How can landlords leverage social media?

Mobile phone depicting social media emojis resting on wooden plank.

Are you leveraging social media to boost your rental business? Research by We Are Social has found that there are 56.2 million social media users in the UK – that’s the equivalent of 82.8% of the total population. These users spend an average of one hour and 49 minutes across 6.4 platforms.

If you run a business—any business—having a social media presence is a great way to reach your target audience, build your brand, and engage with your customers. Yes, even if you’re a landlord.

However, if you’ve never used social media for business before, it’s hard to know where to start. In this article, we’ll explore the different ways that landlords can leverage social media effectively and provide tips for getting started.

Does every landlord need a social media presence?

Whether or not you choose to set up social media accounts for your rental business is a personal choice. If you decide to go for it, bear in mind that you need to dedicate time to managing your social media presence for it to be successful.

If you only manage one or two rental properties and never have problems filling vacancies, then it may not be worth your time. However, if you manage a portfolio of properties and frequently have vacancies to advertise, dedicating time to developing a social media strategy could be a valuable investment.

How can landlords leverage social media?

At first glance, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram might seem like just another platform for advertising your buy-to-let properties. And while they are certainly useful for advertising vacancies and generating interest, social media can offer landlords so much more. Let’s take a look at some of the different ways landlords can use social media to their advantage.

Advertising rental properties

First and foremost, social media is a great place to advertise your rental properties. It can be used as another platform to generate interest when your properties are back on the market, helping to reduce void periods and the associated costs.

Build a following

However, before your social media accounts can start attracting potential tenants, you need to build a relevant following. This can require some hard work, but without an audience (that’s people who have liked or followed your business page), very few people, if any, will see your posts. When building a following, it’s important to remember that quality matters more than quantity. It’s no use getting lots of likes and follows from random accounts – you need to focus on attracting followers who have a genuine interest in your business. For landlords, this will primarily be people who rent and live near their rental properties.

Boost your reputation

There are some unscrupulous landlords out there, and tenants can be wary of who they rent from. Social media can help you build a reputation locally as a professional, knowledgeable, and trustworthy landlord – which is particularly important if you’re running a big operation with multiple properties. Social media can be used to demonstrate your professional values, provide transparency about the way you operate, and share positive reviews and testimonials to boost your business reputation. Facebook business pages allow followers to leave reviews, which act as valuable social proof of your service quality.

Communicate and engage with your followers

Once you’ve started getting followers on your social media accounts, it’s important to make sure you add value for your audience to keep them engaged. Think about who your target audience is and what type of content would resonate with them or be useful. Sometimes, adding value looks like posting content that makes your audience laugh, and sometimes, it’s about providing useful how-to guides or practical tips. Engaging with your followers can help extend the reach of your posts and page, increase your business’s visibility online, gain more followers, and boost brand awareness.

Communicate with tenants

Social media can be a great platform for both attracting new tenants and communicating with existing ones. In today’s digital world, customers (and tenants) like to have options when it comes to contacting businesses (or their landlords). Not everyone likes to pick up the telephone or send an email anymore; some tenants may prefer to send you a message via Facebook Messenger. You may also be able to gather valuable feedback or reviews from tenants via interactions on social media, which will help you improve your services.

Build your brand

A strong brand identity can help set your rental business apart from the competition, increase brand awareness, and build stronger emotional connections, leading to increased brand loyalty. Tenants who feel emotionally connected to your brand are more likely to stay longer and recommend your property or services to their friends. A well-established and strong brand identity can also help to increase demand and reduce void periods. Properties that are in high demand may even command higher rent rates.

While social media may not be right for every landlord, those who invest time into understanding how to use it effectively and consistently post on various platforms can build a strong brand and community for their rental business and reap the rewards of doing so.

Developing a social media strategy for your rental business

If you think your rental business could benefit from getting social, you’re going to need a strategy before you start!

There’s no point blindly creating business profiles before you’ve done the prep work. Without a strategy, you risk wasting time on a venture that lacks direction, insight, and consistency.

Let’s look at what steps you should take to create a well-thought-out and effective social media strategy for your rental business.

