Press Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

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

Online video reaches major milestone and continues to gain popularity in the multi-housing industry

NORFOLK, Va.-(September 21, 2009)- A record 81 percent of U.S. Internet users watched online video in July 2009, according to an August 2009 study from comScore Media Metrix, a leader in digital measurement. The 158 million viewers was the largest audience ever recorded. At the same time, For Rent Media Solutions, a division of Dominion Enterprises, launched its 2000^th Community Theater^® online video. Both records point to the expanding role of online video in the multi-housing industry.

“For Rent Media Solutions understands why it’s important for multi-housing professionals to incorporate video into online marketing efforts,” says Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions. “Combined, top social media and video sharing sites like YouTube^TM and MySpace^TM attracted nearly 170 million viewers in the U.S. alone who viewed more than 9 billion videos in July. These record-breaking numbers serve as proof of online video’s effectiveness and support the appeal of online video amongst consumers.”

Online video is growing as a cost-effective, dynamic form of media for multi-housing professionals to reach potential renters. For Rent Media Solutions^TM distributes its online video product, Community Theater, through a comprehensive syndicated video network. This network includes MySpace, Twitter and video sharing sites like YouTube. In August 2009, these videos were viewed more than 914,000 times.

In the multi-housing industry, online videos create an opportunity for property managers to expand their reach, frequency, impact and interactivity to a vast and diverse audience.  The launch of For Rent Media Solutions’ 2,000th live video re-emphasizes the company’s support of online marketing backed by traditional print advertising. Each listing in For Rent Magazine^® has a unique URL that guides apartment seekers directly to that listing’s ad on ForRent.com, the main location where Community Theater videos are housed.

Visit comScore.com to view additional collected data on the U.S. online video market. To learn more about online video and For Rent Media Solutions’ online video strategy, contact Mike D’Alba, director of mobile media.

About For Rent Media Solutions^TM

Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., For Rent Media Solutions is a division of Dominion Enterprises and a leading resource for choosing your next apartment for rent. As the multi-family housing solution for apartment seekers and property managers, For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^® and publishes 99 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide. In addition, For Rent Media Solutions operates four addition websites, including ForRent.com. 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:

Erica Campbell
Marketing Manager
erica.campbell@forrent.com
Phone: 757-351-7365
Fax: 757-961-4826

For Rent Media Solutions Launches Beta Version of the Multi-family Housing Industry’s First Apartment Community Video Sharing Web site

Industry Leader is now the largest source of apartment videos nationwide

NORFOLK, Va.-(February 27, 2009)-For Rent Media Solutions, the largest source of apartment videos nationwide, and a division of Dominion Enterprises, is proud to announce the beta launch of AptsVideo.com, the multi-family housing industry’s first video sharing Web site. AptsVideo.com is the premier destination for apartment renters to watch and share apartment community videos nationwide.

“AptsVideo.com brings a video sharing site, with qualities similar to YouTube, to the multi-housing industry,” says Brock MacLean, vice president of national sales and development and Internet operations, For Rent Media Solutions. “As an added value service, this site expands the reach of our clients’ Community Theater^TM videos and helps drive more traffic to their property listings on ForRent.com. Our goal is to provide property management companies and owners the tools needed to successfully market themselves through the use of video. We are excited to be the largest source of apartment videos nationwide.”

Currently, AptsVideo.com features all of the more than 1,300 videos found on ForRent.com. AptsVideo.com enhances the apartment shoppers experience by allowing users to view each apartment community’s most sought after units and amenities as well as the surrounding city where it is located. Users can search AptsVideo.com for the apartment of their choice by selecting their desired city or apartment community name. Users have the ability to contact the property directly, map out directions to the property, rate videos on a scale of one to five stars, email the video to a friend, send the video’s information to a cell phone or embed the video on a Web page.

“Not only do we want to make the jobs of apartment community professionals easier,” says Terry Slattery, president, For Rent Media Solutions, “we are also here to revolutionize the apartment search process. Apartment seekers will enjoy having the ability to go directly to the Community Theater video for the apartment community of their choice.”

Online video is becoming increasingly popular among Internet users. According to a recent Kelsey Group study, out of the 55 percent of people who view a video on a Web site; 30 percent visit a physical store; and 24 percent make a purchase as a result of watching.  While watching a video, a user can see the overall rating which other users have given the video and also add their own rating, giving the users control.

