Tips and tricks you can do today to get buyer and seller leads from social media

There is so much noise in real estate about social media marketing that it’s hard to know what works, and what you should spend marketing dollars on…if anything.

There is no doubt that social media provides one of the best online advertising reaches available for your dollar. This infographic illustrates how influential Facebook alone can be.

I decided to break through that noise and figure out what I could do to really leverage this power. I wanted to see activity—not just likes, retweets, or comments—but instead, actual names of interested people and a way to contact them. A LEAD! I wanted to know how to create a social marketing campaign for real estate!

What follows are some of the most effective things you can do to market on social media:

1: Set up a funnel

No form of internet marketing is successful without a funnel of some sort. This is true either for making sales or collecting leads. These can be as complex as Zillow’s system, or as simple as a picture of the property and text prompting an email for more info.

One of the biggest problems I have found with most social marketing campaigns is that they have not set up a way to convert views into leads. That’s all fine and dandy if your goal is brand awareness, but you’re not Nike! You need leads!

I would rather that 1,000 people see my ad, post, tweet etc. and collect 15 leads than have 10,000 people see it, and get nothing from it.

To do this, you have to have a funnel. As I said before, there are a plethora of ways to do this, however, some work better than others

Your online marketing funnel should look something like: Ad Views -> Clicks/Pageviews -> Information Collection -> Personal Call -> Close new buyer/seller

Your funnel should be designed to peak interest, add value, then prompt action. A top-of-the-funnel prospect should only receive very basic, entry-level marketing information. Give them something that gets their attention enough to motivate them to dive deeper.

My most successful marketing funnel: A targeted Facebook ad with a button to learn more

This leads to a branded listing page with buttons to request more information

This prompts them for their name, email, and phone number.

I then get this information and complete the funnel through calls.

This is how I created Opesta’s self branded real estate landing pages. I needed a page to funnel to that was self branded and converted better than sending someone to a zillow listing page, my blog, or just a page with my contact information. I designed them to be completely branded for the agent and their brokerage or team, it only has the agents contact info, it’s designed to collect leads, and there is no outside noise. If you’re serious about getting leads online, you need a landing page to push traffic too.

Opesta’s pages are built for you by my team. All you need to know how to do is send an email and share your page with friends.

I will be doing a live web clinic on how to set up Facebook ads step by step. To claim your spot Click Here.

2: Leverage those with vested interest

If you’re in real estate, leverage is not a principle that is new or unfamiliar to you. However, I found that not many agents utilize it when it comes to social media.

Gaining exposure in social media marketing is all about you’re “reach.” The bigger your audience (followers, friends, page likes, etc.), the larger your reach is.

The fastest way to increase your reach: have more people share your post.

First identify the people who would be most willing to share the real estate property that you’re marketing. Anyone with a vested interest in the property or you is always a good prospect.

This could be the property owner, owners children, your team members, or friends and family. After you have identified who has a vested interest you’ll want to reach out to them.

I have found that people are lazy, so if I can make things ridiculously EASY, my chances increase significantly. How is this done? You take all the work out of it. Here is the email I send to all my property owners. (feel free to copy and paste these)

(Owners Name)

I hope you’re day is going well.

Marketing your property is in full swing! You can check out its custom listing page at www.opesta.com/38-w-louis-way-tempe-arizona

One of the biggest things I have found while marketing real estate is the power of word of mouth! I know you want to get this sold fast and get some money in your pocket, so do I!

One of the best ways to generate word of mouth is to let your friends and family know that you’re selling and ask if they know anyone that is buying. Do you think you can do this?

Here is a quick email you can send out:

Hey Guys

Hope you’re all doing amazingly well.

We have decided to sell our house at 38 W Louis Way, Tempe, AZ

We have it listed a little under market value at $400,000.

It really is an amazing house and we would like it to go to another great family that will care for it.

Do you know any looking to buy here?

Let me know!

-Ethan

Ps. You can check it out here http://www.opesta.com/38-w-louis-way-tempe-arizona

Here is a quick post you can throw on Facebook

We have decided to sell our house! We have it listed a little under market value at $400,000. It really is an amazing house and we would like it to go to another great family! Check it out: http://www.opesta.com/38-w-louis-way-tempe-arizona

let me know if you have any questions or need any help.

Thanks,

Ethan

Sending an email like this helps in two ways. It shows your client that you are going above and beyond what your typical agent would do, as well as increase your pages social reach once they act.

Here is what I send to friends or family that have a vested interest in me. I will do this through email but most of the time I send it directly through Facebook messenger.

