A realtor’s work is never easy. The sale process for real estate property is, probably, the longest among all the other types of B2C and B2B types of sales. A house, an office building or a plot of land represent an expensive investment. Also, in the majority of cases, such a purchase is conditioned by securing a mortgage loan.
Taking into account the conditions of the global market for real estate transactions, one thing is clear: this is not the best time in recent history to be a real estate agent. However, that does not mean that you should throw in the towel and seek a career change.
What you have to do is learn to work smarter and find better leads both in the pool of potential buyers and sellers of properties. One of the most efficient and cost-effective ways of achieving this goal is through Facebook™ ads.
Why Should You Look for Real Estate Leads on Facebook™?
Facebook™ has evolved into a mature social media platform. Most of the younger generations have migrated to Snapchat and Instagram, so the general pool of users consists of people of the age and financial ability to purchase a house.
Also, the platform has one of the most advanced mechanisms for analysing the behaviour of its users and segmenting them into a very detailed group – starting with their likes and interests, and ending with their marital status and income level.
This segmentation and targeting capability are very valuable to real estate agents. Facebook™ ads are increasingly expensive, so you want to show your ads only to qualified prospects: people who live in the geographical area you serve and who are likely to buy or sell a house.
How do you do that? Here are some of the most effective guidelines to apply in your Facebook™ ad strategy:
1. Advanced Targeting Is the First Step
Who would click on a real estate related ad? First of all, people who live in the respective area. Thus, your first audience segmentation factor must be geo-location. You do not want to address people way out of your area of interest in the hope that they may want to move. The actual results you will get will not match the extra expenses.
Next, the people who are likely to be interested in your ads are at least in their early 30s. Younger people tend to rent a studio or apartment and wait until they grow their credit score enough to be eligible for a mortgage loan. Age is thus your next selection criterion.
Behaviour – targeting is your next segmentation target. It may be too incredible to be true, but Facebook™ can actually predict quite accurately who is likely to move from their current home. To reach this very specific segmentation factor, go to Detailed Targeting in the Ad Creator panel, select Behaviours, the Residential profiles and select the option Likely to Move.
One small word of warning: setting too many segmentation factors will reduce your audience pool too much and you may miss out on lots of qualified leads.
2. Getting People to Click Your Ad
Now, this is what every marketer and business owner struggles with. How do you get people to stop browsing their friends and favourite celebrities’ posts enough to take a look at your ad and even click on it? The social media, after all, is a place of socializing. So, this is what you need to do: socialize with your leads. Yes, it comes with a cost, but just one completed sale will bring you a consistent commission.
Your ads must not be only about property buying and selling. Instead, you should consider creating this type of ad content mix:
Lead magnets – a lead magnet is an interesting and useful downloadable file (ebook, video, tutorial, etc.) which helps the prospect solve a problem, acquire knowledge and also established you as a helpful expert. For the real estate industry, examples of lead magnets are:
Aerial videos of the community, showcasing the benefits of living there
Real estate buyer/seller guides
Tips for increasing the value of a property through renovations and enhancements
Step by step guide to relocating with the entire family
Open House Invitations – this type of promotional content can be set as a Facebook™ Event, with its own separate page on the social media platform. This type of event can consist of an actual in-person viewing of the property, or you can create a Facebook™ Live session. As you walk through the room and showcase them, you can get real-time questions from your followers and answer them or ask the current owners for clarifications.
Community Videos – community videos are very engaging – especially because video content and video ads perform very well on Facebook™. Take a walk in the neighbourhood and show off the most important features – schools, kindergartens, parks, entertainment areas – and spend some time talking to the residents, asking them to share what it feels like to live there.
3. Collect and Process Analytical Data
No matter what strategy you use, the result must be the creation of a traffic funnel from Facebook™ to a landing page, where the prospects will sign up for your listing digests or newsletter.
Once you have this data, put it to work: segment leads according to their position in the sales funnel (top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, the bottom of the funnel) and starts deploying a consistent email marketing strategy.