As the class of 2012 turns their tassels and leave campus life, savvy grads are finding they still have some homework to do to identify the cities that offer the best opportunity for employment, a place to live and the best quality of life as a young professional.  To help give these newly minted grads a leg up in both a competitive job and rental market, Apartments.com and CareerBuilder teamed up for the fifth year in a row to reveal the Top 10 Best Cities for College Graduates list.  Backed by our expertise in apartments and jobs, we tailored our list to what matters most to new grads—a place to live that affords them a lifestyle they can enjoy and the best overall opportunity.

Check out the infographic below to see the top 10 cities for new grads, average cost of rent for a one bedroom apartment, hottest jobs and more.  Did your city make the list?  Even if it didn’t, tell us why your hometown is a fabulous place for new grads to settle down in the comments section. Read More

Jim Davoren of Apartments.com buying lunch from a food truck by swiping his credit card on an iPad.

Chances are you’ve either heard of or seen mobile payments happening, as opposed to this time a year ago, when the conversations were just starting.  Here in Chicago and across the country, many of the new or smaller retailers are quickly adopting some type of mobile payment solution to run their Point of Sale process with increasing frequency; while big box stores have begun doing their own experiments. Read More

In this day and age, technology has given us a plethora of communication channels at our disposal – both in our personal lives and in the business world.  From the staggering popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, to the now commonplace practice of text messaging due to the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones.  These days, it sometimes seems like a technology that’s as old as email would no longer be relevant to us as marketers and as people.

Not so fast!  In a recent study done by Exact Target, they found email is still the #1 preferred method of communication for both personal and marketing messages.  But, not surprisingly, email has dropped 21% as a preferred method of personal communication since 2008 – making way for the other channels like social media and text messaging, which grew 10% and 20% respectively.  For a growing number of folks, it’s much easier to send their friend a quick Facebook message or tweet, rather than having to log into their email account to search for (or remember) that friend’s email address. Read More

May is the perfect time to start thinking about container gardening at your apartment community, so we asked our friends at Gethsemane Garden Center for some advice.  Check out these five tips for keeping your property blooming this season.

Summer will be on its way in no time!  Before you head to your local gardening center, here are a few criteria you should consider to help you select the perfect flowers, edibles and containers for your space; and achieve success in your gardening endeavors. Read More

We are delighted to announce the launch of the first ever Apartments.com Training Series Live! webinar on reputation management was a success!  The 30 minute session was presented by Ben Watson, vice president of marketing (a.k.a. Social Media Ninja) from HootSuite, a popular social media management system.  The attendee registration was full and we had a lot of great feedback come through! 

If you missed it, you might have some unanswered questions running through your head, like: Read More

With social media constantly changing, it can seem like the options are endless, so where do you start?  Look no further!  Here are 25 things you should be doing with social media right now:

