How to Reach Student Renters on Social Media

College students live on their mobile devices, and many spend their time scrolling through social media outlets and watching videos. 

Student housing communities have a variety of options when it comes to digital marketing on popular social media platforms, but each platform has its own purpose and communication style that college students are familiar with. 

In this blog post, we’ll share several effective strategies of social media marketing specific to Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and YouTube so you can successfully reach your student renters with each of your student housing community social media accounts.



Instagram

1. Turning Social Media Into a Currency

If students can “buy” a coffee from giving your Instagram account a follow, liking a post, or tagging your account on a post, they probably would! 

You can partner with a local coffee shop that agrees to provide a certain amount of free drinks. For example, after a student makes a story post on their Instagram account that tags your apartment community’s account and the local coffee shop’s account, they can receive one free regular sized drink. 

When people tag your student housing social media account to receive their free drink, you’ll turn your social media presence into a currency that pays for more engagement with students and more traffic.

2. Using The School Mascot

Who doesn’t love a guest appearance of the school mascot on an Instagram post? If your school has a prominent mascot that everyone loves, use that to your advantage! 

Featuring the school mascot on your property’s Instagram is a fun way to relate to student renters that can ultimately create a stronger community connection.

Invite the school mascot over to social events to take pictures and have a good time with everyone; afterwards you can share these photos on Instagram when highlighting a fun resident event. 

3. Photos From Social Events

For many students, school and assignments aren’t the only thing they want to think about during their time at college. 

Your apartment property’s Instagram account is a great way to convey the message that your student housing community can provide a school/personal life balance by creating a space where students can socialize but also study and relax when it’s needed. 

Instagram photos highlighting fun events around the community, like movie nights or painting nights, can document memories to look back on and also gives a glimpse of your community’s fun and exciting atmosphere that potential student renters browsing through your Instagram account can see. 

Facebook

1. Posting Apartment Information

Few student renters keep up with their student housing community’s Facebook accounts; however, you can still post about standard apartment information such as floor plans and interior photos that would be helpful to any potential renter trying to learn more information about your apartment through social media. 

Facebook also has an about section where you can easily show important property information such as the address, phone number and office hours. 

While there may be less interaction with student users on your Facebook account, posting about your floor plans and interior features, for example, serves a significant purpose of giving important information in an easily digestible social post.

2. Posts For Parents

Parents are often involved in the search for the best off-campus apartment and sometimes also the ones to make the final decision. 

Even after leases are signed, parents may want to keep up with the apartment their child resides in. Parents want to make sure they made the right decision to let their child live on your property so showing off your apartment community on Facebook where parents are the more active users is the perfect way to reassure them! 

Your Facebook account can appeal to parents by posting about your community’s security features, parking spaces, or plentiful study spaces. You could also create announcement posts like renovation updates or reminders about an upcoming day off school because of a holiday. 

Snapchat

1. Branded Geofilters

Did you know that Snapchat allows you to design “geofilters” that are enabled when you’re at a specific location? 

Geofilters feature a filter overlay that appears when users swipe left or right on a photo taken with Snapchat’s camera. A branded geofilter that your student housing community creates can include the logo of your property or a fun and colorful illustration with the apartment name. 

If a Snapchat photo was taken at or near the student housing community, students can apply your branded geofilter onto their photo and share that to their story where all of their friends can see. Geofilters can be activated if there’s a special event, such as during a holiday party or during syllabus/back to school week. 

As a result, your community’s brand is pushed out organically and it becomes a fun way for student renters to show off your property! 

2. Location Stickers

Snapchat also has a library filled with “stickers” that users can choose to put on their photos, and one of them is the location sticker. The location sticker shows a pinpoint with a menu option of several names of locations near where the Snapchat photo was taken.   

Adding your apartment community’s name and location into Snapchat’s database allows your community to be discovered on the Snapchat map and is another way for students to organically bring awareness to your property. 

Tik Tok

1. Participate in Tik Tok Trends

Tik Tok stands out because of its interactive content that combines fast paced visuals with audio. Younger people like college students enjoy watching short 15 second videos like the ones on Tik Tok because they’re fun, easy to watch, and can even be informative.

To join in on this growing social media platform as an off-campus community, all you need to do is participate in one of the hundreds of trends created by average users that surface each week! 

Popular songs on Tik Tok usually have a dance or trending video format that goes along with it. You can ask some members of the leasing office team or community tour guides to participate in a fun dance for a “meet the staff” video. Or, you can incorporate information about floor plans, amenities, and community culture in a way that follows a video format for a popular song to show off your property. 

Tik Tok videos don’t have to be perfect – the unique appeal of Tik Tok is its authenticity! All you need is about 15 seconds of content and some creativity. When you’re done filming, remember to add some relevant hashtags in the caption.

2. Short Tour Videos

While Tik Tok videos are recommended for around 15 seconds in length, there’s still the option to create a video with a maximum length of 60 seconds. 

This is particularly useful for making short tour videos that highlight the best features of your community in a quick and enjoyable way. 

Take viewers around model floor plans or show off popular community amenities like the coffee bar, study areas, or fitness center. Make sure the clips are stable and filmed in good lighting, then add a song and some text pointing out what each area is. 

Thanks to Tik Tok’s “For You” page that curates videos based on user activity, there’s also a higher chance of discoverability for your apartment property. If student users have been browsing for videos relating to college room tours or college living, they may see your community’s tour video on their For You page without even following your account!

YouTube

1. Floor Plan Tours

Sometimes, the floor plan information on your website and interior photos on Instagram or Facebook just aren’t enough for potential student renters to get a clear idea of what your student housing apartment is like.

This is where YouTube becomes your best friend. With the ability to upload longer videos, you can create tours of specific floor plans (empty or furnished) that virtually take students around the inside of your property. 

Use these videos to highlight spacious rooms, unique features like walk-in closets, and amazing apartment amenities such as modern kitchen appliances and bathroom details. 

YouTube videos also allow you to provide links in the video description, so you can increase traffic to your apartment website if potential student renters become interested in leasing after watching your floor plan tours. 

2. Meet The Staff and Community Videos

Uploading a yearly “meet the staff” video helps put faces to the names of the wonderful people working at your student housing community. 

Introduce the leasing office team, say hello to the maintenance team, and even bring viewers around the different areas of the apartment community like the fitness center, study areas, or resident lounge. 

Videos like these can let potential student renters get an idea of what the atmosphere is like at your community and develop a closer relationship with the people at your property before even moving in!

That concludes our quick guide for using various strategies to reach student renters on different popular social media platforms! If you’re looking for more help with creating the best social media posts for your apartment community check out our blog post on What Makes a Good Social Media Post. 

Need more help with marketing for your apartment community? Our team of experts at REPLI can help – contact us today!