Apartment Blog

Do you ever wonder what your high school sweetheart, quarterback, class clown, cheerleading captain, class nerd, and valedictorian are up to these days? You may have lost touch with these people over the years but all is not lost. Baby boomers and beyond are finding social networking sites appealing for the same reasons most people do - to stay in touch with people. They are interested in reconnecting with old friends and classmates whom they haven’t talked to in more than 30 years.Currently, 16.5 million adults age 55 and older engage in social networking, according to Internet monitoring site comScore. A consumer survey of U.S. consumers from the NPD group, Inc., a leading provider of reliable consumer research, shows that 61% of baby boomer Internet users (age 44 to 61) had visited sites that offer streaming or downloadable video, while 41% had visited social networks.

There are helpful, even enjoyable and easy-to-use, Web sites that offer social benefits such as networking opportunities, research tools, and helpful articles on everything from retirement to long term care. These sites allow you to sign up and join, meet others, post articles etc, while others provide access to useful information regarding life after 55. The industry experts at After 55™ Housing and Resource Guide and SeniorOutlook.com continue to stay abreast of new media trends and want to provide you with a list of social networking sites that can benefit you.

Facebook

Facebook is a place to connect online with your friends and family to share updates, photos, videos, articles, polls and games.  According to Facebook, their fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older. According to iStrategyLabs, Facebook has a user base of 18.1 million users, and the number of users age 55 and over has grown from a negligible 950,000 to 5.9 million in a mere six months, which equates to a 513.7% increase.

Once connected with friends, family and employees, you will receive notification as they update their Facebook “status” and upload photos, which enables you to maintain an online relationship and stay connected with them. In addition to the social features like sharing photos and looking for old friends, there are plenty of ways to also tap into the professional community.

LinkedIn®

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 40 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing multiple industries. According to Quantcast, users age 35-49 make up 49% of LinkedIn’s traffic, while users age 50+ make up 31%. When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. The site is a great professional networking resource that allows you to connect with other people looking to explore potential business opportunities.

Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. LinkedIn allows a person to find jobs and business opportunities. Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates. Job seekers can review the profiles of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

Twitter™

This real-time micro-blogging site allows you to follow and connect with interesting people and can become a very good source of information. It can be used much like Facebook to keep up with your friends and family, but you can also get breaking news updates from sites such as the New York Times, CNN and Fox News, or follow your favorite celebrities like Oprah. Stay up to date on health care, retirement, housing solutions and more by following sites like AARP. Twitter is also appealing to business professionals seeking to expand their network and share information with colleagues.  

Twitter allows users to send “tweets,” or text-based messages up to 140 characters long answering the simple question of “What are you doing now?” People do everything from sharing monotonous and routine details of every day life to alerting people to breaking news or consumer product launches. These “tweets” are then displayed on your profile page and delivered to other users who are “following” you (essentially, subscribing to receive your tweets). Also, you can follow (subscribe) to the tweets of anyone you want, from family and friends, to Oprah, major Web sites, big brands and more.

Confused yet? It’s ok. Basically, Twitter is like an online cocktail party, a text message or like a Facebook status update, with which you can keep people up-to date with your life.

AARP Online Community

The AARP.org Online Community offers users an exciting environment where users can easily connect with AARP members age 50+. AARP’s ever-growing Online Community encourages users to meet new adult friends and socialize with one another by sharing photos and videos, playing online games, seeking advice, writing in a journal, and much more. The Online Community is a great place to meet new people, share experiences, and opinions, and talk about what they’re going through, whether it’s a single’s perspective later in life, dealing with adult children, or health-care issues. Registration is free and AARP membership is not required.  58% of AARP members age 50 and older access to their Online Community daily or several times a day, compared to 47 % of members younger than 20, according to an AARP/Center for the Digital Future 2008 study.