1. Set up an account and start taking pictures with Instagram.  It is an easy photo taking and sharing app that was recently purchased by Facebook, so there are big things to come!
2. Create a Pinterest board of apartment-friendly decorating ideas for your residents.
3. Partner with a popular neighborhood restaurant to provide your residents with a Facebook exclusive offer.  Post a status update with coupon code to redeem 20% off.  It will make your fans feel really special.
4. Tweet street cleaning schedules to make sure your residents don’t get tickets.
5. Take a poll on your Facebook page asking residents what brand of coffee they would like in the lobby this month, then let them know you listened!
6. Choose a resident to highlight as your Resident of the Month on Facebook in an effort to help everyone get to know their neighbors.
7. Create a Facebook group for your employees to swap ideas, ask questions, give praise for a job well done and get to know each other.  Make sure the group is set as private.
8. Start Trivia Tuesdays on Twitter and give away small prizes to your residents for correct answers.
9. Ask your residents to Like you and follow you on social media websites!  You would be surprised how simply asking will help grow your fan base.
10. Keep your LinkedIn company profile up to date with current job openings and company information.  You can recruit top talent this way.
11. Read multifamily industry blogs, like Multifamily Insiders and Apartments.com/blog, to stay on top of trends and news.
12. Start a blog that provides relevant apartment living, neighborhood and community information for your residents.
13. Respond to all comments and mentions on social media, whether positive or negative, in a timely, professional manner.
14. Create Facebook events for your community get-togethers, so residents have all the information on the website they check most often, as well as the ability to see who else is attending.
15. Tweet the weather forecast first thing every morning to help your residents decide what to wear.
16. Host a charity like-a-thon and donate a certain amount of money or volunteer hours for every new Like you get on Facebook during a period of time.
17. Add your social media profiles to all of your current marketing materials, so people know you are active on those websites.
18. Start accepting maintenance request via your Facebook wall.  Make sure to respond to each request and follow up after the job is complete.  This will show current and prospective residents how great your customer service is.
19. Create a Facebook application with your leasing office and community staff photos and bios, so your residents know who to go to with questions, as well as the names of the people that make their community run smoothly.
20. Tweet fun, easy recipes that residents can make during the work week.
21. Wish residents happy birthday on Facebook or Twitter.
22. When the first of the month is rolling around and rent is due, tweet out a reminder for residents.
23. Create a social media policy and training course for your employees to ensure they understand the importance and responsibility of online behavior.
24. Capture nice things your residents are saying about you online and repurpose them in marketing materials or in a slide show that plays on your lobby TV’s.
25. Monitor mentions of your property management company name, community name and neighborhood on social networking websites and respond accordingly.

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In response to recent U.S. Census data revealing homeownership is at a 15-year low, Apartments.com VP of Product Management, Chris Brown, addresses the impact on the Chicago rental market on NBC Chicago. 

Watch the following three-minute segment where Brown discusses the current state of the rental market, cost-cutting tips for renters and neighborhood-specific information for Chicago. Read More

Whether you are just getting started with your social media strategy or you’re paving the way for others in the industry, it is imperative to have a policy in place.  In this digital era, your employees need to be well versed in appropriate online behavior when they are representing, not only themselves, but also the brand.  Policy can be a scary word for employees, which is why your social media policy should really be more of a set of guidelines.  Here are a couple tips to get you started on your set of guidelines:

1. Team Effort – Creating a social media policy at your company should be a team effort.  Gather a cross-functional group from departments like PR, legal, strategy, sales, marketing and senior leadership.  All of these people will play an important role in crafting your guidelines. Read More

Apartments.com is excited to announce the launch of its first-ever webinar series, entitled Training Series Live!  In response to the positive feedback we received on the current classroom-style Apartments.com Training Series taught by our very own Advertising Consultants, we are expanding our curriculum to better accommodate you with live webinar sessions. 

Apartments.com Training Series Live! is a compilation of 30- 45 minute live webinars – at no charge!  We’re expanding on popular topics within the Apartments.com Interactive Multifamily Marketing and Socializing Your Community curriculum, plus covering a variety of important topics taught by experts in the industry such as: Read More

It’s time for spring cleaning on your online advertising!  In my last three posts I provided tips on photos, descriptions and pricing.  Now, it is time to bring them all together for peak leasing season.  When renters visit websites like Apartments.com and your property websites, they expect complete information, so they can get a clear picture of what they can afford and where they want to live.  Renters build confidence and prepare for property visits by checking multiple websites to ensure they are finding the right place at the right price.  Do a spring cleaning of all your listings across all the websites where you advertise to make sure you are presenting your property consistently and accurately. 

• Details, Details, Details: Be sure to provide as much information about your property as possible; including location, amenities, floorplans and specific features renters look for when searching.
• Use Visuals to Capture Eyes:  The number of photos and videos on your ad impact the number of times and ways renters interact with your community.  Having current and accurate visual content is no longer an enhancement, it’s a requirement.
• Be Accessible to Renters:  Be available when renters want to reach you and in the way they want to reach you.  This means answering the phone, replying to email, using chat features and being ready to text within minutes of the renters’ requests.  The increasing popularity of smartphones means more renters will contact you while they are on the go. 

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