Do you approach Facebook lead generation strategically or tactically? When it comes to using Facebook for your real estate business, too many times real estate agents focus on tactics without having a strategy in place.
We focus on things like:
- Trying to find the perfect post that gets engagement
- Trying to find the best time to post on your page
- Trying to find the best ad to run
- Trying to increase your reach
- Trying to build a community on your page
Perfect posts, best times, best ads and reach, these are all Facebook tactics. They are not a strategic plan. In fact, for most of these, they aren’t even a good tactic to use within a strategic plan.
They are tactics that are a useless waste of time and energy and result in little to nothing, most especially over the long term.
Here’s what I mean:
I see real estate agents asking for help with their social media strategy, and then the ensuing discussion revolves around how often to post, when to post, where to post, etc.
I see them focusing on post likes, comments and shares and getting frustrated when their posts aren’t getting the reach and engagement they think they should be.
I see them focusing on finding an ad they can run for a few days to bring in leads, only to end up frustrated when they get likes on their ad, but no viable leads.
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzu
When you focus on tactics without a strategy, you are creating noise, wasting your time and throwing away money. It truly is “the noise before defeat.”
“In regards to business, too many times people focus on tactics without having a proper overall strategy in place. Utilizing SEO, social media or blogging are all tactics. These tactics can be extremely valuable when in the hands of the right craftsman, but not so effective without an overall strategy behind them.” – David Brim
So before you jump on the industry bandwagon of using Facebook for real estate lead generation, get yourself a strategy first, not just an “I want leads” thought, but a real strategy. An implementation strategy.
You need to know how Facebook lead generation is going to fit in to your over all lead generation strategy for your real estate business.
A strategy has tactics involved, very specific tactics, strategically used to move you forward to your end goal.
Know your specifics
To develop a strategy, you need to know some specifics first:
- Who you are going to target: And no, focusing on “everyone” because you “just never know” doesn’t work.
- What you are going to say to them: You need to speak in their language, not the language of the industry.
- What you want them to do: Yes, you’ve got to guide them, very specifically, to and through the step you want them to take.
- When you are going to reach them: This isn’t just about running an ad on the weekends versus weekdays. It’s about knowing the season of life they are in, the season of the year it is, etc.
- Where you want them to go: You need to have a specific direction they should go.
- Why you are doing this: If all you think about is “I want leads,” you’re going to fail. It’s much more than that.
- Why they would want to do it: Yes, you’ve got to have a reason that resonates.
And finally, you get into the how (which is where most real estate agents start and why most agents fail); how do you implement your strategy? This is where some of the tactics being thrown about come into play.
A tactic is only as good as the strategy behind it. Without a strategy, tactics are worthless.
Want more? Check out episode No. 52 of The #RIBBIT Show. I dive into this in the eight minute episode.
Christina Ethridge is the founder of Leads and Leverage, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.
