The student housing industry is set to see a rise in competition as new supply hits the market. Yardi forecasts 46,285 new beds will be added by the end of 2024, a 30% increase from the 35,610 beds delivered in 2023.

As the demand for student housing is tampered with by rising supply and increasingly cost-conscious families, how you market and position your student property will be more important than ever in the years ahead.

If you’re tasked with leasing student properties in high-supply markets and aren’t meeting your expected targets, here are five marketing strategies you can apply to ramp up pre-leasing activity.

Optimize Keyword Targeting in Paid Search

Paid Search advertising is highly effective for reaching prospects actively in the market for student housing. With one of the highest lead conversion rates, traffic from this channel tends to be the most qualified. To get the most out of this channel,  ensure you have a tight keyword strategy in place to avoid wasting ad dollars on really broad search terms if you are in a highly competitive multifamily market. Consider increasing your search budgets during seasons when your two buying personas tend to search more (November and March for parents, then spring and summer months for students) and adjust your location targeting accordingly.

Reach Students Living Near Campus With Hyper-Local Targeting Strategies

Increase your brand awareness among current students with local targeting strategies. While state and national targeting is typically the most effective location targeting strategy for reaching parents and incoming freshmen, local targeting can be an effective way to increase leasing activity among college students looking for new accommodations for the next semester or school year. When it comes to local search optimization, maintaining an up-to-date Google Business Profile can be key to increasing visibility in Google Maps and local search listings in Google. In addition to optimizing your Google Business Profile, consider leveraging radius targeting in Display and Paid Social advertising to ensure your property is discoverable throughout the school year.

Increase Visibility With Social Media Advertising

Social media is important to students. They use it as a source of information and as a way to connect with family and friends. 

Simply publishing content on social media, however, means running the risk of reaching audiences that are not interested in off-campus housing. Invest in ads so you can make use of targeting options such as location and interests that guarantee you’re reaching your buyer personas. Consider advertising on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to ensure you’re reaching as many interested people as possible. While Facebook is widely used by Gen X parents, Instagram and TikTok cater to both students and younger parents. YouTube spans both of these age groups.

With 2.9 billion monthly active users, YouTube exposes your ads to a wide range of audiences but can be coupled with keyword targeting to ensure your ads are sure to reach a high-intent audience.

Leverage the Rise of Connected TV Popularity

Another video platform that is gaining popularity is Connected TV, especially for those within your current student and parent age groups. As more households get an Internet-connected TV device (87%), CTV usage is projected to be at 110 million among Gen Z and millennials. The good news for marketers is that almost 75% of these CTV viewers say they don’t mind watching ads on CTV as long as content remains free over paying for ad-free content. Non-skippable and with impressive targeting capabilities based on viewing habits, interests, and demographics, CTV ads are highly personalized and can, therefore, offer high conversion potential.

“Sell” the Right Lifestyle Messaging

One of the reasons students opt for off-campus housing is that it’s more private, it’s less chaotic than in-campus dorm life, and it offers more freedom. Highlight how your student housing can provide all of these – and more – to the student prospects. Talk about your amenities and how convenient their student life will be living in one of your units. Make these pieces of information known by publishing them on your social media channels and website.

Set Your Property Up For Success in a Competitive Market

While the reopening of schools has brought back a consistent flow of students seeking accommodation, the competitive landscape underscores the importance of strategic marketing efforts. By implementing targeted strategies such as local targeting, social media advertising, video advertising, paid search, and emphasizing lifestyle benefits, property owners can effectively position their offerings to attract discerning students and parents. In an increasingly competitive market, differentiation through effective marketing will be key to maximizing occupancy and profitability in the student housing sector.

Let us help you shape your student housing marketing strategy. Book a call today.

The post Student Housing Marketing Strategies to Turn Around Occupancy Quickly appeared first on Conversion Logix.

Making a housing decision for college can be an exciting and sometimes stressful experience for college students and their families. While each purchasing journey is unique, the process typically involves these recurring buyer personas. 

Student Buyer Personas vs. Parent Buyer Persona

• Solo-Student Buyer: This segment of the student housing audience is made up of independent students who play a central role in the research and decision-making process. These students are often the ones funding their housing experience and are more likely to be proactive.
• Co-Decision Makers: This segment is students who are co-decision-making with their parents. The parents are just as important to convince in the selling process as the student and are likely to search for housing earlier and be more proactive than the student. 
• How They Differ: While students making purchase decisions on their own exhibit similar buying behavior to students who are making a decision with their parents, the way parents shop in the buying process differs a lot more. The generational differences play a role in the way these two audiences shop online as well as what they are looking for from the housing experience. 

In this blog post, we will share our expertise in developing advertising strategies that effectively reach both students and parents in the student housing buying process.

Budget Allocation

We find that parents search earlier in the purchase journey between the months of November and March as opposed to most Gen Z college students, who are more likely to look around the spring and summer months. Knowing this, you can plan your marketing strategy and budget accordingly. 

More often than not, marketers have to work within the budget they have and reallocate instead of increasing spend. If this situation sounds familiar, you can get the most out of your marketing investment by knowing when parents and students are searching and how best to reach them. With these insights, you can change your marketing mix throughout the year to maximize your reach and ensure you are meeting all the buyers while staying on budget.

Understanding Gen Z College Students

When it comes to marketing to the latest generation of college students, here’s what we know about their buying behavior and how it affects the way they shop for housing.

1. Gen Z turns to social media vs. traditional search engines like Google when they are making purchase decisions.
2. Gen Z expects immediate communication from brands and will drop out of the purchase journey if they have to wait.
3. Gen Z is more likely to text than email.

Our Recommended Marketing Strategies for Reaching Students

Short-Form Video

The best way to drive massive brand awareness even through advertising is TikTok, followed by Instagram Stories and YouTube. Once those bases are covered, we encourage clients to expand into connected TV ads leveraging the assets they have from other campaigns.

With Gen Z, short, fast-paced video content on the platforms they spend the most time on is the best way to build awareness.

