COVID-19 has put almost all industries on a swivel, forcing them to pivot from their old ways to become more flexible businesses’. Real estate is but one of the many industry’s that has had to think quickly and respond to the changes brought on by the pandemic. If you are a realtor and are feeling lost, not sure how to compete in this rapidly changing world, you’re not alone.
The old strategy of knocking on doors and leaving homemade signs at the local library bulletin board is no longer enough. People are either staring at their phone, speaking on their phone or just straight distracted when walking in public settings—and let’s be real, strangers knocking on your door is just straight creepy.
In today’s article, we share 5 tips that realtors can use to get hot leads on Facebook and how you can leverage social media as your primary tool for marketing and advertising.
1. Pick Your Medium
Social media platforms are evolving daily, and each has its own internal culture and limitations within each platform that limit the kind of marketing you can achieve. If you are starting to explore advertising on social media, we recommend choosing one platform to start (two max) and develop a posting strategy around that to begin. When planning your social strategy, there are a few things to consider; this includes:
- How Many Posts You Can Commit to a Week: We recommend a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5. You want to have a consistent page that’s engaging, but there’s a fine line between engaging and annoying—especially if you are a personal brand. But again, everything is discretionary and must work with your brand.
- Pick a Theme for Your Content: Nailing a consistent and branded social media feed is an art and no small task. This is why we recommend choosing 1 to 2 platforms to start with because choosing your theme and sticking to it is a big job. It’s essential to keep a consistent brand in your post—this is what signals to potential clients that you are a professional. All that a stranger has when picking you off the internet is your brand and how they perceive you.
- Monthly Boosting Budget: if you are just starting, we recommend budgeting $5-$10 per post. You want to spend a bit higher on your better posts (videos, posts of listing, just sold, etc.) and a lesser amount on the posts that are more “filler” (the other stuff that doesn’t result in a direct conversion)
- Plan Your Posts: Now that you have accomplished the other steps, begin writing on a calendar for what you want to post. Real Estate is harder than most industries because you do not know when your next listing will pop up, because of this, we recommend you plan out an entire month of posts and then be flexible if a listing or new post idea comes up mid-month—in a worst-case scenario you have extra content for next month.
When picking your medium, a great thing to factor in is the average daily time spent on each social media platform. In addition to this, you also want to look up what platform matches your demographic the best. Do you want to reach millennials? Focus on Snapchat and Instagram. Do you want to reach millennials and baby boomers? Focus on Facebook and Youtube. Do a quick google search to see platform demographics to help narrow your search.
We recommend realtors focus on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube (in that order) because Facebook and Instagram are both very visual and engaging platforms. Youtube is also visual, but its video-focused, so we only recommend this medium if you are comfortable getting in front of the camera.
Facebook is also a great platform because of the different advertising options it offers. It allows you to easily advertise off-platform content and get very granular in the filtering process.
2. Leverage the Advertising Filtration Options to Target Your Ideal Customer
The best thing about Facebook is how they have set up their filtering process (Thanks, Zuk!). As a realtor, you can get so detailed in your targeting so that you are spending your valuable ad dollars on a precise goal. Once you click “Promote” on a post
you want to apply the following filters to your ad:
Location Targeting: Target by Postal Code
You can target an area by postal code or simply by radius targeting. Go as small as 5km radius or as big as you want. The choice is yours!
Age Targeting: Target the Age Ranges Most Likely to Buy
If you’re selling a beautiful 4-bedroom, 2 car garage dream house, you probably don’t want to be spending your ad budget on showing your ad to an 8-year-old. The great news is with Facebook, you don’t have to! Choose the age you want to sell to and only market to them.
Demographic Targeting: Target by Income
You can even target your ads to reach people who make a certain income bracket—this is great for realtors who want to sell to a specific customer. You can list your ads to sell to different income brackets so that if you have a variety of properties, they can reach their respective target audience.
You can do this by navigating to Detailed Targeting > Demographics > Financial > Income
Demographic Targeting: Target by Home Ownership Status
Another great feature is using demographic targeting to focus on First Time Home Buyers, Homeowners, and Renters. You can do this by navigating to Detailed Targeting > Demographics > Home > Home Ownership
Custom Audiences: Lookalike Audiences
Facebook allows you to upload lists of contacts you have and find lookalike audiences. This means that Facebook will analyze the list of people who just bought from you and find similar people who show similar patterns that are likely ready to buy.
Behavioural Targeting: Target Those “Likely to Move”
Facebook also allows you to target people who are showing signs that they are likely to move. You can apply this to your ad by navigating to Detailed Targeting > Behaviours > Residential Profiles. You will see a bunch of options like likely to move, new mover, recent homebuyer, recent mortgage borrower.
3. Leverage Video
Video marketing is a gamechanger for real estate. People want to know the name and face who will help navigate them through one of the most significant purchases or sales of their life. For those who are “intimidated” by video, you either have to get over it or get really good at images if you want to continue to compete in this very saturated field. The next generation of realtors grew up with technology and selfies and are much more comfortable in front of a camera—you will be left behind if you don’t adopt this medium.
In case you don’t want to take our word for it, consider this stat where According to an Australian Real Estate Group, listings with a video received 403% more inquiries than those without!
Videos provide a realistic look at a property while also showcasing a friendly and relatable face to provide context and builds trust.
If you want to try out video, we recommend you try the 360 video option on Facebook. You can access this by uploading your video into the Facebook Ad Manager. You can also check out this website that shows you how to make a 360 real estate video.
4. Create a Killer Caption
If you think captions don’t matter then you are dead wrong! Captions are what people read to determine if they want to engage further in your brand and/or post. Every caption you write should be:
- Clear: Easy to read and be able to grasp what the nature of the post is about easily
- Transparent: Honest with a tone that is specific to your personality
- Is Spelt Correctly: Make sure there are no grammar, spelling, or punctuation issues
- Has a CTA: Ensure your post has a Call to Action
- Specific and Concise: People have a short attention span, try to make it as brief as possible while getting all the facts in
5. Focus on Reviews
Social Media is one of the last places a potential client will go when deciding on what service provider they will choose to use. Potential clients may also land on your page after clicking one of your ads, and one of the first places they will look at is your reviews. Because of this, reviews are SO important and integral if you want to get leads off of Facebook. Gone are the days when a simple referral was enough. The internet now allows anyone to create a full report card of you—and if you lack reviews or have negative reviews, the chance of you getting new business is slim.
There are programs you can use that will auto-post your reviews, where you can turn your reviews into a boosted post. If you don’t want to invest in a review software, we recommend that you simply take the time to reach out to past clients with a polite ask for them to leave you a review. More often than not, your clients are happy to leave a positive note in response to their experience with you!
This concludes the 5 Ways Realtors Can Get Business on Facebook. If you have questions or want to receive a free social media audit, contact us today at sales@thirdeyeinsights.ca