AptsVideo.com complements the already established For Rent Media Solutions video syndication network, which consists of more than 10 different video sharing and social networking sites. AptsVideo.com will also become the “go to” source for a variety of apartment tips videos about apartment living, decorating, lifestyle issues and more.  In addition, the site will house user generated content video submissions from the ForRent.com video contests. To visit the Web site, go to http://www.aptsvideo.com/. The site is also accessible on Internet capable phones.

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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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                           

Contact: 
Wendy Froehlich                                                                                 
Marketing Director
wendy.froehlich@forrent.com
Phone: 757-351-7363
Fax: 757-282-6015

ForRent.com^® Dominates Social Media in the Multi-Housing Industry

Leading Internet Listing Service is responsible for 66 percent of apartment industry’s social share of voice according to Vitrue, Inc.

NORFOLK, Va.-(November 19, 2008)-No other Internet listing service in the multi-housing industry has engaged its audience through social media quite like ForRent.com. According to Vitrue, Inc., a social media marketing company, ForRent.com is dominating the multi-housing sector’s social share of voice. As a product of For Rent Media Solutions^TM, a division of Dominion Enterprises, ForRent.com, utilizes tools such as Twitter, MySpace^®, Facebook and YouTube^TM, to achieve this accomplishment.

ForRent.com’s ranking was determined by Vitrue’s Social Media Index^TM (SMI), the recently launched free tool that measures a brand’s online conversations. Based on patent-pending technology, scores are comprised of various online conversations ranging from text-dense micro-blogs to multi-dimensional video sites.

“We are thrilled with the results found by Vitrue’s Social Media Index,” said Brock MacLean, vice president of national sales and development, For Rent Media Solutions. “Social media is a very effective way to communicate with our core demographic of 18-34 year old adults. For Rent Media Solutions’ involvement in social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and video sharing sites like YouTube allows us to participate in a true dialogue with consumers, giving us more insight into our audience and their needs. We plan on expanding our social media efforts in the future. The Social Media Index will help us gauge the success of our efforts and how we are resonating with our consumers.”

Generating more than 83 percent of social media activity, video sharing makes up the largest portion of ForRent.com’s SMI score. Apartment property video commercials seen on ForRent.com, called Community Theater^TM, are distributed to an extensive network of channels including major search engines like Google^TM and Yahoo!^®, social networking sites such as MySpace, and video sharing sites including YouTube. During October alone these videos were viewed more than 17,000 times a day.

Generating more than 12 percent of the SMI score, communication through social networking makes up the second largest method of social activity for ForRent.com. MySpace has played a significant role in the success of For Rent Media Solution’s social networking efforts. More than 40 profile pages have been set up, representing more than 40 markets where the company’s anchor publication, For Rent Magazine, can be found. Through these efforts, For Rent Media Solutions communicates with more than 5,300 consumers. 

The remainder of the score is comprised of blogging and micro-blogging. This number includes activity from blogs, such as the ForRent.com blog, and key influencers who chat and push content through micro-blogs, such as Twitter. Twitter is a service that allows its users to send updates to their “followers” while trailing other individuals as well. For more details, please view the full Social Media Index report.

“The Vitrue Social Media Index provides invaluable insight for marketers to understand how they are stacking up in the social media space,” said Reggie Bradford, chief executive officer of Vitrue, Inc. “Brands are being talked about in social settings and we are providing the ability to proactively track these conversations. We firmly believe understanding and measuring your performance in these environments is key.”

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 five 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, a division of Landmark Media Enterprises, LLC, is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, real estate, apartment, recruitment and marine markets. The company operates a variety of businesses that offer Internet marketing, Web site design and hosting, lead generation, CRM, and data capture and distribution services. The company has more than 40 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique monthly visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees nationwide and annualized revenue of more than $946 million. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

About Vitrue, Inc.

Vitrue, Inc. delivers world-class advertising solutions for marketers to connect with consumers in social ways. Vitrue turns traditional advertising into direct, personal relationships by harnessing the authenticity, depth and viral nature of social media, which enables consumers to help build brands through their online actions. Through their industry expertise, technology platform and integrated marketing approach, Vitrue offers the most comprehensive social media marketing solutions built exclusively for Fortune 1000 brands and agencies including P&G, Unilever, Pepsi and Grey Advertising. Vitrue is based in New York City and Atlanta. For more company information, please visit http://vitrue.com/.

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