How To Use Social Media Ads to Build Your Real Estate Funnel
The Big 4 of Social Network Property Placement
It’s a common question we get, “How the heck do I figure out where to place real estate ads online?” Sprouters, we know Placement is an overwhelming part of marketing. Google will give you 100 ‘strategies’ to follow, including their own personal ad program. I can easily get in touch with real estate platforms that will put the property online for me, but at what cost?
My head is spinning already, so what is the real answer?
The answer might be easier than you think: Social Media. Hear me out, Social Media is the hot, new place for real estate advertising. Even better, social media has so many avenues of reaching clients that you can essentially cover all of your bases with just a few sound strategies. Let’s take a look at each of the Big 4 Social Platforms and see what they can offer you.
Facebook is such a big resource to reach people. It is arguably THE platform, but the Ads Manager is overwhelming to say the least. But we are tough Sprouters, so let’s break this down:
Target Your Market: A lot of online platforms offer this but Facebook offers lots of analytics for you to use. You can use target ads to really narrow your Ads reach and boost your performance but here is the tricky part. You need to know YOUR audience. Who are they, age, gender, marital status, where they live, what they like. Take some to figure out who they are. Write a list. This will increase your reach and help your ad dollars be much more effective.
Where It Goes: Facebook ads offer you a chance to send your audience where you want. Are you sending them to a listing page? Your Facebook page? Your website? Being thoughtful about where you send them can improve your AD Relevancy Score (basically a number that lets Facebook rank the quality of your AD). This is all about your objectives. Like always Sprout promotes Planning ahead!
Experiment: Quality is Everything, but you might need to run a few ads with varying words and pictures to see which one performs better and improve your reach. This will help you refine and improve your ability to advertise. This can be done in one campaign or overtime. Remember there is an art and science to marketing. We are playing the long game here so it’s ok for everything to improve and refine.
Visuals: If we are advertising Homes, then people need to see the home. If we are advertising you then we need to see you! Quality photos and videos go a long way. We can not stress this enough.
Play: Facebook has other ways of outreach too. They offer posts, stories and Facebook Live. All three are great ways to promote yourself creatively. Use live to do a walk-through, or a tour of a neighborhood. Or maybe a story in your office to show what your personality is like. One of the best pieces of advice for any platform is to USE the platform creatively. This is true for all the platforms that we are talking about. The more you socialize, the better your page’s ranking will be. So be creative and have fun!
YouTube
YouTube is a unique social media platform that allows for users to post their own personal videos to a public community. The great benefit to this platform is that you don’t have to be ‘friends’ with someone for them to see your video. This means that your posts are available to the ENTIRE internet community.
Realtors have recently begun to use YouTube as a virtual tour guide for interested buyers. Properties are showcased for anyone to click on. This allows for a wider scope of buyers, and a simplicity to the entire process. A comment section allows for interaction, and you can have many opportunities to put your brand on blast for everyone to hear! Another great use of Youtube is to create a vlog. Answer common questions you get from clients. Share the experience of being a Realtor to other Realtors.
Video is an amazing way to get your actual Voice out to people. When your audience hears you speak, they get that much closer to who you are as a brand. Plus big bonus: You can edit down youtube video to use on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram who love supporting and promoting Video which means your time and energy get more bang for your buck!
This platform will work much like Facebook in the networking and response aspect. The key to Twitter is the ability to have your ad ‘re-tweeted’. This presents the opportunity for your advertisement to reach networks that you would normally not have access to. Twitter is one of the easiest social media sites to navigate; all are welcome! We did an article all about Twitter here. But Twitter Ads are a little unique.
Twitter’s Ad campaign runs on a bidding system, and depending on your objective you have to be able to balance return and investment. Twitter allows you to promote your Page, your Tweet, or a Trending Topic. For you, this means you have to decide are you trying to grow your page or an actual listing? Write a personal tweet with photo that matches your goal, target and bid.
Try to keep your Twitter Ad sharp and focused. Do not add extra links or mentions to other people. Remember that Twitter is fast so it has to be eye-catching or it will be lost in the feed. If Twitter is a big part of your brand strategy, then a little time and effort could be amazing for you.
This platform is especially useful to those looking to target the millennial generation. This platform is great for photo/video interaction. Online real estate ads are based largely on solid presentation and perfect images. What better platform to share pictures of your property than an image-based social media site?
Like its parent company Facebook, Instagram offers a few different ways to promote yourself. You can promote a post (we recommend a carousel post with 4-6 pictures), a Story, or the new IGTV.
Posts are a great way to get in front of your target market with all your info: pictures and caption. But since it is so popular it is the most expensive of the three.
Stories are shorter (videos work best, but an image is good too) and your Cost per View goes further so is a good option if you are looking to save on Instagram. Bonus: Story mode offers a Instagram Live which is a great free way to grab your followers attention. If you Follow Sprout on our Socials you know we do Live videos on Facebook and Instagram and we love it!
Last is IGTV. Instagrams latest offering for longer format videos. It hasn’t caught on as fast as Instagram wanted but the reach is still impressive and best of all, cheaper. Remember that this feature is meant for phones and so the video is meant to be shot vertically (imagine filming with your camera tall ways, instead of long ways). There is a lot of new territory to explore here much like Youtube you can Vlog, do Walkthroughs, Answer Longer Questions.
A Reminder
We know social media is not the ‘end all, be all’ of advertising. The benefit to social media advertising is much less about the ad itself, but rather the interaction that results from interest in the ad. A well-designed property ad will be shared over and over again, resulting in interest from networks you may not have even thought about!
So interact with your social media property advertisement often. Don’t EVER assume that a comment on your property is meaningless; if someone took the time to ask a question, there is absolutely a level of interest there. With these four social media sites, the possibilities of growing your reach are endless! Sprout offers tons of resources and strategies for growing your Brand and Presence. And don’t forget our new Real Estate Marketing Platform is coming soon! Get on the list to be the first to know.