Eons

This site offers many similar features and functionalities as Facebook; however Eons.com is boomer-specific just like the AARP Online Community. The site allows users to express themselves through their social profile and share different aspects of their life, while also having control over of the privacy settings. In addition, Eons.com enables users to partake in group discussions, maintain and read blogs, share photos and videos, and even play games. Another great feature of Eons.com is that members can sign up to receive alerts when someone from a particular area passes away or in response to pre-defined keywords such as a company or school name.

There are also a few boomer specific tools like LifePath and the Eons Longevity & Life Expectancy Calculator. The Longevity Calculator asks 40 quick questions related to your health, lifestyle and family history and allows users to discover how many years they still have to achieve their dreams. Once the questionnaire is completed, Eons will send you your average life expectancy along with personalized advice to living longer and healthier.

Whether it’s re-connecting with old high school friends or staying in touch with children and grandchildren on Facebook, or maybe it’s empty-nesters planning events or perhaps reading helpful articles from everything from retirement to long term care, these social networking sites are here to assist you with the changes in your life. Online relationships become very beneficial, especially when it comes to retirement, health and family members moving away. The social media adoption rate is going up for  all generations and is expected to have high growth in the coming years, so get connected and start networking online today! 

By Erica Campbell & Gillian Luce

Social media is proving that free speech has extended its reach to new media platforms where conversations are being held between private individuals. Social media is all about people sharing opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with each other through online media channels. So you would think that one should not be sued in court for simply sharing a thought online, right? Last week’s big Twitter story revolved around a pending libel suit brought by Horizon Realty Group, a Chicago real estate management company, against one of its former tenants, Amanda Bonnen, in Cook County Circuit Court. This case has received extensive publicity and touches on issues such as consumer protection, limits of libel, free speech, and strategic lawsuits against public participation.

Amanda Bonnen complained via Twitter to about 20 followers that her landlord was apparently allowing her to live in mold-infested filth: “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks its okay.” The response from Horizon was a lawsuit! A short complaint filed in Cook County court last week accused Bonnen of libeling Horizon in 140 characters or less, and sought $50,000 in damages. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Horizon’s spokesperson responded to the situation with a quote, “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization.”
Let’s take a look at some of the lessons we can learn from this:

• Consumers are the new media and they know it
• Embrace consumer criticism as opposed to overreacting
• Ask questions first, then maybe don’t sue at all
• Consult with your PR team or agency before the spokesman offers a statement
• Play nice in the sand box
• Use social media as a customer service tool and listen for product insights and feedback
• Build resident retention through sites such as Facebook and Twitter

As we’ve stated before in a recent blog post, Attention Property Managers: Customer Service is Still #1, companies should not fear the social media landscape. We understand that apartment communities are concerned about negative community reviews which could potentially give you a negative image or possibly deter prospective residents away. However, as advertisers we need to understand that consumers are talking about our brands on these social media platforms weather we like it or not. Did you know that according to a JC Williams Group study, 91% say consumer reviews are the #1 aid to buying decisions and Marketing Sherpa states that 87% trust a friend’s recommendation over critic’s review. Customer service is undoubtedly one of the most exciting, measurable and effective uses of social media.

Being involved on social media platforms will give you the capability to build relationships with consumers and will also give you a chance to talk to consumers about your brand. When negative comments are made about your community, instead of ignoring them or overacting, think about how you should to respond to them. Reach out to the individual and seek out more information about their complaint. Think of ways to resolve the issue and make them happy. There is no better way to get a consumer singing your praises then providing them with a positive customer service experience.

It was best stated by Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, “If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.” Don’t miss an opportunity to speak to 6,000+ people by not responding or responding improperly.

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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This past March we posted an article titled ‘Marketing to Hispanics‘ where we briefly mentioned mobile marketing. This month we would like to expand on that topic as we take a look at mobile Web sites, text messaging and mobile applications to reach the Hispanic community.