Social media influences their purchase behavior, and we see this when looking at website data. A lot of organic search activity is driven by students seeing a community name on social, through Display ads, or somewhere else, and then they type the name into Google and click on an organic listing.

SEO

This leads us to another area we think student housing communities should focus on, SEO. Gen Z doesn’t always click on ads to get places, they are more likely to be subliminally influenced and then seek it out later. Making sure your community is visible when they do search for it online is important to get the most out of your brand strategies. Once you drive the demand, you need to be discoverable so you can capture it.

As important as the process above is, driving website traffic isn’t your only job when it comes to building a Gen Z marketing strategy. Delivering real-time information to this audience once they start asking questions is critical.

Live Chat & Automation

We’ve found that Live Chat, SMS opt-ins, gating virtual tours with automation, and providing real-time tour scheduling for in-person tours help our clients convert anonymous website traffic into leads they can follow up with and nurture. 

Proactive Lead Generation

Another critical part of this strategy is building a waitlist. Considering how the student housing industry typically leases, you may have students looking months out for future accommodations. Creating a call to action for this on your site and automating the creation of an interest list is key to pre-leasing way ahead of the next semester.

Understanding Parents of Gen Z College Students

1. Unlike Gen Z, their parents are more likely to see ads on Facebook or Instagram than TikTok. 
2. This audience searches for student housing at a different time of year than Gen Z.
3. When they search, they start with Google, as opposed to a social search engine, and will click on ads in the results to find the information they are looking for.

Our Recommended Marketing Strategy for Reaching Parents

The parents of today’s college students are primarily Gen X and turn to different platforms for information and entertainment online.

Facebook and Instagram

Facebook and Instagram video feed ads are an effective strategy for reaching the parent audience online. With its wide Gen X user base, Facebook serves as a go-to destination for parents. This audience utilizes the platform to connect with other parents, join relevant groups, and access helpful resources for their college-bound child. Instagram, with its visually appealing content, is also popular among Gen X parents, providing a glimpse into the college experience and allowing them to follow university accounts or student organizations from the student and university perspective. 

Google Search 

Google Search plays a crucial role as parents turn to this search engine powerhouse to find specific information about student housing options, nearby amenities, and safety ratings. While local and brand SEO is important to optimize for and can often yield strong results, it can be challenging to appear organically for searchers looking out of state at a university. Paid Search is a valuable addition to a community with a competitive budget to stay ahead of the competition and in front of parents.

Master Student Housing Marketing 

The most important thing to remember about student housing marketing is to not set and forget it. Marketing to this audience is more complex than traditional multifamily housing marketing. There are multiple buyers involved, changing timelines with shorter leases, and differences in where and how these buyers shop. Combine this with a limited budget and high leasing expectations in an increasingly competitive market, and it’s obvious that today’s student housing marketers have to be agile and strategic to succeed. 

Want more? Become a master marketer in the student housing industry with these resources:  

Are you ready to work with student housing marketing experts who can deliver qualified traffic to your community? Let’s talk! Schedule a call to learn about our services and solutions.

The post Seasonal Marketing Strategies for Student Housing to Stay Ahead of the Competition appeared first on Conversion Logix.

During our webinar with Student Housing Business, “You Have Eight Seconds: How to Market Student Housing in 2023,” we received insightful questions from the audience about ad targeting, TikTok, chat services, and marketing attribution. (If you haven’t had a chance to watch that webinar, click here to watch the recording.) 

In this blog, two of our speakers, Kat Callender, Conversion Logix’s resident student housing marketing expert, and Andrew Cederlind, our President and COO, answered all of your pressing student housing marketing questions. Let’s dive into the Q&A to discover their tips and strategies. 

Digital Advertising

Question: What is the best practice for creating video content for TikTok?

Andrew: Take high-quality photos and videos and then use an agency that can turn that into an engaging ad that speaks to your community. Keep it simple, and don’t try to overcomplicate it with influencers.

Question: Our off-campus student housing is trying to do paid ads through Facebook/Instagram. We want to capture the audience in our area, but Facebook/Instagram rejects us when doing so, and it wants us to promote to the entire United States. Do you have any insight on paid ads and how we can target our area?

Andrew: When you properly categorize the ads and follow ad targeting rules, you should be able to run the ads with more location targeting options. If your ads are getting rejected, it could be because you are selecting targeting options that aren’t recommended or allowed. I recommend working with an agency that specializes in EHO and student housing paid social to ensure you are doing this correctly. 

Question: What is the best way to submit an ad for targeted student population housing ads on Instagram and have it not get rejected? And, under what category? 

Andrew: They should be categorized under housing ads and follow the EHO rules.

Question: How do you deal with the targeting limitations for housing ads, specifically in the special ads category on social media platforms (Instagram/Snapchat) and the limited targeting of TikTok? 

Andrew: We do this in several ways. One of the primary strategies we use is to focus on targeting prospects with intent to purchase or an interest in student housing. We use a variety of interest and behavior targeting strategies to do this. TikTok is great for this because it is more granular than most other forms of advertising and has a large college-aged audience. In addition to interests, we get strategic with location targeting, and with the platforms and placements we choose to advertise on. We run ads on TikTok and Instagram Stories when we want to be discovered by students and Facebook to make sure our ads also reach their parents.

Question: How much do you use GeoFencing to capture who has been at your property? Is it worthwhile?

Kat: During the height of the pandemic, we didn’t use it much as it was harder to pinpoint prime locations for its use, and most touring was virtual. Now that schools are fully back in class and on campus, the school’s location can be a great choice for geofencing to capture students looking to move off campus for the first time or to encourage previous off-campus dwellers to visit your property. We’ve been adding Precision Mobile Targeting Plus more frequently to properties we work with.

Prospect Communication

Question: What do you recommend for our on-site leasing teams to implement to be authentic in replying to Messenger inquiries, texting, phone calls, and emails? We have leasing team members responding to Messenger messages by asking them to call the leasing office when they reached out by digital text/form. A lost opportunity to reach people on the platform they started the convo. What do you recommend for better conversations with students who have reached out primarily via text/forms?

