If you own and rent properties, you're likely familiar with the cycle of advertising your rentals to fill your properties. Filled units mean consistent rental income, which is a landlord's most important goal. When you have bills or goals for more investment, you need to fill your units.

But how landlords fill their units has changed massively over the past decade. Rental advertising now takes place primarily online, which means adapting to new technologies and learning to use platforms you may not be accustomed to.

If you're looking to maximize your rental marketing or learn a few new ways to get the word about your properties out there, you're in the right place. This article breaks down the top five online methods of rental advertising to use in 2023.

#1 Online Listing Sites

Online listing sites are a landlord's bread and butter when it comes to where to advertise a rental property. Popular listing sites are a complete online marketplace for renters: potential tenants can shop for their new homes, view virtual tours, get the details about pricing and amenities, and get in touch with you if they're interested in touring or learning more.

Many listing sites also offer syndication services, which means every listing you post will automatically be updated to several other sites. Syndication increases your exposure dramatically and is a worthwhile feature to invest in.

So what are the top online listing sites today? Zillow was rated best overall by Investopedia, pulling in over a million renters each day and 90 million renters every month. The platform also syndicates with Trulia, HotPads, and 23 other secondary partner sites. Its intuitive user interface easily makes Zillow the most popular platform, despite its high price point of $9.99 per listing per week.

If you're looking for a cheaper option, plenty of listing sites allow listing rental property for free. Zumper has over three million users searching for properties to rent, syndicates with four other sites, and allows landlords to post listings for free. Likewise, Apartments.com also allows free listings and syndicates, with nine other sites as one of the top global listing sites. There is no bypassing online listing sites if you're looking to get the word out about your properties quickly and efficiently.

#2 Social Media

If online listing sites are a landlord's bread and butter, social media is the spice. Social media sites allow you to boost your public image and show some personality with your properties. They shouldn't be the primary way you advertise your properties, but they can draw interested renters to your real listings in a number of different ways.

Social media advertising works best when you post engaging, location-specific content. For instance, you might post high-quality photos of community events, local happenings, or special features of your properties.

Facebook Marketplace does allow landlords to post rental listings, so this might be a good place to post your listings. The site isn't a major search engine for renters, but it can help funnel renters from your social media presence to your listings elsewhere or on your website.

YouTube is particularly great for video tours of your properties. If you want to get even more involved and have the time and resources, you can create engaging video content about your properties, community, or the local area.

Building a network of local renters and real estate people is also a particularly good use of social media. You never know when a friend or follower connection will lead to a new trusted contractor, agent, employee, or future renter.

#3 Property Website

The impact of your property website is often understated when talking about rental advertisements. Every company needs a well-crafted website to succeed in 2023, and rental businesses are no different.

Your website should feature an overview of your properties, their amenities, a map of your community, and photos or videos of each floor plan. You may also decide to include price information on your website, or you can send that information to renters by request.

A website helps potential renters find you outside of listing sites and make contact directly. It also increases your credibility and develops your brand, as landlords with polished websites prove they are dedicated to their properties and care about providing prospective renters with as much information as possible.

Lastly, your property website is an excellent place to centralize links to all your listings and social media profiles.

#4 Paid Ads

For some landlords, organic search traffic simply isn't enough. These investors often turn to paid advertising to get the word about their properties out there.

Paid advertising is offered on many websites, social media sites, and search engines like Google. Landlords can pay to have these sites feature their properties with a specific ad slot. Ads are charged differently depending on the site, length of time it appears, and size of the ad, so that pricing can vary drastically. You can spend as much or as little money as you want on paid advertising.

Paid advertising is effective and can really help you if your listings aren't generating organic traffic. You will see more immediate results with paid advertising, so it is often a preferred choice by landlords who can afford it.

#5 Listing Syndication on Your Property Management Software

Let's talk about the last-and one of the best-methods of filling your units by advertising online. Property management software is an all-in-one toolbox for landlords, offering key features like online rent collection, digital leasing, maintenance management, accounting, and more. But one of its best features is rental advertising.

Many platforms, such as Innago, offer listing syndication networks with connections to many sites listed above in #1. You can list your properties on multiple sites at once, all from the property management platform you're comfortable with. Property management marketing through your software is a great feature often unknown by many landlords who don't use software to manage their properties.

Conclusion

The internet is a vast and overwhelming space, but in 2023, the fate of your rental business depends on it. By cultivating your presence on listing sites, your website, and maybe even social media, you will be one step closer to filling your units with great long-term tenants for years to come.