The popularity and reach of social media has revitalized the concept of user-generated content and made it essential to any multifamily brand’s digital marketing strategy. Using content created by fans of your brand comes at little-to-no-cost to your business, which lowers customer acquisition cost and encourages engagement with your audience. User-generated content includes testimonials, social media posts, photos, videos, blog articles, and blog comments on your website – anything that comes from a customer.

Benefits of Leveraging User-Generated Content

Using content generated by your customers offers multifamily marketers a wealth of benefits. Afterall, no one knows your audience better than they know themselves. Creating quality content within the confines of a tight marketing budget can be difficult and many companies don’t have the resources or expertise to create quality content at scale. Crowdsourcing your content helps you connect with prospects thanks to users who create content that speaks to the collective knowledge of an entire audience.

Users create their own content as a form of self-expression and recognition. Brands benefit from free publicity, which makes leveraging user-generated content a win-win situation for both businesses and users. Additional benefits include:

  • Helps brands understand their target audiences better
  • Increases customer satisfaction
  • Encourages other users to connect and builds a stronger community
  • Helps a brand’s search ranking and visibility online
  • Inherently peer-reviewed, which makes it more trustworthy

User-generated content helps brands create a community, which is difficult to replicate. Your users want to feel like part of an active community. Creating quality content and paid media can be expensive and difficult to accomplish. User-generated content creates value for both the company and for users involved in the community.

Guidelines Around Using User Generated Content

User-generated content helps multifamily companies boost visibility, website traffic, and conversions. Follow these guidelines to take advantage of the benefits of user-generated content:

  1. Ask for Permission — Always make sure you ask for permission to use a user’s content. Your company should only be publishing approved content in order to avoid misunderstandings and to promote trust with your customers. Many contributors will be excited to be featured on your Facebook or Instagram feed, but getting consent and making your communication clear will help build trust within your community.
  2. Repurpose Across Multiple Channels — Once you have permission to use content created by users within your communities, repurpose it across your marketing channels in order to get the most mileage. Marketers can extend the shelf life of great user-generated content by saving the posts with the most engagement for future campaigns.
  3. Develop Themes to Ignite Interest — Listen to your audience to determine what themes and content ignite their interest. This information helps you develop themes and allows you to identify your audiences’ wants, needs, and the topics that interest them. Your marketing strategy should be user-centric in order to encourage participation.
  4. Build Relationships — Building relationships with your customers helps your brand by solidifying buyer confidence and providing prospects with relatable information and authentic answers. By enabling conversation between past renters and interested prospects, it helps build a community around your brand. Building relationships with your users breaks down the barriers between renters and fosters an emotional connection with the brand that leads to conversions.
  5. Be Relatable — User-generated content helps brands become more relatable by providing customers with relevant information created by the most reliable source – your past renters. Include an assortment of reviews, photos, and video to show the diversity of your brand.

Increase Brand Awareness

Leveraging user-generated content helps increase brand awareness, leads to more conversions, and contributes to the development of relationships with your audience. Successful user-generated content strategies incorporate the voice of the customer and encourage active participation within your communities. By leveraging user-generated content, brands can effectively strengthen relationships and increase brand loyalty when executed correctly. Bring your community into your marketing and attract new renters.  

Download G5’s latest eBook, 20 Digital Touchpoints to learn more about connecting with renters throughout the buyer’s journey.