Are you familiar with Facebook Ads? You know, those pesky things that show up in the right rail of Facebook on your laptop/desktop and within your timeline on your mobile device? Did you also know that the same engine powering those ads also powers Instagram ads, and that Instagram is the fastest growing social network these days (well, other than Pokemon Go, but that’ll fade in a couple weeks)?
As a professional digital marketer, I believe that Facebook Ads are still the best investment you can make in advertising online since you can easily generate over 500% return on ad spend. Many real estate agents have been paying to buy ads on Google for years, trying to appear above the major portals (including my former employer) for those terms to earn those clicks. And SEO? Forget about ranking for terms like [Denver real estate] unless you have a huge budget or are attached to a big franchise.
I reference Facebook Ads many times in my recently released real estate marketing guide, and today we will go a bit deeper to explore why this may be an unspoiled source of potential leads for you.
Real Estate is Personal
Because a house is likely a person’s largest financial purchase ever, it’s intimately tied to their picture of themselves and who they want to be. People prefer to work with those that they trust and are local, and this holds true for real estate agents especially.
People trust those they know and those their network knows. You will often see people asking their networks of friends if they know “a good real estate agent” or if “anyone has sold their house recently and would they recommend someone?”
On Facebook, you can pay to promote your page to a specific audience. By getting more of an audience on your Facebook page by providing outstanding content and information to your ideal audience of homebuyers, you can plug into your ideal customer’s network and provide your customer social proof that their friends also endorse you.
Take for example a site like Outside Magazine, one of my favorite magazines. When I see there in the left that nine of my friends like Outside, I am much more likely to Like the page myself and therefore see its updates.
Real Estate is Visual
My wife and I are just beginning our home search. Like most first time home buyers in our early 30s, we begin our search by finding houses that we think are beautiful. I’ve followed countless interior design sites on Instagram, saved many mid century modern homes on Pinterest, and set up multiple searches for the type of home we want in our target location.
The Internet is visual as well. If you look at your Facebook feed, what do you notice? It’s full of images.
You can use this to your advantage, as Open Listings is above (albeit to work against an agent’s best interest), to inspire your potential customer and begin to familiarize them with your brand.
You’re probably already investing in professional real estate photos for the homes you list. I recommend that you get permission to use these images in promotional materials, then use them within ads to draw in your potential customers.
Real Estate is Data Driven
You have a good idea of the factors that make up your ideal customer – age and income at the bare minimum. Because real estate is local, you also know where they live or where they may be considering moving.
Did you know that Facebook Ads allow you to target ads based on all of the above factors?
For example, did you know that as a Denver real estate agent (for example) you could target millennials who make over $100,000 a year who have recently been in Denver?
The targeting gets that specific.
This ad will reach over 4300 people a day on Facebook and 1700-4500 people a day on Instagram, depending on your daily budget.
Real Estate is Emotional
This point goes hand in hand with real estate as a visual industry. Real estate is emotional. Whether it’s a person’s first home or their third, people become attached to places and excited about new things. With a large transaction such as real estate, they also have those feelings of both fear and excitement.
While emotions should never overshadow solid financials, you cannot ignore the fact that home buying is emotional. Why else would people so excitedly post all over Facebook about finding and buying a new home? Maybe I’m squarely in the demographic of new home buyers, but I see these poses consistently in my personal Facebook feed.
People want to be inspired. They want to be hopeful. They want to dream and move forward in life, being surrounded by beautiful places.
I’m not saying that you should start posting stock photos of beautiful locations with cheesy quotes in front of them. Instead, use the visual and emotional nature of real estate to connect on a heart level with your potential buyers.
People buy because they trust, and building trust through emotional connection is fantastic business.
I’ve never really looked into Facebook ads before. This article was awesome! Thank you!
Stumbled on this post looking for recent posts about FB marketing for real estate. As a real estate business, like you say, there’s a goldmine on Facebook, but its difficult to get the system into place to actually take a FB ad or post and bring it full cycle into a closing. I like the reminder of using visuals. You pointed out that ‘real estate is a personal’ and I certainly agree with that. The fact that people trust what their peers say much more than advertising, also makes this a difficult endeavor. If there was a step by step way to get random strangers to know, then like, then trust you for their real estate needs, that would be a real gold mine!
Mike Tostse, there is a way to get people to know, like and trust you… it’s called a sales funnel. Think about a series of educational videos that you create yourself. Look into how to build sales funnels for specific purposes/market segments. you’ll be glad you did. You can refine it so much that when people contact you they are ready to list with you, buy from you.
Hi, I am into real estate and have been using facebook ads. The thing is the real estate business is very competitive, hence one need to do more than just running ads.. Making one ads too to be entertaining that arouse the interest of potential buyers..My opinion though.
Absolutely – you gotta start somewhere, but as more realtors get into Facebook ads, you may need to consider using a product that takes you to the next level – like Boost by HomeSpotter (yep, shameless plug right there).
Creative post and boosting post ad in facebook can vigorously increase your business.
When buying a property, keep in mind the reason why you are making that purchase. Either you are a homeowner or you are an investor. Let us differentiate the two. The homeowner is concerned on how liveable the property is. The homeowner is not the type of person that looks at the potential value of a property but looks at the current value. The current value of a property can be evaluated based on how well the property’s condition is in. The lighting works, the fixtures are perfect, the paint still looks good, and etc. These are a few things that go on in the mind of a homeowner which is why when presenting a certain property to a homeowner, they make sure that everything is in top condition.
One of the biggest difficulties I have faced in FB advertising is not in targeting buyers and sellers, but rather RE professionals themselves. Any tips in using FB to connect with Real Estate Developers?
Question: In my opinion, FB real estate ads are a natural fit for leveling the playing field between individual realtors, huge brands, and start up companies like Trelora.com. But what’s your opinion on the long-term prospects for loyalty marketing and client acquisition in the real estate industry using FB ads? Thanks!