For Immediate Release
June 16th, 2010
 
 
 

MULTI-FAMILY INDUSTRY REPORT: IN ONE YEAR, APARTMENT FINDER
GENERATES OVER 1 MILLION SOCIAL CONNECTIONS FOR PROPERTY MANAGERS

Initial Success of Innovative Social Media Marketing Service, CommunitySherpa, Proves That Social Networking and Tools Help Drive Business, Generate Leads and Retain Residents

(LAWRENCEVILLE, GA) -- June 16, 2010   Lawrenceville, GA (June 16, 2010) – In just a year, Apartment Finder, the leading source of critical information for apartment seekers in the multi-family industry, has significantly expanded the digital footprint and delivered measurable ROI to its CommunitySherpa social media marketing service customers. In fact, since its launch at the National Apartment Association Annual Conference in June 2009, CommunitySherpa marks a major milestone of one million social connections generated, a feat never before accomplished in the apartment industry. By driving engagement and increasing the reach of customers’ online presence, CommunitySherpa is the latest component of Apartment Finder’s revolutionary prospect-focused distribution strategy to maximize quality Internet traffic to advertisers.

“Our prospect-focused Internet Distribution Strategy is a core component to our overall business process, and allows us to deliver high-quality traffic to our advertisers in ways the competition can’t,” said Marcia Bollinger, Apartment Finder’s president. “We know there are many ways to attract visitors to a property’s website. We’re focused on generating traffic organically: delivering relevant information that encourages shoppers to call, e-mail or visit a property for more information. With CommunitySherpa, we’re extending the services we provide on land and online to our customer’s community via the social Web, and we are thrilled to see the market respond so favorably.”

How Leveraging Social Media Helps Connects Apartment Shoppers and Property Managers

CommunitySherpa provides property managers with a full-service social media marketing program that includes a custom-branded blog, Facebook and Twitter presence for their apartment community, content-creation and network administration support, as well as detailed reporting and analytics – all for a fixed-cost monthly subscription.

Bollinger adds, “It’s so much easier to find new renters when you make it easy for them to find you. We go beyond delivering Page 1 search results because we know there are all kinds of places to find shoppers. We excel at that process. Behind our program and clients’ 1 million social interactions to-date is a monthly unique visitor total hitting approximately 50,000 in May, just under 900,000 page views, 4,800 tracked leads, 48,000 Facebook fans, 39,000 Twitter followers, and impressive results in referral traffic and blog subscriptions that have simply created an overwhelmingly productive social footprint for everyone involved in CommunitySherpa.”

A leader in innovative distribution methods, Apartment Finder’s proprietary Prospect-Focused distribution strategy features a vast network of distribution points that "bump" into customers’ best prospects throughout their day: on land, around town through its quality print publication, Apartment Finder; and online with its state-of-the-art site www.ApartmentFinder.com. Through its Prospect-Focused Internet strategy, Apartment Finder delivers critical property information to shoppers in leasing mode by:



To find out more about its Prospect-Focused Internet Distribution and CommunitySherpa, visit the Apartment Finder at booth # 1315 at the National Apartment Association Conference and Expo at the New Orleans Convention Center, June 24-25. Or contact Judy Bellack at 561-306-9504, or Krista Castillo at 972-489-9729.

About Network Communications, Inc.

Network Communications, Inc. is a leading local media company providing lead generation, advertising and internet marketing services to the housing industry. The company's leading brands are Apartment Finder, The Real Estate Book, DigitalSherpa, Unique Homes, New England Home and Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles. NCI has market representation in more than 500 local markets around the United States. The company’s strategy focuses on providing high-quality and measurable marketing solutions to local clients by leveraging its proprietary prospect-focused distribution and content management infrastructure. NCI distributes more than 9.4 million local print catalogs of apartments for rent and homes for sale every month through more than 300,000 distribution points; NCI’s websites are leading Internet destinations for consumers looking for homes to rent or buy, with an average of 2.0 million unique users every month; and it provides internet marketing services using social media tools to its customers.

Media Contact:

Tami McCarthy/TMG
212.750.5755 | tami@tmgpr.com