Establish your objectives – First, define what your goals are. Are you aiming to increase brand awareness, fill vacancies quicker, improve tenant engagement, or establish yourself as a trusted expert in your local market? Your objectives will give your strategy direction.
Define your target audience/demographic – Think about the type of tenants you’re trying to attract. Are you letting modern apartments in the city to young professionals, spacious family homes in the suburbs, or budget student accommodation? Once you know who your audience is, you can tailor your page and posts to appeal to this demographic.
Choose your channels – With so many different social channels to choose from, it’s important to consider which ones best suit your objectives and audience. Start with one or two of the most relevant platforms, and you can always expand your presence later down the line. Popular platforms include Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and TikTok.
Brainstorm content ideas – Next, think about the type of content and posts you will create to help you achieve your goals. Consider how frequently you will post and create a content calendar to help you stay on track. Types of content to consider include property listings and virtual tours, tenant testimonials and reviews, guides and tips for renters, local community news and events, and behind-the-scenes insights.
Sign up and create your business pages – Once you’ve got your ducks in a row, it’s time to sign up and create your business pages!
Create your visual elements – Depending on the size of your business, you may already have a logo and business branding. If you don’t, now’s the time to create some! You will need to update your new business pages with a logo and banner at minimum. Ideally, you should also have branded templates for your posts and stories and use a consistent colour scheme and font to make your business instantly recognisable on social media.
Optimise your pages – To increase the visibility of your social profiles in search engines like Google and to ensure they are useful to those who visit them, you should complete your profile information fully. Include a clear description of your business, add contact information and relevant links, and use high-quality, professional imagery.
Start posting—Finally, it’s time to launch your social media profiles and start sharing content with the world! Make sure that every post offers some value to your audience and that you post consistently.
Connect with relevant pages and people – Expand your network by following and engaging with relevant pages, such as local community groups, estate agents, and rental property associations. Respond to comments, messages, and reviews to build strong relationships with your audience.
Monitor and analyse performance – Regularly track the performance of your social media activity using the platform’s analytics and reporting tools. Look at metrics like engagement rates, reach, click-through rates, and follower growth to learn what’s working and what isn’t. You can then use these insights to refine your strategy.

Which social media platforms should you use?

The best social media platforms for your rental business really depend on your objectives, target audience, and the type of content you want to share. Let’s look at some of the most popular options.

Facebook

With over 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the world’s most popular social media platform. If you’re only going to invest time in one platform – make it this one. Facebook allows you to create a business page for your rental business, post different types of content, including images, text, links, videos, and stories, engage with local community groups, and collect business reviews on your profile.

Facebook’s largest age group demographic is 25-34 (30%). On average, users spend 31 minutes a day on Facebook.

Instagram

Instagram is a highly visual platform, ideal for showcasing rental properties, interiors, and local lifestyles. Users can post images, videos, reels, and stories.

Instagram’s largest age group demographic is 18-24 (31%). On average, users spend 33 minutes a day on Instagram.

LinkedIn is different from other social media platforms as it is a professional networking website. It is particularly useful for landlords who let commercial properties. Landlords use LinkedIn to establish a professional image for their rental business, connect with property managers and other landlords, share industry insights, and establish themselves as thought leaders in the rental market.

LinkedIn’s largest age demographic is 25-34 (60%). 69% of users access the platform daily.

TikTok

TikTok is a relatively new social media platform that has rocketed in popularity, particularly among younger users. TikTok is used to post short and creative videos and is ideal for sharing property tours, tenant tips, or funny anecdotes.

TikTok’s largest age demographic is 18-24 (36%). On average, users spend a whopping 54 minutes a day on TikTok.

X (formerly Twitter)

Popular microblogging website Twitter was recently rebranded to X after being acquired by Elon Musk in 2022. Posts on X are restricted to 280 characters. Landlords can use X to post property listings, news, and local updates.

X’s largest age demographic is 25-34 (39%). On average, users spend 34 minutes a day on X.

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing platform on which landlords can post in-depth property tours, neighbourhood guides, and tips and advice for tenants. It is the second most popular social media platform after Facebook, with over 2.4 billion monthly active users.

YouTube’s largest age demographic is 25-34 (21%). On average, users spend 49 minutes a day on YouTube.

(Stats from sprout social)

Social media best practice tips for landlords

Every social media platform is different, and so are the most effective ways to use each one. However, we’ve compiled some general best practices for using social media for business that can be applied across most platforms to make sure you’ve got the basics covered.

Advertise your social media accounts on all marketing materials:

Include your social media handles in your email signature, business cards, website, and more to encourage people to follow you.

Always include an image with your post:

Posts with images or videos tend to feature more highly and attract more engagement.

Use social PPC ads to reach your target demographic:

Pay-per-click ads can help you to precisely target your ideal audience based on demographics, location, interests, behaviours, and more.

Join in relevant conversations:

Engage with local community groups, industry conversations, and trending topics to build a network and establish credibility.

Optimise your pages for search:

Ensure your pages include relevant keywords in descriptions, bios, and hashtags so potential tenants can easily find you.

Schedule posts strategically:

Use scheduling tools to post consistently and at peak times to ensure your content reaches as many people as possible.

Respond to all comments and messages:

Respond promptly to all comments, enquiries, and messages to foster trust and encourage further engagement.

Use hashtags to get found:

Research and use relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your posts.

So, are you ready to harness the power of social media to grow your rental business?

With the right strategy and a little bit of creativity, you can use social media to not only fill your vacancies faster but also establish your reputation as a trusted landlord.