5 Rules for Generating Real Estate Leads on Facebook

As most people know, Facebook is one of the most popular websites around.  Unlike MySpace, it seems like Facebook will have some longevity and this is great news for real estate professionals! The whole idea of Facebook makes it perfect for local marketing. Your target audience makes an unparalleled amount of data available and smart real estate agents can create performance based ads that are only shown to warm prospects. I’ve compiled 5 rules to abide by when creating and maintaining a Facebook ad campaign as a real estate agent or mortgage loan officer.

Offer Something Valuable for Free

It might be a free report on buying a home in Kansas City, MO or maybe an FHA guide. It really does not matter what you offer the prospect, so long as it is enticing enough to persuade him or her to leave some personal data with you.

Build a Separate Landing Page

One of the most critical parts of any performance based advertising campaign is the landing page. A landing page is just what it sounds like, the first page a prospects “lands on” on your website. This page is charged with the tough task of getting personal info from your prospects. Be sure to set up different landing pages for each Facebook campaign. For instance, a first time home buyer campaign might offer a guide on the benefits of owning a home while a vacation home buyer landing page should offer something that appeals to someone who is more familiar with the home buying process. Keep in mind that building a landing page does not have to be as tough as it sounds. A separate landing page could be built simply by creating a blog post and sending the traffic to that post.

Target as Tightly as Possibly

Facebook allows you to pick numerous qualify factors to determine who sees an ad, be sure to take advantage. If you know from past experience that females are more interested in buying a home early and males do not worry as young then be sure to take advantage of this in your campaigns. You could even build different landing pages for different genders to test what works for males vs. females.

Split Test Everything

Even if you are happy with your ad’s performance, be sure to try different images and headings to test conversion rates. This is definitely an advanced rule but important nevertheless. It’s pretty amazing what an increase of a half a percent can mean for long term profitability, especially when you’re talking about a commission on a home sale.

Prove You’re Local

Be sure to include text or images that show you’re both local and real.  Nothing will kill your chances of getting through to a buyer like trying to look “big.” Most people associate the idea of a real estate agent as a professional who markets him or herself, not some big brand anonymous site. Properly conveying your authenticity will certainly increase conversion rates.

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