Oct. 6, 2009 (Business Wire) -- Apartment Guide and Penske Truck Rental today announced the winners of its “Tweet to Win” contest. Danyelle Little of St. Louis, MO won the Grand Prize of “Free Rent for a Year” ($15,000 in cash) and a credit of up to $1,000 to be used for a consumer Penske Truck Rental moving truck. The four runners-up in the contest are Grant Magnuson of San Diego, CA; Elizabeth DeHart of West Jordan, UT; Alajuwon Hamlin of Charlotte, NC; and Dana Blue of Cary, NC who will each receive an 8GB iPod^® touch.

To enter the sweepstakes, which began on July 15, 2009, people visited a landing page where they were instructed to use their Twitter account to follow Apartment Guide (@aptguide) and retweeted a message to let their followers know about the sweepstakes.

Little, a manager for a supply-company, entered the contest only once, after a friend encouraged her via Twitter to participate. She recently upgraded her rental house in St. Louis and plans to use the contest winnings to pay for three months’ rent, make a down payment on a car and take her two children, ages 5 and 15, to Disney World over Thanksgiving.

“The first person I called about the great news was my grandmother,” Little said. “I told her that I won $15,000 from Apartment Guide and Penske Truck Rental, which would allow me to make some important lifestyle changes for my family. Since I was on the phone with her, it was hard to tell, but I think she was crying. She realized how important this was to me and my kids since the timing couldn’t have been better. We were about to move and my car kept breaking down. I’m really grateful for having this opportunity and encourage people to enter these types of social media contests. You never know – it could happen to you too.”

Little also hopes to have her first novel published, which is about four women living in a subdivision. Since she recently moved, she plans to use the Penske Truck Rental to deliver living room furniture to her new rental.

The sweepstakes was a marked success for Apartment Guide and Penske Truck Rental, as the contest landing page received more than 70,000 clicks and 3,500 entries during its month and a half run. Apartment Guide also grew its Twitter follower base by nearly 560% during the contest.

“We are experimenting with various methods in how people find a place to live by providing apartment and property rental resources in a way that they need and want to receive that information,” said Arlene Mayfield, president, Apartment Guide. “Utilizing social media tools such as Twitter allows us to reach consumers through their preferred media.