"Home-Centricity:" What Does Multifamily Look Like With New Online Consumer Trends?

Sourdough bread baking, at-home workout videos, Zoom hacks, and puzzle orders are just a few of the peculiar trends that have skyrocketed as result of state lock downs. Many argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has propelled us into the future as it relates to consumer behavior, communication, and our perspective on housing. Grocery delivery, e-commerce, and remote working were expected to continue their rise in the years to come, but the COVID outbreak has accelerated these trends to make them more of our daily norm today. The future that was expected to take years to go into effect has taken only weeks. While COVID has altered our lives in 2020 and for the foreseeable future, Google has reported that many of the consumer trends that we are seeing now we're already well on their way, especially in housing. In a recent AdWeek article, Marie Gulin- Merle, Google's Vice President of Global Ads and Marketing, reports that there is ample evidence showing a shift towards "home-centricity." Gulin-Merle notes "People are looking for flexibility and a better quality of life- often that means eliminating a long commute. And with more people spending more time at home, shopping patterns have already started shifting." AdWeek reports that search terms for "grocery delivery" have increased 130% in the past two years alone.

The digital consumer shift found its way into multifamily as owners and operators throughout the country tried to continue leasing while protecting the health of their employees and prospects. While it's important for multifamily marketing strategies to have the properly optimized digital campaigns and virtual content in place, the shift towards "home-centricity" brings up some interesting topics for developers to consider. With more people spending time at home what is the future for multifamily developments? Leasing tours have long highlighted the plentiful and spacious amenities that apartment communities offer their residents. Will those spaces start to get smaller given that we're advised to avoid larger gatherings? Will secure pantries that have hallway accessibility for grocery delivery become a popular feature? The concept would allow for personalized grocery delivery to your home without having to open up your home to a stranger if you're not home. And is this the end of city living's rise? Urban development and rents have boomed in the past decade thanks to Millennials and Baby Boomers flocking to the US's major cities. With remote working now being more acceptable to many companies, more affordable, larger living spaces in the suburbs look more attractive now than ever with no need to commute. Living outside the city also allows you to avoid larger crowds or the need to use mass transit.

The future has come quicker than we expected. With home-centricity being of greater value, multifamily developers have some thinking to do. What does the future of apartment buildings look like now?

Google Announces No Demographic Or Zip Code Targeting for Housing

It was really only a matter of time. Due to the attention brought to Facebook's targeting parameters in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook was the first digital ad platform under the demographic targeting microscope. The social media giant enabled marketers to hyper-target ads towards consumers based on demographics like income, marital status, age, religion, and more. Facebook has since made adjustments that limit the targeting capabilities to avoid any discrimination and to abide by Fair Housing Laws. After much behind the scenes work with HUD, Google has announced that later this year it will be updating its advertising policies in similar fashion. Much like Facebook's current policy, Google's adjustment will prohibit multifamily Pay Per Click, Display, Discovery, and YouTube ad campaigns from targeting or excluding prospective renters based on gender, age, parental statues, or zip code. While a specific date has not been communicated, Google has announced the changes will be rolled out as soon as possible and certainly before the end of the year. In their policy release, Google states that the announcement is aimed to "protect, users, advertisers, and publishers, and prohibit advertisers from unlawful behavior like discriminating against users."

What does this mean for the future of Google Ads for multifamily? Many multifamily marketers are aware of the housing and demographic targeting adjustments that Facebook put into place in 2019 to abide by Fair Housing. Although it was not yet communicated that the same policies applied to Google, many have, or should have, taken the same precautions with their targeting within Google Ads for PPC, Display, Discover, or YouTube ads. Therefore, the official announcement should not have a huge impact for many- pending any other significant location targeting parameters that Google rolls out. That being said, it is important to make sure that your digital marketing agencies are aware of Google's announcement and to clarify which campaigns, if any, may be affected by the news.

Social Media's "Stories" Frenzy Continues. Twitter Tests Its Own Version Called "Fleets"

Evan Spiegel and his partners first released an idea of an app called Picaboo as students at Stanford University in 2011. The mobile-based social media platform allowed users to send private photos and short-form videos to one another that would disappear after being viewed. First, questioned by Spiegel's classmates as to whether he just created a "sexting" app, Picaboo has since been renamed to what we know today as SnapChat. The mobile app has evolved greatly since its inception in 2011 and has emerged as one of the main platforms in today's social media landscape. Since Snap first released the original "Stories" concept, the short form, disappearing video design that allowed SnapChat to rise to prominence, the company's main competitors have looked to mirror the feature on their own platforms. Imitated versions of Snap's original concept can be seen today on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and WhatsApp. The feature has allowed these platforms to evolve and offer additional avenues for users to communicate with one another, create additional content, and add another medium for which they can communicate their brand. For the almighty bottom line, the feature allows for additional advertising opportunities for marketers, meaning more revenue for Google and Facebook. The success of Spiegel's "Stories" concept is now being imitated and tested by yet another social media giant, Twitter.

Long viewed as the 21st Century app for staying up to date with news updates and headlines, Twitter has been criticized by many in the tech and advertising space for failing to evolve as a social media platform since its inception. Even as attention to the app has increased over the past four years, Twitter has largely failed to capitalize on the advertising potential it has given its 330 million users. With the success that Stories has brought others, especially as social media is shifting further towards mobile vs. desktop, Twitter is now testing its own version of "Stories," which it calls "Fleets." The imitated concept will match a similar design that many are familiar with. Fleets is located at the top of the app above a user's feed in small circles showing the user's profile image. Once clicked on, the app will open the photo or video selected and appear full screen. Again, much like you see on the other social media platforms today. The release is currently being tested in India, Brazil, and Italy.

While Fleets isn't a novel idea, the new feature could prove to be a welcome opportunity for multifamily digital marketing and online advertising campaigns. Twitter's large user base provides great reach for multifamily marketers to advertise to prospective renters. Up to this point, however, Twitter has largely failed to make its platform a great option for multifamily marketing strategies. The introduction of Fleets could end up providing welcome revenue opportunities for Twitter and a new avenue for marketers to utilize creative, visual content for targeted marketing purposes.