The document discusses tips for effectively marketing student housing to today's students through social media and building relationships. It provides five tips for attracting college students through social media, including making posts personal, keeping it real, delivering exclusivity, showcasing experience, and staying ahead of trends. It also stresses the importance of building relationships, enhancing online marketing, catering to parents, and partnering with the university.
1. It’s All About the Connections! Making the Connections through Marketing and Speaking the Language of Today’s Student! Presented by: Kim Cory and Dan Oltersdorf
69. House Rules On Facebook: facebook.com/houserules2010 Twitter: @kimcoryfitness & @danoltersdorf
Notas do Editor
Introductions Dan & Kim
Everything you do begins with building lasting relationships from the students, their friends, the parents and the university. All of your efforts, plans and strategies should focus on building a worthy relationship with all of these groups. Not one is more important or equal over the other…they are ALL important to your success.
Everything you do begins with building lasting relationships from the students, their friends, the parents and the university. All of your efforts, plans and strategies should focus on building a worthy relationship with all of these groups. Not one is more important or equal over the other…they are ALL important to your success.
important to remember students are looking for every opportunity to meet new people, make new connections and strengthen their network. Friends and parents will be the heaviest influencers in the student decision making process. Win over the friends, parents, university and you have scored!
Marketing to today’s student is going to require some work on your part. You need to be original and show you are ahead of the game. It’s up to you to express why they need to look at you, because your not just a typical campus landlord. No one wants the same old thing. We all want something different, unique and a memorable experience. You are scrapbooking the memories of their future, so think differently and focus on you will be a discussion for years to come.
When a resident used RentMineOnline to refer friends they were twice as likely to close a referral lease for you
32% of our residents that closed referral leases this year used the RentMineOnline tool. Of the 260 closed referral leases at University Village that were reported to us, 243 came from residents receiving an email campaign message from RentMineOnline (93.5%), 114 converted referral leases came from residents who clicked on the RentMineOnline link (43.8%) and 82 (32%) came from residents who fully participated in the RentMineOnline program (Direct Matches).
Don’t just think about the traditional ways to market on campus with the students. Think about the exposure and the recognition you would receive by walking around on campus passing out flyers and promotional items with your team and a Mascot? Bigger exposure, more fun, and sets you apart! Instant name recognition!
How many people do you think they told about seeing a Sasquatch on campus?
Students are savvier than ever and are looking for more innovative ways to help them decide and search for your community. We all know they search a variety of websites for information as well as peer reviews, but what about your brands personality through social media? We’ve got 5 tips to attract the hungry college students through social media that will have them signing on the dotted line before walking into your community!
By humanizing your organization’s social media presence, students will be more likely to interact with you.
You and your team are just as important to be involved and participate in resident events as the residents themselves. It not only creates a unity among the team, but your residents also want to get to know the personality behind the name. They want to know as much about your personality as your properties personality.
Give the people behind your accounts some freedom to inject their own personality, quirks and observations into their updates.
Students don’t like feeling “marketed to.” Actually the consider themselves immune to marketing ploys. Skip the fancy marketing materials & constant sales approach through social media instead, try walking around your company with a Flipcam, asking residents, “What’s your favorite part of living here?” Off-the-cuff content like this will probably resonate with college students more than a scripted marketing piece. Plus, it will yield much more interesting nuggets of information.
There’s over 2 billion views per day on YouTube. Getting the exposure on YouTube with just a few videos will keep your rankings in SEO as well as attracting to the students/
Marketing your community is necessary in multiple search options, but the details already listed on your company website are also found on many other search results. Give your social networking followers and friends something that’s not readily available to outsiders: a behind-the-scenes look at your culture or an opportunity to make meaningful connections with people inside the company. Of course we all create photo albums and events on our pages, but let’s not forget to showcase our teams hard a work and enjoying them interacting with the community. Think of creating “real life” connections as part of your exclusivity. For example have contest on your Facebook page and offer a personal lunch with your team or head to campus and meet them at their favorite spot. Also announce an impromptu tweet up for your avid twitter followers. Mix up the groups and really think outside the box to create exclusivity.