Kat: I recommend having someone dedicated to SMS conversations. Part of what makes live chat so attractive is the quickness of response. They do not want to be told to call the leasing office. Gen Z has grown up entirely in the digital/social age and spent most of their high school and early college life on Zoom due to Covid, this is how they feel comfortable. Being able to accommodate this is critical to winning their buy-in.

Question: Is there a live chat that you recommend? I’ve tried out a few that seem more geared towards multi-family instead of student housing.

Andrew: We have a 24/7 managed live chat service that performs well with a 75% chat-to-lead conversion ratio. It also includes real-time translation into 40+ languages which is great for international students.

Marketing Attribution

Question: How do you attribute leads to digital advertising?

Kat: Through MatchBack reporting with The Conversion Cloud® and Live Chat, we were able to cross-reference leases in a year vs. the leads that engaged with the applications on the client’s website. This resulted in an 11% to 22% conversion rate per property.

Question: Can the panelist share something they did (TikTok, ad, etc.) that had a measurable ROI? 

Kat: We designed a video ad for a student housing property showcasing imagery of their apartment interiors and copy about the types of apartments they have available. These were their results over four months:

• 1,176,434 ad impressions
• 14,718 watched the video 100%
• 1,870 ad clicks
• 13 leases attributed at this time

This is how we were able to identify the ad’s impact on leasing:

1. We identified a lift in organic website traffic correlated with the ad campaign.
2. We launched our lead generation application, The Conversion Cloud®, on the client’s website. This allowed the team to collect the names, emails, and phone numbers of students who scheduled a tour or signed up to join the waitlist. 
3. In our Conversion Cloud® platform, we have attribution reporting that lets you see if they clicked an ad or searched organically to get to the website before converting. We were able to upload a resident list for this community and identify matches between the lead list and the leases through MatchBack, our lease attribution feature.

Question: What is a typical/average new tenant acquisition cost in the student housing industry, as far as marketing/advertising cost per new tenant who signs a lease? $300 to $500 per new tenant? 

Kat: Based on the MatchBack report we ran vs. the monthly cost of a search engine marketing (SEM) campaign, the spend per lease hovered between $78 and $135. You can get away with slimmer budgets on student campaigns if you target effectively and make quarterly optimizations to adjust to the constantly changing audience, which includes parents and students.

Wait! There’s More…

If you benefitted from Kat and Andrew’s student housing marketing expertise, you’ll want to watch the recording of their previous LinkedIn Live event, “TikTok Ads For Student Housing Q&A”.

Want more tips about communicating with Gen Z? Check out How to Get Gen Z Renters to Talk to You. 

Interested in learning more about our student housing marketing services? Visit our Student Housing page.

About Conversion Logix

Conversion Logix®, LLC provides digital marketing services, and licenses lead generation software to industry leaders in the student housing, multifamily housing, senior living, automotive, and small business markets. Conversion Logix has been ranked on the Inc. 5000 seven years in a row and listed in Austin Business Journal’s Fast 50 Growing Companies. Conversion Logix is a Premier Google Partner, a Facebook Business Partner, and developed The Conversion Cloud®, a lead generation software suite designed to help businesses generate more leads, appointments, and sales.

The post How to Market Student Housing in 2023: Q&A With Industry Experts appeared first on Conversion Logix.

With over 1 billion active users and a never-ending feed of personalized bite-sized video content, TikTok has quickly become the go-to social video platform for college-aged students. Gen Z uses TikTok as a discovery platform as much as an entertainment platform, often citing that they discover brands and make purchase decisions based on ads they have been served or content they have searched for.

As exciting as this is for student housing marketers, the app has received pushback, from many organizations, and marketing teams are struggling to keep up with the pace of change on the platform. We’ve received many questions from marketers in the student housing space over the past few months who want to try TikTok advertising but feel like they are entering an entirely new domain and need help getting started.

In response to this, we hosted a LinkedIn Live event with Andrew Cederlind, our president and COO, and Kat Callender, our Student Housing advertising expert, to address these questions and concerns. You can check out the full recording, TikTok Ads For Student Housing Q&A, if you missed it. 

Let’s dive into the top questions student housing marketers like you are asking about TikTok Advertising.

The Truth About Ad Creative on TikTok 

One of the most common concerns among student housing marketers is developing creative for TikTok. If you are using it for organic reach, you have to create fresh and engaging content frequently, which is a big challenge for short-staffed marketing teams operating on limited video and creative budgets. This is one of the reasons we recommend student housing marketers use the advertising side of the platform. It allows you to focus your efforts on one or two pieces of quick ad creative that can be updated and replaced over time and is guaranteed to deliver the reach you are looking for.

Both organic and traditional ad-style content can be effective in ads on the platform. Organic content presented as an ad can result in high video engagement rates, with viewers often watching videos all the way through.

However, even traditional ad content that is simple and headline-focused delivered even more impressive awareness and leasing results. Although there may be fewer impressions and a lower percentage of viewers watching the entire ad, overall reach and lead attribution remain high, proving that both creative styles can be successful in ads on the platform.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

We get a lot of questions about how we measure success on social media platforms like TikTok. Attribution and tracking aren’t as easy with brand awareness initiatives as it is with other forms of advertising like Paid Search. 

In response to this, Kat shared the two main metrics she likes to use to tie TikTok Awareness to key results.

1. Pre-leasing lift: Many properties in Kat’s portfolio have seen an 8-10% increase in pre-leasing rates year-over-year following the launch of a TikTok ad campaign. 
2. Organic traffic lift: In addition to the direct traffic generated by the ads, many properties experience a significant increase in organic traffic because of their TikTok campaigns.

This 8-10% increase can be attributed to the platform’s reach and its impact on organic search traffic, as users often search for brands (Google Search) after viewing their TikTok ads.

Budget Considerations

Although advertising on TikTok can be effective, many marketers may be concerned about the potential costs. Compared to similar platforms like Instagram and YouTube, TikTok requires significantly less investment to generate impressive results. A monthly spend of $850 can result in substantial reach and lead attribution, making it a high-return advertising option for student housing properties.

