Pub. 3 2018 Issue 1

12 www.ctaahq.org INCREASING RESIDENT SATISFACTION WITH SOCIAL MEDIA By Susan Morgan, The newsLINK Group Just how much competition is there for apartment tenants? Plenty: • According to 2016 demographics on the National Multifamily Housing Council, the U.S. had approximately 18.7 million apartments that year. Slightly less than 6.4 million of them were built between 1990 and 2015. • Scott Wickman, on the Multi-Housing News website, estimated in November 2017 that more than 630,000 new units were being built and that more than 400,000 of them would be ready for occupants by the end of 2017. What are some other key demographic facts to keep in mind? • Renter-occupied households comprise 35 percent of the U.S. population. • The two largest groups of renters are thosewho are less than 30 (50 percent) and thosewho are 30 to 44 (23 percent). By the time people are between 45 and 64 years of age, only 19 percent of themare renting. By the time they are older than 65, only 8 percent are renting. This information was culled from 2016 American Community Survey microdata. • Of t hos e who do rent , t he age distribution for householders is 32.93 percent between 30 and 44 and 30.17 percent between 45 and 64. For those under 30, the percent is 21.81, and for those 65 and older, the percent is 15.09 percent. Householders are defined to be those who live alone or who act as the head of household. • Approximately 43 percent of the people who rent live in buildings with five or more units. The next largest percentage is 35 percent, and that is for people in single-family homes. Approximately 18 percent live in buildings with two to four units, and 4 percent live in mobile homes. • Apartment household incomes in 2016 varied. There were about 5.8 million households with an income of less than $20,000. Approximately 6.4 million households were bringing in between $20,000 and $49,000. About 6.6 million households had incomes that started at $50,000 and went up from there. If you want your multifamily community to stand out when tenants and potential tenants compare your community with others, one of the most effective ways of doing that is to leverage social media to your advantage. Not only can you keep current tenants happier, which is good for retention, you can also attract new tenants. Why is social media an effective strategy? More than 80 percent of the people who live in the U.S. have social media accounts. Even for people who are 65 or older, their activity rate has increased more than three times since the end of 2010. Millennials and Gen Z are both large rental cohorts, but they are also the biggest users of social media. People within the ages of 18 and 29 have a 90-percent activity rate. These statistics make it obvious that social media is a great way to reach people, whether they are tenants or potential tenants. But what exactly should you do to attract potential tenants and retain existing ones? The first step consists of identifying your core audience. If you have a building where the majority of people are part of the baby boom generation, you will have a different situation than buildings full of millennial and gen Z generations. Exactly where are the lines for each generation? • The only one that is clearly defined is the baby boom generation, which includes