Apartment Blog

On Wednesday, August 19^th, For Rent Media Solutions launched a Twitter sweepstakes for multifamily industry professionals. Multifamily professionals had an opportunity to win an iPod Touch® if they logged on to Twitter and sent @AptsForRent a tweet. To be eligible for the sweepstake, multifamily professionals had to enter a tweet that included the ‘Yeah We’ve Got That’ hashtag. This hashtag symbolizes our solutions network to help clients reach renters any time, any place, driving more LEADS for them.

On Monday, August 24^th, we announced Jessica Whitney as the randomly selected winner for the iPod Touch. Whitney works with Resort at Forbes Creek apartment community.  This community has had their Twitter account for a little over a month and loves using the microbloging site for ‘real time’ updates to inform residents of specials, events, etc. In addition to Twitter, we also learned that this community has a robust Facebook page set up displaying updates regarding events in the apartment community.

As a result of this campaign, For Rent Media Solutions saw an increase of followers to our Twitter profile and numerous retweets with our brand message all in less than three days! We also generated a couple thousand page views to our Apartment Blog and had many interactions with multifamily industry professionals.

We want to congratulate Jessica Whitney for winning the iPod touch. We would also like to thank all multifamily professionals who participated. We’re looking forward to running another sweepstakes soon!

There are a lot of different versions out there of how the Seven Deadly Sins apply to social media but here are some that For Rent Media Solutions has put together to assure that you are making the most of your social media marketing campaign.

1.      Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

We have all been there before and understand this one. When most companies enter the social media landscape they want to have a presence everywhere. In order to be effective both with time and resources, you need to have goals and a solid strategy to support them. It is not necessary to have an account on all of the social networking sites. Choose one or two platforms that best match your goals and target audience and get to know how they work. 

2.      Don’t Get Greedy

One of the main reasons businesses enter the realm of social media is to build relationships with consumers and increase their brand awareness; however this does not mean you need to solely promote it while you are on these sites. Follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the content you are submitting, sharing, tagging and commenting on should not be yours. Don’t consistently link your content. Offer help to others that genuinely and directly benefits them, not you. Provide value to the conversation and become a trusted member of the community. Move people to engage your brand and be collaborative. You can only build a community by contributing and that contribution needs to provide value for the consumers. Only then will they begin to trust your brand.

3.      Don’t Lose Sight Over Quality vs. Quantity

Social media is about quality not quantity and it should not be looked at like a popularity contest. Having the highest number of followers and fans is not what it is all about. Take the time to build a targeted list even if it is smaller and takes longer. It is important to have followers that take action versus having thousands of followers/fans that will never convert. Social media is about building relationships, so you will also want to make sure that you can manage the relationships that you have.

4.      Don’t Try to Control It
Your relationships are your brand. Anyone can blog, tweet or Facebook message about a good or bad experience they had with your product and it can be seen by millions of people. Embrace the transparency of social media because people are talking about your communities whether you like it or not. We can all learn a lesson from the recent experience of a property management company that is suing a former resident for $50,000 over a tweet complaining about mold. Read more here: What the Horizon Realty Fail Can Teach You About Social Media. Within a few hours, Horizon    Realty became a “trending topic” on Twitter, which means that Horizon was one of the most talked about topics on Twitter. Although trending topics on Twitter tend to be short-lived, the reach and distribution of social media goes further than Twitter.

 If you try to control the message too much, you will lose control. Rather than be fearful of messages made about your brand, engage. Use it as an opportunity to display your customer service and you will win customers for life.

5.      Don’t Be Fake
As we’ve mentioned before, social media is very transparent.  Consumers will know if you’ve entered a space with the intention of only promoting your business and not engaging in conversation with them. This is a big mistake businesses are making. Your company needs to be honest and personable in the online space in order to build relationships, loyalty and trust. It’s ok to make a mistake, admit when you are wrong and move on. People want to do business with people NOT with companies so talk to them versus talking at them.

6.      Don’t Be Lazy
Not only do you need to be honest, but you need to be THERE! Don’t get in the mindset of “Set It and Forget It.” Your brand needs to be involved more than just once a week and response time  is critical. You have to write interesting content, you have to stay current, and you have to be willing to show up and put forth the effort. This is a relationship that needs continuous nurturing.  Setting up profiles on social media Web sites is easy. However, growing those profiles and keeping those profiles alive require time, dedication and resources.

7.      Don’t Be In Violation Of Fair Housing
Fair Housing laws are still applicable with social media. Generally, any postings online should be considered the same as email or text messages. This information is discoverable and can lead to liability. Posting photos of residents and employees? Get a model release and consider fair housing implications! Posting endorsements, testimonials and raves from your residents?  Get endorsement permission! Allowing unmonitored and uncontrolled posts?  Know how to respond to “bad press” about your community. Monitoring and controlling the posts?  Your liability increases - libel and fair housing issues.

