PHOENIX—One of the most common misconceptions within the student housing industry about social media is that "likes" are the most important aspect of an online reputation, however, likes don't get leases. Likes are essentially an assisted conversion, but the focus should be on direct conversions (signed leases) from social media.
Lauren Melby, senior account executive at Serendipit Consulting, tells GlobeSt.com: "Understanding and accomplishing the necessary balance between social media likes and conversions for your student housing community is crucial."
Having a proper strategy and tracking approach in place will identify exactly how many leases a team is signing from Facebook. There is a ratio that is significant in this finding. One part of the ratio is made up of assisted conversions (likes) that connect to the channel directly in the conversion pathway, but not the final interaction before a user converts. The other part of the ratio is made up of direct conversions, which is referencing the channel being the last interaction before a user converts i.e., a student clicked on a community's Facebook ad, went to the website and leased online. Using these two pieces of information will enable a leasing team to follow a social media audience through the entire lease funnel, says Melby.
Facebook's analytics and insights allow the ability to dig deeper into the performance of a given Facebook ad and find out how many of the students are converting on the website, she says. From there, through the funnel of an on-site staff's follow-up process, it is possible to find out which of the students who clicked on a Facebook ad signed an actual lease, i.e. direct conversion equates to leases signed.
While it is easy to get carried away with the misunderstanding that assisted conversions (likes) are the most important data, however, think of it this way: direct conversions are leases signed. So, while getting a huge number of likes on a post may seem like the most important aspect of an online reputation, it's not fully leasing a community.
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
