(#434) CVZ PART 1: THE POWER OF HASHTAGS
CVZ PRESENTS: DRIVING QUALIFIED TRAFFIC WITH TECHNOLOGY
PART 1: THE POWER OF HASHTAGS
It’s August, most of you are working on turn, and you may have a few beds left to lease. It’s the toughest month in the business because the entire team is coming together to turn over the beds, complete the lease up, and move in all of your new residents.
So why not let some free technology and social media work it’s magic for you?
Let’s chat Instagram. Many think just throwing up some good content will make the followers and likes swim in by the thousands. This is unfortunately just one part of a multifaceted platform.
We’re going to focus on hashtags and IG stories so that you can drum up some qualified traffic to snag your remaining beds before move-in day.
Here’s how to do that:
* The power of hashtags *
Hashtags are a missed opportunity on Instagram. We typically use them for our content to be found but have you used them to find your customers? Oh, yea - this is the sweet spot on IG.
Action Steps:
Research the top 30 hashtags the students in your market are using (time: 20 minutes)
Follow those hashtags
Engage with up to 29 posts per hour (time: 15 minutes per hour done twice a day)
Anything over 30 posts per hour could flag your account for spam.
GOAL: Successful comment engagement may convert into Direct Messages (DMs)
Treat your DM inbox as you would an email lead.
It’s important to note that you’re not “stalking anyone” as that intention or vibe can feel just like a pushy leasing agent and neither are cool or fun. It’s a balance of friendly and informative engagement that could potentially turn into a last-minute lease for August 2019 or a new lead for Fall 2020.
Remember, your renewal season technically starts on your move-in day so even if a lot of these folks you’re engaging with already have housing for August this a wonderful opportunity to build up a genuine rapport to spark interest in joining your community for the next year. This is a long term strategy!
ADVANCED STEP: Keep an ongoing Excel or live Google Doc that tracks which IG handles you’re communicating with. You will continue to engage with these pages regularly. You become a “fan” of their page in this IG famous world may just turn them into a “fan” or a future resident of your community. To me, there is no harm or foul so long as you’re not approaching them in a pushy way.
Read Part 2: IG Stories and Bonus Apps.
