There’s quite a lot to understand about how to find real estate leads on Facebook. And it certainly takes a fair amount of work to target the right audience and close any leads you do get. But worry not—you’ve come to the right place.
Read on, and you’ll get the inside scoop from our crack real estate marketing team of experts, including proven tips you can use to promote your real estate business on Facebook and start generating commission-producing leads. (If you want to cut to the chase and get right to blowing up your CRM with fresh, hot leads as soon as tomorrow, you can check out our done-for-you Facebook Lead Generation service.)
Facebook is the #1 choice among agents
It’s to your advantage to use as many social media platforms as you can to promote your business, but if Facebook is your preferred cup of tea, you’re in good company.
According to the National Association of Realtors® 2023 Member Profile, 67% of its members use Facebook for their business. That’s 18% more than those who use LinkedIn (49%) and 29% more than those who use Instagram (38%). There are several reasons for the obvious favoritism.
First, despite the many platforms available, Facebook remains the most popular with 2.9 billion active monthly users. And here’s the really good news for agents: nearly 42% of these users are between the ages of 25 and 44—a prime audience of potential homebuyers and sellers. (In 2022, the average age of a first-time homebuyer was 36.)
Facebook is also ideal for building relationships. Since its inception, it’s prioritized community, making it the perfect platform for real estate agents to encourage followers to know, like, and trust them. Users can connect with family, friends, colleagues, and groups that form over shared interests to share videos and pictures, voice their opinions, and pass along articles. (I’ll talk more about building relationships on Facebook in a bit.)
Facebook loves real estate professionals and wants to help them succeed because it understands how important the industry is to its own success. From initiatives to support top producers to training videos, case studies, and more, it provides resources and tools on how to maximize its platform as an agent.
While it’s in your best interest to use everything Facebook has to offer to market yourself as a real estate agent, promote your brand, attract followers, and find leads, you’ll need a Facebook business page to get access to the most tactical tools.
Only with a Facebook business page will you be able to run ad campaigns, retarget your audience, and review key analytics. A business page will also give you a central hub from which prospects and others can learn about and connect with you and your brand.
Tip 1: Post content your audience will value
Among the best ways to get leads on Facebook is to consistently offer high-quality content that your audience will value. It’s this consistency that will not only attract prospects who can turn into leads but also build the trust necessary to convert those leads into clients.
Educational content will help prospective homebuyers, home sellers, and real estate investors solve their problems and answer their questions, promoting you as an industry expert. Here are some tips to get you started:
- Consider using Facebook Live to stream a session during which you answer your most popular FAQs.
- If you prefer to be more rehearsed, record and then post videos to explain more complicated topics like foreclosures, contracts, and creative funding options.
- Post links to your blog where clicks will bring users to your website.
- Visit our Resource Library to download one or more of our free lead magnets you can use to attract warm leads.
As effective as educational content is for finding leads, you won’t attract any leads on Facebook (or any social media platform for that matter) if all you do is talk business. You need to mix it up a bit—which is why you also want to post entertaining content that will engage people in ways that speak to their interests, provoke a smile, and encourage likes and comments.
Content that improves the quality of readers’ home lives is highly popular, and while it doesn’t directly promote you as an agent, posting it to your page does reinforce your association with real estate. Cleaning, organization, home improvement, DIY projects, gardening, outdoor living, and hosting family and friends are also ideal topics for entertaining those whose interests they spark.
But there’s a host of other topics that are equally enticing to a wide variety of Facebook users. Recipes, health and beauty, fitness, travel . . . the list is limited only by your imagination. Check out another of my blog posts, “Here’s What Agents Should Post on Facebook and Social Media,” for additional ideas.
If you don’t have the time to write, schedule, post, and track your Facebook engagement, or if you would rather not spend time learning the ins and outs of social media, then consider taking advantage of our Branded Posts, one of the four robust tools that make up our Digital Marketing Platform.
Finally, you should also post endearing content to demonstrate that you are a business with a purpose beyond making a profit. Make a point of sharing stories, photos, and videos about your involvement in your local community. If you support a philanthropy, post about why you chose to help that particular cause and offer people a way to participate.
Provided your commitment is sincere, posting about how you give back is an exceptionally effective way to generate goodwill for you and your business.
Tip 2: Be social
Relationships form between people who have an affinity for one another. Often that affinity is based on having common interests, experiences, values, beliefs, or a shared perspective. And while people will do business with those they like, they’ll do even more business with those who are like them.
