With the world of real estate marketing constantly evolving, successful realtors are those that have a variety of marketing campaigns that branch out across various platforms. Increasing conversions and leads through effective marketing campaigns plays a key part in succeeding in the competitive real estate sector. How can you expect to sell a property if you don’t have an audience to pitch your sale to?
Before the internet era and popularity of social media platforms, successful realtors were those who used local marketing campaigns, such as posting adverts and information on public bulletin boards, in newspapers and sometimes using the door-to-door salesman technique. But just as technology and the way we communicate has evolved so has real estate marketing.
According to statista.com ‘the number of smartphone users worldwide today surpasses three billion and is forecast to further grow by several hundred million in the next few years. China, India, and the United States are the countries with the highest number of smartphone users, with each country easily surpassing the 100 million user mark.’
So, with such a large chunk of the world’s population using smartphones, how do real estate agents and marketers reach potential customers and generate leads? Facebook is the answer! Again statista.com reports that ‘with over 2.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most popular social network worldwide. In its local market in the United States, Facebook accounts for over 45 percent of monthly social media visits. Facebook’s appeal is not only based on its social platform but also on its strong mobile integration and mobile messaging capabilities. Facebook Messenger, which was released as a standalone chat app in 2011, is one of the most popular mobile messenger apps worldwide.’
Facebook, much like real estate marketing, is by nature visual and offers accurate ways to aim for your target audience. Facebook advertising is the way forward but what should your marketing campaigns consist of?
Let’s have a look at a few simple yet effective tips to optimize your real estate marketing campaign on Facebook.
Tip number 1: configure your targeting options
Besides the vast plethora of daily users, the world’s largest social media network is a great place to expose your marketing campaigns. Why? Because Facebook offers a wide range of options when it comes to targeting. With the various automation options you are able to filter out unwanted engagement and can home in on sending the right ads to the right people at the right time.
To get started it’s a good idea to implement location targeting based on the area where you are trying to sell real estate. However, sometimes less is more when it comes to location targeting because if you target potential clients within a short radius you could be missing out on other home buyers who are considering moving in from further away.
Depending on the type of real estate you are trying to sell; whether its residential, commercial, or even industrial, you should have a clear idea of who your target audience is. Targeting home buyers based on their age and income is an effective way of exposing your campaign to an audience who are most likely to engage.
Targeting is important because it ensures that your marketing campaigns reach the right audience with relevant content.
Demographic targeting is not limited to just income and age; Facebook’s Detailed Targeting gives you the ability to define the type of buyer. You can specify whether you are targeting a first-time buyer, existing homeowners, and those who are looking to rent.
So, think of Facebook’s Detailed Targeting as a filter system which allows you to home in on precisely the people you are trying to pitch to. This way you can reduce bounce rates and increase those all-important conversions.
What are lookalike audiences?
With Custom Audiences feature you can upload your list of existing home buyers and Facebook’s algorithm will work to pick out similar customers who are looking to invest in real estate.
Tip number 2: Market your real estate with video
Real Estate video content is a great yet underestimated marketing technique that can deliver great results. Just take a look at some of these awesome statistics from virtuets.com:
- ‘According to an Australian Real Estate Group, real estate listings that include a video receive 403% more inquiries than those without.‘
- ‘87% of online marketers use video content according to Outbrain.‘
- ‘46% of users take some sort of action after viewing an ad, according to Online publishers association.‘
- ‘According to Forbes, 59% of executives would rather watch video than read text.‘
- ‘Enjoyment of video ads increase purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139% according to Unruly.‘
- ‘According to Forrester Research it is 50x easier to achieve a page 1 ranking on Google with a video.‘
- ‘According to Implix, an introductory email that includes a video receives an increase click-through rate by 96%.‘
Unlike images, video content can help to give the home hunter a better sense of what the property is like. Real estate companies that post regular tutorial-like videos have reported great results.
Already using video to promote your properties? Consider making 360 videos, which gives potential home buyers the ability to navigate around the video as if they were there in person.
But be mindful of the video recommendations when uploading videos to Facebook Ad Manager.
