Social media not yet catching fire with apartment renters

Social media not yet catching fire with apartment renters

Despite the growing popularity of social networking websites among the American population, tenants searching for cheap apartments are still relying on traditional, tried-and-true methods of finding a place to rent, according to a new survey.

Apartments.com surveyed 850 consumers looking for apartments to gauge what avenues they were taking to find their next affordable apartment. Though 71 percent of survey respondents said they were active on social media websites, only about a quarter said they used those sites during their apartment search. Additionally, fewer than 10 percent of renters said they used social media websites to connect with their current apartment community, an interesting development considering Nielson research shows Americans spend almost a quarter of their time on these websites, said the report.

At the same time, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they would consider using social media in their apartment search in the near future, showing that the industry may be trending in that direction. The survey could provide property managers with some idea of how to draw potential renters in the future, while also making tenants themselves more aware of certain behaviors and apartment-searching tools they may not have realized were available.

"As social media continues to evolve online communications, we believe more apartment communities will follow suit and become more visible in this space," said Chris Brown, vice president of product management at Apartments.com. "Residents will likely be receptive to interacting with their apartment communities in this way, especially if the content is meaningful."

Of the 71 percent of renters who were active on social media websites, 58.1 percent said they would be most likely to use those sites during their search for cheap apartments if it helped them find more information about a specific community or offered additional recommendations.

In addition, 54.7 percent said they would use their social media network to find photos or videos of apartments, while 52.7 percent said they would actually search for listings on these sites. Nearly 47 percent admitted the sites might be useful for finding special offers or perks, while 20.7 percent said they would use them to share apartment listings with friends or provide feedback.

Facebook dominated the social media landscape, with most renters saying it was their site of choice and fewer saying they had logged in to Twitter, MySpace, Foursquare or Yelp!.

That should come as little surprise, as Facebook attracts more than 500 million active users, positioning itself as the world's largest social media community. Users spend more than 700 billion minutes per month on the site, according to Facebook officials.

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