It’s 2017. If your personal brand doesn’t include a real estate Facebook page, you are missing out on a lot of real estate business in your local area. Your Facebook page not only ranks for local real estate keywords but also helps foster a long-term relationship with people in your community.
In short: If your Facebook page is weak, your brand will suffer.
Take a look at the last 28 day snapshot of our Facebook page. We had 114 people click our CTA (call to action) button. If you follow the steps mentioned below you will get these types of results for your real estate business.
1. CONTENT IS KING – On Your Real Estate Business’s Facebook Page
This is a very simple rule that almost everyone with a Facebook page gets wrong. The deck is stacked against your content thanks to Facebook’s timeline algorithm, so you need to change your hunting style IMMEDIATELY.
While your instinct is akin to hunting ducks with birdshot (a shell with dozens of smaller pellets which create a widespread) to best increase your chances of a hit, you need to be thinking like a big game hunter. The way you bring down a prize stag is with buckshot. Buckshot is similar to birdshot in that it is a type of shotgun shell which spreads smaller pellets, but the pellets are much larger and heavier. There’s usually about 9-10 pellets per shell.
While obviously using a metaphor involving killing animals isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, the reality of reality is that you’re a big-game hunter and you’re always trying to bag the big one. You need to be thinking about 9-10 good shares per week as opposed to dozens of them, focused in such a way that they’ll hit the bigger targets you’re aiming for instead of piling up a bunch of ducks.
Heather Gunn, London-based real estate agent and social media/branding expert offer a simple approach to the question of identifying your target market. “The first question you should be asking yourself when you start in real estate is “Who do I want to work with?” from there you decide how you want to engage with them.”
Gunn’s formula is simple: find a good mix of other people’s content and your own. “I started out by doing interviews with local businesses with large social media following. It’s awesome because it shows an interest in your community, and lets you leverage their audience and grow your own at the same time.”
It’s also key to build up a strong back catalog of blog content which you can share to drive traffic to your site (if you have one). Make sure you have a wealth of evergreen content so that you can repurpose it a few times!
2. Be Consistent On Your Real Estate Facebook Page
Coke, Pepsi, McDonald’s, Apple. All of these brands have a distinctive ‘feel’ you can identify quickly and easily – that’s because they’re consistent in their branding. Pick a theme for your posts and stick with it. Your theme should reflect your business targeting, your interests/personality, and your expertise. Post frequency matters as well. You want to post regularly, but not overwhelming. Decide on a content ‘drip schedule’, plug it into Hootsuite, and off you go! But remember – stay focused with your messaging!
PICK ONE THING, AND BECOME REALLY, REALLY GOOD AT IT.
3. Interact With Your Audience On Your Facebook Page
You’re not going to build a strong brand with one-way conversations, and if you think you will, you’re sorely mistaken. You need to invest time in talking to people online as frequently as you invest time in talking to people offline.
Forget the old saying “You have to spend money to make money”.
The new rule in the Social Media Age is “You have to spend the time to make money.”
Get yourself the Facebook Page Manager for iOS and you can keep the conversations on your page going as easily as you’d carry on a text conversation. This will also help you learn when your audience is online most frequently to better schedule your posts.
A great way to get to know your fans is to host quizzes and polls! Learn more about them by engaging, and engage them in learning more about them.
Protip: When you respond to messages faster you will get a responsiveness badge on your page
4. Run a Facebook Contest To Get Likes & Followers
Run local contests using your Facebook Page as the platform. There are several platforms that allow you to run local contests. Your primary goal should be to get as many people engaged in your contest as possible. Never offer any direct pitch for your real estate services. Keep your marketing subtle but not invisible. Ask participants to take an action so that they can register their contest entry. The most common action would be to like your page or share an article.
You should also try to promote your local contest using Facebook Ads by geo-targeting the location.
5. Use Call To Actions To Convert Potential Buyers And Sellers From Your Facebook Page
The Facebook Page only allows you to have one blue button on the top right-hand corner. Make sure that you are using this properly to convert visitors potential leads. Go to your page settings and assign the blue button a proper call to action.
Facebook Pages only allow a few different types of CTA for this button so you really don’t have much choice here. Here is how to decide on the right type of CTA:
- When you are serving a very small area then it’s perfectly fine to have a “Call Now” button with your phone number attached to it. You can also track the number of clicks and actual calls from your page analytics.
- If you are serving in a big city or town then use the Contact Us button. This will allow you to redirect any traffic to a dedicated page on your website. What you are doing here is converting your Facebook page traffic into a multi-step lead funnel.
Don’t ignore the Facebook Cover for your page. A lot of people simply upload a picture of their community in this section. However, if you are smart, you can really use all that space to brand your Facebook page with your picture, recently sold listings and other related information.
Finally, if you have a dedicated home value page make sure that you create a separate post for it. Now, pin it to the top of your page.
ProTip: Use Facebook Carousel post to create multiple call to actions in a single row. See one of our Facebook page as an example below.
6. Post Real Estate Videos On Your Facebook Page
Facebook video is quickly growing as one of the top video consumption platforms on the internet. Whenever you are creating a video for your open house, listings or a neighborhood guide, you need to ensure that the video gets uploaded natively to Facebook. Facebook Pages are ranked based on something called EdgeRank. Basically, EdgeRank is the SEO equivalent for Facebook News Feed.
When you start uploading videos on your page it will rank for various search terms (yes you heard that right). People actually search for real estate using that search bar on Facebook.
Follow these guidelines when uploading videos on Facebook
- Make sure that your video is shot in HD
- Give the video a compelling title. Example: 171 East York Street, North York (3000 Sq. Ft. Commercial Space) for sale.
- Update listing video titles with the word SOLD in front once a deal goes through. You can still use those videos on your channel to showcase your previous real estate experience.
- Create custom thumbnails for these videos with the price and a proper image of the property so that users are more likely to play this video.
- Use relevant hashtags when sharing a Facebook videos. These hashtags are keywords that the video might rank for when people search on Facebook.
- Always use a call to action in the beginning and end of each video. For example, your phone number, an area that you serve, do you specialize in new condos?
- Brand all of your videos with logos, watermark, and your personal branding.
When going live on Facebook make sure that you are covering open houses, talking about your local real estate market or sharing a particular listing tour. Make the tour personalized by showcasing yourself. Turn that camera towards you instead of talking in the background and going through the tour. The more engaging your videos, the better your chance of converting your Facebook page visitors into potential clients.
