Zillow announced Tuesday it’s completely revamping its multi-family rental advertising platform. The Seattle-based real estate technology company launched Tuesday the new platform called “Rent Connect,” which serves as a central point for multi-family clients to advertise their listings, get data-powered insights and 3D virtual tours, depending on the advertising package they choose.
Mark Fleming | Photo credit: Zillow
Prior to the re-launch, Zillow’s multi-family clients — which includes the rental networks of Zillow, Trulia and HotPads — had to piece together multiple different solutions, or pay for separately purchased impressions, according to the company.
“Our multifamily partners value straight forward solutions that drive exposure, leads, and ultimately leases,” Michael Sherman, vice president of Zillow Rentals, said in a statement. “The new Rent Connect packages bring together formerly stand-alone options into a single solution that removes uncertainty, saves our partners time, and arms them with valuable market and property insights.”
All Rent Connect packages give customers access to Zillow, Trulia and HotPads as well as Zillow’s proprietary 3D home tour technology. Multi-family rentals that include a 3D tour have attracted 20 percent more visitors since March, according to a Zillow study.
Enhanced and premium options offer clients custom rental comparisons and data-powered insight reports, aimed at providing the client with insight into what other rentals are going for on the market and how to best allocate advertising spend.
A sample screenshot of what the rental insights look like. | Photo credit: Zillow
The premium Rent Connect package also offers social media tools, including turnkey Facebook and Instagram ad placement, as well as email placement to local renters and Instagram stories. Zillow is hoping the social media tools will help increase exposure to younger clients.
Zillow’s most recent consumer trends housing report found that 25 percent of Gen Z renters that moved out chose a multi-family building, but as the pandemic continues to impact the country, Gen Z has compromised more than 80 percent of the 3 million adults who moved back in with their parents.
Jeff French, the director of sales and marketing at Ardent Communities, an Ohio-based property management firm, said his company has trusted its entire rental portfolio to Zillow for years.
“Now that we’ve upgraded to the new Zillow Rent Connect Premium package, we’ve added a substantial amount of exposure for our communities that extends to Facebook and Instagram, and I would highly recommend advertising with Zillow Rentals for anyone needing multifamily advertising,” French said, in a statement.
The launch of the platform comes following a nine-month pilot program in 12 states. It also comes at a time when 41 percent of multifamily marketers “wish they had better tools to evaluate marketing and advertising effectiveness,” according to Zillow.