As we continue to move past the pandemic and toward a brighter future, the multifamily industry is sitting in a good spot. Rents rising, vacancy rates dwindling, multifamily construction on the rise – they all bode well for owners and operators in coming years.
But those encouraging metrics bring ever-increasing competition along with them, making it critical for your multifamily marketing strategy to distinguish your community from the rest. Thankfully, that's exactly where real estate video shines brightest. So on that note, let's look over a few video ideas to give your marketing team a head start.
1. Construction Updates for Lease-Up Properties
As I said up top, multifamily construction is really coming to life after temporarily stagnating during the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, Fannie Mae projects robust multifamily housing starts throughout the remainder of 2021 and well into 2022. That means your ability to market lease-up properties, while already crucial, will become even more important in the near future.
Therefore, providing frequent construction updates for lease-up properties is a great way to keep prospects and future tenants excited and engaged. And while email updates are certainly better than nothing, sending out video updates from your team is even more exciting and engaging.
With video, you get the opportunity to take the viewer behind the scenes, show workers putting the finishing touches on the glistening new pool, or even take them for floor plan tours as you get closer to completion. The point is, high-quality video content is naturally more engaging than text or even pictures, making it ideal for you to keep everyone enthusiastic as you get closer to the construction finish line.
2. Announcements and Updates for Current and New Residents
Of course, video can keep your current residents updated on news and resident events as well. Remember that pool I mentioned? Well, let's change the scenario to a complete overhaul of the pool and spa you've had in your apartment complex for decades. Obviously, your tenants will be excited about your progress, another opportunity where video can give the viewer a front row seat as the overhaul proceeds.
Likewise, video is a great way to make community announcements. For instance, having someone from your team put on a costume to record a video about your upcoming community Halloween trick-or-treating event is engaging, unique, and bound to be appreciated by your residents. The same goes for a video introduction of any new residents just moving into their new home, helping to create connections that keep your multifamily community just that – a genuine community.
The same goes for vital community-wide updates. For example, if there is a fire alarm test occurring next Tuesday at 2 PM, sending a video rather than a text-based email will help ensure more people take note of the news. After all, just including a video in an email increases open rates by nearly 20%.
3. Post-Tour Follow-Up Videos
There's something to be said for striking while the iron's hot. Or just as importantly, keeping that iron hot once you've managed to kick up the temperature. And that's precisely what the days immediately following a prospect tour of your community is, where the tour and everything you show a prospective resident remains top of mind, at least for a short amount of time.
But that's the rub with post-tour communication – how do you remain top of mind to a potential resident as you get farther from the tour? This is an area where post-tour follow-up videos can do most of the heavy lifting for you. For instance, the day after an apartment tour, spend a few minutes creating a personalized video reviewing the most important parts and answering questions that arose during the tour.
This approach helps you stick out to the prospect, something that's incredibly important since the prospect is probably touring multiple communities. Video follow-ups keep your community on a prospect's mental shortlist, even as they are touring the competition.
4. Maintenance Tips
Finally, quick video messages are a convenient way to convey little maintenance tips. As an example, let’s say property management has received several requests from residents on resetting the thermostat in the units. In this case, a short how-to video walking the viewer through the steps not only makes life easier for the resident but also decreases maintenance requests for the maintenance team.
These are just a few of the ways video can be a powerful tool for your multifamily property marketing team, helping you reach and engage current and prospective renters alike. And with Convey OneDay, you have the video marketing and sales solution you need to keep your community successful.