According to comScore m:metrics, 71% of Hispanics consume content on cell phones compared to the market average of 48%. Nielsen’s recent ‘Mobile Advertising Report’ highlighted that Hispanic data users are more likely to recall seeing ads on mobile phones (41% compared with 30% of non-Hispanics) and more likely to have responded (22% vs. 13%). Therefore, mobile marketing to the Hispanic demographic is an opportunity to experience growth in this slowing economy.

Having mobile capabilities like text messaging is ideal for these consumers to find you.  Especially since many Hispanics will first experience the Internet via their cell phones because of limitations of Internet on a home computer. In addition to having your Web site available on mobile devices is the need to offer a Spanish translated site. Many Hispanic consumers are bilingual, but there is a sizeable market that still communicates primarily in Spanish. To effectively target these consumers, mobile initiatives should include Spanish language media as a key component of the mobile marketing mix.

According to Jose Villa, author of MediaPost’s blog, ‘10 Things You Should Know About U.S. Hispanics‘, “Hispanics are still a part of the honeymoon phase.”  Meaning, they are not burned out and therefore, are more likely to respond to advertisements from companies on their mobile devices.  In addition to mobile Web sites, text messaging and mobile applications are essential.

For Rent Media Solutions’ text messaging product allows the Hispanic apartment seeker to send a text message with the property’s unique keyword to the short code 47368 (4RENT). The property keywords can be seen on leasing banners, yard signs at the property, and in Apartamentos Para Rentar® magazines. By texting the keyword apartment seekers will receive a response text message with information about the specific property. Property managers also use the service to send customized messages promoting specials to potential renters, as well as important messages and alerts to their current residents.

“Hispanics are connecting twice as fast as the general market (14% growth versus 7%) adding over a million users per year. In 2008, 23 million Hispanics are online, about 52% of the Hispanic population.”1 Therefore, adding more technology to your business, i.e., mobile marketing, to attract the Hispanic community is very important to the survival of companies in this economy. This Hispanic market is the ideal renter because they are very brand loyal and they tend to stick with what with what is familiar to them. Just like any other consumer, they are looking for an experience.  Provide that for them and have a loyal, growing force supporting your brand. What more could you want?

¹ MediaPosts Engage:Hispanics ‘10 Things You Should Know About U.S. Hispanics’ by Alvaro Cabrera. Thursday, June 25, 2009

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

ForRent.com launches free GPhone application

ForRent.com offers most comprehensive line of mobile products in multi-housing industry

NORFOLK, Va.-(June 29, 2009)-ForRent.com, anchor Web site of For Rent Media Solutions^TM, a leading apartment resource for searching apartments nationwide, and a division of Dominion Enterprises, has launched a ForRent.com T-Mobile G1^TM (GPhone) application. The new application is the latest addition to For Rent’s comprehensive line of mobile marketing products for apartment seekers, including the ForRent.com text messaging product, mobile Web site and iPhone^TM application.

With ForRent.com’s free GPhone application, apartment seekers can browse through thousands of apartment listings nationwide. Users can also view apartment descriptions, videos, pictures, and floor plans, save their results, and contact the property. Consumers can use touchable map pins to click on a pin representing a property and go directly to the property’s page. From the map, apartment seekers can zoom in and out to get a clearer view of the property and its proximity to surrounding apartment communities.

The GPhone runs on the new Google Android operating system and applications are distributed in the Android Market, which opened to the public on October 22. Applications are only accessible through the GPhone phone, but can be previewed at the Android Market Web site.

“Mobile marketing is quickly spreading as a leading method of communication used to engage consumers,” says Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions. “According to comScore Media Metrix, consumers downloaded 83 percent more mobile applications in March 2009 than in March 2008. We understand how much mobile Web impacts our consumers’ daily lives and will continue to explore opportunities with other mobile devices in the future.”

