You’ve put a great listing together with detailed descriptions, high-quality photos, and an eye-grabbing headline. The next step is figuring out where to post it.
These days, most renters looking for local vacancies are looking online. Traditional methods like print advertising or yard signs are competing with the heavy traffic of various digital platforms. The right marketing will attract the right tenants, but there isn’t one correct way to go about it. Especially with the advent of the internet, marketing has become increasingly dynamic and non-traditional.
Your job is to determine what audience you are trying to reach and take advantage of the best methods from there. But what are the best methods? Let’s take a look at some of the best and most common places to list your rental properties and what kind of audiences each of them might help you reach.
Rental Listing Sites
Let’s start with the most obvious platform. Rental property listing sites are designed specifically for landlords to post listings and for renters to seek them out. Robust websites can offer extensive information and are perfect for the varied and multimedia information you’ve put together for your listings.
A big advantage of posting a listing on these sites is that you are likely to reach an audience actively seeking out properties to rent. Marketing your listings on these sites reaches an audience who is already engaged in that space and may actively be searching for a rental property for the near future.
Each popular listing site has its own advantages and disadvantages. Zillow Rental Manager has incredibly high traffic and is very easy to use for landlords, but charges $9.99 per listing every week. Craigslist allows for free rentals, but it does not have syndication with other websites the way that Zillow does.
Because of the variation between these sites and the needs that they cater to, it is best to take some time to explore which one is best for your needs and capabilities and which one will help you reach the appropriate audience.
Paid Ads
If your goal is to get your listing in front of as many eyes as possible, paying to advertise your listings on different platforms is a great way to generate traffic and put your listing before other organic listings or posts.
Paid advertising can happen on a variety of platforms. Listing sites like Zillow not only allow paid advertising, but also have the capacity to target these ads uniquely to consumers it determines to be looking to rent rather than buy. Other websites will also allow for display or banner ads that can link back to your listing or a landing page for your business.
Social Media
Facebook is notorious for its complex advertising infrastructure and its capacity to target very specific audiences based on a variety of customizable information. Facebook Marketplace, which allows for advertisements, is a platform with affordances that are suitable for listings and allows landlords to post them for free.
Additionally, posting pictures, videos, and written content on platforms like YouTube, Instagram or TikTok is a great way to take advantage of audiences and communities that might potentially be interested in your listings. Even if you aren’t directly advertising or listing on social media, building content around your real estate business helps generate organic interest in your properties and is worth your time.
You should be selective about which platforms you generate content for, however. Different social media platforms offer different features and affordances and consequently tend to attract different audiences. For example, a listing on Facebook Marketplace is bound to reach a different audience than a video of a rental property posted on TikTok.
Conclusion
As the shift to online marketing dominates the rental industry, more and more options for spreading the word about your properties are popping up all the time. There is a lot to consider when exploring which option is the best for you and the audience you are hoping to reach.
However, after you have invested so much time and energy into a high-quality property and an effective listing that does justice to it, taking the time to make an informed decision about your marketing strategy will help you find the perfect tenants and ensure the success of your rental business.