The results are in! ForRent.com’s panel of judges have selected the winners for the ‘Ready2Move?’ video contest.  We’d like to start off thanking all of our entrants for taking the time to create, in the words of Mike Brewer, ‘compelling’ submissions.  It’s been a delight to have had such an amazing response. ForRent.com prides itself on being the nations leading apartment listing website.

This year’s submissions were extremely creative and made for a tough decision for our judges. The grand prize winner received $10,000, three finalists received an iPod Touch® and the voting sweepstakes winner received $1,500. Because it was so tough to judge this year, we’d like to recognize a few contestants as honorable mention. So let’s announce those winners!!

Honorable Mention:

Amorae Daly  ‘Living at Home’
This contestant did a terrific job for her video. The layout of the video really presented an organized case for ForRent.com as to why she’s ready to move. She was humorous and creative which is why we would like to note her as an honorable mention. She received 800 votes on her video which proves that voters liked her submission as well. Congratulations!

Additional Honorable Mentions were: The Sky is Falling, Parallel Roommate, Top 5 Reasons We’re READY2MOVE with a whooping 1503 votes-4th highest of the contest, Crazy Roommate and last year’s winners’ submission Mean House. Congratulations everyone!

Voting Sweepstakes Winner:

Patrick Freise
“Wow, that’s tremendous!” said Mr. Freise, who voted everyday for a two week span on his friend’s video ‘The Perfect Date’. Looks like it paid off for him in the end! He won $1,500 for being a dedicated friend. Patrick is currently enrolled in his senior year at Binghamton University in New York studying financial economics. When asked what he plans on spending his new wealth on, he responded “I’m going to buy my girlfriend Katy a nice birthday present.” What a sweet guy. Congratulations Patrick!

Finalists:

Bart Baker ‘Ready 2 Move’
In an amazingly witty, humorous and professional video, Mr. Baker was able to tell ForRent.com why he was ready to move.  His hip-hop music, original lyrics and professionally created music video made it a tough selection when choosing the grand prize winner.  But in the end, Bart won an iPod Touch® for his hard work. Congrats!

Neehar Gupta ‘The Answer is Clear’
The storyline and professional quality for this video was spot on.  We really felt that Mr. Gupta nailed it on the head with combining a commercialized video while also being personable. Voters really embraced his work as well, he topped out at 1600+ votes!! Congratulations!

Chandra Farnsworth “See Brent”
We really felt that the Dr. Seuss essence captured in this video was truly amazing. The animation and voice over were of the highest quality and really showcased all the hard work Ms. Farnsworth put into it. In addition to ‘See Brent’, Chandra also submitted two other great quality videos ‘Music Boxes’ which was another animated video with singing packing boxes, and ‘PADS’ which was a terrific spin off of MTV ‘Cribs’. Congratulations Chandra for a job well done!

Grand Prize Winner:

The selection for the grand prize winner was no easy task. There was an incredible amount of talented submissions, but in the end we could only chose one.  And the winner is………… Justin Spence with ‘$1,200 a Month & No Pool’.

‘Holy Moly’ was the response from Justin when ForRent.com called him to tell him he is $10,000 richer! While the ‘phone call to a buddy’ concept of his video may not have been completely original, the quality, message and promotion of ForRent.com as the nation’s leading apartment resource made it the top of our list. He was able to capture exactly what we had hoped for in this contest and apparently we weren’t the only ones who enjoyed his work.  Voters also appreciated his vide as he had over 600 votes.

As a videographer who does commercial work for local business in the Dallas, Texas area, he is a big fan of social media. “Social networking is the new media to advertise your product. It helps your message spread like wildfire and I try to convince people to use it as part of their marketing efforts.” He personally uses Facebook and MySpace which is how he pumped his video up for the contest.  Looks like that avenue certainly paid off. Congratulations Justin!! Justin received his check in person by our president Terry Slattery last week in Dallas.

Well, that concludes it for our winners. We would like to thank everyone once again who participated in our ‘Ready2Move?’ video contest. We sincerely appreciate the efforts that were put into making this contest a huge success! Once more, congratulations to Patrick Freise, Neehar Gupta,   Chandra Farnsworth and Justin Spence.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                         

Contact:                                                                                                                           
Meredith Mobley                                                                               
Marketing Communications Coordinator
meredith.mobley@forrent.com
Phone: 757-351-7366
Fax: 757-961-4827

ForRent.com’s “Ready2Move?” video contest awards $10,000 to Dallas apartment renter

NORFOLK, Va.-(July 1, 2009)-Justin Spence got the call of a lifetime on Friday from ForRent.com^®. He entered his video in the apartment listing service’s nationwide online video contest and after months of anticipation, found out he was the $10,000 grand prize winner.

