How to Create A Real Estate Property Listing + Lead Generation Facebook Ad
As a real estate agent you work hard, countless hours to get listings. So it is imperative that when promoting your listings that you get the most bang for your buck. In this article we’re going to share with you how to create a property listing ad to promote your listings AND add prospects to your database with Facebook Lead Generation Ads.
The Goal
The goal of this type of ad is two fold. We are promoting your listing to a relevant audience AND hoping to add a lead to your prospect database. But there is a catch for the user. In order to see details of the listing we will require them to complete a Lead Gen form as the ad itself will not include two important bits of information – the location and the price. These are commonly referred to as lead magnets and we hold back this information to minimize the ‘tire kickers’ and encourage real prospects to complete the form and become leads. While not every lead generated will ultimately be interested in this specific listing we will have acquired some information which will allow us to remarket to these leads going forward.
Keep in mind that we are not attempting to provide or answer all of the questions a prospect may have with regards to the property in the ad itself. We are interested in qualifying the prospect and turning them into a lead!
Here’s a few things you will need to get started:
- Facebook Page (not a personal Facebook profile)
- Facebook Ad Account
- Listing to promote
- Privacy Policy link
- Photographs of your listing
- FB Lead Gen compatible CRM to send leads to (optional)
Let’s do this!
Step One – Create Campaign
1. Go to Facebook Ads Manager
2. With the Campaigns tab selected click ‘Create’
3. Select ‘Create New Campaign’ as your objective.
4. Special Ad Category
Under the ‘Special Ad Category’ section select ‘Housing’ from the drop down menu. This is required when advertising real estate on Facebook.
5. What’s Your Marketing Objective?
Select ‘Lead Generation’
6. Campaign Name
Name your Campaign. Create your own or use the naming hierarchy in our example.
7. Click ‘Continue.’
Step Two – Create Ad Set
1. Create your Ad Set (Audience, Ad Placement and Budget)
2. Ad Set Name
3. Page
Select your Facebook Page from the drop down down menu if it is not already selected. This is the page name that will show in the Newsfeed.
4. Dynamic Creative
Ignore
5. Catalog
Ignore
6. Audience
Custom Audience: Ignore
Locations: Select ‘People living in this location’ and choose the city you would like to advertise your listing in. Facebook will automatically add a 15 mile radius (this is a minimum) to your selection. Note: Facebook no longer allow targeting by zip code.
Age: Automatically selected (restricted by Facebook)
Gender: Automatically selected (restricted by Facebook)
Languages: Choose the primary language of your audience or leave blank for all.
7. Detailed Targeting
This is where you will narrow your audience down to people who have expressed a recent interest in real estate according to Facebook’s data collection.
We recommend the following interests:
- Zillow
- Realtor.com
- Trulia
Note: Your ‘Audience Size’ in the right column will be decreasing as you add interests as we are narrowing down your audience here.
Connections: Ignore
8. Placements
By selecting the ‘Automatic’ option Facebook’s algorithm will place your ads where they are most likely to convert based on your conversion goal, in this case, Lead Generation. Select ‘Edit Placements’ if, for example you would like to limit your ads to displaying on the Facebook Desktop News Feed only. We recommend the Automatic option to begin.
9. Budget and Schedule
The only option you need to be concerned with here is your daily budget. We recommend starting with a daily budget of $5.00 which you can increase at any time depending your overall budget and the performance of your ads.
10. Click ‘Continue.’
Step Three – Create Ad
1. Create Your Ad
2. Ad Name
We recommend using the address of your listing.
3. Identity
Select your page name from the drop down menu if not already selected. For Instagram placement leave ‘Use selected Page’ selected.
4. Create Ad
Format: Use ‘Single Image or Video’. If you have a professional quality video of your property you may use it here, but we find that a single image works will for Lead Generation purposes.
5. Media
Select an image for your ad. Preferably a quality photo of the listing you are promoting. If you do not have a photo available you can select a stock photo from Facebook’s library of images by choosing Edit Image>Change Image being sure to select an image that is representative of your listing.
6. Text and Links
This is where we will get the attention of our targeted audience. We encourage you to follow the format in our example as it has been proven to be effective.
Step Four – Create Lead Gen Form
Instant Form
In this step you will create an Instant Form that prospects will have to complete in order to see your listing and its location, price and additional information.
1. Click ‘New Form’ to begin.
2. Name your form and select ‘More Volume.’
Selecting ‘Higher Intent’ will add a Opt-in Confirmation step to the process. This may be helpful in larger markets where demand is high, but will also increase your cost per lead.
3. Click ‘Intro’ to begin customizing your form:
Headline
Image: By default your form will populate with the image in your ad, but you may opt to upload a different image if you wish. Think branding here.
Layout>Paragraph
4. Click ‘Questions’ to select the information you would like to request from your leads.
Here you may add or delete questions and drag and drop their order of display. Keep in mind that the more questions you ask of your prospect the more likely they are to not complete the form. We find that first name, email and phone number works well. Note: Don’t expect the phone numbers to be completely accurate as prospects know what we’re up to and may choose to provide a false number. We consider an accurate phone number to be a bonus.
5. Click ‘Privacy Policy’ and populate the Link Text and Link URL.
This is a required step and your ad will not be approved by Facebook if left blank.
6. Click ‘Thank You Screen’ to complete the Thank You landing page of your form.
You may customize your Headline and Description and choose the Button Type, Button Text and the Website Link where your lead may click to view your listing.
7. Once complete click ‘Finish’ in the upper right of the form creator to complete your form.
8. Preview your completed form.
9. Click ‘Confirm’ to complete your ad.
Step Five – Review
You will then be redirected back to the Ads Manager where you will see your ad your campaign listing. Note: Ads may take anywhere from one to 48 hours to be approved.
1. Check the box next to your ad and click ‘Preview’ to view ad.
When in the ad preview you can see how your ad will render in the different ad placements that Facebook has automatically selected earlier.
Step Six – Retrieve Your Leads
As your leads come in you’re going to have to retrieve them. For this example we’re simply going to go to your Facebook page and download a .csv or .xls file. In another lesson we’ll show you how to automatically add your leads to a CRM.
1. Go to your Facebook page.
2. At the top of your page click on More > Publishing Tools
3. In the left hand column scroll down to the Lead Ads Forms section and click Forms Library.
You’ll see the form that you created in your ad here.
4. Click on Download to download your leads and get to work!
You’re all set to start promoting your listings AND generate leads for your real estate success. If we can be of further assistance feel free to reach out.
Frank ‘Bo’ Milbourn
(843) 682-2212
[email protected]