Instagram vs TikTok

When comparing Instagram and TikTok, both platforms offer engaging video content. TikTok has a significantly larger reach, making it a more effective advertising medium. Moreover, TikTok ads tend to be more engaging than Instagram Stories or Reels, which contributes to their overall success. “I don’t find that the video content can be as engaging as TikTok,” Kat shared.

In the conversation, Kat highlighted the massive reach of TikTok campaigns, with impression numbers ranging from 175,000 to over 300,000 a month. 

Furthermore, Kat emphasizes the platform’s enhanced targeting capabilities that continue to evolve, making advertising more accessible and tailored to specific audience needs. This allows advertisers to connect with their desired audience more effectively.

Targeting Options and Best Practices

In their discussion, Andrew and Kat touched upon the various targeting options available on TikTok and shared their insights on the ones that have worked the best

Location targeting is a crucial aspect of TikTok ads, especially for businesses such as student housing or local services. Additionally, Kat highlighted the importance of targeting based on broad interests, video interactions, and hashtags such as campus life, education, and college education. However, it is important to note, specifically targeting certain universities or anything that specifically falls under the university is not currently an available option. 

General apartment or rental interest targeting has also proven to be successful for Kat and her campaigns. She further explained that if a property has its own TikTok account and creates videos, it is possible to link one of its videos to the TikTok ad. This technique can help increase engagement and brand awareness by outlining the brand and linking to a specific video. 

Regulatory Considerations

Finally, Andrew and Kat touch on potential regulatory concerns surrounding TikTok, specifically regarding geo-targeting and fair housing. Kat explained that TikTok has become more sophisticated in its ad targeting capabilities, allowing advertisers to target specific Designated Market Areas (DMAs) for more accurate and effective campaigns. This granular targeting is particularly beneficial for businesses looking to reach audiences within specific geographic locations.

However, with more precise targeting comes the responsibility of ensuring fair housing practices. Kat emphasized that businesses must remain compliant with fair housing regulations when creating and targeting TikTok ads. By being mindful of their targeting choices and the content they promote, businesses can avoid potential pitfalls and maintain a successful and compliant advertising strategy on the platform.

In the final part of the discussion, Andrew addresses the future of TikTok concerning the recent challenges TikTok faces with the US Government and some universities banning access to TikTok concerning data privacy. 

In the end, Andrew shared his standpoint—TikTok is a large medium and a powerful platform that has a long runway. The results of TikTok speak for themselves. He encourages taking advantage of TikTok and trying to capitalize on the audience and grow from there.

The post TikTok Ads For Student Housing: What Marketers Want to Know appeared first on Conversion Logix.

I’m sure this isn’t your first time hearing a marketer wax poetic about the benefits of reaching prospects on social media and “meeting your future residents where they are”. These platforms have forever changed media consumption habits making it a can’t-miss opportunity for marketers. 

As much as we love all social media, the inevitable day comes when the social fabric changes and everyone jumps ship to a new platform to reach their audience.

Today that ship is TikTok, and it’s become a megayacht transporting its users through a sea of personalized video content.

The short-form video-sharing app is most popular among young adults, with 43% of users ages 18-24 and 32% of users ages 25-34 (DataReportal, 2022), making it an incredible platform to reach students and young professionals.

Building up a presence on a new social media platform can feel daunting, and for many organizations, “going viral” isn’t a viable marketing strategy. If this is the case for your organization, the best strategy is to leverage TikTok through advertising. Unlike uploading organic video content to TikTok and hoping to “make it big”, TikTok advertising offers a targeted and scalable approach to reaching college students in the market for an apartment. 

Here are five reasons why we think student housing marketers should consider advertising on TikTok.

1. TikTok ads are immersive.

TikTok offers full-screen mobile video placements that can highlight the features and benefits of highly visual products like apartments. 

Whether you are sharing a video walkthrough of a unit, showcasing student social life, or a splash into the community pool, the vertical video format can bring your units and amenities to life across your prospects’ screens in a way that static images can’t match. 

This lifelike ad format makes TikTok ads more memorable, increasing brand recall. Across client campaigns, we saw lifts in organic and paid search results after running TikTok ad campaigns, indicating the stickiness of video-first branding strategies like TikTok.

2. TikTok has powerful targeting and AI capabilities. 

The platform has evolved in recent years from its initial focus on music and dance videos into an entertainment platform that caters to all types of interests and niche communities.

Today the platform is well known for its intelligent learning algorithm. It excels at determining which video content users are likely to respond to, which is why its “for-you-feed” is such a popular feature of the platform. 

As a TikTok advertiser, you gain access to a wide variety of interest-targeting options that ensure you reach your target market consistently. When creating student apartment ads, we were able to layer TikTok’s targeting strategies to build an audience of prospective renters looking for housing for a specific university, enabling us to reach the right audience for our clients.

3. TikTok users are more engaged.

The TikTok user base engages on the platform more than other social media sites, with 79% of users reading the comments and over half saving sound clips or searching hashtags (Nielsen). 

Even though the content is primarily video, users on the platform aren’t just passively scrolling through content. They are opening and reading comments, sharing content, and utilizing the search function to discover new content. 

4. TikTok prioritizes discovery.

The platform is unique in that it prioritizes discovery, presenting users with a wide variety of creators and content curated to their user behavior. A Nielsen study commissioned by TikTok found that 88% of TikTokers love discovering new content while using the app, and 52% of users say they discover new products through ads on TikTok.

Unlike other social networks, where users follow friends and expect to see most of their content from their followers, users are in a discovery mindset on the platform, making them more open to seeing content from new users and brands.

5. TikTok users are receptive to advertising on the app.

Over 80% of users say ads on TikTok are enjoyable (Kantar). 43% of heavy TikTok users feel that the advertising on the platform blends in well with the content, and 61% of users feel that advertising on TikTok is unique compared to other top social and video platforms (Nielsen).

Interested in bringing your brand to TikTok but don’t know where to begin? Learn more about Conversion Logix’s TikTok advertising service and how our team of social ad experts can get you started. 