Spence, who works for his family’s radiator manufacturing business, is also a part time videographer. Under the weather and in the process of moving, Friday’s call could not have come at a better time. When asked how he felt about winning the $10,000 grand prize, he yelled, “Holy Moly! I think I just got a better kick than any kind of medicine could give me!”

ForRent.com launched the “Ready2Move?” nationwide video contest on April 1. The contest asked apartment seekers to create a short video and tell ForRent.com why they were ready to move for a chance to win $10,000.

Spence did just that. He and his wife created and starred in the one-minute video “$1,200 a month and No Pool?” The video depicts a conversation between Spence and a buddy, who is living lavishly in a Dallas apartment community, while Spence is desperately searching the classified listings for an apartment. The friend recommends ForRent.com as an apartment searching resource. When speaking about the benefit of the site’s functionality he boasts, “…you’re not gonna find that from some dude’s Web site in San Francisco.”

“This year’s contest was even more popular than last year. With the number of submissions more than doubling, the judges had a challenging time selecting the winners,” said Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions.

In addition to the grand prize winner, three finalists were selected to receive an iPod Touch^®:

• Neehar and Renee Gupta, Indianapolis, for “The Answer is Clear“

• Bart Baker, Winnetka, Ill., for “Ready 2 Move“

• Chandra Farnsworth, Olympia, Wash., for “See Brent“

ForRent.com even rewarded viewers just for voting. Patrick Freise, a rising senior at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York, is $1,500 richer after being selected in a random drawing from 4,798 voters as the voting sweepstakes winner. With his earnings, Freise says he plans to buy his girlfriend a nice birthday gift.

Spence credits the popularity of his video to promoting it on social media Web sites like Facebook and Myspace, “I personally use Facebook and MySpace a lot. I’m a strong believer that social networking is the new media to advertise your products.”

ForRent.com worked with Vitrue, a social media company, to launch its second annual nationwide video contest. A panel of judges watched all 123 videos and selected the grand prize winner and the three finalists based on five criteria: creativity/originality, overall quality/appearance, relevance to the contest theme, promotion of the ForRent.com and or For Rent Magazine^® brand, as well as the total number of user generated Internet votes received. In total, more than 24,000 votes were received.

To see all videos submitted for the “Ready2Move?” video contest, visit http://contest.forrent.com/.

About For Rent Media Solutions^TM

Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., For Rent Media Solutions is a division of Dominion Enterprises. As the multi-family housing solution for apartment seekers, property/apartment managers and owners, For Rent Media Solutions provides superior products, outstanding customer service, and tangible results.  For Rent Media Solutions is a leading resource for choosing your next apartment for rent, townhouse, condo, duplex, efficiency, studio or loft and provides a free customizable apartment search from more than 50,000 apartment listings nationwide.  For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^®, as well as ForRent.com^TM-The Magazine, and publishes 98 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide, including After 55^TM Housing & Resource Guide, and Apartamentos Para Rentar^®. For Rent Media Solutions operates four additional Web sites: ForRent.com^®, SeniorOutlook.com^TM, CorporateHousing.com^®, and ParaRentar.com^TM.  For Rent Media Solutions is a company dedicated to the needs of the apartment industry, bringing prospective residents and apartment communities together.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

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 All of the submissions for the ‘Ready2Move?’ video contest are in! Thank you to all who entered, the videos are amazing. But it’s not over yet! The voting phase is OPEN and ForRent.com needs everyone’s help in choosing the $10,000 grand prize winner.

Go to http://contest.forrent.com/ and register to become a voter. You can vote once per 24 hours on multiple videos until June 24^th. The voter selected at random will win $1,500 just for voting on their favorite video!

If you’ve submitted a video, be sure to tell all your friends and family to visit the site, http://contest.forrent.com/, for their chance to win! Don’t forget to ask them to vote on your video as votes you receive on your video submission(s) are a part of the judging criteria!

So what are you waiting for?? Let the voting begin…..

If you’re at that point where you realize, ‘Yeah….I’m ready to move!’ then tell us your story. You could win $10,000 in ForRent.com’s Ready2Move video contest.  It could be a bad roommate, noisy neighbor, paranormal activity or perhaps you’re still living with your parents! Whatever the case may be, tell ForRent.com why you are Ready2Move.

The deadline for video submissions is at 11:59 am on May 27th, 2009 which is tomorrow!!!

You can also win $1,500 just for being in the voting sweepstakes! A voter will be selected at random to win. So visit the website and vote for your favorite video. It could make you a winner!

Visit the website Contest.ForRent.com for competition videos, rules and the submission process!!

So hurry up and get your submissions in! It’s a great contest thus far and we’re looking forward to seeing more clever and imaginative videos.

Good Luck to all!