Many people think that real estate marketing is all about selling property, but the cornerstone of a successful business is to gather the right buyers. In a competitive industry wherein realtors compete for customers who are interested in buying, renting, or selling real estate, generating quality leads serves as a cornerstone of a winning sale.
Speaking of which, acquiring leads in this digitally-oriented landscape uses a more versatile and fast-paced strategy: social media marketing, particularly Facebook ads. Instead of shaking hands with prospective clients door-to-door, Facebook enables you to tap into a wider audience.
Why is Facebook the Best Platform for Real Estate Social Media Marketing?
Compared to traditional marketing and other platforms on social media, Facebook is a game-changer for realtors as it is easily customizable. Keep in mind that there are 2.19 billion users on Facebook, but posting compelling and visually engaging content is not enough to drive the right traffic to your campaign.
That’s where Facebook ad targeting comes into play, a feature that allows marketers to optimize the performance of their campaigns by customizing your audience. By utilizing this tool, realtors can narrow down the exact demographics that are likely relevant to your specific ad – leading to a hyper-local ad that tells the right message at the appropriate price range.
What is Facebook Custom Audience?
As the moniker suggests, it’s a powerful advertising service that pinpoints your ads to your target audience. Laser-targeting is possible by adding “identifiers” like your customers’ e-mail address, phone number, or location to build your reach.
The more information you provide, the more specific your target audience can be, allowing you to effectively advertise your real estate marketing campaign to customers that are likely to respond to your ad messages. With that in mind, there are three major types of Facebook custom audiences that can help realtors:
- Customer List Custom Audiences – Also known as the standard approach to customizing your audience, Facebook will match an approximate of 60% to 70% of your contact list to your ads. The contact list should include emails, phone numbers, or at least Facebook user IDS.
- Website Custom Audiences – A more tailor-made method of targeting clients, this list uses a tracking code on your website to target all users who visited your site during a set time period.
- Engagement Custom Audiences – Instead of using e-mail addresses or tracking codes, this approach matches with users who engage with your posts on Facebook.
With that in mind, you can move forward to creating your custom audience. Sign in to your Facebook business page and choose “audience,” and then click “create an audience,” wherein you can choose “custom audience.” From there, you can upload either your customer list or tracking cord using a .txt or .csv file, or you can concur with your email CRM to your Facebook account.
However, synchronizing your CRM instead of manually uploading your customer list proves to be more beneficial for real estate marketing.
Knowing the different types of custom audiences that are relevant to your real estate Facebook marketing, the tried-and-true tips below should help you create a tailor-made ad that enhances your lead generation strategy:
How to Customize Your Ready-to-Purchase Audience on Facebook
1. Location Targeting: Using Zip Code to Target Audience
Pointing your ads to the right location is crucial, especially when it involves marketing real estate properties. Keep in mind that targeting a specific location within a one-mile radius can limit you from potential buyers from other locations, which is why it’s best to target locations by adding the common zip codes based on your past selling history.
2. Age Targeting: Focusing on an Age Group that are Likely to Buy
Targeting the right age range is crucial as missing the mark will only waste your efforts. After all, there’s no point in selling to high school students or 18-year-olds who have no plans on making such a big jump as purchasing a luxurious property. With that in mind, it’s best to set your custom audience by targeting buyers with the appropriate age.
3. Demographic Targeting: Finding Relevant Buyers According to Income
Even when you’re marketing to interested buyers with the suitable age range, you won’t be able to persuade them to look into your campaign if they don’t meet the price range you’re selling. That’s why targeting demographic based on their income is a critical factor to consider since it focuses on people who can afford to buy your property – be it for first-time homebuyers, fix-and-flippers, or high-income investors.
To adjust your demographic targeting according to income, go to Detailed Targeting, and then click Demographics. From there, click on Financial and you will see an option to adjust their Income.
4. Demographic Targeting: Adjusting the Potential Buyers’ According to the Home Ownership Status
In addition to buyers with a different set of incomes, you also need to consider how there are different purposes for buying property – be it for homebuyers, homeowners, or renters. You can’t sell a mansion to first-time homebuyers, nor can you promote a starter home to renters.
In that regard, you can hone in on the right people by considering the target’s homeownership status to ensure your property matches the right people.
5. Behavioral Targeting: Focusing on Users Who are Likely to Move
Contact details and zip codes can help you zoom in to a specific demographic, but you can enrich your custom audience further by focusing on users who are likely ready to turn a new leaf.
This means you are targeting their behavior, which you can do by clicking on Detailed Targeting and going to the option for Behaviors. From there, you can click on Residential Files and individuals who are Likely to Move.
The Bottom Line: Killer Tips for Real Estate Facebook Ads that Sells to the Right Target Audience
Lead generation is the heart and soul of real estate marketing as you need buyers to purchase your properties. While there are various options to promote your campaign, Facebook ads are one of the most cost-effective ways to attract and target clients using data-driven methods.
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