The post Five Reasons Student Housing Should Advertise on TikTok appeared first on Conversion Logix.

Every generation brings a new challenge to marketers and Generation Z is no different. How do you reach them both as a group and as individuals? With Gen Z reaching college-age, student housing communities will need to start approaching their marketing a bit differently to make sure they aren’t left with vacant units. Check out these 6 tips to increase your student housing website lead conversions.

Show Don’t Tell

The old saying “sell an experience, not a product” is especially true when selling to Gen Zers. They have been bombarded with online advertisements their entire lives, so a photo of your community with a “Tour Now” tagline just won’t cut it. You want to make sure your website conveys an experience that they can’t get at any other community. Show happy students using your amenities and smiling as they leave the building on their way to school. Have consistent messaging and imagery on all your campaigns to help push your experience. Remember, showing prospects what makes your community special converts more leads than simply telling them.

Video Content

Video consumption is at an all-time high, with over 50% of consumers watching a video about a product before making a purchase. Younger generations watch even larger amounts of video, with 89% using YouTube on a weekly basis. Suffice to say, if you want to get your student housing community in front of Gen Z, video content is going to have to be incorporated in your marketing campaign. Not sure where to start? We’ve got you covered with this video guide for apartment communities and this social media video guide.

Respond to Reviews and Social Media

41% read at least 5 reviews before making a purchase. That number is higher when the product is an apartment. Try having your google and yelp reviews feed directly to your website. Not only will this make you more transparent, but it will keep visitors on your page longer.

If they leave a review or comment on your social media networks, then it is even more important to respond. These are people who are invested in your community and are willing to share their experience. Thank those that leave a positive review, and help those that leave negative ones. Bad customer service is the number one reason tenants leave apartments. Showing you are determined to fix a student’s problem will make them more willing to stay at your community their entire college career. 

24/7 Availability

Your leasing office may not be active all night, but students sure are. Having the ability to schedule tours and ask questions from your website at all hours of the day is vital to converting students to sign leases. Automatic tour schedulers and chat options will allow your community to still be active even after your leasing office has gone home for the night.

Unique Offer

82.3% of students want an email with a special promotion or discount. How they redeem this offer is just as important as the offer itself. Gen Zers grew up in the age of instant gratification. That means having them jump through several hoops to sign up for a promotion won’t work. Use tools such as Concession Manager to make sure your promotion is displayed prominently on your site and easily accessible regardless of the page the visitor is on.

Mobile Friendly

Gen Z spends more time on their phones than any other generation. Make sure your website is optimized for all those mobile visitors to avoid low conversion rates. Take the time to test and make sure the site is functional on various devices, including android, ios, and tablets. Have someone unfamiliar with the site go through and see if they can find information quickly and easily before setting it live. This will ensure a quality user experience and reduce site bounces.

Conclusion:

The good news is that Gen Z isn’t too different from the previous generation. Implementing the changes mentioned above will help prevent your student housing community from getting stuck in the past and losing potential residents. If you want to learn more about how to get students to your site, check out this article about Search Marketing Strategies for Student Housing.

The post How to Increase Student Housing Leases Through Your Website appeared first on Conversion Logix.

College-aged students live on their mobile devices. Most spend their time watching videos and using social networking sites. Student housing communities have a variety of choices when it comes to marketing on social media video sharing platforms. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat all have a share of this market’s attention.

Each of these platforms has its own purpose and communication style. In this blog post, we show you where your target market is engaging with video content, the opportunities, and limitations that these platforms provide student housing marketers, and strategies for getting the most out of these communication channels.

How Students Use Social Media Platforms

In a previous post, we wrote about Gen Z’s online behavior, “What Student Housing Needs to know about Gen Z”. In this blog post, we shared a Google Think study that found that 51% of teenagers spend 3 or more hours a day on social networking and 71% spent 3 or more hours a day watching videos. In recent years, social media channels have put a greater emphasis on video creation, sharing, and promotion.

YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat remain popular among this generation in part because of this group’s preference for video-based content and engaging messaging platforms. While college students interact with all of these social platforms, the way students use these platforms, how frequently they use them, and how they view branded content on these platforms differs.

YouTube

What are the kids doing these days? Watching YouTube videos. Along with the rest of the U.S. adult population. According to Apple, YouTube rose from the third spot in 2017 to the first spot in 2018 in the app store. YouTube beat out Snapchat and Facebook as the free app with the most downloads of the year. A whopping 96% of 18-24-year-olds watch YouTube videos. YouTube usage is the fastest growing among Gen Z (59%) compared to Snapchat (56%) and Instagram (55%).

While YouTube is a popular channel for students to search for and watch video content, it’s not where Get Z prefers to follow brands (only 5% selected it as the number one platform they prefer to use to follow brands). Other studies show that while YouTube isn’t the number one place Gen Z prefers to follow brands, it is a place that Gen Z is comfortable seeing branded content. 79% said that it is always or ok to see branded content on YouTube from influencers.

So what do Gen Z students use YouTube for?

YouTube is where Gen Z is going to discover informative content and enjoy entertainment.

• 66% watch how-to videos.
• 51% watch YouTube for a good laugh.
• 24% use it for shopping recommendations.
• 23% use it to keep up with the news.

Facebook

A majority of college-aged students have a Facebook account (80%), but they don’t use the platform to consume branded content and connect with brands as much as older millennial siblings and their parents. Only 15% of Gen Z prefer Facebook as their number one platform for following brands. 26% of Gen Z uses Facebook to keep in touch with friends but the experience is more passive than Snapchat or Instagram. One of the primary uses Facebook provides 18-24 years olds is to sign up for and create events. Facebook is also a place where Gen Z goes to watch the news and look for shopping recommendations. Though 16% use Facebook to look for shopping recommendations, a greater percentage use YouTube or Instagram.

Video content on this platform is more likely to appeal to the parents of students looking for housing than the students themselves. A Nielsen study found that Gen X spent on average 6 hrs 58 min per week on Facebook (the highest platform usage among the age groups studied).

