Learning to embrace the power of photography and contests on the world's largest social network.
If a picture alone is worth a thousand words, what's a picture in a social post worth? Quite a bit, apparently, based on Campus Apartments' ability to capitalize on its student residents' Facebook engagement.
Student housing provider Campus Apartments is constantly looking for ways to engage and market to its core demographic through initiatives that reach students where they spend the majority of their time-on their smartphones and through social media.
According to Pew Research Center, 82 percent of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Facebook, which is strongly aligned with the company's target demographic. Interestingly, among all social media platforms, including Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat, Facebook users are most engaged, with 70 percent of users reporting a daily log-in and 43 percent logging-in several times a day.
Of all the strategies at the company's disposal, certain tactics seem to be bearing serious fruit.
Visual Property Pages
Photo and video play a prominent role in how communities position their brand, as well as the property culture and lifestyle. According to industry research, Facebook posts containing photography receive 650 percent higher engagement than text-only posts, and posts with video content attract triple the link-clicks than text-only posts.
Campus Apartments recently completed photoshoots that include images of each property to truly showcase the student housing experience. Campus Apartments is heavily focused on increasing social engagement by leveraging video content, and recently launched an internal "Go Viral Video Contest," where communities at the property-level produced short videos highlighting the properties' best features and benefits, such as state-of-the-art amenities and spacious floorplans, in order to increase levels of engagement.
The winner of this contest was the video posted by Campus Crossings Lafayette located near the University of Louisiana. During the course of the one-week contest, which began June 14, the Campus Crossings Lafayette video received 2,600 views and 86 likes, demonstrating strong social engagement on the property's Facebook page. The contest led to 190 leads and, of those, 92 resulted in property tours. In addition, leasing at the property from June 1 to July 1 increased 15 percent as compared to the month prior when the property did not feature a video contest.
The properties that did not win the contest also had strong social engagement results with Campus Crossings Star Pass' video receiving 2,019 views and 67 likes; Campus Crossings Riverside's video receiving 1,692 views and 84 likes; and Venue at Northgate's video receiving 1,044 views and 55 likes.
Property-Level Lead Generation Contests
In addition to leveraging video and photo content on Facebook, utilizing targeted social media campaigns, contests and sweepstakes remain a priority for attracting and retaining student residents. Facebook has generally been the largest and most mainstream social media outlet for the company's residents because of its audience size and familiarity.
By holding a contest on Facebook, communities can ask for additional contact information in exchange for contest entry. Communities also can require contest participants to submit original photos and videos and require participants to refer a number of friends to the contest for the entry to be considered, providing potential leads.
Throughout the course of the year, Campus Apartments' communities hold various Facebook contests with the goal of increasing engagement as well as promoting the communities to potential residents. Because of the appeal of visual social media content, communities often hold contests asking residents to share photos of the property for a chance to win prizes.
The winner of one recent Facebook photo submission contest was from Campus Crossings Statesboro, located near Southern George University. The photos posted on Facebook reached 7,051 people and acquired 131 likes. Additionally, Campus Crossings Brightside, located near Louisiana State University, Southern University and Baton Rouge Community College, experienced strong engagement results with its photo submission competition, reaching 6,221 people and acquiring 119 likes, comments and shares. During the course of this contest, the property acquired 340 leads, of which 126 took tours of the property as compared to the month prior when there were only 188 leads and 31 tours.
With incredibly high engagement statistics resulting in lead generation and proven results, video as well as social media-based contests and sweepstakes will continue to play an increasingly important role in the firm's marketing strategy. Campus Apartments will continue to expand these contests to different mediums and platforms, including Snapchat, where it will encourage prospects or residents to "snap" a picture of their apartment or of themselves at the community to the handle and receive a gift card in return. n
Kate Grasso is Vice President of Leasing and Marketing at Campus Apartments.
Keep Climbing the Social Ladder
Want more great student housing-focused content? Save the date for the 2017 NAA Student Housing Conference & Exposition, February 14-15 in Chicago. If digital media is your bag, you'll be glad you didn't miss this event-with sessions from 2016 like "How to Rock the Online Reputation Race" and "Internet for Residents: Get it Right," you're guaranteed to hear the latest and greatest from the best experts the industry has to offer. Be in the know: Registration is now open at www.naahq.org/SHC.