Generic vs. Multifamily-Specific Marketing Software: Is the Extra Cost Worth It?

Nobody wants to pay more for software than they have to. I don’t either. But after more than 20 years in multifamily marketing, I’ve learned that the cheapest software isn’t always the least expensive solution.

This is especially true when it comes to social media and reputation management.

There are plenty of inexpensive platforms that let you schedule social media posts, monitor reviews, and generate content using AI. They are very good at what they do. So why should an apartment owner or property management company pay more for software designed specifically for multifamily?

The answer comes down to what the software actually does for your property, how much time it saves your employees, and whether it helps you attract and retain residents.

At Respage, we’ve been developing social media and reputation management solutions for apartment communities since 2009. We’ve learned that there are some important differences between what a typical business and an apartment community needs. Those differences affect the technology we build, the integrations we maintain, and ultimately, what it costs us to deliver these services.

Social Media Should Do More Than Fill Your Content Calendar

All social media platforms can schedule posts to Facebook and Instagram. With AI, it’s easier than ever to generate captions, create images, and fill an entire month’s content calendar.

But is that really all that apartment communities need?

Your social media should help you lease apartments, not just keep your accounts active, and multifamily-specific platforms do a better job of that.

For example, one of the features we’ve built into Respage’s social media platform is the ability to automatically create posts featuring a community’s current apartment availability and leasing specials.

Think about how much work that eliminates.

Without an integration, someone has to check which apartments are available, find the current specials, create a post, and schedule it. When availability or promotions change, the team needs to update its content accordingly.

Multiply that process across 20, 50, or 100+ communities, and you’re talking about a significant amount of employee time.

Our platform does the work of collecting rents and concessions and creates posts about availability and specials automatically.

That doesn’t mean every post should be a sales pitch. Apartment communities still need engaging content about amenities, neighborhood attractions, and the lifestyle they offer. Our system automatically creates posts about these topics, too.

Reputation Management Requires More Than Monitoring Google Reviews

Reputation management is another area where generic software can look like a bargain until you examine what it actually covers.

Many reputation platforms focus primarily on Google, Yelp, and other review sites used across industries.

Those sites matter, but apartment communities have another set of platforms that are particularly important to prospective renters.

Consider Apartments.com.

A prospect might find your property on Apartments.com, read the reviews, compare your community with competitors, and make a decision about whether to schedule a tour.

If your reputation management platform doesn’t monitor the sites where renters are actually researching apartments, you’re missing an important part of the picture.

That’s why Respage invests in integrations with multifamily-specific platforms, including Apartments.com, in addition to general review sites.

These integrations aren’t free for us to develop and maintain. They require additional investments in technology, ongoing maintenance, and an understanding of how each platform works, but they’re essential to providing a complete reputation management solution for apartment communities.

If you use a generic review response platform, your team will still need to log into unsupported websites, check for new reviews, and manage responses separately. You may have purchased reputation management software, but your employees are still doing much of the work manually. That defeats a big part of the reason for buying the software in the first place.

Multifamily Software Should Understand How Property Management Companies Operate

There’s another difference that doesn’t always show up in a feature comparison.

Apartment communities aren’t typically managed like independent small businesses. A property management company might have dozens or hundreds of properties, with responsibilities divided among onsite employees, regional managers, and corporate marketing teams.

That creates requirements that a generic social media or reputation management platform may not handle particularly well.

For example, a regional manager needs to oversee reputation performance across multiple communities without logging into each account separately. A corporate marketing director may want consistent brand standards while allowing individual properties to contribute local content. Review responses may require different levels of approval depending on the issue.

At Respage, we’ve built our platforms around these needs, including property-, regional-, and portfolio-level permissions and reporting.

We also offer managed services for companies that don’t want their employees handling every aspect of social media and reputation management themselves.

Why Multifamily-Specific Software Costs More

I think it’s important to be transparent about this.

Developing software for one industry is more expensive than creating a general-purpose tool that serves thousands of different types of businesses.

We have to maintain (and pay for) integrations with property management systems, keep up with changes to multifamily listing and review platforms, and develop features that may only be useful to apartment operators.

A generic social media platform doesn’t need to understand apartment availability or leasing specials. A general reputation platform doesn’t necessarily need to integrate with Apartments.com.

Those are additional investments we make because we specialize in multifamily and want to make the best platform for our clients.

And while those investments may make our software more expensive than some alternatives, they can also reduce the amount of work our clients need to do.

Compare the Total Cost, Not Just the Subscription

When evaluating marketing software, I’d encourage property management companies to look beyond the monthly subscription price.

Ask yourself:

• Does the social media platform automatically incorporate current apartment availability and leasing specials, or will someone on my team need to create those posts manually?
• Does the reputation platform monitor the sites that matter to apartment renters, including multifamily-specific listing platforms?
• Can onsite, regional, and corporate employees manage multiple communities efficiently?
• How much time will our employees spend gathering information, creating content, and monitoring reviews?
• Are there additional services or software subscriptions we’ll need to purchase to fill the gaps?

Then put a value on that time.

If a less expensive platform saves you $50 per month but requires several additional hours of employee work, are you really saving money?

And that’s before considering the potential value of better marketing, more consistent posting of leasing promotions, and faster responses to resident reviews.

If you’re managing multiple communities, especially at scale, I strongly believe the advantages of multifamily-specific technology become much more significant.

The Right Software Should Save You Work, Not Create More of It

Since 2009, Respage has been building social media and reputation management solutions around the needs of apartment communities.

Our goal isn’t simply to give clients another dashboard. It’s to help them market their communities more effectively while reducing the amount of work required from their employees.

That means investing in features like automated availability and specials posts, multifamily-specific review integrations, portfolio management, and workflows that reflect how property management companies actually operate.

Those features cost us more to develop and maintain, but we believe they’re worth it because they deliver value that generic software often doesn’t.

If you’re comparing social media or reputation management platforms, I’d be happy to show you how Respage approaches these challenges.

Contact Respage to learn how our multifamily-specific marketing solutions can help your team save time and market your communities more effectively.