Overview
With more than one billion active users, Instagram is immensely important for brands, including apartment communities. Instagram is an entirely visual platform, making it an ideal social media service for properties to highlight the visual elements of their apartment communities, neighborhoods, and cities.
The REMM Group, a multifamily company based in California, recognized the power of Instagram as well as the work that’s involved in growing an account. So, the company devised a strategy to help the onsite teams of 39 apartment communities to develop a habit of posting more frequently.
At the heart of the contest was the Respage dashboard, which provided an easy way for teams to post content to Instagram without having to use their smartphones. The Respage dashboard also keeps track of postings, so the winning communities could be easily identified.
Approach
The REMM Group regularly hosts leasing contests that are very effective, so an Instagram competition seemed like a good fit. The company created a five-week Instagram posting contest consisting of one theme per week:
- Meet our team: Post a professional headshot of your team members, and write something interesting about each one.
- Landscaping: Post a photo of the flowers, trees and other landscaping in your community along with a description.
- Pets: If your community is pet-friendly, post pictures of residents’ pets enjoying life outside or indoors.
- Model or vacant apartment: Post a picture of a model apartment, mini-model, or vacant unit. Describe the apartment, detail the features, and any specials you currently have.
- Highlight a nearby attraction: Post a picture of a nearby park, landmark, shopping center, restaurant, bar, amusement park, museum, or hiking trail.
Properties could post as many times as they wanted, and each post equaled one chance to win prizes donated by the company’s vendors. Prizes ranged from $50 gift cards to the grand prize, $300 cash.
Rules
- Properties were required to post on Instagram using the Respage dashboard so that it could be tracked, and a team’s chances of winning could be tabulated.
- Be creative, yet professional.
- Always include #remmgroup to strengthen the company’s brand.
Outcome
Overall, The REMM Group experienced a sixfold increase in organic Instagram activity during the five-week period. Three weeks after the contest ended, a number of communities are still posting consistently, which shows that the company reached its goal of helping team members create a habit of posting to Instagram regularly.
By the Numbers
In five weeks, The REMM Group:
- Had a 6x increase in its overall organic Instagram activity
- Gained 65 new followers across all properties
- Captured 932 impressions for a single post
Conclusion
Managing an apartment community’s Instagram account successfully takes a lot of work, and organic growth can feel nearly impossible in such a crowded, competitive space. One of the most impactful things a Multifamily company can do is empower on-site teams to be part of the solution. Another is providing on-site teams with the tools that can help them succeed, like the Respage dashboard. Respage can help you leverage your apartment social media to create a stronger, more successful apartment community. Talk to us and learn how!
