There is a lot of potential for real estate agents to market themselves on Facebook. However, most businesses don’t know how to take advantage of it.
Why is that? What are some of the mistakes that agents are making and how can they be corrected in order to increase their success?
Why Hyperlocal Gives You The Edge With Your Marketing
What exactly is hyperlocal and why should it be your favorite word? Hyperlocal literally means beyond local. This marketing approach is the complete opposite of trying to make everyone happy.
It’s no surprise that pretty much everyone is online. The number of people who spend a lot of time staring at screens is increasing every day. According to PC Magazine, people are spending more time on electronic devices, with the average time increasing from 3 hours per day in 2009 to slightly under 6 hours per day in 2018.
Almost every American uses Facebook at least once a day, especially those aged 30-44.
Some real estate agents are finding ways to make a lot of money using Facebook marketing, even though some huge companies are taking a bigger share of the real estate market. This is because the large real estate listing companies compete with each other on a large scale. They try to cover as much ground as possible while still focusing on the big picture. They make tools that people find useful.
But – due to their business model, they are not able to provide personalized services on a local level.
Agents can use this opportunity to their advantage.
Hyperlocal is about being specific to a particular place or area. It is important to get to know the individual neighborhoods where your business is located and find ways to offer true value to the residents. You can show your expertise in your field and share your personality to make connections with potential customers.
Your website and marketing efforts should establish strong connections with your target audience.
Do Facebook Ads Work for Realtors?
Yes, Facebook ads for realtors work. Advertising on Facebook should be part of any good real estate marketing plan.
Facebook Ads are an effective way to generate leads (both seller and buyer leads), increase traffic for open houses, and keep your brand visible to your target audience – whether they are potential homeowners, current homeowners, or real estate investors.
Higher numbers of people are spending more time on Facebook compared to any other marketing channel. To be successful with Facebook Ads, you need to have a good strategy, be consistent, and make regular adjustments to your campaigns.
Facebook ads offer a great way to market real estate.
How Much Does It Cost to Run Facebook Ads for Realtors?
You can spend as little as $1 per day. You are not limited in how much you can spend on your ads. Your business goals and objectives will affect how much you spend on Facebook. And results are proportional to your ad budget.
Why Facebook Ads for Real Estate Agents?
The Facebook ad platform is unrivaled in its ability to target ads to a specific audience, offering a wide range of options that other platforms cannot match. Using this method, you can connect with your ideal target customer easily. This cannot be achieved with any other marketing channel.
What Changed with Facebook Ad Targeting to Adhere to Fair Housing Guidelines
Although these changes have occurred, they have not had a large effect on the results you achieve because you can narrow down your search to include other interests that more accurately identify your ideal target customer. You can produce and write ads that appeal to specific audiences, genders, and ages.
The following provides tips on creating effective ads.
What you need before running ads:
Step 1: Make Your Ads & Targeting Tailor-Made & Hyperlocal
When creating ads that are meant to target a specific, local area, you need to take into account who your target audience is. Who exactly is your target demographic? What is your niche? What is your focus when it comes to real estate? Are you more interested in working with first-time buyers, downsizers, or properties on the water? Think about what your hyperlocal market might want or need and make a list of those things.
After that, present your marketing in a way that shows you, your website, and/or the specific tools you are using as the best possible option for their real estate needs. In an ideal world, you would be both relatable and unique.
Facebook Audiences
Facebook now requires ads for housing opportunities or related services to be published in a ‘Special Ad Category,’ which restricts your ability to add demographic targeting options.
It is possible to target a specific area by placing a pin on a map. You can use this pin to target Facebook users that live within a 15-mile radius.
People Want to Do Business With People
Your ad copy should be focused on readability and personality. Don’t use legalese, corporate speak, or “salesly” language. You should come across as a real person instead of a faceless corporation.
If you want your ads to be targeted to a specific area, include words or regional slang that are used in that area.
Step 2: The Art of the Landing Page
When potential customers click on your ad, they are directed to a specific page on your website called a landing page. A landing page is created to act as a sort of gatekeeper for the rest of the website’s content. In exchange for information that is valuable to you, you offer something of value. The information that is typically most valuable to leads is their full name, email and/or phone number.
To make the best possible landing page make sure you:
- Say what you mean – Don’t around the bush. Get to the point. Your headline should state exactly what you’re offering, and should be similar to the actual ad that led the person to the page.
- Be personal – Use everyday language, and write copy that sounds like it came from a real person.
- Introduce yourself in a non-obstructive way – It’s perfectly fine to introduce yourself briefly and mention what your visitors can expect. Lay the problem that the visitor has, and how you will provide the solution (after they provide their information).
Step 3: A Results Page That Gives Massive Value The Easy Way
It’s not enough to do a well-written, hyperlocal ad that’s aimed at the right demographic. You also have to deliver the goods.
There are a variety of things you can offer on your landing page. Some common items that can be sold for a high price include ebooks, guides, consultations, and live or prerecorded seminars.
Step 4: Follow-up
Your goal is to produce content that meets the needs of leads who are at different stages in the buying or selling process. Some people are just beginning their search for a property and are at the beginning of their buyer’s journey. Some people are ready to start working with a real estate agent but don’t know who to hire.
The leads that click on your Facebook ad and enter their contact information are not likely to be new to the journey.
Although many people are interested in purchasing a home, not all of them are ready to do so. This could be for a variety of reasons, such as not being able to commit to working with a real estate agent. While they may not be sold on you immediately, with a little bit of nurture and encouragement, they may come to hire you.
That’s why your follow-up is so important.
The top real estate agents and teams all agreed that it’s more likely you’ll get a conversation started if you reach out to your leads as soon as possible.
How should you follow up on these leads?
One effective way to stay in contact with people who have shown interest in your product or service is to add them to an email list and send them valuable information regularly. This allows you to show off your skills and continue to be seen as trustworthy.
Although it is vital for real estate agents to follow up on leads, they should not simply contact these leads occasionally with impersonal messages such as season’s greetings and market analysis.
Here’s the most important ingredients of a good hyperlocal follow-up email:
- Provide value in some way — If you know your audience well, you’ll be able to provide valuable content that appeals to their specific interests. For example, if your niche is golf community downsizers, you could provide articles and guides such as “How to pick the right golf community.”Or if you’re targeting home sellers, you could also send out offers such as a free home valuation, or an invitation for a cup of coffee to discuss your lead’s real estate needs.
- Demonstrate hyperlocal expertise — Do this by including emails in your sequence that provide information about the specific neighborhoods in your area (from a real estate perspective), or providing information on specific financing programs or tax breaks that may be available in your state, or even links to short blog write-ups about local attractions.
You should also make sure the emails have some personality to make them sound more friendly and less corporate. People want to do business with people, not with faceless corporations.
