Some apartments have gone viral on TikTok, like the secret apartment hidden behind a bathroom mirror, or the apartment with a shower in the living room.
But when it comes to marketing an apartment community to potential renters, is TikTok a viable option?
If your competitors are on TikTok, you should be as well. And if your competitors aren’t, you should be the first. In other words, now is the time to take advantage of this fast-growing, mega-popular platform, which has more than one billion users per month.
In this post, we’ll go over the current trends in TikTok apartment marketing that could score you a viral moment of your own.
Why TikTok?
About 47 percent of active TikTok users are 29 or under. These user demographics align with that of apartment residents, making it a compelling opportunity to reach the people who are most likely to be searching for an apartment.
Further, the average TikTok user spends 46 minutes per day on the app, with the sound on. This is huge in the marketing world, and it’s a significant shift away from how videos are consumed on Facebook and Instagram.
Finally, no special equipment or knowledge is needed to be successful on TikTok. The app is designed to be very user-friendly, making it possible for anyone with a smartphone to create fun, interesting videos.
TikTok apartment marketing basics
When getting started on #apartmenttok, find real estate and lifestyle accounts that are creating content that you like so you can get a feel for how others in your niche are using the app. You can simply capture some compelling apartment video and photos, sync them up to upbeat music, add text or voiceover effects with the details of each unit, and include some relevant hashtags. Here are a few ideas for apartment videos that should be easy to execute:
- A tour of each amenity
- Tours of all available units
- A video highlighting dogs that live in your community
- Quick interviews of your team
TikTok apartment marketing trends for 2022
After you learn how the algorithm and app features work, you might want to take things up a notch. In order to grow your apartment community’s TikTok presence, you need to stay on top of what’s currently trending on the app. Read on to learn about trends to be aware of this year so you can turn TikTok into a lead-generating channel for your apartment community.
Try TikTok influencer marketing
TikTok is filled with influencers. The key is to partner with an influencer whose audience fits your apartment community, then have them create content focused on your community that they feel would best suit their audience. Working with an influencer is like working with a contractor—you tell them what you are looking for, and you can approve the content before it gets posted.
Given the explosion in this space in the last few years, it’s not too difficult to find influencers who would be willing to work with you to promote your apartment community. You might even have one living in your community right now.
But you don’t need to have a TikTok influencer as a resident to do this. Do some digging on the app to find influencers who are local, then offer to host them for a few days. Beforehand, you can go over your vision for the partnership and what kinds of videos you’d like them to create, how many, and compensation.
Do a resident takeover
A resident takeover can be a fun way to add some personality to your TikTok presence. The way it works is you turn over your TikTok account to a resident of your apartment community who you trust and allow them to create and post videos for a certain period of time—24 hours, for example. If the resident doing the takeover has a large following of their own, you may get more views and followers as a result.
The difference between working with an influencer and having a resident do a takeover is creative control. During a takeover, you hand the reins over to the resident, while influencer marketing is more planned and intentional.
To find a resident to do a takeover, post about it on your social accounts and send an email to your residents explaining the process and offering something in return, like a gift card. If you have a bona fide influencer living in your community, you can propose a takeover in exchange for something more significant, such as a percentage off the following month’s rent.
Jump on current TikTok trends
It seems meta to say that following a TikTok trend is, well, a trend. But the TikTok universe is all about what’s trending in terms of sounds, effects, and filters. The TikTok algorithm is designed to reward videos that use certain trending sounds, effects, or filters. These videos have a greater chance of success because they’re shown to other users who also enjoy that trend. The Discover page makes it easy to find what’s currently trending.
When you find a trending element that you can adapt to apartment living, just tap the tagged sound, effect or filter to take a look at how other creators have used it in their videos. Then tap Try this Effect or Use this Sound and start filming.
Keep in mind that TikTok moves quickly, so you have to do so, too. Once a trend hits the Discover page, you only have 3-5 days to create content based on it. After that, the app becomes so saturated with that trend and it becomes difficult to stand out.
Find success on TikTok
By creating a presence on TikTok, you’re meeting your future apartment residents where they are. The overlapping demographics of TikTok users and apartment renters make it a compelling social media platform for Multifamily marketing. Apartment communities are just beginning to gain traction on the app, so it could be a good time to see what you can do with it.
TikTok is just one piece of the puzzle for successful social media marketing, and we can help you organize it all. With the Respage Social Management dashboard, you can plan and schedule all of your social content (including TikTok) in one easy-to-navigate dashboard. Click the button below to learn more.
