Whether you realize it or not, you draw hasty conclusions about brands every day based on their visual appeal. Think about it this way: how often do you find yourself enticed by a brand after stumbling upon their user-friendly website or well-curated Instagram grid? Similar to your own experience, it only takes mere seconds for consumers to form a first impression of your company, and many of these perceptions are based upon the strength of your visual branding. In fact, visual content is strongly linked to memory, as visuals help consumers remember 65 percent of new information for up to three days. This explains why 80 percent of marketers use visual assets in their social media marketing campaigns.
While visually appealing design is a major component of any reputable brand, mastering the basics of graphic design itself can be difficult for teams without the resources to employ a graphic designer or marketing specialist skilled in this arena. For multifamily companies, who want to exude professionalism and appeal to target audiences, however, it’s a necessary skill to attain.
Luckily, any multifamily community can now harness the power of design with web-based design platforms, like Canva, which are known for their easy-to-use interface, simple photo editing abilities, and extensive selection of templates, illustrations, and stock images. Canva, specifically, welcomes over 15 million monthly active users looking for a simple way to create social media graphics, posters, flyers, and other business-friendly visual assets. This design program — and others like it — are also much more affordable than high-end tools, including Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, which require a moderate level of industry knowledge in order to use them effectively.
If you’d like to maximize your online presence without spending hours learning an extremely complex program, web-based graphic design platforms are the perfect all-in-one solution. This rings especially true if your team is interested in bolstering your marketing strategy with social media-ready content, including branded imagery, interactive posts, and informational graphics.
After all, establishing a firm foothold within the social media sphere requires that potential residents become familiar with your brand, which can increase revenue by as much as 33 percent! Fortunately, simple-to-use design programs make it easy to create memorable branded content. Simply upload your property’s logo, colors, and fonts to your design account. When you're ready to insert your logo, you can navigate to the platform’s Brand Kit and select what you need. Upload your brand colors and fonts, and you’ll never have to keep track of confusing color codes and font names again.
Once your Brand Kit is complete, focus on generating social media content. Take your pick of templates sized to every major social media platform under the sun, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. Create graphics from pre-sized selections, or size your own projects with customizable dimensions. You’ll also be able to take advantage of free stock images and videos, a wide variety of professionally designed illustrations and graphics, and even interactive “stickers” that move across your screen.
The uses of these online design programs extend far beyond creating striking social media posts, too. If you need to get the word out about any announcements, recommendations, or specials, you can turn to these platforms to create an infographic, newsletter, or flyer. Home to countless templates for these business-minded projects, you’ll find all the elements that you need to solidify your brand identity. Export your work as a graphic, video, or GIF, or use various API integrations to share the final product straight to your social media channels. Interested in obtaining a hard copy of your file? Certain programs even allow you to order prints of your design project with the click of a button.
Yet, our favorite part of design platforms is the least expected. Most of these programs tend to offer an ever-growing informational library, perfect for those who’d like to expand upon their knowledge of both the platform itself and the larger digital marketing industry. Create an account, and you’ll be able to access a comprehensive blog and free, video-based courses that cover topics, like social media best practices and graphic design principles. Considering that similar tutorials can cost hundreds of dollars elsewhere, these resources only add value for your business.
Social media platforms offer multifamily communities another avenue to cultivate relationships with prospects and residents, while publicizing important information concerning floor plans, amenities, neighborhood perks, and more. If your small to mid-sized multifamily team is interested in maximizing your leasing and retention opportunities by incorporating high-quality visual assets into your marketing strategy, web-based design programs, such as Canva, are a useful, cost-effective option for knocking these goals out of the park. Great for creating everything from infographics and digital brochures to logos and print collateral, these online design programs are the “one stop shop” that your marketing department has been searching for.
AUTHOR
Kerry W. Kirby is a global entrepreneur, technology innovator, and philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of 365 Connect, the leader in delivering the world’s most sophisticated automated marketing, leasing, and resident engagement platform for multifamily communities across the globe. Over the last two decades, Kerry has propelled 365 Connect from a scrappy, bootstrapped startup to a powerhouse proptech firm, which has won an array of highly acclaimed awards, including the esteemed Louisiana Governor's Technology Award. He has been named to the Silicon Bayou 100 List of most influential entrepreneurs for nine consecutive years and has received a prestigious Titan Entrepreneur Award for his technological achievements.
Kerry serves on the Board of Advisors of Rainbow, a national nonprofit organization that provides service-enriched housing programs for affordable housing communities across the country. He is Chair of Technology Initiatives for the Multifamily Innovation Advisory Council, a private, members only group, focused on assisting owners and operators of multifamily communities identify pain points and explore innovative solutions that will drive change across the industry.
Kerry and his wife Melinda are highly recognized fixtures in the philanthropic community and were honored with a Communitas International Award for their dedication to humanitarian, educational, healthcare, and equality programs. Through their Kerry & Melinda Kirby Charitable Fund, they provide resources that accelerate progress by championing causes that give a voice to those that are often not heard.