SAN FRANCISCO — In May, we released “Is social media worth the time investment?” a special report about the social media habits of agents. Facebook was the most-used social media platform by a landslide, with 72.72 percent of agents saying Facebook was the “most important” platform they used.
But as a follow-up article we posted shows, some agents pay for Facebook ads and other marketing tools without seeing any real ROI.
The Lab Coat Agents team sought to fix that issue with its Learning Lab at Inman Connect San Francisco. It featured a 30-minute presentation about Facebook lead generation, conversion and follow-up.
Just follow the formula
First up for the session was Travis Thom, the founder of Leads2Listing, a company that builds seller landing pages. Thom shared two Facebook ad formulas along with his signature conversion funnel that he guarantees will provide the ROI that agents are looking for.
Thom switches between two Facebook ad formulas: ERERS and AIDA.
The ERERS equation stands for:
- Emotional appeal
- Rational response
- Emotional appeal
- Rational response
- Social proof
Thom said the first emotional appeal plays on the fear of the unknown, such as “what is my house really worth?” and gives an agent the opportunity to follow up with a rational response, such as a home price evaluation meeting or tool.
The second emotional appeal is totally based on visuals. “90 percent of an ads’ performance is based on the quality of the image,” Thom said. He suggests using great lifestyle images that pull in potential buyers.
Lastly, the agent provides social proof, such as a link to a professional profile that provides information about memberships, certifications and reviews. Thom said this is one of the most important steps in the formula because it establishes credibility and trust.
The second equation Thom touts is AIDA, which stands for:
- Attention
- Interest
- Desire
- Action
Thom said agents only have a few seconds to capture a lead, so it’s necessary to grab their attention with a pithy status and eye-grabbing photo that generates interest and desire.
Finally, he said it’s essential to add a call to action that invites leads to take actions such as contacting you, signing up for a newsletter or visiting your site.
Capture leads with the Facebook funnel
After sharing his equations, Thom noted they’re only a small part of a larger equation he calls the “Facebook Ad Funnel.”
Travis Thom’s Facebook funnel.
The funnel has three parts:
- TOFU: Grab attention and provide information
- MOFU: Social proof and affirmation
- BOFU: Engage and convert
Thom noted that on average, 50 percent of leads aren’t ready to buy or sell a home when you initially make contact — it takes months of careful advertising and consistency before you can turn a generated lead into a converted lead.
“Make an emotional deposit before you make a withdrawal,” Thom said. “The mistake most agents make is that they skip the middle of the funnel and immediately ask for a sale.”
Complete the equation with custom audiences
Tristan Ahumada and Nick Baldwin provided the last part of the equation, which focused on targeting ads to custom audiences.
Ahumada and Baldwin showed the audience how they can build a custom audience using tools they already have at their disposal, such as an email database from their website or CRM.
“Your audience comes from your email database where you know the specific wants and needs of potential addresses,” Ahumada said. “Be more purposeful.”
From that database, agents can target expireds, FSBOs, etc., and couple those ads with other effective methods such as cold calls, door knocking and monthly mailers.
The step-by-step of custom audiences.
Lastly, the team provided examples of ads that convert leads without directly asking for a sale. Baldwin said engaging blog content, such as “Top 5 reasons why your home didn’t sell” or “How to prepare your home to sell” draw in sellers, especially expireds or FSBOs. In addition to blogs, agents should offer free content such as home selling checklists and guides.
Ahumada closed off the lab by noting that these tactics can and should be edited to fit each individual agent.
“Don’t conform. Try it for yourself and see what works,” he said.