Instagram

Popularity for Instagram has surged in recent years. The platform introduced stories, direct messaging, a TV channel, and new discovery and shopping functionality. Today 81% of 18-24-year-olds use Instagram and 55% use the platform several times a day. Gen Z is more comfortable with seeing branded content on Instagram than other social platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat).

In a recent survey of 2,400 Instagram users, one-third became more interested in a product or brand after seeing it on Instagram Stories. 70% of Gen Z consume stories content on Instagram.

Snapchat

78% of college-age students use Snapchat, 82% use it daily, and 71% use it multiple times a day. People under the age of 25 use Snapchat for 40 minutes on average every day, more than Instagram’s latest stat for the same demographic. Gen Z is more likely to consume stories content on Snapchat (73%) than create it (58%), however, stories creation is more popular in Snapchat than Instagram (39%) or Facebook (13%).

Although students are actively engaging in creating Snapchat content, Snapchat is the platform that students are the least comfortable following brands on. Gen Z primarily uses Snapchat to interact with their friends (Gen Z prefers to use Snapchat over Facebook and Instagram for this purpose) and therefore are less likely to welcome content from people outside of their network.

The Opportunities and Limitations of Organic vs. Paid Social Video Campaigns

YouTube

YouTube’s advertising opportunities are expanding. YouTube released “ad pods” last year (two ads per break at the beginning and/or middle of a video) on browsers and are rolling out these back to back ads on mobile this year. Recent research has shown that video ad watchers on YouTube mobile watch over 60% of ads. YouTube ads are unique in that they are more likely to be seen and heard. 95% of YouTube ads are audible vs.15% of Facebook videos. Google claims that audible videos receive more brand awareness, ad recall, and consideration, another reason why this ad platform may be one of the best opportunities to reach college students in 2019.

YouTube isn’t the place that most students are looking to follow brands and many communities may find it difficult to maintain the level of video production needed to create an active and consistent YouTube channel. For this reason, student housing communities have more to gain from pre-roll video ads than organic marketing strategies on YouTube.

Facebook

Organic reach is declining on Facebook as the platform makes room for more advertisers in the feed. Organic content is more likely to be shared in the feed of students and parents if it receives lots of views, likes, shares, and comments in a short period of time. This is becoming harder and harder to achieve as fewer and fewer people see the content in the first place. Video content, however, stands a greater chance of receiving visibility in the news feed than static photo content.

Facebook pages are still a good opportunity for communities to share event details, show off reviews and post about their community, but most of the action that these pages receive will likely be driven by active searching, rather than news feed discovery.

Communities can extend their visibility in the newsfeed using ads. Ad campaigns offer more robust targeting and optimization strategies than sponsored posts, increasing the chances that communities get the kind of interactions they are looking for from their social content on Facebook.

Instagram

Instagram still provides communities with opportunities to expand their reach organically through feed and stories content, but just like Facebook, organic reach is declining. Since Facebook owns the platform, Instagram ads have the same targeting and format options that Facebook ads offer. Your community can target students at a specific university interested in apartments and certain hobbies, activities, people, and brands. Video ads can be presented in the newsfeed and in the stories feed.

In Instagram stories you can show three different ad formats: 15-second video, single image, or carousel (three back to back 15-second videos). In our experience running Instagram stories ads for apartment communities, click-through rates tend to be lower than ad campaigns that run in the newsfeed but the traffic tends to be engaged (the prospects complete online conversions or stay on the site for a while). With most video ad campaigns, it isn’t uncommon to see a smaller, yet more engaged group of website visitors.

Snapchat

Communities looking to use this platform have three main options to reach students. They can post to their stories, create Geofilters or run ad campaigns.

Communities looking to attract followers and post to stories organically will see high viewership rates among followers but struggle to gain followers in the first place. Hootsuite claims that for every 1,000 followers, 900 will watch your story, but Gen Z isn’t as likely to follow brands on Snapchat as they are in Instagram or Facebook.

Brands can pay for Geofilters to try to build brand awareness among students. Geofilters are graphic overlays that Snapchatters can place over the images and videos they sent to friends. Communities can target specific radiuses (around a stadium during a game or around a college campus) for a limited period of time. These filters tend to be expensive to run in popular locations for a prolonged period of time and require a skilled graphic designer to create.

For those communities that don’t have a large Snapchat following and who don’t want to pay a premium for filters will have better luck getting traffic from ads. Ads in Snapchat can be no longer than ten seconds (a few seconds less than Instagram stories). Ads can run in between friend’s stories, creator’s stories, and publisher’s content. Communities can target affinity audiences and send students directly to the community’s website. While these campaigns receive higher bounce rates (they tend to get more accidental clicks) they also tend to get more overall traffic than Instagram stories and they have been known to generate online conversions.

Social Video Marketing Strategies

Whether you’re running a video ad campaign on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat, there are a few fundamental things student housing communities should incorporate in their ad campaigns.

Be Relevant

Ads are skippable, swipeable, and scrollable. Communities only have a matter of seconds to capture a student’s limited attention when they run a video ad. What’s the key to getting prospects to pay attention? Relevancy.

If you were about to watch a video on YouTube and you saw an ad about an apartment community with no clear idea of where the community is located, would you watch it?

It’s imperative that at the start of your student housing video that you make sure students know that you are an apartment community located near their university. Unless you make this crystal clear within seconds, they will likely skip your ad.

Beyond the basics of communicating who you are and where you’re located, what else helps communities establish relevance with their audience?

Pricing, floor plans, and amenities.

Price is the most important factor for students when looking for a community. While many communities may not want to lead with price in their videos, it can be used as a way to qualify your audience and elicit more from those that can afford your community. Since many communities use dynamic pricing, incorporating ad messaging later in the video that says, ”Pricing ranging from $1200’s-$1800’s” or “Prices starting at $1300” can help your community establish relevance without using exact pricing.

Our team conducted a YouTube ad performance study and found that videos that incorporated both tour and lifestyle content led to more ad engagement than videos that only incorporated tour or lifestyle content alone.

