In 2017 Facebook Ads is going to be one of the leading sources of lead generation for real estate agents.
There are 3 Main Reasons Why
- Attention: Everyone, of all ages, is on Facebook…a lot. When people want to buy or sell a home, they go on Facebook and talk to their friends about it.
- Targeting: Facebook Ads allow you to target people based on their demographics, household income and most importantly their intent to buy or sell their home.
- ROI: Facebook is relatively new compared to other advertising channels, therefore, in order to secure the masses, the cost to advertise, combined with the benefits received, are providing an ROI that can rarely be beat!
Now let’s go a bit deeper so you can make it rain on your business 🙂
Today we will share some of the proven Facebook Ads techniques that have been battle tested with every type of realtor in every type of market, therefore, we KNOW they will work for you.
So…
If you’re confused about what to write on your ad copy, just use the system below.
If you can’t decide who to target your ads to, take these tricks below!
And if you want to market like a silicon valley superstar…stick to our blueprint below!
1) Offer Something Valuable To Home Buyers And Sellers
If you JUST ask someone to enter their information to find out how much their home is worth, you will get junk leads with wrong names, numbers, and emails = waste of money.
Instead, offer what the marketing mavens call a “Lead Magnet”. Try to offer something valuable that you know will catch the attention of a home buyer or seller.
You don’t need to be so fancy like Trulia but create a neighborhood packet and promote it to generate leads.
For example – If you’re a realtor in Tempe, Arizona, create an information packet about the recently sold listings, a bit about the real estate market in Tempe and future trends. Once you have all the information in place, you can hire a designer to turn your content into a beautiful e-book.
Now, when you run the Facebook Ad simply say something like,
“Do you Live In Tempe, AZ? Download the Free Real Estate Guide.”
Then, on the landing page ask for their phone, email, and first name.
Because you are offering something free & useful to the prospect, they are more likely to insert their correct information. This allows you to follow up with more people and convert more of your ad spend into revenue.
Pro Tip: Once they fill this landing page out, send them to another landing page and ask them if they want to know how much their home is worth. Then, on this landing page, make sure they ONLY have to fill in one field, their address.
Pro Tip: Fewer Fields = Higher Conversion Rate. Essentially, when you make the prospect do less work, they do it! (duh, right?)
2) Personalized Local Targeting Using Facebook Ads
We understand that some of you target your whole town, city, and even region in a state.
However, Facebook Ads allow you to do local marketing at a very micro level, therefore, why not get leads for business closer to home?
There are two ways to target local home buyers and sellers:
- Radius Targeting – Create a radius of 10-20 miles from your current location in the targeting section of Facebook Ads.
- Switch to “Living In” – When you target a city or a zip code, switch to “people living in” that particular area. This ensures that only people currently living in that location will see your ad.
Build several campaigns catering to each neighborhood individually.
For Example – If you are targeting an area with lots of detached homes then offer them a checklist for a successful open house.
If you are targeting another area with lots of condo buyers and sellers, cater your ads to target millennial home buyers. For example, create an investment forecast that shows the projected value of their home in 10-20 years.
Bottom Line: More personalized ad copy = more leads. More geographically targeted ad copy = more leads. It might take a little more work, but you will love the results!
3) Use Facebook Pixel To Track Conversions
If you are not using Facebook pixels to track conversions then you are losing a lot of money!
DEFINITION: A Facebook pixel is a piece of code that you need to copy paste on all pages of your website as well the landing pages to track your conversions.
DEFINITION: A conversion is recorded when someone fills out a form on your landing page.
Facebook Ads need to understand which clicks are getting conversions so that they can optimize the impressions to maximize the total number of leads for your daily budget.
BENEFIT: Conversion tracking and optimizing the ads for conversion allows you to get more leads at a lower cost per lead over time.
INSIGHT: The Facebook algorithms are extremely efficient in detecting which user is likely to convert. We have tested conversion testing on different types of campaigns for real estate lead generation and it just works!
4) Use Facebook Video Ads Effectively
Facebook videos ads haven been proven to increase user engagement compared to image ads for the real estate industry.
However, video ads are different in terms of measuring the metrics.
The first thing you need to look at after launching a Facebook video ad is the average view time. Next, you need to check the click through rate of the viewers.
When launching a video ad you can compile 5-6 recently sold houses in your area and offer the viewer a free home valuation.
A general best practice, the conversion rate of videos increase when you show your face and talk to your audience directly.
Since Facebook videos are muted by default make sure you use a compelling background AND show caption transcripts for your video.
As a result, the viewer can get the message if they’re looking at their phone on transit, or at home when they can turn the volume on.
5) Test Multiple Variations Of Your Ads Under Each AD Set
Are you running one ad under each campaign or ad-set? If so, then it’s time to reshuffle your Facebook Ads account and make sure that you are testing multiple images, ad copies and descriptions for each different ad set.
When you launch multiple ads you get data for each of them individually. And, you can turn off the underperforming ones and concentrate on the ones performing better.
If you are constantly A/B testing and doubling down on what works, you will bring down your cost per lead overtime.