4 Reasons to Advertise Real Estate on Facebook
Nativ3 has found immense success in the real estate space, both in commercial lead generation (primarily on the new tenant side of that business), as well as buyer and seller lead generation for residential properties and homes. In some cases clients will spend $40, $50, $60, $70 on a lead from sources like Zillow, HomeAdvisor, and Realtor.com.
These are popular platforms that brokers and agents alike use to generate leads, and expand the digital reach of their listing properties. These platforms can work very well for directional lead generation (that is, leads that are hot in the process and are looking at multiple sources for their properties). However, what we’ve discovered and built out an infrastructure to cater to is this: people who have small habits that suggest they might be interested and must be influenced to start looking at homes. These leads are “prime real estate” (pardon the pun) because they’re early in the process, they cost pennies on the dollar to stay in front of, and you have an opportunity to connect with them and get them engaged with your brand PRIOR to them looking anywhere else.
So where are these people? What are they doing? Where do they spend their time?
The answer may surprise you. It certainly surprised us. Facebook.
4 Reasons to Advertise Real Estate on Facebook
1. They’re always online.
According to SproutSocial’s US study of social media habits, users spend an average of 35 minutes a day on Facebook. Nielsen reports that people spend about 5 hours a day total on their devices.
People far and away LIVE on Facebook – checking notifications, updating statuses and submitting data that you, as a real estate company, can use to target potential clients before they even look at Zillow, or Trulia, or HomeAdvisor. We can put a unique value proposition in front of them through micro-targeted advertising served only to people in an appropriate geographic area, who can actually afford to buy your home or sell theirs, and ultimately those people who have not become “hot and heavy” in the buying process, but are looking for an advisor.
2. They’re constantly sharing information.
Even if they’re not always aware of it, social media users are constantly submitting critical information to this social media platform. Everything from lines of credit, annual income, family size, moving behaviors, browsing history, behavioral tendencies, among so many other factors are ways in which people can be targeted.
One of the first rules of effective advertising is meeting people where they are. It’s about getting to know your customer before you ever try to make a sale. If you already know plenty about them, you won’t have a hard time doing just that.
3. Facebook is still the most popular social media network.
No matter what your demographic is, Facebook is the best way to reach them. From the older millennial to baby boomers, they’re all on Facebook. According to SproutSocial:
- 79% of internet users in the United States log into Facebook
- 68% of US adults between the ages of 18-34 are on Facebook
- Facebook is continuing to grow, including 6% growth from 2017 to 2018
- Despite being the smallest demographic, Facebook is still the best way to reach users who are 65+. 62% of that demographic use Facebook, while on 20% use the second highest social platform, LinkedIn.
That all being said, if you’re targeting any demographic, including first time buyers and retirees, Facebook is your best bet.
4. Nativ3 knows how Facebook works
Nativ3 already has a deep understanding of using Facebook to create proactive advertising avenues to reach people based on millions of data factors. We can help you build trust with your clients and have them choose you over other potential competition on popular listing websites.
Here’s how we do it:
- We identify the listing or property that you want to market. This can be taken off your MLS listings or we can get them from you manually. We analyze the property, see the strengths and put language around it that might resonate with your audience.
- We do a thorough analysis of your audience. This comes both from your, the agent or brokerage, historical search data, the type of buyer we’re targeting, geographical makeup, and other factors that play into the buying process online. Nativ3 was to have laser focus on the people we know will buy.
- We build out radius targeting around the property itself. This is critical because it helps encapsulate our audience in a contained area. We can target high income areas, areas with an abundant volume of commercial prosperities, or areas around the home/property itself.
- We draw 2 radius areas around the physical location (we call this a squeeze area). The first radius we draw is the first time Facebook registers 1,000 users. The second radius, which will be miles larger than the first, will be the first time Facebook registers 10,000 users in our chosen demographic. This creates two things. It creates a hyper local targeting method and also allows us to A/B test if the ads work best in a smaller pool or a larger pool.
- We create the ads. These ads are typically “Lead Generation” ads through Facebook. We take the high points of a property, develop imagery that helps it sell (can sometimes be video) and have the ad execute directly to a Facebook-generated lead form. Nativ3 build integrations so that EVERY lead that comes through lands right in your inbox, your CRM system, or both.