For Rent Media Solutions Launches Apartment Video Website
By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorNorfolk, Va.—For Rent Media Solutions has launched the beta version of AptsVideo.com, the multifamily industry’s first video-sharing Website. “For Rent is committed to putting [our clients’] properties in front of as many potential residents as possible,” notes Sarah Johnson, mobile media manager, For Rent Media Solutions. (Click here to see other…
By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorNorfolk, Va.—For Rent Media Solutions has launched the beta version of AptsVideo.com, the multifamily industry’s first video-sharing Website. “For Rent is committed to putting [our clients’] properties in front of as many potential residents as possible,” notes Sarah Johnson, mobile media manager, For Rent Media Solutions. (Click here to see other ways that ForRent.com utilizes social media.) AptsVideo.com is accessible though the watermarks on all ForRent.com videos. The site currently features all of the videos—more than 1,400—located on ForRent.com. At this time, the AptsVideo.com video is included with the purchase of a video at ForRent.com.“Based on all the statistics we have seen, video has played an instrumental role in how people are marketing their communities,” Johnson tells MHN. “We wanted to be innovative and the first to have a video-sharing site dedicated to our customers. It’s another place where end-users can find information about properties.” According to For Rent Media Solutions statistics, Vista at the Park, a Raleigh, N.C. apartment community that utilizes the company’s Community Theater—the streaming video that showcases apartment communities—averaged 55 more leads per month with the product than without. Furthermore, according to a recent Kelsey Group study, out of the 55 percent of people who view a video on a Website, 30 percent visit a physical store and 24 percent make a purchase a result of viewing.AptsVideo.com, which will be accessible on Internet-capable phones, works with the already-established For Rent Media Solutions video syndication network, which consists of more than 10 different video sharing and social networking sites. Users can search the site by their desired city and state or by apartment community name. Once they choose a video, they will be taken to the property’s profile page, where they can watch the video, see a description of the community, and link to more information on ForRent.com.The videos show prospective residents each apartment community’s most sought-after units and amenities, as well as the surrounding city where it is located. Users can also contact the property directly, map out directions to the property, rate videos, email the video to a friend via various touchpoints, send the video’s information to a cell phone or embed the video on a Web page. While watching a video, prospects can see the overall rating that other users have given the video and also add their own rating.For Rent tailors their solutions to prospective residents—a demographic that tends to be younger, points out Mike D’Alba, director of mobile media, For Rent Media Solutions. “If you look at YouTube and the search activity through the video portal, that’s what we are trying to capture,” he says.AptsVideo.com will also become a source for a variety of how-to videos with tips for apartment living, including decorating and lifestyle issues. In addition, the site will house user-generated content video submissions.