Pokemon Go has taken the world by storm.
Not even two days after its release, the augmented reality game was installed on more than 5 percent of all Android devices in the US. And if that doesn’t sound like much, consider the fact that Tinder – the wildly popular dating app – is installed on a little over 2 percent of US-based Android devices.
The impressive stats don’t stop at installs, either.
According to SimilarWeb, “the app was being used for an average of 43 minutes, 23 seconds a day, higher than Whatsapp, Instagram, Snapchat, and Messenger.” In terms of user engagement, Pokemon Go will soon have a higher percentage of active daily users than Twitter.
And here’s the best part: You can use Pokemon Go to build buzz about your apartment community!
How Does Pokemon Go Work?
Pokemon Go uses your phone’s GPS to place a digital realm on top of the physical world. Users are tasked with hunting the digital pokemon by visiting real world locations. Once a user is close enough to the pokemon, he or she can capture it by battling, similar to the original game.
Pokemon Go also features PokeStops and PokeGyms. PokeStops are select locations where you can collect items like eggs and additional Pokeballs, which you can use to capture more Pokemon. PokeGyms are locations where you can battle your pokemon against the pokemon of other players.
Using Pokemon Go to Advertise Your Apartment Community
You may not know it yet, but there are quite a few pokemon hiding out at your community. There might be a bulbasaur in your hedges, a squirtle in your pool, or a pikachu in the office microwave. And users who don’t yet have these pokemon are very interested in getting them.
So if you happen to see a rather lost-looking individual hanging around your property with their head in their phone, don’t scare them off: Embrace them! They’re only looking for pokemon. And you can use the opportunity to show them around your property!
If your community happens to be the home of a PokeStop, you have a particular advantage. PokeStops limit how many supplies a user can grab at one time. It takes five minutes for supplies to regenerate. So if a user wants to grab a lot of supplies, he or she will likely stick around and wait. And if you want to promote your community, you have an active audience for that five minute window.
Admittedly, this all sounds like a bit of a stretch. But countless businesses are already using this technique to draw customers and promote their products and services. And in the future, businesses may be able to buy certain status locations in order to lure more customers.
We should clarify right from that you’re unlikely to get extremely qualified leads from Pokemon Go. The users who visit your property aren’t looking for a new apartment. They’re looking for pokemon. But even if these people aren’t going to sign a lease tomorrow, it doesn’t hurt to show them around and build a little word-of-mouth buzz.
At the end of the day, when it comes to getting people excited about your apartment community and catching attentions, it pays to catch ‘em all.
