CHICAGO – April 23, 2012 – RentSentinel, an industry leader and provider of apartment marketing management software, today announced their strategic partnership with Apartment Marketing Systems to provide Social Media Made Easy™ to their existing and future customers. Social Media Made Easy™ is a turn-key social media solution to assist the development and acceleration of social media programs for property management companies and their communities.

This effort to streamline social media builds from RentSentinel’s Social product which was created to simplify the process of managing multiple social media channels and properties from one platform. The decision to include Social Media Made Easy™ as a RentSentinel service was agreed upon following an analysis of the multifamily industry and the resources required to successfully implement a social media plan for each community.

“Once a community purchases our RentSentinel Social product they have the option of managing their social media accounts, from our dashboard, on their own or taking it a step further by implementing the Social Media Made Easy™ service,” says Eric Broughton, President of Yield Technologies. “We’ve found most property management companies don’t have the bandwidth to utilize social media and identify the benefits. We see great value in our partnership with Apartment Marketing Systems because it augments the social media process and time allocation of leasing agents. This is a valuable way to use social media and market your brand to a social generation.”

By offering this service to property managers, Social Media Made Easy™ streamlines all social media activity for the communities. This includes crafting community Facebook and Twitter content, as well as creating a community personality and following based on location, neighborhood, and local events. They also monitor and moderate online comments and reviews, increase user engagement, promote community Facebook Pages, create status updates, and design Timelines with custom graphics and more.

RentSentinel recently launched RentSocial.com, a social renting site that brings together apartment listings, ratings and reviews, resident experience and social media on a single platform. Social Media Made Easy™ will play a role managing the social media component on this platform as well. This includes updating community blogs, Q&A, status updates and more.

“Apartment Marketing Systems is proud to partner with RentSentinel to demonstrate how Social Media Made Easy™ can help property management companies easily build and manage a social media strategy, optimize community online presence and increase resident retention and referrals,” says David Butler, Founder and CEO of Apartment Marketing Systems.  “RentSentinel Social and RentSocial.com are exciting solutions for the multifamily industry. These platforms, coupled with our Social Media Made Easy™ service, enhance the resident experience and give property management companies a cost effective way to market and advertise to the renting demographic.”

About Our New Partners

About Yield Technologies

Yield Technologies is a leader in the next evolution of Real Estate technology and services. Yield Technologies capitalizes on its industry expertise to build actionable solutions that increase overall enterprise profitability and productivity. As a leader in the industry, Yield Technologies has implemented proven technology solutions including integrated data warehouses, ERP implementations, management dashboards, and revenue management systems solutions to companies across the globe. For more information, visit http://www.yieldco.com/.

About RentSentinel

RentSentinel is a fully featured apartment marketing management software for the multifamily industry. Geared toward the management of property portfolios, RentSentinel’s suite of products tracks the overall process from the time an agent lists an ad thru Craigslist or an ILS, to Lead Management, thru ultimately signing a lease. Our solution provides detailed reporting that measures cost effectiveness of various channels and manages the full life cycle of activities from Listing to Lease. For more information, visit www.rentsentinel.com, “Follow” us on Twitter, “Like” us on Facebook or e-mail us at sales@rentsentinel.com.

About RentSocial

RentSocial, owned and managed by Yield Technologies, is a new kind of online apartment search service that simplifies and socializes the process of finding an apartment through innovative features including ratings and verified tenant reviews. RentSocial gives property managers, residents and prospective renters the ability to connect throughout the rental process, from the beginning of a search to the end of a lease and beyond. For more information, visit www.rentsocial.com or contact sales@rentsocial.com.

Cornell Woods Apartments took a fun approach to St. Patrick’s Day with their March trivia game! Residents have to pay special attention to their page through out the month, as the winner has to answer all 8 questions to win.

How will you and your community celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? It’s a great opportunity to promote your Facebook page. Why not do a trivia game or a photo contest today!

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner. If you are in search of some fun events or ways to interact with your community, look no further! We at Apartment Marketing Systems have a few ideas up our sleeve.

1)Have a St. Patrick’s Day all-green themed photo contest! Just have resident’s email you pictures of themselves dressed in their St. Patrick’s Day best, send them to us, we will post them and then you can hold a “likes” contest and award a prize to the picture that gets the most “likes”!

2)Post a question such as, “Why are you lucky?” Advertise and give an award for the response that get’s the most “likes”!

Please email us at customerservice@apartmentmarketingsystems.com, if you have any questions! We would love to help you set up a contest.

Not all news is great news! Sometimes bad things happen, but that can be an opportunity to reach out in a positive manner.  Rolling Hills Apartments did a great job of that when a fire tragically struck their community. Some residents lost their belongings and Rolling Hills kept their community up to date on ways to make donations!

We think that this is an awesome example of connecting with your community and wholeheartedly encourage others to follow in the footsteps of Rolling Hills Apartments!

The Springs at Gilbert Meadows, Copper Ridge at McKellips, and Midtown on Main really took Presidents’ Day to the next level with a week long trivia game! This is an excellent example of capitalizing on the not-so-big holidays to  up your Facebook numbers and interact with your residents!

Your residents don’t just love all the awesome events and contests you have, they also love being kept up to date on what’s going on around your community.  The folks at Midtown on Main are doing a great job of keeping their residents notified on the status of a brand new BBQ area!

The result? Tons of interaction and excitement among residents. Your community will appreciate getting the inside scoop on any construction or changes going on so be sure to use Facebook to keep them in the loop!

A great way to connect with your residents is to be connected to your community! Our awesome clients, Rolling Hills Apartments does a great job of that by finding fun, free, and useful activities that their residents might be interesting in knowing about.

Looking for fun ideas to post? Check out your local library or community center!

Looking for fun Facebook Valentine’s Day events? Stay tuned every Wednesday until Feb.14 for easy community events and great ideas to up your community’s Facebook interaction!

Candy hearts in a jar! Simple, classic, easy.

1) Take a photograph of your candy jar (count the candy).
2) Send it to AMS Customer Service!
3) Have residents post guesses underneath the picture.
4) Choose whoever is closest but not over the amount in the jar!
5) Post a picture of the winner and give a small (and sweet!) reward.

The fun twist is that the residents guess is based only on the Facebook photo rather than seeing the jar in real life!

Our awesome client, Riverwood Heights, posted a status update about their Customer Referral Program and it got a great response!

If you have a program, why not remind your residents about it via Facebook! This is especially effective the more ‘likes’ you have!

We know you think about it! How can your community market itself while promoting events and camaraderie with current residents?

Check out these three easy facts:

1. Your future residents are on Facebook.

2. Your current residents have friends on Facebook.

3. We make Facebook a simple communication platform.