I started doing this years ago, but now apartmentratings has a clause that managers cannot sign up without paying the fee.

The way I use apartmentratings effectively is by asking ALL residents to post a review- not just happy ones. Asking for reviews, even if they will be negative, allows us to solve issues we might not have been aware of otherwise.

I have a flyer posted in my common areas asking for reviews, hand out business cards that ask for a review at lease renewal, and when I email the follow up email after move out, I ask for a review again.

Great discussion!

I just have to chime in that I get great, quality prospects from AR.com, but I am 100% recommended.

I read all of the ratings for all of the apartments in my area and I am seeing ratings increase and more manager responses than before.

Responding to negative reviews is vital!!!! It takes the edge off the review.

I think it is vital to a marketing plan to make 100% use of this site and invest in the fee. I believe the benefits of it are worth it.

Having cut my teeth in the biz over two decades ago as a marketing director for a fee manager with mostly C class properties (aka no budgets - just all elbow grease)...I hear ya!

I have some thoughts I'd love to bounce around. If you'd like to brainstorm a bit, call me on my cell any time! It's 410.598.1400.

Doug

Thank you and no worries on a long post, as a friend of mine says, it's all gravy.

I understand the justifications offered, so will redirect the perspective of prioritizing where the $ is spent - which is always subjective.

Without going into too much detail, when you have a number of properties that are struggling to recover from (past) mismanagement, are situated in high vacancy areas and all the issues that go along with it, spending money on AR is not on the list. That's where the creativity starts. ;)

Greetings. Great posting Jennette. I applaud you for monitoring and responding to the reviews. Tons of research shows responding to positive and negative responses has a significant impact on brand perception and the likelihood to buy. And this certainly is critical on what is by far the largest apartment review site.

I do not agree with the statement that the cost for Manager Center is "ridiculously expensive." The annual fee is $230/property (there also is a one-time $100 initial set up fee). When one considers that the SatisFacts Index shows ApartmentRatings.com has become one of the top five ILS and has surpassed all printed apartment guides as a leads source, is $230/year expensive? How much do you spend with apartment guides and ILSs? I venture to guess many times more, with that figure into the $3,000-$5,000 range if you are also in a printed guide and their ILS.

Well over 30 million unique visitors go to AR.com each year - driven by the impact of millions of reviews and millions of unique visitors have on Google rankings (typically a property's page on AR.com achieves one of the top five rankings when you Google your property). A small $230/year investment gives you the ability to truly manage one of the top five online sites your prospects are visiting before they make a decision on where to visit or lease with. $230/year delivers the ability to manage what 30+ million visitors see. For example:

- Rather than you having to check your property pages on the site, with Manager Center you get notified every time there is a post on a property page.

- When you respond to postings, you are recognized by the system and noted as the verified manager, which of course lends greater credibility to replies.

- Instead of your residents managing what photos prospective residents see (say of a broken kitchen cabinet or some other unsavory photo of the dumpster ares), you can upload attractive photos that paint an accurate picture of your community.

- Continuing on how you can manage what prospects see, you can also add marketing text, rents and more. AR.com also now offers a "lead" product that delivers active, interested leads to your leasing office.

- A solid reporting suite is part of Manager Center, with obvious benefits coming from being able to monitor from 30,000' as well as down to the resident level.

- By the way, AR.com is shortly going to be rolling out a dramatically redesigned consumer facing site loaded with suggestions received as a result of meetings with numerous industry leaders.

Again, the cost is only $230/year...not per month, but per year.

Then there is what has become a huge benefit of subscribing to Manager Center...the ability to use the significant Verified Resident Program. This is an add-on program where one can integrate their program with us and their property pages. Resident postings as displayed as from a Verified Resident. Over 150 client have signed their portfolios up for this program since rolled out last year. When integrated with our Insite program, it reaches out to all residents who, for example, just moved in or just had a work order completed and asks them to take the brief AR.com survey.

In an analysis of the impact for first 75 clients after just 90 days, VRP led to: a 336% increase in the number of postings/year on property pages on AR.com (and thus a much better cross section of opinions); a 34% increase in the recommend score. By proactively requesting feedback, this leads sound cross section of opinions paints a good snapshot of what residents think.

Besides programs like this, other posters in this discussion shared what we also recommend to clients - including to promote your AR.com page to residents (cards in the office to hand out when residents come in to rave about you and your team; link on your Facebook page; etc.).

Sorry for the long reply. These MFI discussion groups are awesome as they let us all share our perspectives. I applaud your focus on responding to postings, and hope that my thoughts had some value. Rock on!

I read through all the responses - there's quite a bit of information offered that's for sure. Agreed that it's tough to justify that manager subscription at $100 per (I thought it was 180 but read 100 here) plus yearly fees. As I'm sure some of you have noted, multiply that by 20, 30 etc and you're looking at an investment.

So do this - just reply as the manager. Create a username that makes it clear whoever is responding is the manager. I've done this for several properties and it's been just as effective as that ridiculously expensive subscription account. Bottom line, your property gets a response out there and the issue is addressed or, most importantly, a possible multi-tenant rant scenario is avoided.