It tends to be the case that the more successful and well-established realtors are going to be older than the ones who are newer to the business and hoping to build the same success for themselves. That will be the case in any type of business where the people are working independently as licensed service providers, it’s just that with real estate it’s of an entirely different magnitude because of the amount of income earning potential. One area of self-promotion where youngers realtors may have an advantage is with social media marketing though.
That’s because the older realtors aren’t likely to have the same level of familiarity with social media platforms, but the reason that Facebook Leads ads for real estate and other approaches are increasingly valuable is because more and more people are starting their exploration into buying a home through social media. They’re probably not doing it entirely via social media, but Facebook and Instagram are two of the ‘places’ where they’re starting to look at properties or other information about the home buying process and what is available in the market right now.
Up until recently real estate lead generation strategies would have never involved any type of investment into social media, but as we all know times have changed drastically over the last 15 years or so. It is true that realtors generate leads for homebuyers through social media more often than ones who are considering the sale of their home, but when you take the age demographic of users into account again that also tends to make sense.
That can be countered somewhat by another emerging trend with Facebook. When it first launched into 2007 it was a social media platform that appealed to social media enthusiasts of all ages, but now it is considered to be more of an ‘older people’s’ social media network as younger people are more keen on Instagram and Tik Tok. Well, it’s older people who tend to own homes more often and will also be more likely to be selling them as well as making moves of any sort in the local real estate market.
This is why Lead generation with Facebook ads is so highly recommended for realtors who want to be maximizing their efforts to bring in new clientele to the best extent possible. So what we’ll look at with this blog entry is effective meta ads for real estate, and the good news there is that it’s not difficult – or overly costly – to be promoting yourself as a realtor on Facebook as well as making greater numbers of people aware of the homes you currently have listed on the market for clients.
There really is so much to be gained here, so let’s get right into it as we imagine you want to start capturing quality real estate leads now through social media platforms like Facebook.
Easier, Faster Connections
The way the Meta lead form ad format works is by simplifying the way potential customers express interest in your products or services. This is done by allowing them to fill out enquiry forms from within the apps on Facebook and Instagram. The instant forms that appear when someone clicks on the realtor’s ad are pre-filled with the user’s contact details (from their profile), and this makes for a quick and seamless form submission process when it’s submitted from a mobile device.
All that’s required of them is a few taps, and with that they can request the information they need and you’re benefitting from gaining a new lead. This is the basics of why Facebook Lead ads for real estate are so valuable, and there’s also the fact that you don’t need to send people to a form on your website. They’ll like that they won’t have to be redirected too, and if they’re genuinely legit potential buyers or sellers anything that streamlines the process of being in touch with a realtor and getting the ball rolling is going to be very welcome.
Agents that want to start creating these ads will need to have a Facebook business page and a Facebook (Meta) Ad account. Once they have one they will go to Meta ads manager and click Create. Then select the Leads option and choose the Manual lead campaign setup. Manual leads campaign is best because it offers the most control over the audience targeting. The next thing you will do is name your campaign, and if a realtor is creating this for their own agency they might want to name it according to the time of the year, considering that home sales usually peak during spring months.
Consider Reach per Cost
Real estate lead generation strategies always need to be followed with the agent’s operating budget in mind, and that applies to creating these Meta ads for real estate too. At this point in the process the creator needs to choose a daily budget for their ads, and unless they’ve already seen much success with real estate lead generation from these ads it is not going to make sense to go with a high number and think that the added reach they’ll get from the ad is going to be worth it.
For those who are new to social media advertising for real estate it will be best to go with a smaller budget. Less than $10 per day is probably best to start, and then see where it goes from there and how many inquiries you receive through the ad. Keep in mind the region where you’re working as a realtor and the state of the market is going to be a big factor in these results. The next step is to name your Ad Set and select Instant Forms. As for the name, it is best to use the target location as the Ad Set name.
This will be the region we were just talking about above, and you want to have this in the title for the ad because it makes it very clear to viewers where the homes are located and where the realtors behind the ad has the right level of knowledge and expertise with the local market. Be sure to select Instant forms as the conversion location, and then select your Facebook business page as where the lead will be redirected to. First time ad placers will be asked to accept Meta’s terms of service.
Nothing to be concerned with there unless you’re doing something illicit, and we’ll assume that’s not the case. So go ahead and do that and make sure maximize number of leads is selected.
Building Target Audience
The most important part of effective meta ads for real estate is building your target audience. You will be paying for these ads, so you want them being in front of receptive viewers as often as possible rather than viewers who are not interested in buying or selling a home in the target region where the placer is working as a real estate agent in Canada. Start with this by adding postal code locations. The aim is going to be targeting specific geographic locations with our lead ad campaign, so postal codes will narrow down the audience in the right way and quickly.
Now switch to original audience options and choose an age range from the field you see there. It’s unlikely that anyone under the age of 25 owns property, so set this one for 25 to 65. Seniors do buy and sell real estate, but not nearly as often as people who are still in what is referred to as their working years. And yes, for people in Toronto and Vancouver it is highly unlikely anyone 25 to 30 is going to buying or selling a home, but you can still be fine setting your lowest age range to this number.
After selecting your desired audience age range, users will be ready to start creating the actual ads. Real estate ads on Instagram will be different, and that may be something we’ll cover in another blog entry in the future here.
Ad Design
Here is where the realtor will have the chance to really craft a compelling ad that will hopefully draw the attention of people who are ready to make a move in the real estate market in the near future. It’s fair enough that not everyone is naturally gifted with design or knows how to use tools like Canva. And it’s true that most realtors are not graphic designers either.
One option if agents really want to have something visually attractive for their ad is to use an outsourcing platform like Fiverr where it won’t cost them much to get a reasonably good design and from there it is not difficult to use the built-in photo enhancing software on mobile or desktop devices. Having good visuals isn’t an integral part of lead generation with Facebook ads, but it certainly does help.
Images for campaign are often created by taking a screenshot of the region on OpenStreetMap.org, putting it in to Canva and then adding a short call to action. Agents should test multiple versions of their ads as well as having a look at the ads that other realtors are placing on Facebook. When they see something the like they can go ahead and try to create something similar.
The next consideration is going to be writing ad copy. The ‘primary text’ area is where the realtor will be adding their main sales copy to their Meta ad. Another option you have nowadays is to get a basic ChatGPT membership and have AI write your sales copy for you. You can also have Meta make suggestions for you.
Write Headline and Select CTA
We think that most realtors in Canada will be able to write well enough on your own, and if they’ve been in the business for a while they have probably already done plenty of writing related to the real estate industry and all of the interest that go into buying or selling a home.
Whatever it is that the agent comes up with, they should always create an alternative version of it that contains the same information but is written differently. Or with a different information hierarchy (information related to the topic / listing in a different order). Once there is more than one version it is best to do split testing and be sure to use the target location in some of the headlines to make them more relevant to the target audience. After they’ve chosen the copy they’re going to go with they will next create their lead form.
That will be an entirely open process as what will apply to one realtor’s ad will not apply to another one’s. One need for all of them though is to link to a privacy policy in the form. There are privacy policy generators that realtors can use. Once the realtor has created their lead form and added a few ad variations they can now go ahead and publish their campaign. Facebook Lead ads for real estate work well, and once an agent has published their first one it’s time to see if the same gains are there to be had for them.