Use your video content to highlight the amenities that students care about. If your units are fully furnished, pet-friendly, and have updated features, showcase these in your video. Make sure to show what the units look like and mention which floorplans you offer to maintain relevancy and qualify prospects.

Be Authentic

Gen Z, more than any other generation, is sensitive to inauthentic online content. Most choose to follow influencers and consume stories content because they perceive this content to be more trustworthy and genuine. The newsfeed in Instagram and Facebook is still considered to be a place for polished, less realistic content. Stories content in Instagram and Snapchat tends to be more user-generated, unpolished, and playful.

What can your community do to create a more authentic video ad?

Show your community in a realistic light. Video content can be both high quality and authentic at the same time. Give a short video tour of your community and showcase real people using your amenities. Consider incorporating real resident testimonials. 86% of Gen Z reads reviews before making a first-time purchase using their own money, and about two-thirds need to read at least 3 reviews. Film resident reviews of your community that feel honest and informative. Consider weaving this content together as the voiceover in a video ad. If you incorporate this content in a Facebook or Instagram ad, consider captioning the content. While most users watch YouTube and Snapchat videos with the sound on, most don’t in Facebook’s platforms.

Guide the Prospect to the Next Step

End your videos with a clear call to action. We know that leasing agent’s number one goal is to sign leases, but there are steps that prospects take before they get to that stage of the funnel. For some communities, running a campaign with a See Floorplans, Learn More, Tour Today, or Attend Our Event call to action can lead to better results. If you are serving a retargeting ad to someone who has already visited your site, a stronger “Tour Now” or “Lease Now” call to action may make more sense.

Even though this message is known as a “Call to Action” we don’t recommend your community use a “Call Now” message at the end of a student housing campaign. Most students prefer to engage with your community online over making a phone call. Students are more likely to use tour scheduling tools and live chat services to answer questions and set up appointments instead of placing a phone call.

Conclusion

College students use popular social media platforms differently. Communities need to understand the way students use these platforms and where and in what format students want to see content from apartment communities. The days of spray and pray with social media are over. Communities looking to effectively use social platforms to reach college students need to consider investing in advertising. Apartments looking to get the most out of their ad dollars should create videos that are relevant, authentic and that lead prospects to the next stage in the customer journey.

The post Social Video Marketing Strategies for Student Housing appeared first on Conversion Logix.

Do you know what students type into Google when they search for an apartment? Do you know why some student housing ads get more clicks and impressions than others?

Most multifamily professionals know search marketing is an important component of a student housing marketing campaign, but they don’t know how student housing search marketing campaigns differ from general apartment search marketing campaigns, or what communities can do to stand out from others in the search engine.

By the end of this article, you won’t be like most multifamily housing professionals. You will have a better idea of how students search for apartments and what types of search ads they click on. You will know why some student housing search campaigns perform better than others and how your student housing community can use paid search campaigns to generate more traffic.

What do students look for in an apartment?

The best search marketing campaigns start with a clear understanding of the searcher and what they are looking for in a community. Many communities focus on flashy amenities and community spaces when they market to students. While these are great ways to stand out in the market and capture attention, we’ve found that more often than not, the best way to appeal to students is to focus on addressing their fundamental apartment needs.

A recent study conducted by For Rent University found that students look for practical amenities when they are searching for an off-campus apartment. The most important amenities to students are high-speed wi-fi, in-unit washer and dryers, parking, gyms, and computer/printing stations. Most of the amenities that students care about are centered around convenience.

Students are looking for a community that meets their basic needs at a price they can afford. The one apartment feature that stood out to us from this study was pet-friendly. Pet-friendly apartments have risen in popularity across general apartment communities and we found it interesting that this trend has also spilled into the student housing market.

How students search for apartments

Keywords

We’ve found that a majority of student housing searches are university-specific. It can be difficult for communities to rank organically for these types of terms which is why Google advertising plays an important role in a comprehensive student housing marketing campaign.

Some examples of commonly searched university specific keywords include:

• apartments near [college name]
• [college name] [city]
• [college name] apartments
• student housing near me
• [brand name] [city]
• [college name] student housing

Over the past five years, searches for “student housing near me” have increased in popularity which indicates more location-based mobile searching is occurring. This is why location-based targeting can be a valuable strategy to include in student housing paid search marketing campaigns.

Who is doing the Searching?

It’s no surprise that 18-24-year-olds saw the most student housing ads among our student housing clients’ search campaigns. But what we did find interesting is that more 45-54-year-olds were searching for student housing than 33-44-year-olds or those 55+. This indicates that in 2018 both parents and students were actively searching for student housing. There were also a lot of 25-34-year-olds who searched for these communities which may represent older undergrad students or grad students, another key segment that student housing communities might be overlooking.

Our Strategies

Targeting

Through location targeting, we are able to adjust budgets between campaigns and target searchers in the locations that are most likely to lead to website visits and conversions. Student housing campaigns differ from general apartment search campaigns in that more searchers are living outside of the city or state of the community.

We’ve found that non-brand keyword search campaigns targeting searchers located within the community’s state or within the nation received more ad impressions than non-brand local search campaigns and brand based campaigns.

We also found that ad engagement (measured by click-through rate) was higher for state and national brand campaigns than local campaigns. Out of state students, in-state students that aren’t from the local college town, and their parents are more likely to search for and have a need for student housing options, which is why campaigns targeting these locations generate more visibility and engagement.

Ads

The most important thing to include in the copy of search ads are the keywords you want to rank for. Google uses ad relevance to determine if you’re ad will be presented in the search engine. After incorporating relevant keyword copy, we’ve found that a few topics outperform others within student housing campaigns.

Ad descriptions and headlines that focus on how conveniently located the community is to the university, receive higher click-through rates and are more likely to be related to popular keywords. 50% of students believe that after price, proximity to the school, nightlife, and restaurants is the most important factor they look for when selecting an apartment.

When communities offer fully furnished units, we’ve found that highlighting this feature also leads to more ad engagement. Fully furnished units offer convenience and cost savings, two things that students really care about during the apartment selection process.

