The Local Visibility Ranking Report for Property Management Companies: Metrics You Need to Know

As a property management company (PMC), you compete to get potential residents' attention online. Instead of trying countless marketing strategies to understand which marketing tactics work and which don't, what if we cut out some of the guesswork? That's where our Local Visibility Ranking Report for Property Management Companies comes in! This report analyzed 30 top PMCs on 100 metrics across local search, social, and online reputation to gain critical insights into the property management industry. Findings from the report reveal which localized marketing benchmarks your PMC should be meeting to stand out from the competition. Within this blog, we'll highlight the report's top findings, insights into the methodology, and tangible takeaways your PMC can use to level up its localized marketing efforts.

A Look Into The Methodology

Before we dive into the top findings of the Local Visibility Ranking Report for Property Management Companies, it's essential to understand the methodology. Our study looks at indicators of digital marketing success for PMCs. This year, for the first time, we're taking a deep dive into three property categories: multi-family, senior living, and student housing. For each category, we analyze various metrics to understand how they're performing in local search, social, and reputation. Individual metrics such as search ranking or responsiveness to online reviews are benchmarked by industry. These measurements roll up to a Local Visibility Score, measured on a scale of 0 to 100. The approximately 100 metrics that make up the Local Visibility Score for each business roll into three categories: search, reputation, and social. Categories are scored on a 100-point scale; the overall Local Visibility Score is the average of the three scores.

Metrics within categories are organized into classes as follows:

Search: Claiming; Profile Optimization; Engagement & Reviews; Onsite SEO; Ranking
Reputation: Rating; Volume; Velocity; Variety; Response
Social: Claiming; Profile Optimization; Audience; Content; Engagement

The metrics were measured across Google, Facebook, and Yelp. The chart below shows our study's overall results compared to the property management benchmarks we established in the 2022 Localized Marketing Benchmark Report.

A screenshot of scoring data in the local visibility ranking report for pmcs

Top Findings From the Report

Now that you understand how we collected the data let's dive into the top findings for multi-family, senior living, and student housing and explain what it means for your PMC.

1. Multi-Family

Companies in the multi-family category had an average Local Visibility Score of 24 out of 100. As a whole, multi-family companies have established some fundamental best practices in localized marketing. Still, they have significant opportunities to improve in all areas, including search optimization, reputation management, and audience building on social media.

photo of the scores in the multi-family category of the local visibility ranking report for property

Improving local search provides the largest area of opportunity for multi-family. Multi-family needs to focus on claiming and optimizing their local profiles across Google, Facebook, and Yelp. Currently, multi-family only has an average of 78.1 percent of locations claimed on Google, 68.7 percent on Yelp, and 91.1 percent on Facebook. Profile completeness averages out to about 75 percent across the three.

2. Senior Living

In the senior living space, companies have a slightly higher average Local Visibility Score at 34 out of 100. Senior living companies have mastered some of the best practices for localized marketing but still must work to develop more robust strategies.

Senior living companies have the most room to improve in reputation, specifically regarding review responses. Currently, the senior living companies studied responded to an average of 52.9 percent of reviews received on Google, 28 percent on Yelp, and only 23 percent on Facebook. As a PMC, you should be responding to as many reviews as possible, showing your residents that you care about their opinions and feedback.

3. Student Housing

Student housing was the strongest performer in the report averaging a Local Visibility Score of 36 out of 100. Like senior living, student housing companies have mastered the fundamentals but have significant opportunities to improve and outpace the competition.

photo of the scores in the student housing category of the local visibility ranking report for property

Student housing companies have the most room for improvement in their local search efforts, including their overall star ratings. The student housing companies studied in this report had an average star rating of 3.6 on Google and 1.98 on Yelp. Recent data has found that 70 percent of prospective residents have decided to visit a property with a higher online reputation, so ensuring your PMCs have a strong star rating is essential.

Level-Up Your PMC's Localized Marketing Strategy

Now that you understand how each segment of the property industry is performing in local search, social, and reputation, what's next? Our report demonstrates that the top multi-family, senior living, and student housing companies have mastered many of the basics of localized marketing across search, social, and reputation but stand to benefit from increased effort in several areas. For instance, PMCs should make a concerted effort to claim and optimize all property profiles on Google, Facebook, and Yelp. If your PMC hasn't claimed 100 percent of its local listings, you could be missing out on potential renters. When looking at social, PMCs should ensure they have local social presence for each property location. Engagement is also crucial for local social. PMCs need to do a better job of engaging those audiences by frequently posting from property-level profiles and creating post content that is useful and engaging. Only about five percent of Facebook posts utilize video in the property space; PMCs can do more to leverage this popular medium. Finally, reputation is essential to consider as well! As a PMC, you should promptly respond to as many reviews as possible. Your PMCs should respond to reviews quickly to meet the modern consumer expectation that properties will be highly available and responsive on digital platforms. If your PMC isn't meeting the industry standards regarding star ratings, you analyze and act upon feedback offered by residents in reviews. With all this information, it's time to hit the ground running! As a PMC, we understand that focusing on localized marketing efforts across numerous properties can be challenging, which is where SOCi comes in. SOCi is the marketing platform for property management companies. We have all the tools you need to create a winning localized marketing strategy under one login.

From local social to reputation management to local search and beyond, SOCi has you covered. For more insight into how SOCi can help your PMC dominate its localized marketing efforts at scale, request a demo today!