Leveraging Google Business Profile for Multifamily Marketing Success

More than ever, cultivating a professional digital presence is paramount in the multifamily housing market. 

While in-person tours will always be essential to the decision-making process, you’ll have to create an online presence to appeal to the 98% of prospective renters who use the Internet to find their next apartment.

One of the best ways to increase your local digital footprint is to maintain an attractive Google Business Profile (GBP). More property managers rely on it to enhance visibility, attract leads, and engage residents.

Why SEO is Important for Marketing Apartments

When marketing your apartment building, you’ll almost certainly rely on Google to help renters find you. Working to rank on Google is called search engine optimization, or SEO. An updated GBP improves your SEO, which can help your business appear above the search rankings when renters use search terms like “apartments near me.” 

Make sure that you’ve added all the relevant information to your profile to impress potential renters and get them to click on your website or book a tour.

After you’ve had your GBP live for a bit, you can review the “Insights” tab. There, you’ll see how many views and clicks your profile has received, as well as which keywords visitors are typing in. This data can be used to further refine your profile or to inform other strategies—such as improving your targeting for online advertising.

Understanding Google Business Profile and Local SEO

Your GBP is how your business will appear in local searches for your industry. Google’s search results are catered to your location, so someone in Phoenix will see different results than someone in Miami.

When someone in the same area as your community searches for “Find apartments” or “Apartments for rent,” they’ll see relevant local results. If your profile is filled out and updated, you’ll have a great chance to outrank competitors and show up first in the local businesses that Google displays.

Your GBP will show information such as:

• Google Review star rating 
• Address
• Phone number
• Website link
• Your location on a local map
• How far away the community is from them

Enhancing Your Google Business Profile with Rich Content

The world of multifamily rentals lends itself incredibly well to visual media. By adding high-res pictures (and lots of them!), you’ll instantly show off the quality of your units. Prospective renters can see you’re professional enough to have quality images and a well-maintained online presence.

In addition, don’t forget to keep your listings up-to-date with real-time pricing, availability, and special offers. Inaccurate information is a quick way to turn away prospective renters who may leave a negative review. This is why it’s recommended to partner with software that can pull this information directly from your property management system – learn more about how PERQ can automate availability on GBP for your community here.

Part of creating attractive listings includes crafting descriptions that engage your visitors. Understand that prospective renters first want to know about square footage, beds/baths, and size. 

Next, you’ll dive into what makes your property unique and attractive, such as common area amenities and upgraded features.

Google knows these features are important for visitors. They’re more likely to bump you to the top of the search enginesif you update your information and write good listings that people click on.

Leveraging Google Business Profile Features for Marketing Success

GBP offers features, including Google Posts, tour scheduling, and video content, that help your apartment’s SEO and allow you to actively market your business directly from your profile.

Google Posts

Your profile allows you to add short posts that appear as “Updates” on your profile. You can use these to discuss the benefits and amenities of your apartment building, mention community events, and link to content on your site.

Visitors can see these by clicking on “Updates” in your GBP:

In the example above, you can click the “More” button to read the rest of the post. If you click the “Learn more” button, you’ll be taken to a longer post on their website, making this an effective strategy for driving visitors to your site, application form, or tour booking platform.

Here are a few things to know about making posts on your profile:

• Your Google Posts show when they were made, so add new ones frequently to please Google and show your visitors that your online presence is up-to-date.
• Take great photos as that’s the most prominent part of the post.
• Google cuts off your post at 100 characters. Usually, the best user experience is to keep them short and add a link.
• You can add videos in place of images.

By leveraging automation tools, you can streamline updating your GBP, ensuring your profile remains fresh and engaging without taking up too much of your time. Including call-to-actions in your posts can help drive more renters to your website, application form, or tour booking platform effortlessly. 

Tour Scheduling

Perhaps GBP’s most potent lead generation feature is its ability to integrate tour scheduling. After your visitors find you at the top of Google and see your quality images and videos, they might be ready for a tour right then. 

Here’s how that looks in your profile:

However, this isn’t a native feature inside of GBP and will require integration with a third-party tour scheduling platform. Potential renters can schedule tours at their convenience, eliminating friction and increasing the chance of conversion. Plus, it syncs effortlessly with your CRM calendar for real-time availability, keeping your leasing team in the loop. It’s the perfect way to capture those highly interested leads and turn them into tours!

