The New Fundamentals for Post-Pandemic Renters

Recap by Paul Bergeron

Apartments.com held its Spring Multifamily Insights Forum on April 21, featuring a day of national and local economic insights, changes in renter behavior, and innovations in search technology.

The past year has been one of transformation. Trends accelerated and technology advanced. With that, consumer mindsets have shifted for the long term. The approach to marketing must adapt.

In this Apartments.com Spring Multifamily Insights Forum session, Streetsense’s Managing Director of Marketing, Greer Kimsey, and Managing Principal, Eric Burka, outline modern renters’ priorities and how owners and operators can drive more leases.

Redefining Apartment Living

Homes are no longer just a place to live, but an office, a gym, a school, a bar, and more. The home plays a protective role. With concerns about hygiene and sanitation here to stay, the home must become a sanctuary that actively cares for its inhabitants.

Residents are seeking locations where there’s a healthier aesthetic and more focus on care. For example, cooking, crafting, nature, and meditation opportunities are popping up in apartment searches.

Smart-home technology has exploded onto the scene, as well. Just two years ago, consumers had to supply their own smart devices and now apartment communities provide them because they have become must-have amenities.

Resident Touchpoints Drive Leads, Retention

As for social media, communities can no longer just “be in social,” they must cut through the noise and tell a curated story.

To determine unique qualities of the community, use these content types:

• Native: On-site leasing team, signage, referrals
• Owned: property website, tour options, blog, email marketing, direct mail
• Paid: social media-promoted content and advertising, influencer partnerships, display advertising, sponsored content, events and activations, paid search, and Apartments.com
• Shared: Organic social content
• Earned: Public relations, resident reviews, user-generated content

Digital Leasing Tools Are Here to Stay

Virtual leasing is now a must-have. Property management companies must diversify their virtual leasing strategies. The most successful approach is to offer multiple avenues for prospects to engage.

Self-guided tours that use remote locking technology, recorded tours, personalized live-video tours, and website chatbots all offer safe touring options that consumers have come to expect.

Here’s why virtual touring is so important:

• Approximately one out of three renter searches on Apartments.com are from out of market.
• Communities offering virtual touring gain 42 percent more leads than those without them.

Marketers have created exquisite ways to present their apartments to consumers who are searching online. It’s more than just focusing on the amenities or number of bedrooms (though those remain important).

As renters are transforming how they use the space both within their unit and outside, it’s important for apartment marketers to re-prioritize the content they are showing renters through photos, videos, and tours. For example:

• Show space versatility: Highlight how every space can be a workspace.
• Show outdoor and wellness spaces. These feel-good features resonate well with renters.

Renters are transforming how they are using the spaces in their apartments. Versatility is key. Look for ways to show how laptops and headphones can be plugged in to enable residents to set up shop while on the job. Highlight any quiet spaces in the home that are ideal for meditation.

Look for charming outdoor spaces and places that can be accessed – anything to connect the renter to the outdoors. This could be an ideal time to invest in new photography to showcase these emerging resident preferences.

Showcase a Sense of Home

Show how the neighborhood, apartments, and property work together to create a home greater than the sum of its parts. A counterprogramming approach could work well.

Counterprogramming apartments: Are parts of the common areas open to the public, such as a space being used as a local coffee shop?

Counterprogramming the neighborhood: What appealing elements are missing from the neighborhood that the apartment community could provide instead? Perhaps building a bar or pub into the property or create an entertainment area on the rooftop.

Commit to hospitality-inspired services and promote them. Laundry, dry cleaning, and food delivery are a way of life.

Optimize Your Content

Renters are searching for the amenities they care the most about – whether that’s access to first-floor retail or a secure mailroom. When they do, they are adding those key attributes within their search criteria on sites such as Google and Apartments.com.

Adding key features within the property description and features section provides opportunities to not only show up in Google search results, but also when prospects filter within Apartments.com. SEO is one area you can’t skimp on.

Emerging Features on Social Media

Going Live: Use Instagram and Facebook Live to host virtual events for your communities and invite your prospects. Record the events and use them to attract new residents.

TikTok: There are 100 million users in the United States, and a third are ages 20 to 29. There’s a niche audience on TikTok that loves a good apartment tour. It’s beginning to be used as an investigative channel for apartment searchers.

Instagram Reels: IG’s largest advertising audience is 25- to 34-year-olds. Reels is a good way to creatively leverage a channel you might already be on.

Pinterest: Pinterest is having a new heyday. There are 400 million active users. Pinterest helps to boost SEO and is now being used more than ever.

To view this or any other Apartments.com Spring Multifamily Insights Forum session, please visit apartments.com/springforum.