Building Digital Communities That Feel Like Home

Project Overview

When ADOWA approached us, they were facing a challenge that many student accommodation providers struggle with - how to create genuine community connections with their residents in an increasingly digital world. As a student residence provider, they understood that their success wasn't just about providing a place to stay, but about creating a home away from home where students felt valued, heard, and connected.

ADOWA recognised that traditional marketing approaches wouldn't resonate with their target demographic. Students live on social media, communicate through memes, and value authenticity above all else. They needed a partner who could help them meet students where they are, speak their language, and build lasting relationships that would transform their business.

The Challenge

ADOWA came to us with virtually no digital presence and limited ways to connect with their student community. They were struggling to build the kind of engaged, vibrant community that would set them apart in the competitive student accommodation market.

The specific challenges they faced included:

• No established social media presence - ADOWA had no existing channels to connect with students
• Limited student engagement - Traditional communication methods weren't resonating with their demographic
• Lack of community building tools - Students felt disconnected from residence management and each other
• Insufficient brand awareness - ADOWA needed recognition within the competitive student market
• Communication barriers - No direct channels for student feedback or support

Our Strategic Approach

Establishing the Digital Foundation

We began by creating ADOWA's social media channels with a clear mission: to develop and sustain meaningful community relations between ADOWA and their students. This was about creating spaces for genuine dialogue and connection.

Our strategy centred on understanding that students don't want to be marketed to - they want to be part of something authentic. We established Instagram, Facebook, and other relevant platforms with consistent branding that spoke directly to the student experience, developing content calendars that balanced informational posts with community-building content.

Creative Content That Resonates

We developed a complete suite of creative assets for ADOWA, including graphic designs, posters, corporate identity elements, and social media templates. But more importantly, we created content that genuinely connected with the student experience - relatable, authentic, and helpful rather than promotional.

The key was recognising that students want to feel part of a community that understands them. Our content strategy focused on showcasing real student experiences, highlighting community events, and creating opportunities for students to share their own stories and perspectives.

The Game-Changer: Strategic Meme Marketing

One of our most innovative and successful initiatives was collaborating with established student community pages and meme accounts on Instagram. This approach was revolutionary because it meant meeting students in their natural digital habitat and speaking their language authentically.

We recognised that traditional advertising would feel intrusive to this audience. Instead, we partnered with pages that students already followed and trusted, creating content that felt native to these platforms whilst achieving our marketing objectives. We worked closely with student influencers to ensure the content reflected genuine student experiences and concerns, making ADOWA feel like a natural part of the student conversation.

The campaign was carefully crafted to feel organic rather than promotional. Through this strategic meme campaign, we were able to create genuine buzz about ADOWA residences and connect with students through humour and relatability in a way that felt completely authentic.

The results were extraordinary: our influencer campaign reached over 90,000 accounts within just a few months, leading to application numbers that surpassed all expectations. More importantly, the campaign established ADOWA as a brand that truly understood and connected with student culture.

Building Long-Term Community Engagement

Comprehensive Community Management

Social media management requires consistent, thoughtful engagement that goes far beyond posting content. We provided ADOWA with comprehensive community management services that created genuine connections with their student community.

We facilitate comments and reply to students' direct messages, answering their questions or connecting them to the correct person who can help them with more information. This personal touch has been crucial in building trust and demonstrating that ADOWA genuinely cares about their students' experiences.

Our community management extends beyond just responding to queries. We actively monitor conversations, identify opportunities to add value, and ensure that every interaction reinforces ADOWA's commitment to student wellbeing and community building.

Recognising that students prefer immediate, informal communication, we created a WhatsApp group chat where students can communicate directly with ADOWA team members. This initiative was transformative in building trust and transparency between residence management and students.

The WhatsApp group served as both a support channel and a community space, where students could discuss what's happening at the residences, ask questions, and feel genuinely connected to the ADOWA community. This project built a level of trust and transparency with students that traditional communication channels simply couldn't achieve.

Results and Impact

The transformation of ADOWA's digital presence has delivered remarkable results across multiple areas. Over the past year, we've used these social channels to communicate important information to students and gather valuable feedback, creating a sustainable model for ongoing engagement.

User-Generated Content (UGC) is one of the highest-performing social media formats and demonstrates how effectively a brand has connected with their audience. We've worked on an ongoing basis to engage with students living at ADOWA residences and have seen a significant increase in student-led UGC. This organic content creation shows genuine engagement rather than forced participation.

By creating deeper and genuine connections with students, ADOWA has seen a marked increase in engagement, especially towards the end of 2022. Students weren't just following ADOWA's social media - they were actively participating in and contributing to the community.

The meme campaign's reach of over 90,000 accounts translated into tangible business outcomes, with application numbers surpassing all expectations. More importantly, the quality of applications improved as students who engaged with the campaign already felt connected to the ADOWA community before applying.

Looking Forward

Our work with ADOWA demonstrates that effective social media marketing in the student accommodation sector isn't about selling rooms - it's about building relationships. By prioritising human connection and authentic engagement, we've helped ADOWA establish themselves as more than just a place to stay - they've become a community students are proud to be part of.

Increasing brand awareness and engaging with their students effectively has become part of ADOWA's long-term business strategy. The social media presence we built has evolved into a cornerstone of their student relations approach, supporting both marketing objectives and operational communication needs.

This ongoing partnership continues to evolve as we adapt to new platforms, trends, and student needs, always keeping human connection at the heart of everything we do. The foundation we've built provides ADOWA with the tools and strategies needed to maintain these vital student relationships for years to come.