The general consensus is that when using Facebook to grow your brand, you should avoid controversial issues, and stick to business. However, talking about your real estate market, interest rates, neighborhoods, and community events does help to establish you as an expert in your local market and increases the chances that when one of your Facebook friends has a real estate need, they will call on you. But, it can get old quick if all you do is talk about real estate. This is why I recommend using Facebook Ad’s instead of hounding your friends to buy a home all the time.
Facebook Ads For Realtors
There is another option for real estate agents to get the word out about their brand. Facebook allows its network users to create ads that are displayed in their sidebars. You can use these ads to display an important message to other Facebook users within and outside your own network. Facebook ads are not free. But, they are considerably inexpensive when you compare them to paid search advertising.
Facebook ads for realtors can go in a few different directions. Depending on your specific goal at that time, you can use your ad to advertise different aspects of your real estate business. Here are some ideas:
ñ Yourself – You can use your FB ad to market yourself. Maybe you are a broker who considers yourself your brand. Or, maybe you just want more name recognition for yourself in your local real estate market.
ñ Your RE Company – FB ads are great for marketing your real estate firm and/or office. Your ad can be used to make more people aware of your company brand. This will help you create a larger fan base as more and more people become aware of who your company is.
ñ Your RE Services – Does your real estate company specialize in a certain niche? Maybe you are the best in your local market when it comes to short sales. Does your office provide free home staging services? Do you specialize in providing clients with virtual tours of homes you recommend for them? Whatever your specialized niche is, it would be wise to market it in a FB ad.
ñ Property Listings – Just got a great listing in a prime location? Did your client just give you the go-ahead to lower the price on a beautiful home? Trying to help a client with a short sale so that they can move on with their lives? What about that foreclosure the bank is willing to pay a phenomenal commission on? Advertise these listings in a FB ad. You’d be amazed at the amount of social media users that will be lured by your social media marketing.
Targeted Marketing
One of the great reasons for using Facebook for your real estate marketing is that the ads can be targeted according to key demographics. There are three main demographics used by realtors that ensure that their FB ads are seen by their target audience:
- Location – You can target your ads to only be shown to FB users located in a specific country, state and/or city. You can even target areas within a specific mile range of a specific city.
- Language – Use this feature to target FB users that speak a specific language. This is a great tool for realtors who specialize in languages that most do not speak or understand.
- Age – This may not sound important initially. But, do you really want to pay for clicks on your ad made by kids who aren’t old enough to buy property? Or, maybe have a listing on a condo in a senior community. You can target the ads to reach FB users within the age group allowable by the association.
By using Facebook ad’s, you’re not overwhelming your current friends list, and can still get your name out there in an indirect way. Facebook users expect to see ad’s from Facebook, not their friends.
About The Author: Kimberley Kelly is a real estate agent located in Indian Wells CA. You can learn more about her by checking out some of her Indian Wells neighborhood pages such as Desert Horizons Country Club and Eldorado Country Club.