ForRent.com Unveils Exclusive Partnership with Oodle

February 22, 2011

Bringing the Power of Facebook and Social Connections to Multi-Family Housing Industry

NORFOLK, VA – February 22, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — For Rent Media Solutions™, a leading resource for searching apartments nationwide and a division of Dominion Enterprises, announced today that ForRent.com, the company’s anchor web site, has entered into an exclusive partnership with Oodle, whose Marketplace on Facebook and Oodle.com has more than 14 million monthly unique users. Under this partnership, ForRent.com customers will enhance its presence within the Marketplace by having its listings integrated with its Facebook Page and social graph of fans. This enhanced exposure on Facebook and in Marketplace will drive new leads and referrals to ForRent.com customers.

“Looking for and acquiring a home (be it renting or buying) has been called one of life’s major stressors. Engaging feedback from one’s ‘social network’ can ease the anxiety of this decision. Our partnership with Oodle provides a human element to our customers’ listings and brings a trust factor to the rental process, since users can see how their friends and friends of friends are connected to listings, ask questions, receive feedback, make comments and respond to listings,” said Brock MacLean, senior vice president of national sales and development at ForRent.com. “By integrating Marketplace into our ForRent.com offering, we’ve given apartment communities a seamless method for tapping the tremendous power of social media. Oodle’s vast community of users will also increase ForRent.com’s advertisers’ reach, generating new avenues to connect with even more renters.”

In addition to fueling trust, Marketplace generates leads through unobtrusive conversations via comments and messaging. With a wide-ranging reach, Marketplace is the number one business application on Facebook with close to 1 million renters looking, and has cemented its influence in the social space.

“Over the last few years the Internet has evolved – it’s become more social,” said Craig Donato, CEO of Oodle. “It’s critical for businesses to understand the importance of this change as they market themselves online. This is particularly important in the multi-family industry, where consumers enlist their friends in the process of figuring out where to live. We selected ForRent.com as our exclusive ILS partner because of their track record of expertise, innovation and trust they have built in the industry.”

Most existing ForRent.com advertisers will have the opportunity to appear on Marketplace on Facebook and Oodle, and the rest of Oodle’s partner network as a value-added service. Advertisers will have the option to upgrade to Marketplace Expert, an enhanced package with priority placement in search results, more photos, online video, advanced social interaction reporting, Facebook Business Page creation, initial recruitment of fans, access to expert advice, resources for social media best practices and more.

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About For Rent Media Solutions™
Founded in 1982 as For Rent Magazine®, For Rent Media Solutions is headquartered in Norfolk, Va., and provides multi-family housing solutions for apartment seekers, property/apartment managers and owners through integrated marketing techniques, including print and Internet, mobile media, custom video, and social media solutions. For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine, as well as Apartamentos Para Rentar®, and publishes 100 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide, including After 55™ Housing & Resource Guide, and ForRent.com™-The Magazine. For Rent Media Solutions operates four additional Web sites: ForRent.com®, SeniorOutlook.com™, CorporateHousing.com®, and ParaRentar.com™. Visit ForRent.com for more, or visit us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

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 40 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 17.6 million unique visitors monthly, and more than 280 magazines with a weekly circulation of 2.4 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 4,900 employees in more than 186 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

About Oodle
Oodle is reinventing online classifieds through its social Marketplace on Oodle (www.oodle.com) and Facebook (apps.facebook.com/marketplace). On Marketplace, consumers can easily buy, sell and trade with friends, friends-of-friends and other people in their local community. And because listings and email conversations are tied to a person’s Facebook profile, they always see who is on the other side of the conversation. Marketplace has over 14M monthly unique users and is available on iPhone & Android phones (www.oodle.com/mobile).

Local businesses can also participate in Marketplace through Oodle’s Pro product. By linking to a business’ Facebook page and connecting with its community of fans, Pro both promotes listings and fuels word-of-mouth referrals.

Media Contact:
Wendy Froehlich, ForRent.com
(757) 351-7363