When you share aspects of your personal life—such as family, friends, concerns, hobbies, and even the mundane comings and goings of daily living—you’re letting people see you as more than just a real estate agent but also as someone with interests and experiences outside the office. It’s your life as a spouse, parent, friend, pet owner, fishing enthusiast, or tennis player that will cause people to connect with you. It’s what you have in common that will create a degree of kinship that will strengthen the relationship.
Think about this: you need to choose between two financial advisors who are equally qualified and have great track records. Do you choose the one who rescues dogs, has a little girl about your daughter’s age, shares your love of Shania Twain, and takes the time to respond to comments posted to their Facebook page? Or do you choose the one about whom you know . . . well, nothing?
Tip 3: Create a private Facebook group
We’ve had several guests on our Stay Paid podcast talk about their use of private Facebook groups to generate referrals and attract new leads. That these groups are private gives them an air of exclusivity, which is appealing to the human ego—we all desire to be a part of the “in” crowd. More importantly, it’s a place for members who have a similar interest to get and share information and for you to build trust as they get to know you.
In his podcast interview, Will Penney of Penney Real Estate describes his Facebook group and his strict personal policy of not talking shop; he doesn’t post listings or pitch his business. Rather, he provides useful and entertaining content about home- and community-related topics to the more than 1,000 clients who make up the group.
The key to the success of Will’s group is the consistency with which he engages with its participants. Because this puts him repeatedly in front of his sphere, he remains top of mind; in fact, he continues to get a large majority of his business from leads referred to him by the group’s members. His group has been so successful, he’s created Social Orchard, a company that provides content to other real estate agents and helps them run their own Facebook groups.
Tip 4: Target prospects with Facebook Ads for Realtors®
There is perhaps a no more efficient, economical, and profitable way to find real estate leads on Facebook than to run a Facebook lead generation campaign featuring branding and listing ads.
Given the sheer number of Facebook users, your ads can reach a huge audience of potential clients. And you can target this audience using data such as geographic location and interests at an exceptionally affordable cost per lead.
Users of our Facebook Lead Generation service are averaging about 34 leads per month while spending only $5 a day—that’s about $6 per lead. Their brand exposure is remarkable, too, averaging 9,236 impressions per month at a cost of only two cents per impression.
Another reason for Facebook’s popularity among real estate agents is the additional publicity their ads receive on Instagram. Because both platforms are owned by Meta, ads run on Facebook are also seen on Instagram—giving you twice the bang for your buck!
Tip 5: Have a system to follow up—then follow up!
You’ve heard about the abysmally low rate at which salespeople, including real estate agents, follow up with leads. There are tons of surveys and studies to support this fact, and while the exact numbers vary, none of them are good.
But the whole point of using Facebook to find leads is so you can convert them into clients. That only happens when you follow up with the leads you get.
How fast you do so is critical—67% of buyers only interview one agent, so it’s important to be the first one they hear from. Equally important are your persistence and patience in reaching out.
According to at least one source, 80% of purchases that require a consumer to collect information, think about the details, and consider the value—like buying a home—are made only after a minimum of five follow-ups. Additionally, even if you reach someone today, they aren’t likely to buy for at least three months. So if you’re wondering how many follow-up calls to make, the answer is as many as it takes.
You could hire an ISA to conduct your follow-up, or you can develop a system that makes following up with Facebook leads a routine part of your and your team’s day. Block variable times on your calendar to increase the chance of catching leads when they are available, and include in your schedule time to send emails and text messages. (A video text message will stand out and serves to put a face to your name.)
During your initial introduction, be sure to keep your message short and sweet. Offer something of value, such as information on a specific listing, a few points about the location, or a list of similar homes. This first contact is also the perfect time to ask if they have a way a preferred method of communication.
The takeaway
There are at least five ways to find real estate leads on Facebook:
- Post valuable content meant to educate and entertain readers.
- Share aspects of your personal life so people get the chance to know, like, and trust you.
- Create a private Facebook group to deepen connections and stay top of mind with your clients.
- Use Facebook ads to target an audience of homebuyers and sellers in your market.
- Develop and stick to a strict follow-up process.
Of these five tactics, you’ll get the most immediate response by setting up a Facebook ad campaign and boosting content, but that doesn’t mean posting great content and engaging socially is optional.
When someone sees your ads, they’ll look you up and see social proof that you care about your clients by providing engaging material regarding the real estate market. Similarly, people who are referred to you will consult your profile before they contact you, which makes your having a presence that offers genuine value key to their reaching out.
As for creating campaigns, you can take the time to learn how to use Facebook Ads Manager and design your ads, or you can start to get leads as soon as tomorrow with our done-for-you Facebook Lead Generation service. There’s no contract, and we literally give you everything you need to generate leads quickly. Check it out to see if it’s what your lead generation efforts have been missing.