I’ve been doing a great deal of research lately in the multi-family / rental vertical.
Look at just about any apartment community website, and you’ll find the same content structure.

• Photos (almost always poorly produced)
• Amenities
• A Map
• Floor Plan Images
• Pet Policy

Absolutely none of the content that I have reviewed thus far does anything to establish any kind of consumer engagement. Of the first 10 properties that I randomly selected to review, only 2 had any social media links, and the accounts associated with them weren’t being used to generate any type of meaningful engagement content at all. None of them had a blog.

Everyone knows that moving is at the top of the list of life’s most stressful events. The reason seems to be lost on those that are creating marketing content for the industry. When someone makes that decision, they are establishing the center of their life’s universe. It’s the control panel for everything that is taking place in their world. If the average U.S. citizen is expected to live 312 seasons, making a decision where you’re going to live, 4 of them seems pretty important. Nobody wants to regret living the choice they make at that time. That’s why Zillow’s T.V. ad campaign is head and shoulders over any competitor.

Here are just a few ideas for creating engaging content:

• Establish a real social media strategy, one that shares useful content, not a steady stream of marketing pitches
• Establish a Blog, invite residents to be guest contributors, blog about the community & neighborhoods.
• Instead of maps with POI pins, write original content about the neighborhoods.
• Use a professional photographer. (most sites have horrible photos)
• Use polls and surveys to find out which issues matter most to residents.
• Use Vine or Periscope to have current residents tell why they love where they live.
• Do the same with local business people—barbers, bakers, restaurant managers, etc.
• Feature a local business on a set schedule

Those are just quick ideas, not a comprehensive strategy, but a good start nonetheless. I think the industry is starting to wake up to the importance of a strong lifestyle content marketing effort. A case in point is the survey I just received that is being conducted by my apartment community’s property management company. The questions were all centered on lifestyle and the technology used by residents. It was comprehensive. A decent response rate would certainly go a long way in helping create a content marketing strategy.

Think about how important having the right kind of content is going to be in the future. Brian Boero of 1000Watt Consulting brings up a good point in his most recent blog post.

“The next leap may be something in the same vein as the “Now on Tap” feature Google announced last week at its annual I/O conference. Now on Tap anticipates what you might want to do next on your phone and connects you to the action or information that satisfies that intent. So, if you and a friend are texting about a restaurant, you simply hold down the home button an up pop reviews, available tables, etc., for that restaurant.
No searching. Just serving you what you probably want, when you want it.
It’s pretty mind blowing.”

No matter the next big thing, if you’re not creating the right content, you’re backing up.