What the heck is Facebook advertising?

By now, you probably know that Facebook ads should be a core focus of your marketing plan. After all, 80% of Aussies between the ages of 16 and 64 use Facebook regularly – and users open Facebook an average of 13.8 times per day. As an agent or business owner, why wouldn’t you capitalise on that reach and create some compelling Facebook ads for your real estate agency?

But before we jump into exactly what a paid Facebook is, let’s talk about what it isn’t.

BOOSTED POSTS AREN’T THE SAME THING

A boosted post is simply a Facebook post that someone’s put a few bucks behind. Here’s an example:

Unlike an ad, a boosted post can’t be targeted at a specific type of person. Your audience options are very limited: people who have liked your page, friends of people who have liked your page, and people who you choose through a few basic targeting options.

But that’s not the only problem. Here are some other things to consider before hitting the Boost button:

A post can be boosted for anywhere between one and seven days, which isn’t long enough to make a real impression.
You have very little creative control over a boosted post.
Boosted posts are designed to generate likes and comments, but are considerably less useful for turning your audience into actual leads.

It’s worth mentioning that one thing boosted posts are useful for is generating social proof. When users come to your Facebook page, they’ll be more likely to engage through likes, comments, and shares if they see that other people are too.

If you do take Facebook up on its offer of boosting your post, make sure the content you’re sharing is insightful, helpful and unique.

FACEBOOK ADS ARE PURPOSE-BUILT TO GET YOU RESULTS

A Facebook ad, on the other hand, is designed not just to be seen – but to drive an action. In your case, that action is clicking through to your website and enquiring about either a listing or your services.

For a start, paid ads look a little different to boosted posts. A paid Facebook ad includes a:

headline
call to action button
description copy
image or images

Here’s an example:

Instead of solely working to increase engagement, like Boosted Ads, you can pick a marketing objective: awareness, reach, traffic, conversions… the list goes on. Basically, this is the action you want people to take after seeing your ad. Facebook will show your ads to a slightly different audience, depending on your objective – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Probably the most important part of the paid ad is the targeting options you have available to you. For example, when developing Facebook advertisements for real estate agencies, business owners can target a specific radius around a listing they may have. You can also use age targeting to find those people most suited to a property – and then you can go deeper, and target people based on the pages they follow, places they visit and actions they take online.

SOME IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED WITH FACEBOOK ADS

With all of this in mind, you’re now probably wondering: how can I create compelling Facebook ads for my real estate agency? With options to target by location, demographics, interests, behaviours and connections, there is a seemingly endless wave of targeting alternatives available in Facebook Ad Manager. It can be hard to know where to start. Here are some ideas you could steal:

advertise a family home with a pool to married couples with children, who currently live within 10 kilometers of the listing, and who frequent the local swimming hole
branded Facebook ads for your real estate services in front of high income earners in your local area
advertise a ‘back to school’ Smiggle supply raffle to local families with school-aged children

However, Facebook advertising for real estate agencies isn’t always straightforward. To get the most bang for your marketing buck, you need to understand audiences, budgets, reporting, optimisation and the rest. Here are some links you might find useful:

This article has been written and produced in partnership with Rexlabs – a leading product house based in Brisbane that is creating software-driven solutions for the real estate and broader property sector. As a local business with a foothold in the UK, they are uniquely positioned to understand the complexities Queensland real estate professionals face and cross-pollinate innovation across the oceans. Rexlabs design, develop and support Rex Software, Siteloft and Spoke.