While the number of consumers downloading mobile applications continues to grow, comScore shows that, overwhelmingly, the preferred mode for accessing local content on a mobile device is through a mobile browser. In March 2008, 15.4 million mobile Web users accessed information via a mobile browser. By March 2009, that number jumped to 20.7 million. These numbers support the success seen by the ForRent.com mobile site. According to Omniture SiteCatalyst, an online business optimization company, the ForRent.com mobile site received more than 256,000 page views in May 2009.

The GPhone application adds to the already existing suite of mobile products offered to apartment seekers and solidifies ForRent.com as a leader in mobile marketing. Other mobile products include text messaging, launched in June 2007, the mobile Web site, launched in June 2008, and the iPhone application launched earlier this year.

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 30,000 apartment listings nationwide.  For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^®, as well as ForRent.com^TM-The Magazine, and publishes 99 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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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                           

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

For Rent Media Solutions^TM launches unique intuitive search function exclusively on ForRent.com

New search function brings “smarter search” experience to leading apartment Web site

NORFOLK, Va.-(May 26, 2009)-For Rent Media Solutions, a leading apartment resource for searching apartments nationwide, and a division of Dominion Enterprises, announces the launch of the all new intuitive search functionality and enhanced search results pages. These features are exclusive to ForRent.com, the company’s anchor Web site. The intuitive search and enhanced search results pages give apartment seekers more control and more relevant results to help them have a “smarter search” experience.

Intuitive search provides both “Exact” and “Close” matches, based on the user’s search criteria. These features give apartment shoppers more choices, intuitively providing them with results that are relevant to their needs. This means more exposure for the property manager’s listing and a better experience for potential renters.

 ”According to a July 2008 study by MarketingSherpa.com, highly engaged visitors have a conversion rate of about 5 percent, compared to about 0.2 percent of poorly engaged visitors,” notes Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions. “In 2008, we performed a robust series of usability tests with real apartment seekers on eight different apartment Internet listing Web sites, including ForRent.com. From those results, we learned that apartment shoppers felt they had very little control, could not maneuver through the sites and felt the sites did not produce relevant results. We listened to users and redesigned our search functionality to eliminate their complaints and bring a smarter search experience for all.”

Smarter Search: Home Page

The ForRent.com search process has been enhanced in two areas essential to the apartment searching process: the home page and search results pages. The home page is more user-friendly. The prominently displayed search feature includes fields for criteria that most apartment shoppers know before they begin looking for an apartment, making it easy to use with a more natural way of narrowing down what they want. The home page requires users to specify location to search for property listings using city, state or zip code. Auto-complete suggestions will be made available to the user after they have inserted at least three letters. In addition to the required location information, the user can provide optimal search criteria such as price, beds and baths.

Apartment seekers can also access the Advanced Search option from the home page. When an apartment seeker enters a city and state, the site will return any property as an exact match that is within that city’s limits according to the U.S. Postal Service, and any additional properties that fall within the radius entered from the center of that city. The default radius is “Exact”, but users can expand their radius to 10, 20, or 30 miles. The Advanced Search offers users the ability to search by geography, interactive map, property name, and college or military base.   

Smarter Search: Search Results Page

The apartment seeker has more control over their search results in the enhanced search results pages. The seeker can customize the number of results that appear on a page and sort those results according to what is most relevant to them. Video has also been integrated into the search results listings. The “Exact Match” and “Close Match” are features that allow the apartment seeker to view listings that fit their exact search criteria as well as those that almost match. This gives more control to the apartment shopper making them more likely to find a property of interest, which in turn means more LEADS^TM for advertisers. In the search results, users can toggle properties through three view points: list view, photo view or map view. Apartment seekers can also filter listings by video, neighborhood, pets and multiple photos. Because of these enhanced options, property managers have more opportunity to be seen by apartment seekers.

For more information on ForRent.com’s new intuitive search, view the video found here.

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 30,000 apartment listings nationwide.  For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^®, as well as ForRent.com^TM-The Magazine, and publishes 99 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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