Don’t forget about your recruiting strategy! Job postings are great, but they’re already listed on your company website. Give your followers and friends something that’s not readily available to outsiders: a behind-the-scenes look at your culture or an opportunity to make meaningful connections with people inside the company. When you have them highlight real life examples and offer exclusive job opportunities where they live, it just makes your community even that more attractive to students. Remember it’s not just a living experience, but a living-learning and working experience!
We took this concept and made a UV VIP club. By being part of the “club” you receive extra deals that you can’t get anywhere else on campus. Anything to free food, discount obuckeye clothing, to happy hour deals. We created a shoppers card and promote all the deals online through our blog and our website. This way it allows for growth of new vendors, but also allows the deals to change. It’s a win win for the vendor as they are not committed to a deal for long period time like in print and it keeps the resident intrigued by the constant chages.
Go ahead and admit it! Sexy right! I love it! Always there when you need it. Always there and ready to entertain me. I love this feature that is offered by Netflix. They have loads of movies new and old, and the best part is that there is no physical media! All streamed in! Yeah, I know! Sexy right!? If you can’t offer free cable/wi-fi at your community, try offering a year free subscription with a lease. Over 1/3 are streaming Netflix on a regular basis
Students are flooded with information from companies on a daily basis. To make your organization stand out, provide relevant and useful content through your social media platforms. When it comes to selecting a place to live, students are often interested in knowing about the living environment, company involvement/policies, and what others have to say or like about the community. Don’t forget to address these areas in your social media strategies.
When trying to market to a generation who is ahead of the curve technologically, you need to stay ahead of the curve as well. It’s time to make sure your online presence is cutting edge and speaking to a generation who understands it.
qrcode.kaywa.com
Examine your outreach strategies and see if it would make sense to utilize location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla in some way. Consider other emerging technologies, like QR codes , Group me, Beluga as well. In general, today’s students want to network with companies that are perceived as technologically advanced.
Maybe host a Twitter chat for prospective resident, allowing college students to ask questions and receive real-time responses from your employees. Or live tweet your company’s campus information sessions, giving students from other locations an opportunity to participate in the events remotely and gain important information if they can’t make the live chat. We have to remember it’s not about what we have done traditionally to connect with students, but really knowing where our students are and this is what they understand on how to connect with us!
They text in bed, while driving and in class. 8 out of 10 sleep with their phones, download music, videos, games, ringtones, social networks, but most importantly they are addicted to texting. They send and receive approximately 50 text per day and over 60% say they only have a cell phone over landline service.
It’s at the point where when the phone does ring — and it’s not my mom, dad, husband or boss — my first thought is: “What’s happened? What’s wrong?” My second thought is: “Isn’t it weird to just call like that? Out of the blue? With no e-mailed warning?” I remember when I was growing up, the rule was, Don’t call anyone after 10 p.m., Now the rule is, Don’t call anyone. Ever. The nature of the rare business call has also changed. Phone calls used to be everything: serious, light, heavy, funny, But now they tend to be things that are very focused. And almost everyone e-mails first and asks, Is it O.K. if I call?’ You pretty much call people on the phone when you don’t understand their e-mail.
Twice as many millenials prefer an Iphone over Android and twice as many have purchased and Iphone in just the last year. 36% still say they are going to buy an Iphone. Samsung & LG are still the leading brand for Millenials, but Iphone has the fun, Itunes, Imagery & more apps. And Verizon is the number one carrier next to AT&T…
By humanizing your organization’s social media presence, students will be more likely to interact with you.
Keep them in the loop…remember 70% of students seek mom and dads advise!! Embracing the fact this is THEIR experience too Balancing out communication
Great relationship building among the university and your property. What you expect and what they expect. Share your lease policy with them so they better understand how to help the student when in time of need. Get involved in off-campus student services. Give them tours, invite them to events, take them to LUNCH, deliver cookies….be in front of them, develop a FREINDSHIP not just a partnership!
Having the right team makes all the difference in student housing. It starts with the passion and energy. It requires many skills to be successful in a student housing leasing team. They must be outgoing, willing to do what it takes, up to date on trends, organized, ability to multi task, relate to the audience, but still provide a professional level of service and can handle multiple scenarios as well as high pace environment.
