Applied AI for Multifamily: Using AI to answer the question every prospect wants answered

At this year's AIM conference, we shared specific examples of ways to use generative AI and ChatGPT to boost your marketing. We promised the audience we'd keep the conversation going and share more examples to help you.

Once you’ve done the work for Workshop Projects 1 and 2, you should have clearly defined audience segments that make sense for your market.

For our next exercise, we want to build on the audience segmentation that we started in our AIM workshop session.

Now it’s time to get aspirational. It’s time to show your prospects what their life — a better version of their life — will look like when they choose to live with you.

What is it like to live here?

Our goal: Let’s answer the question, “What is it like to live here?” and find a few ways to incorporate that messaging into our marketing.

And here’s the best part: We’re not just going to answer that question once.

We’re going to answer it for each audience segment we’ve identified!

Let’s start with some user stories to understand each segment better. Here's the prompt to get started: (Keep this going in the same chat to give ChatGPT the context it needs.)

For each audience segment, write a detailed User Story about a day in this person's life. 
Focus on how each person uses the apartment features, the community amenities, and the location in the [Insert the neighborhood where yor property is located] neighborhood to make the most of their day. 
Highlight a unique apartment living moment that defines their week.        

(As always, validate and correct the responses. If ChatGPT swung and missed, tell it to try again.)

I got some great responses for my test properties. Here’s one example that ChatGPT generated for our Remote Workers segment:

Meet Mia. She starts her workday in the apartment's shared coworking space, finding it inspiring and conducive to productivity. She loves that she can step out for a quick workout at the fitness center during her lunch break. After work, she enjoys the convenience of the neighborhood, from the coffee shop down the street to the nearby grocery store for quick errands.

The defining moment of her week is the community "Work From Home Wednesday" gatherings, where remote workers share ideas and network.

This is a great picture of a day in the life of someone working from home at your community, and I love the idea of "WFH Wednesdays" to help like-minded neighbors meet each other. We’re off to a good start!

Social media that speaks directly to your target prospect

We have some direction. Now we want to turn this into marketing content ... let's start with our social media.

Here's your next prompt:

Based on these user stories, draft a series of social media posts targeting each unique audience segment. 
The goal for the social posts should be to create a picture that answers the question "What is it like to live here?" for each unique segment. 
Remember to use emojis and hashtags.        

Here’s an example of a social post targeting our Social Butterflies audience segment:

"Love being the life of the party? At [Property Name], your spacious living room is perfect for hosting fun nights and the community resident brunch is a must-attend. Dive into the social scene of the [Neighborhood name] and meet new faces every day. ???????? #SocialButterflies #HostessWithTheMostest

Not bad, especially with the right photos or videos to support it. I can already picture the accompanying imagery of a resident hosting friends in her apartment or chatting with neighbors in the resident lounge.

You should end up with a set of social posts that can help you depict the unique lifestyle experiences and apartment features that resonate with each segment, portraying a vivid picture of "What's it like to live here?" at your community.

Carry it through to your property website

We have some social posts, but we also want to carry this messaging through to the hub of our online presence, the property website. Here’s a sample prompt for that:

Based on these user stories, how should [Property Name] update their website to attract customers from each unique audience segment? 
The goal should be that the website creates a picture that answers the question "What is it like to live here?" for each unique segment.        

Here’s an excerpt of what ChatGPT came up with for our Fitness Fanatics audience segment:

Offer a virtual tour of the fitness center and highlight jogging trails in the neighborhood. Show how the modern kitchen can aid in healthy cooking. Include testimonials from fitness-oriented residents.

In general, the website should use vibrant images, compelling text, and testimonials to convey the unique lifestyle at [Property Name]. Integrating a blog can also be beneficial to deep-dive into topics that are important to each segment. Each segment should be able to easily navigate to the information that speaks to their lifestyle and needs. This can be achieved through an easy-to-use navigation menu, clear and compelling headings, and interactive website features.

Now, there's nothing incredibly groundbreaking with these website suggestions, but I can tell you that most websites I see don’t have a virtual tour of the fitness center. These are all useful, relevant suggestions.

BONUS: If you want to give ChatGPT even more context for these user stories and recommendations, start this exercise by feeding it recent comments from your resident surveys or your resident loyalty/advocate app. The more you can share about what real residents think about their experience, the more accurate your user stories and marketing recommendations are going to be.

Each renter chooses your community for their own reasons

You now have suggestions for how to make similar messaging adjustments for every audience segment that makes sense for your community. (Also notice the lack of demographic focus. All of these segments and the associated messaging are Fair Housing-friendly.)

So you be the judge: Can you answer “What is it like to live here?” Can AI help?

From our results, not only is the answer a resounding ‘yes,’ but you can answer that question uniquely for each renter audience segment you’re trying to attract.

For many of us, that's a completely new way to approach our marketing that we've never had the bandwidth to achieve before. I love hearing the stories of teams that are already incorporating this into their process on a daily basis.

That's it for this week. After you've done your homework, share your feedback. Share your results and the tweaks you made to improve the output. Share your questions and frustrations. We're here to help.