Make your Facebook ads work harder: Leveraging ad types to gain more potential clients

When it comes to social media and real estate ads, Facebook remains the most popular and robust platform available.

While real estate Facebook ads can be incredibly beneficial to your real estate business, it's easy to be discouraged and give up too soon. The lack of immediate payoff is similar to that of SEO - it takes time and consistent effort to get results.

So, what's the solution? Luckily, there are some smart ways you can make your Facebook ad campaigns more effective and bring in more leads.

Do Facebook ads really work for a real estate agent?

Before 2020, Facebook allowed users to advertise to a target audience based on things like demographics and zip codes.

After some changes to their terms to comply with fair housing regulations, many agents felt discouraged about the success of their ads - and for good reason! After all, getting your ads in front of the right people is crucial for success.

Even with these changes, a Facebook ad campaign is still incredibly effective for real estate today. Using the special ad categories, Facebook still allows you to target ads on a basic map location.

You can also select specific interest key terms, such as "house hunting," "mortgage" or "for sale by owner” - this combines to create a custom audience.

Campaign objectives

Another key feature of the Facebook ads platform is the campaign objective selection component. You can choose between three major objectives: awareness, consideration and conversion.

The consideration category is where you'll want to focus, as it includes tangible data collection goals for traffic, video views and lead generation.

Think outside the box

Even with great listing photographs, it helps to include something more in your Facebook real estate ads. Offering high-definition 360 degree views of a house through a virtual tour is another way to add serious value to your lead capture efforts.

You can post or embed virtual tours right on your Facebook business page, or put them in front of your audience network in a video ad.

Using video ads

Speaking of video, simple videos showing a property can offer a surprisingly low-cost way to reach your target customers within your chosen area. Even a "teaser" or introduction to a listing packs a punch on both landing pages and in your retargeted real estate advertising.

Using the video ad format in your Facebook marketing strategy will help attract homebuyers and make efficient use of your ad spend. With the right ad settings, you may even find your cost per lead ad decrease over time.

Testimonial ads: Let satisfied customers be your promoters

Another powerful form of real estate ad on Facebook is a testimonials ad. You can create ad campaigns featuring past clients by adding single photos, carousels and more. Try linking to a glowing Zillow review or even back to your personal website to entice potential real estate clients.

This type of real estate Facebook ad helps establish trust and brand awareness for your real estate services, while also driving traffic to a landing page or lead capture form. It's also another way to nurture ongoing relationships with past clients to encourage future referrals for buyer and seller leads.

Many real estate agents already utilize Facebook advertising to generate leads, but there's quite a bit more to creating a Facebook real estate ad than it might seem. The platform has a learning curve, but once you master it, you'll find it's an indispensable piece of your real estate marketing strategy.