On an average day, how many Facebook Ads do you see? My guess is that it’s a number you almost can’t fathom! With so many ads running, the question is “How do I separate my content so that people actually see it AND engage with it?” In this article, we explore 5 must-dos for your Real Estate Facebook Page.
Now, just before we get into that, if you’re still exploring whether or not to use Facebook Ads for your Real Estate Business, check out this article.
5 MUST-DOS FOR YOUR REAL ESTATE FACEBOOK PAGE
1. Post More Than Just your Listings
Contrary to many agent’s beliefs, your Facebook business page shouldn’t look like an online store filled with just houses for sale. Shocking Right?!
When you’re using Facebook for real estate advertising, you should take advantage of the many other elements of the platform. By only posting content that is one-dimensional (e.g. a listing), you’re only targeting an audience that is actively looking for a property.
Now you might be thinking “well isn’t that who I want to work with?”. You’re right it is! But by only speaking to that audience, you’re not positioning yourself in the minds of those who although aren’t looking right now, will be in a few months. You’ll be missing out on creating an impression on someone who KNOWS someone that is planning on moving.
Create content that speaks to a variety of people in your audience, just like you would when marketing to your database. You’re not only pushing listings, but you’re also providing value through anything from blogs about the neighborhood, featured articles of local businesses, and even news and events from the area.
Consider what other agents and businesses are having success with. in 2020 one of the Must-dos for your real estate Facebook page is posting memes, gifs, vibrant images as well as video. Sharing content that makes people happy, smile, laugh, or learn is key in creating a memorable experience. They can even be about real estate if you want! Just make sure that they’re relevant to the interests of your audience.
You can also sell a lifestyle on your page. What this means is including decor aesthetics or ideas along with your listed house. People are more willing to buy something they can visualize themselves in instead of just an empty space.
2. Document Your Process, Show Value, and Educate
Must-dos for your Real Estate Business Page number 2: Document, Document, Document. Include informative content related to the entire process of buying or selling real estate and your role in it as an agent!
You can stream live to take your followers through segments of your day. Showing how you bring value to your clients and your community as a busy Real Estate Agent. Not only is this educational you can shape the content to show your personality, highlighting yourself as down to earth and relatable OR a strong negotiator who gets things done!
Your database, prospects, and clients themselves are far more likely to engage on your unique, informative, and interesting content than the generic MLS Listings Page info. Include your neighborhood and what you love about it in your stories, showing it off through videos, pictures or links to full blogs about the area and its history.
Show yourself as an expert and give free real estate advice to your audience. By doing so you create an image of a confident, competent expert in everything real estate. When it comes to making a decision on who to work with in any capacity, the client will assess three things:
- Trust in you
- Their trust in your product (what you do)
- Trust in your company/brokerage
Creating content that creates an image of you as a trustworthy Real Estate Agent is certainly a must-do for your Real Estate Facebook page.
- Interview Local Influencers and Provide Value To Others
Interact on the pages of local influencers in your community and get them to notice you. This could be through the Rotary Association in your local neighborhood, the principal of a local school, or the popular restaurant that everyone visits for date night. Your community has leaders, influencers, and go-to people within it – it’s up to you to find them!
Look for them on social media. See how many followers they have. See how many people are engaging with their content. You can even start to build relationships with them by engaging in their comments section instead of only liking their posts. That puts you front of mind.
When you do find them, don’t just ask “Hey can you post about me on social?” or “Hey can you refer anyone that’s looking to move, to me?”. Provide them value. Help them. Support their initiatives either through time or money. One of the very best ways to do this is to interview them, creating a free piece of content about what they do, and promote it on your social for them for free. Invite them to share the content on theirs too.
This creates a mutually beneficial situation for everyone involved. You’re creating content that is specific to the community and their business. Both of you can share and promote it. And you’re going to both going to get in front of each other’s following. Win-Win. Interested in learning more about how to interview local businesses? Check out this article which talks you through how to do it even if you’re under shelter-in-place restrictions.
- Video > Images?
You hear it all the time. “Video is on of the must-dos on your Real Estate Facebook page!”. It’s true of engagement and views for sure! But it’s not a blanket answer. Jonathan Aufray (Growth Hackers) reports:
“Videos are better for views, engagement (Likes and comments) but images are actually better for clicks. People will watch videos and spend more time watching your ads but images are more easily scannable. When scrolling, people will decide within 3 seconds if they want to click your photo ads whereas it will take them more time when it comes to videos.”
Elsie Dopson, Data Dropbox – Videos vs. Images: Which Drives More Engagement in Facebook Ads?
So when you’re creating content keep in mind the goal of what you’re wanting to achieve. Education, through views and engagement? Go video. Wanting someone to go to a landing page? Go images. Start with the end in mind and create content that will help you achieve that goal.
- Two ways to Build A Following
We’ve all been there before. “I’m posting, but I’m not getting the reach that I want.” Insert applicable sad-face emoji, right? With Facebook’s constantly evolving algorithm designed to make as much money from ad revenue as possible, the natural result is that organic reach consistently is diminished.
So, how do you compete in a pay to play world?
It starts with engagement. The more likes, comments and shares you get on your content, the great the reach. Facebook thinks “Hey, this content is valuable I’m going to keep spreading this around” when the content has a bunch of different accounts engaging with it.
At the same time, if your content is not being engaged with, Facebook will be thinking “Hmmm, not sure if people want this, I’m gonna limit the reach here.” This puts a lot of emphasis on creating eye-catching, interesting, and click-worthy content.
The next step is to increase the number of people that are following you. Start with creating valuable content, then move to expansion. Naturally if you’re creating great content, your following will grow. However, if you’re wanting a strategy to build a following specifically there are two ways to do this.
Must-dos for your Real Estate Facebook Page: Create A Following
1. Work For it
You can build your following by working hard for every follower. This calls for you to dedicate time specifically to providing value to other’s through likes, comments, and shares of their content. Where can you do this? Facebook Groups that focus on a specific niche, business pages in your local community and of course your database (existing friends on Facebook).
Consistency Of Effort here is critical. Leave insightful comments on other’s posts and interact on anything real estate as often as possible. Avoid commenting with the Fire Emoji, “This” or “nice one”. Put it this way, if someone commented on your content this way would you remember them? Likely not, right?
Take the time to engage in what they are saying. Ask questions in groups. Provide advice. Contribute. This is the basis of working for a following.
2. Pay for it
Not got the time? The alternative is paid advertising which generates a following. This is a farily large topic and we’ve included some key insights in this article for you to learn more from. But at it’s base, you’re spending money to get your content in front of more people, bypassing the limits of the organic reach conundrum.
This is also where many people can go wrong. If your ads are fuelling your following, what happens when you turn them off? For some businesses, they notice a substantial drop but the content that they provide is engaging enough to keep their organic reach strong. For others? Turning off the ads is effectively turning off their reach. They go down to a handful of users seeing their content and thinking “what happened?!”.
What happened was that the following was built on the ads. Once the ads disappear, the following does too. Always reflect on what your goals are for your business and what you’re wanting to achieve and invest to achieve it. Paid ads are an incredible way to have more people see you, your brand, and your following. Just keep in mind that if you can’t sustain the ad revenue, the following will likely be impacted.
Where your focus should be
Reflect on your goals and what you’re wanting to achieve, this is one of the must-dos for your real estate Facebook page in itself!
If you’re wanting more exposure for a listing, running ads is exceptional. If you’re able to sustain a large ads budget to support a following, go for it!
But if your goal is to create a genuine following, of people that follow you because of your content, who you are, and what your brand represents, working for your following and creating value-driven posts is where your time should be spent.