way to view a community that goes beyond looking at listing photos online. That way, you clean lease-up faster and reach an even larger audience for a win-win approach.

Show not only empty, available units, but consider giving a tour of your staged model units, too. That way, your audience will get the full experience of what it could be like to live in your community, understand all of the decor and layout possibilities, and better be able to envision themselves in the space. 

Inside Your Amenities 

When it comes to virtual tours on TikTok, don’t just stop at your apartment units. Instead, start giving the inside scoop on your amenity spaces, too. From your resort-style pool, sundeck, and grilling areas to the top-of-the-line gym, it’s your time to show off! Consider creating an entire amenity series, and show a different area of your property each week. Viewers will start to expect and look forward to your content, which can help generate buzz about your community. 

Tips & Tricks

On TikTok, it’s common for people to follow experts in their field to learn more about a certain subject or for advice or insights in certain areas. TikTok-famous veterinarians, fashion designers, and other subject matter experts have amassed huge followings thanks to their helpful insights and accessible tips and tricks. 

Use this trend to your advantage and start creating content that offers helpful hints for your residents and prospects. From what to look for when you’re apartment hunting to how to make a rental unit feel like your own, there are endless opportunities for you to educate renters and highlight your expertise in the multifamily space. You can even open up the comment section to your followers and have them share their tips, too, to create more of a two-way conversation that helps to develop your online community. 

A Day in the Life

Using your social media platforms to share more about your daily life is an easy and engaging way to connect with prospects and existing residents. Use your TikTok to showcase a “day in the life” content from your staff, like your property manager or maintenance technician. You could also crowdsource content from residents to recreate a realistic look of what it’s like to live in your community. Consider making it a weekly or monthly series so your followers get not just a one-time look, but an ongoing opportunity to learn more about the real daily happenings in your community.