A Google Business Profile (GBP), previously named Google My Business (GMB), is a critical component of multifamily marketing. These profiles not only give you a competitive edge when it comes to reaching prospects in your market but also act as the first touchpoint for potential renters.
As part of managing your GBP, you need to regularly update each property’s profile. After all, Google favors profiles that are active and up-to-date. For multifamily properties, this means you need daily Google Posts that give updates about availability, amenities, specials, and more.
So, we’ll guide you through the essentials of Google Business posts, from what they are and why they matter to best practices and how to scale across dozens or hundreds of communities in your portfolio.
What Are Google Business Posts?
Google Business posts are short updates that appear directly on your profile, similar to social media. Each post features an image, text, and a call-to-action, such as “Learn more” or “Schedule a tour.” The updates appear in local search and Google Maps listings making them effective ways of sharing information with potential residents.
Why Google Business Posts Matter for Multifamily
When it comes to your multifamily property, your Google Business Profile is often the first interaction a prospect has with your property and brand. That’s why daily updates to your multifamily GBP are critical for attracting new residents.
Daily posts on your Google Business Profile are known to:
- Improve Local SEO: Google prefers profiles that are active and engaged. So, daily posts to your profile will give you the competitive edge when it comes to appearing in Google Maps and the local pack.
- Drive Engagement: Posts that feature a built-in CTA are more likely to drive engagement and convert prospects into residents. Use posts to promote current specials, available units, or community events taking place to increase interest in your property.
- Build Trust: Recent, relevant posts give prospects the confidence that your team is engaged and the community is active, unlike stale profiles that appear abandoned or outdated.
- Maintain Communication: If you manage multiple properties across a portfolio, daily Google posts help maintain regular communication with prospects that reflect property data, further building trust and engagement.
Best Practices for Creating Google Business Profile Posts
When creating GMB posts for your apartment building, there are some best practices to follow. By implementing these tips into your multifamily Google Business Profile, you’ll maximize your listing’s potential.
Follow these best practices for creating successful Google posts:
- Post Daily: Strive to post daily, as it increases the trust built with renters and signals to Google an actively managed profile.
- Stay Current: Share content that is current, such as available units, upcoming events, or ongoing specials. Try prioritizing this content to create a sense of urgency for prospects, urging them to take action sooner rather than later.
- Add Images: Attach up to 10 high-quality photos to each post to increase visibility and engagement. Showcase units, new amenities, or recent community events that highlight your property’s offerings. Aim for square images with a resolution of 720 x 720 pixels, as recommended by Google.
- Naturally Include Keywords: Mention relevant keywords or phrases naturally within your post, like “pet-friendly NYC apartments” or “luxury 1-bedroom in downtown.” You should avoid stuffing keywords or using hashtags to avoid posts being rejected by Google. More importantly, naturally using keywords in your posts improves their relevance to prospects.
- Keep it Short: Write short, skimmable posts that are easy to read from a smartphone. Aim to keep content at around 150-200 words with regular line breaks and with only the most important details.
- Add a Relevant CTA: Encourage renters to take the next step by using the right call-to-action. Google supports a drop-down menu with several options to select from, like “Book,” “Call”, or “Sign up.” These buttons improve visibility and are more likely to drive conversions.
Challenges of Google My Business for Multifamily
While daily Google posts will improve visibility and local SEO for your property, executing such a task is a lot of work.
On-site teams are often already stretched thin with managing leasing activity, resident needs, and more. Scheduling time to create daily GMB posts for the property ahead of time isn’t realistic. Even centralized marketing teams struggle to keep posts scheduled and updated, especially when they’re supporting numerous properties across a portfolio.
In addition, it’s easy to experience creative fatigue when creating posts every day. You want your Google posts to be unique and fresh, but content takes a lot of time and strategy to map out. Without a scalable system, even the most experienced multifamily marketing teams burn out trying to keep up the pace.
After all, posting consistently for a single property is difficult, but creating posts for an entire portfolio is even more challenging. Hiring a dedicated social media manager is a possible solution, but even then, it’s costly.
For instance, let’s say your portfolio includes 50 properties, and you want to publish one Google Business post for each property per day. That’s 50 posts every day, or 1,500 posts per month, totaling over 18,000 unique posts per year. And if each post takes approximately 20 minutes to create (sourcing visuals, writing copy, and scheduling), that adds up to 600 hours annually to dedicated posting alone.
And that doesn’t even include updating pricing and availability or responding to renter questions. These tasks are just as critical as driving engagement and conversions through Google Business posts.
As a result, your profile falls behind on updates, losing the interest of prospects and giving red flags to Google. For these reasons, it’s best to automate Google Business posts using a tool that scales alongside your portfolio.
MavenAI Automates Daily Google Posts
MavenAI is a Google Business Profile AI purposely designed for multifamily. It automates your daily Google posts with content that’s relevant, on-brand, and scales to your portfolio without requiring time or resources from your marketing team.
Here’s how MavenAI creates and publishes daily posts for your multifamily property:
- Sourcing Content: MavenAI integrates with your property management software and pulls in property attributes — website, floorplans, photos, events, social media, etc. — to ensure accurate, relevant, and branded content appears in your Google Business posts.
- Writing Branded Posts: Auto-generate content that matches your brand voice and directly speaks to prospects. You can always adjust the tone and style of writing at any time to better match the evolution of your brand.
- Automate Scheduling: MavenAI automates scheduling Google Business posts that are unique and avoids repetitive content. This keeps your profile fresh and keeps prospects engaged.
- Publish Automatically: Google Business posts are automatically published daily across each of your properties without input from your team.
Built by multifamily experts and shaped by customer feedback, MavenAI integrates with your property management software to deliver smarter, more effective Google Business Profile automation at scale.
Request a MavenAI demo today to eliminate the work and time spent creating daily Google Business posts and automate your multifamily marketing.
FAQs
How often should apartments update their Google Business Profile?
Daily updates are ideal for keeping your listing fresh and competitive. However, posting three to five times per week is the minimum required to maintain your SEO edge. Frequent updates signal to Google that your profile is active, which in turn boosts your search rankings for renters.
What type of content drives the most renter engagement?
The best type of content to drive renter engagement is leasing specials, concessions, unique amenities, and community events. These types of posts consistently draw the most attention as renters respond to content that emotionally connects them to the property.
Can automation replace on-site teams?
No, automation is designed to complement, not replace, your on-site team. By reducing repetitive tasks like posting updates, responding to the same questions, or updating pricing, automation frees up staff to focus on more critical duties — engaging with renters, giving tours, and finalizing leases.
How can multifamily teams automatically share move-in specials daily?
With MavenAI, specials are pulled directly from your PMS and published automatically to your Google Business Profile. This ensures that renters see the latest and most accurate specials you’re offering, while eliminating the tedious and time-consuming task of manual updates.