Content Is Customer Service: What AIM Taught the Multifamily Industry
We just got back from AIM 2026 in Huntington Beach, and we need to talk about something.
Not a new platform. Not a new tool. Not another AI integration. The biggest conversation happening in multifamily marketing right now is actually a really simple one.
Your content is your customer service.
That idea kept showing up in every session, every hallway conversation, every roundtable we sat in on. And it was validated on stage during "The New Language of Leasing" with Michael Sherman, Senior Vice President of Zillow Rentals. The message was clear. What a renter sees online before they ever schedule a tour is part of the leasing experience. Not a precursor to it. Part of it.
And right now, most properties are failing that experience before a prospect ever walks through the door.
The renter has already changed. The content hasn't.
98% of renters use online resources when searching for their next home. 40% say social media directly influenced their decision. And Gen Z, which is projected to become the largest consumer group in the U.S. this year, makes half of their purchasing decisions based on what they see on social media.
Those numbers aren't projections. That's the current reality.
So when a renter lands on your property's Instagram and sees a stock photo of a kitchen island, a generic caption that could apply to any apartment in any city, and no video anywhere on the page, what does that tell them? It tells them you didn't try. And in a market where 82% of renters are cross-referencing three or more listing platforms before they commit, you're not just competing with the property down the street. You're competing with every piece of content a renter scrolls past before yours.
What we heard from regionals
We spent three days talking to regional managers and marketing directors, and the frustration was the same almost every time.
Nothing feels personal anymore.
Their vendors aren't posting across all three platforms. Video content is either nonexistent or clearly an afterthought. Nobody is creating content around the things renters actually search for. The neighborhood. The parking situation. Whether the property is actually dog-friendly or just says it is. The closest coffee shop. What the pool looks like on a Saturday. The stuff that helps someone feel something about a place before they've ever set foot in it.
One regional told us their property's social media hadn't mentioned a single thing about the neighborhood in over six months. Six months of content and not one post about what it's actually like to live there.
That's not a content strategy. That's a checkbox.
The cost conversation
We also had a lot of conversations that started with raised eyebrows.
When we walk through what we shoot during our first visit to a property, people tend to react. Drone footage. Full real estate photography for the entire property. Video content. Neighborhood content. UGC. It's a lot. We know it's a lot. That's the point.
"That seems expensive" came up more than once.
Every single piece of content we create during our onboarding shoot and throughout our partnership is yours. You own it during our relationship, and you own it after. No licensing fees. No content held hostage. No fine print.
We show up at the property. We walk the neighborhood. We find the taco spot around the corner, the trail behind the leasing office, and the sunset view from the third-floor breezeway. We create content that makes a renter feel like they already live there. And we do it across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok because your renters aren't all in one place, and your content shouldn't be either.
Content is the first tour
That phrase kept coming back to us throughout the conference. If 98% of renters are researching online before they ever reach out, then your social media, your listing photos, and your video content, that's the first tour. That's where the leasing experience begins.
And if that first tour is a grid full of empty amenity photos with no context, no neighborhood, no personality, and no video, you've already lost the renters who would have loved your property if they'd just been able to see what it's actually like to live there.
The properties that are winning right now aren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones whose content actually feels like it was made by someone who has been there.
What we're taking home
Beyond the sessions and the conversations, the best part of AIM was the people. We got to see partners we've worked with for years in person. We met new teams we're genuinely excited to work with. And we left more confident than ever that the industry is ready for what we've been building.
Human-made content isn't a trend. It's what renters have been asking for. The industry is just finally starting to listen.
If your property's content doesn't feel like it was made by someone who actually visited, we should talk.