Concessions within ad descriptions also lead to more ad engagement. Students are price sensitive and we’ve found that including offers within paid search ad copy is an effective way to catch their interest in the search engine.

Ad Extensions

Ad extensions that appeal to the needs and desires of the student housing market lead to more ad engagement and website traffic. Structured snippet extensions and call out extensions are the extensions we typically use to highlight apartment amenities and features in Google ad campaigns.

Structured snippets and call out extensions give advertisers an additional line of copy under an ad’s description. These are some examples of structured snippet extensions that performed well for our student housing clients.

Notice how this ad extension focuses on some of the popular convenience based amenities we discussed earlier in this blog post. Through ad extensions, your community can convey its unique selling points and signal to students that you offer the features they are looking for. Ad extensions are also a great way to generate calls, share your location, showcase great review ratings, and qualify students with floor plan pricing.

The post Search Marketing Strategies for Student Housing appeared first on Conversion Logix.

As technology evolves, behavior evolves with it. The multifamily industry has been keeping tabs on the millennial generation in recent years as they enter the workforce, rent homes, and build families. While most of the multifamily housing industry has limited exposure to the upcoming Gen Z generation, student housing properties are staring at a new target market. Are the behavior patterns really that different between teenagers born in Gen Z and Gen Z/Millennials in their early 20s?

Apparently, Google thinks so. In a 2017 research study “Gen Z: A Look Inside Its Mobile-First Mindset” Google breaks down some of the differences they’ve found in the online behavioral patterns of teenagers (13-17) and young adults (18-24). In 2019, the teenagers studied are now attending college (ages 18-19).

These are some of the findings that Google shared.

• 52% of teenagers are more likely to spend 3 or more hours a day using a messaging app. As compared with young adults, the only age group where texting ranked among the top activities where (38%) spent three or more hours a day.
• 52% of teenagers spent 3 or more hours a day on social networking apps, compared to 40% of young adults.
• 71% of teenagers watched online videos for 3 plus hours a day vs. 65% of young adults.
• 88% of young adults made purchases online compared with 68% of teens.
• 53% of teens made their purchases on mobile as compared with 30% of young adults.
• Teens were the only age group to say that ads influence what they think of as a “cool” product.
• What influences teens and young adult’s perception of “cool” differs. Teens ranked these three factors as being influential: friends are talking about it, I see an ad about it, it is personalized to me. Young adults: it is something personalized to me, friends are talking about it, I see on hear something on social media.
• 64% of teens say that the images they see online influence products they purchase.

When it comes to social media usage, Pew Research’s 2018 study found these platform habits among 18-24-year-olds.

• 96% use YouTube
• 80% use Facebook
• 78% use Snapchat
• 71% use Instagram

While a majority of today’s teens and young adults use Facebook to keep up to date on their social circle, most use the platform passively to “stalk” friends and keep up with the news. Snapchat and Instagram tend to receive more active user engagement. According to the Pew Research study cited above, “82% of Snapchat users ages 18 to 24 say they use the platform daily, with 71% indicating that they use it multiple times per day. 81% of Instagram users in this age group visit the platform on daily basis, and 55% do so several times per day.”.

What does this mean for student housing communities?

Teenagers and college-aged students behave differently on the web than older adults. When student housing communities are developing their marketing strategies they should think about the following takeaways:

• Student housing communities will have the best chance of reaching the student market on social platforms. Specifically YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.
• Communities should consider using text messaging and/or messaging apps as communication channels.
• Communities should optimize their website, search, and application process for mobile.
• Testimonials, reviews, and social influencers should not be overlooked as marketing tools for college-age students.
• Video content and quality imagery will make a difference in the way students perceive and engage with a community online.

How can your student housing community implement these strategies?

How your community implements social media, video, mobile, and word of mouth tactics matters. It often takes time, trial and error and expertise to get these marketing channels and tactics to work for your community.

The post What Student Housing Needs to Know About Gen Z appeared first on Conversion Logix.

Having a social media presence builds trust with residents and prospects. We all know that the majority of people are on Facebook, but what about the other social sites? What platforms are your target audience using and how can you utilize its features to your advantage?

The younger generations such as Gen Y and Gen Z have shown to be using media sharing platforms like Snapchat at a much higher rate than the elder generations. These media sharing platforms have become much more popular with young users as they can send each other messages, images, and videos taken through the apps native platform. Snapchat has enticing features such as snap stories, group messaging, video calling, group video calling, camera filters, and more. With all of these features, Snapchat can provide a community with a variety of organic and paid ways to market itself.

Organic Strategies

With Snapchat, your community can highlight amenities and create showcase tours for their followers. By creating insider content, you can give prospects an idea of what it is like living at the property, which will help encourage them to take the next step in the marketing funnel.

In attempts to maximize organic reach, communities need to have a following on the platform. Gaining a following can be tricky, but it is possible. Check out the tips below to earn more followers:

• Invite prospects to follow you on Snapchat
• Run exclusive specials on your Snapchat
• Stay on an active and consistent posting schedule
• Post your snap handle on other social media platforms

Paid Strategies

Similar to Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat allows a community to run ads on their platform. Advertising on Snapchat gives organizations another avenue to help convey their messaging. Single image and video ads are most common, however, filters and lenses are also an option that can be utilized via paid strategies.

Running ads on Snapchat allow your community to reach a wider audience while targeting potential prospects. By creating a compelling single image or short video ad, you will have the ability to quickly highlight community areas, specials happenings, or current concessions.

Advertising on Snapchat gives your community another option to reach consumers of a younger generation. With an extremely targeted advertising campaign and quality organic posts that highlight your community, Snapchat has the potential to quickly become a powerful platform within your marketing campaign.

If you have any questions about this content or if you want to inquire about starting your own Snapchat advertising campaign, please click here (link to contact us page).

Ads allow your property to reach a wider audience and target potential prospects. Compelling single image and video ads can quickly highlight community areas or specials happening.

Snapchat gives your community options when it comes to marketing. Running ads can maximize your reach. Schedule a call to learn more.

The post Student Housing & Snapchat appeared first on Conversion Logix.