P
AI for Leasing Consultant

Use Canva's AI to Create Social Media Content for Your Community

Tool:Canva
AI Feature:Magic Write
Time:10-15 minutes
Difficulty:Beginner
Canva

What This Does

Canva's Magic Write AI generates engaging social media captions and marketing copy directly inside your design tool, so you write the text and build the graphic in the same place without switching between apps.

Before You Start

  • You have a Canva account (free account works for Magic Write)
  • You're logged into canva.com
  • You have a photo or know what you want to post about (a pool photo, an amenity, an event)

Steps

1. Find the AI feature

  1. Open Canva at canva.com and click Create a design
  2. Select Instagram Post (square, 1080×1080) or Instagram Story (vertical)
  3. Choose a template. Search "apartment," "real estate," or "lifestyle" in the template search bar
  4. Click on any text block in the template
  5. In the text toolbar at the top, look for the Magic Write icon (it looks like a small sparkle/star)
  6. Alternatively: click Apps in the left sidebar → search "Magic Write" → click to open the panel

2. Tell it what you need

  1. In the Magic Write panel, type a short description of what you want:
    • "Write an Instagram caption for a photo of our rooftop pool at sunset. Tone: aspirational, fun. Include a call-to-action to schedule a tour."
    • "Write 5 different captions for an apartment community post about our dog park. Community name: [your name]. Include a hashtag."
  2. Click Generate
  3. Review the 3–5 options it produces

3. Review and use the result

  1. Click the version you like best to insert it into your text block
  2. Edit the text as needed: swap in your community name, add your specific hashtag, adjust the call-to-action
  3. Update the design visuals (swap the template photo for your actual property photo by clicking the image and selecting Replace)
  4. Click Share → Download → select PNG or JPG
  5. Post to Instagram, Facebook, or your ILS profile

Real Example

Scenario: You just hosted a resident appreciation event and took a photo of residents by the pool. You want to post it today.

What you type: "Write an Instagram caption for a resident appreciation event photo at an apartment community pool. Tone: warm and community-focused. Include a thank-you to residents and end with a question to encourage comments."

What you get: 3 caption options. Pick the one that fits, swap in your community name, and post. Done in 5 minutes instead of 30.

Tips

  • For a week's worth of content in one session, ask Magic Write to generate 7 captions for different themes: amenity highlight, lifestyle, resident event, local neighborhood tip, leasing special, maintenance tip, "fun fact about our community"
  • Keep your community's branded hashtags saved in a note on your phone and paste them at the end of every caption before posting
  • If the free account limits your Magic Write uses, draft caption text in Claude or ChatGPT first, then paste it into Canva for design

Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.