Does Craig's List Advertising Software Really Work?
Craig’s List has been a double edged sword for apartment marketers since inception of the awkward classified listings service. On one hand the classified service is free, that said, successfully administering Craig’s List ads can become daunting for the already overworked site staff and it is far from “free” to keep up with the daily postings. Scaling the postings for larger apartment operators predicates challenges. In the early days it was even ignored by some as a viable lead generating option. Now though it seems it be main stream for anyone wanting to lease an apartment. Several third party providers, such as Rent Sentinel have developed products aimed at helping the on site leasing teams with posting to Craig’s List. Rent Sentinel has also developed detailed reporting for their system.
Winds of Change
A recent Press Release by Spherexx suggests that advertising software may not work so well and is inconsistent at best. Do those of you that use the service agree/disagree?
“Our research and survey information makes it clear that no Craigslist advertising software in existence is consistently publishing live ads at this time. We suspended LeadSeeds.com in order to be up-front with our clients about the current Craigslist moratorium on ad publishing software. We do not want our clients paying for a service they cannot receive consistently, because of external influences beyond control,” states Becca Wilson, President of Spherexx.com.
Organic Craig’s List Ads Work Best
Our Craig’s List posting experience at our own Boutique Apartment company, Urbane Apartments suggest that basic organic ads with pictures work best at driving traffic to our web site. We also have experienced like results for the Craig’s List Ads we manage for our clients, and although the streamlined ads have a fancier and much more cleaner appearance, organic trumps slick.
The issue with organic ads are scale. They just don’t scale very well, and unless tightly supervised become a low priority for the site staff. Then, there is the dilemma of optimal posting times and number of posts.
How does your apartment community organize its Craig’s List ads?
Eric Brown
Eric’s background is rooted in the rental and real estate industries. He founded metro Detroit’s Urbane Apartments in 2003, after serving as senior vice president for a major Midwest apartment developer. He established a proven track record of effectively repositioning existing rental properties in a way that added value for investors while enhancing the resident experience. He also established Urbane Media, a social media marketing and PR laboratory, where innovative marketing ideas are tested. Eric has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine and Business Week Magazine. You can connect with Urbane_Media on Twitter. Eric also writes regular articles for the following publications; Multi Housing News Social Media Examiner Search Engine Guide
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