(Friends Name)

I hope you’re doing amazingly well.

I just started marketing an amazing property and I am trying to generate buzz! You can check out its custom listing page at www.opesta.com/38-w-louis-way-tempe-arizona

One of the biggest things I have found while marketing real estate is the power of word of mouth! I know you know a lot of people in the area and everyone you know loves you!

One of the best ways to generate word of mouth is by having people like you spread the word. Do you think you can help me out?

Here is a quick email you can send out:

Hey Guys

Hope you’re all doing insanely well.

A good buddy of mine is selling an amazing house in Tempe.

He has it listed a little under market value at $400,000.

I checked it out and it looks like an amazing place! He really would like it to go to another great family that will care for it.

Do you know any looking to buy here?

Let me know!

-Ethan

Ps. You can check it out here http://www.opesta.com/38-w-louis-way-tempe-arizona

Here is a quick post you can throw on Facebook

A good buddy of mine is selling an amazing house in Tempe. He has it listed a little under market value at $400,000. It really is an amazing house and he would like it to go to another great family! Check it out: http://www.opesta.com/38-w-louis-way-tempe-arizona

let me know if you have any questions or need any help.

Thanks,

Ethan

I have found that this is one of the most effective things I do. People talk and people know people that you don’t know! This gives you an opportunity for conversation, and turns over a lot of stones. I have been introduced to a significant number of potential buyers I would never have reached if I didn’t open my mouth and send these emails.

3: Run a targeted Facebook ad

When it comes to social media, Facebook is still king. Not only does it have the largest user base of any social media platform, but it has also taken years to learn user interests. This is awesome from a marketing stand point, and I am going to show you why.

Facebook allows anyone to set up custom ads in minutes for as little as $1 a day marketing budget. That means that you have no excuse to not market your listings or farm buyers using targeted Facebook ads.

52% of home buyers start their search online and 98% of buyers don’t have an agent when they first begin their home search. That provides a huge opportunity to find real estate buyers online if you know how to target them.

You can do this for listings you currently have yourself, or for properties that are in neighborhoods you focus on or have amenities you specialize in.

Find a property that’s for sale, create a funnel for it, then create your Facebook ad to push traffic to your funnel.

or

Use Opesta’s self branded “home evaluation request” landing page, then create your Facebook ad to push traffic to your funnel.

There are quite a few ways you can narrow your demographic down. I will briefly talk about all the options provided to narrow down your demographic. I will be writing a more in depth guide on how to set up your Facebook ads soon. If you want to be notified when those are done Click Here.

The general rule of thumb with marketing is: the more specific you can make your demographic, the better! You want to advertise to a really qualified niche of people interested in what you’re selling.

Here is an example of one of my targeted demographics:

The first option you have is to narrow down who sees your ad is location. This is the location of the people that you want to view your ad. To best determine this, ask your self “Where will my potential buyers live?” This will generally include the listing city, surrounding cities, and any other locations that stick out. Do you get a good number of Canadian buyers in your area who purchase winter homes? Etc.

The second option you’re given to narrow down your demographic is age and gender. Ask yourself, are you selling an entry level home fit for first time home buyers? Are you selling a home in a 55+ community? I keep this pretty broad typically because income is more important to me than age.

The third option you get to adjust is income. You know the list price of the home. For this option ask yourself, “What income does someone need to qualify to purchase this home?” Based off of this information, you should able able to narrow down your income settings.

The last option I use is behaviors. You have seemingly unlimited options in this section. You want to target people that are looking to move or trying to buy a home, this is where you target them. In behaviors, go to residential profiles and select “likely to move.” This is Facebooks secret formula that identifies people searching for housing, and it really works.

There are other targeting options that you can use to narrow down your demographic. For example, if you are marketing a golf course property, you could select interests and narrow down things targeted towards golf.

If you are not running a targeted Facebook ad, you’re letting potential clients slip from your hands. This is a tactic you can use whether you currently have listings or not.

Again, I will be doing a step by step web clinic on how to set up your real estate Facebook ads soon. If you want to claim your spot Click Here.

These are proven methods used by some of the biggest real estate teams in the nation. There is no reason you should not start this marketing technique today! You dictate cost, you can turn it on or off at any time, it can easily be tested for 30 – 90 days to measure ROI (return on investment)…and now you know how!

What’s your favorite way to farm leads from Facebook? Have you already experimented with the different types of landing pages? Let me know in the comments and remember: While the data shown in this post should apply to most of you, never assume anything. Always test everything!