There are reasons for and against boosting a post on Facebook.
The problem is, most real estate agents don’t look beyond clicking the “boost post” button — and they should.
First and foremost, you’ve got to figure out what your goal is. Most of the time, a real estate agent’s goal is to “raise awareness” or to increase “brand awareness,” or to create “name recognition” or even just to “get the word out there.”
I’ve got to tell you, those are the absolute worst reasons to boost a post. Truly. They are. Don’t ever boost a post because you want to “grow your brand.” It’s a massive waste of hard earned moolah.
Another debate that is out there is the whole “boosting only posts that already have organic traction” vs. boosting highly targeted posts, whether they have traction or not. Yeah. Not sure why it’s a debate, but it is.
Again, it all comes down to what your ultimate goal is.
Is your goal to capture leads or is it the ambiguous “name recognition” I mentioned above? If your goal is to generate solid leads, you want to boost posts that are highly targeted. Organic traction (meaning, posts that have garnered likes, comments and shares) is a moot point here. The entire point of getting that post in front of people who are likely to take action (your target) is so that they will take action — specifically, action that leads them into your database. Don’t waste that action on a like, comment or share. Organic traction really doesn’t matter. Really. It doesn’t matter in this case.
Here’s another factor you need to keep in mind.
You should only be boosting posts that are yours. In other words, don’t boost posts that are sharing other people’s content.
- Don’t boost posts that are random pictures or quotes.
- Don’t boost irrelevant posts.
The last thing you want to be doing is paying money to promote someone else’s business, and that is exactly what you are doing when you boost a post that points to (or talks about) someone else’s content.
Think of it this way: Would you go door-to-door and give a listing printout with the listing agent’s name and contact info on it when you are prospecting for your business? Boosting a post that isn’t your content is doing the exact same thing.
Now, don’t misunderstand me here. This is not an opportunity for you to steal someone else’s content and claim it as your own. Be ethical. Be moral. If you aren’t ethical or moral, I can’t help you. Create (or buy) your own content.
And finally, only boost posts that have a call-to-action capture point. You want your reader to take action and click through to your “capture point” whether that capture point is via your IDX, a landing page or a website page with a capture form on it — you want the post to funnel people through to a capture point.
Your call-to-action capture point can be any number of options: home values, market reports, market analysis, home sellability analysis, neighborhood sold reports, IDX links to a single home or lists of homes, etc. However, you must be able to capture that lead’s information in exchange for what you are giving them.
If you are boosting posts that have no call to action, you are basically paying to push a non-engagement-focused statement out into the interwebs, and I know I’m not willing to pay to do that. I assume you want your money to bring in leads, just like I do.
If you want more information about boosting a post on Facebook, I created The Ultimate Guide To Boosting Your Facebook Posts, Exclusively For Real Estate Agents. It’s free — no email registration required.
Christina Ethridge is the founder of LeadsAndLeverage.com, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.