Video Content

Google allows you to add videos in the top image section and posts! While images are a terrific way to get attention, high-quality videos can show off your units even better.

For example, you can add content such as:

• Virtual tours
• Amenities showcases
• Resident testimonials

With videos that show your property, it’s worth splurging on a professional videographer and editor to make your videos shine. If you walk through the property with just your phone, it’ll likely do more harm than good.

Engaging with Residents and Managing Reviews

One of GBP’s more important functions is allowing potential residents to get to know you better. You can help build trust through social media engagement and managing your Google Reviews.

Link Social Profiles to Google Business Profile

Adding links to your social media profiles gives your visitors another touchpoint with your brand. Keeping your profile active is a great way to show off your online presence, appear human, and engage with a community.

Review Management

Your reviews are one of the first things potential renters see when performing a search for apartments:

In this case, the three top GBPs shown have good reviews. If you’ve ever shopped on Amazon, you know that a poor rating or low number of reviews will drive away business faster than almost anything else.

For that reason, it’s essential that you gather positive reviews. Here are a few ways to do that:

• Provide a great experience – Your unit may be great, but your reviews will suffer if potential renters experience lengthy delays, a frustrating online experience, or an impatient employee over the phone.
• Ask for reviews – Many people who have a great experience just need to be prompted. This can be done manually through text or email, or you can automate a message to be sent after signing the lease.
• Respond to reviews – It does wonders for your online presence if you show appreciation for good reviews and respond calmly and professionally to poor ones.
• Answer questions – Visitors can ask questions right on your profile. Providing thoughtful responses not only helps the person who asked but also builds trust with future visitors.

Maintaining a good star rating and interacting with visitors will show Google you’re a legitimate, active business. This in turn helps the overall SEO of your GBP.

Maximizing Visibility and Lead Generation

While a well-optimized GBP will attract views and clicks, adding calls to action (CTAs) in strategic places will drive more traffic to your website and booking system.

For example, we’ve already discussed ending your Google Posts with a link to more content. You could also have the link take visitors directly to your tour booking page. 

In addition, be sure to add more buttons that allow visitors to interact with your business, as seen here:

By simply adding more ways to connect, you’ll drive more traffic. The “Book Online” button we mentioned earlier is one that most multifamily rentals don’t include, so it’s an easy way to separate yourself from the competition.

Another way to grow your GBP is to drive traffic to it! When people ask for more information, you can send them a link to your GBP rather than your website. In many cases, Google does such a good job displaying the information that it’s better at lead capture than your site.

In addition, the more people who interact with your profile (such as asking questions and clicking buttons), the more likely Google is to rank you #1. You can give links to your GBP on your website, social media, or in text messages to renters asking for more information.

Overcoming Common Challenges in Google Business Profile Management

The greatest challenge for many businesses is simply filling out their profiles and keeping them updated!

If you have an assistant or marketing coordinator, that person would be an excellent resource for keeping your GBP optimized. If it’s just you, setting aside 30 minutes each week on your calendar is worth the effort. You can even use tools to automate parts of your profile, such as your listings.

Sometimes, you’ll encounter more thorny issues, such as fake reviews. Google has a recourse for getting reviews removed (by visiting your “Reviews” tab, selecting the fake review, and selecting “Flag as inappropriate”). However, they won’t always remove it.

Respond professionally and courteously in those cases with as many facts as possible. You could mention things like “we’ve tried to contact you” or “your name isn’t in our system”—or any other details you can provide to show that you’re not at fault.

Find Renters with Google Business Profile 

Setting up and maintaining your GBP is perhaps the most profitable marketing activity you can do for your community. Because Google wants to give useful and eye-catching results to searches, they will rank GBPs at the top whenever possible.

Your profile will help showcase your business through:

• Basic business information
• Google star rating
• Map of your unit’s location
• High-quality photos and videos
• Specific highlighted reviews

However, you can also turn your GBP into a lead-generation machine with features such as integrated tour scheduling, CTAs on your Google Posts, and updated availability and pricing on your rental units. 

Staying up-to-date and fully optimized can be challenging, but PERQ can help. With our marketing tools, we can help you generate leads at a quarter of the cost by reducing your reliance on expensive strategies (such as ILS platforms). 

Ready to transform your GBP management and integrate seamlessly with your CRM? Contact us today to discover how PERQ can optimize your Google Business Profile and boost your leasing success.