When used properly, real estate Facebook ads can be a great addition to your business, can help you land more clients and ultimately, sell more homes.
I’m going to share with you three ways you can use Facebook ads in your business. These are methods I have used in my own business and spent more than $10,000 on testing. You will learn some of the insights I gathered from my failures and successes.
Let’s get started on these three battlefield-tested strategies and methods.
1. Generate tons of low cost leads
I started here, probably like every real estate agent who eventually starts dabbling in Facebook ads. It’s a convincing argument to take out Facebook ads and be on your way to generate leads for a ridiculously low cost, like $0.04, especially, if we contrast that to the hundreds or thousands that a few agents pay for leads to companies like Zillow.
If I could generate 100 of those low-cost Facebook leads and convert at least one, then I would acquire clients for a fraction of the cost. Sounds easy, right?
Not so much. It’s actually pretty tough. Can you do it? Absolutely. Here are a few things I learned that most advice likes to skip over:
- A majority of your leads will not be ready enough to have a listing consultation or go tour homes with you.
- Most people aren’t on Facebook looking for a real estate agent. They are there to have fun.
- The lower the lead cost, the further away they tended to be from completing a real estate transaction. As a result, they tend to have longer sales cycle times.
You can certainly generate leads on Facebook and convert them into clients. However, it does require a strong sales follow-up and lead nurture infrastructure — and a lot of patience.
My recommendation to any real estate agent just getting started in Facebook ads is to use one of the other three strategies we are going to cover. If you want though, you can find tons of great ways, tricks and tips to generate Facebook leads.
2. Target your sphere of influence
This is by far my favorite strategy and where I recommend all real estate agents get started. Gary Keller in his famous book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, laid out a plan for marketing to your database of “mets.” These are the people who either know, like or trust you.
The plan is simple: Contact them or touch them 33 times throughout the year. Of course, when the book was published in 2004, Facebook ads weren’t around, but they are a great way to reach your sphere.
Adding a Facebook ad into your marketing plan that is geared to your database is a great way to use Facebook ads, as it gives you another medium and opportunity to contact your database for a small cost.
Seriously, for $5 you can often target your entire database. I would use this strategy by creating real estate Q&A videos to common real estate questions. They would be about 60 to 90 seconds long, and I would upload my database list and take out a Facebook ad.
It may be challenging to tie these Facebook ads to customers for a direct return on investment measurement. So, if you plan to take out these kinds of ads, then focus on awareness and reach. In other words, how many people saw your ad, and how many times did they see it?
What we do know is that the more we can communicate to our database, the more we improve our top-of-mind awareness, and we’re able to build a real estate brand and generate more clients.
3. Convert more clients
This strategy is all about using Facebook ads as a value proposition to your clients so that when you’re sitting at the listing appointment, it becomes a no-brainer to sign an agreement with you.
I have used this one over and over again to win clients and beat out other real estate agents.
It’s simple really: You tell potential clients that you will use Facebook ads to market their home. Few, if any, real estate agents are doing this. Sure, some might make a few posts, but we go a step further.
It becomes easier for me to convince the client that I really do everything to get their home sold, and I market their property better than any other agent.
You can execute on this strategy with a few simple bucks. I have spent as little as $20 and as much as $300. When I had a client with a horse farm, I made a video ad where I targeted a horse audience. That ad received thousands of views in my small community. And I was able to get a video view for about $0.04 — a pretty low cost.
I show clients my click-through rates of past campaigns, exposure and how much money we will put into Facebook ads for marketing their home.
Is it hard to measure if this gets a home sold? Yes. But I know it gets me more clients because of the feedback I get from my clients. They are always impressed and feel like I am doing everything to get their home sold.
A top fear of a client is working with an agent who simply lists the home on the MLS. Use Facebook ads and you don’t have to be perceived as that kind of agent.
There you have it: You can use Facebook ads to generate low cost leads, target your database or convert more customers. If you’re looking to get started with real estate Facebook ads, then I recommend using them to target your database and convert more customers.
Do you have any experience using Facebook ads? Let us know in the comments below.
Alex Craig is the team leader and marketer of Century 21 Looking Glass: Dolinski Group in Lansing, Michigan. Connect with him on Facebook.
