The Future of Facebook in the Real Estate Market

We hope you enjoyed our recent article about the new Facebook algorithm, but if it was a little over your head… this might be a better place to start for marketing on Facebook!

It’s no secret that the real estate market has almost completely moved online over the last decade or so. In fact, people prefer to begin their home search online before doing anything else. Although websites like Zillow or Trulia are household names when it comes to…well, looking for a household, Facebook is on the rise for real estate and may even surpass these other websites in its market reach. This is especially true after Facebook just released a feature specifically for “Property Listings” via the Facebook Marketplace. 

So, what do you need to know about the relationship between real estate and Facebook? Is it time to get on board, and how can you join the trend? Or, is it something that you could do without? 

This should help: 

So, Why Facebook? 

Facebook has more than 1.5 billion users — that’s more than 20 percent of the entire world’s population. And, within the community where you work, it’s more likely than not that your prospective clients are on this social media platform and use it on a daily basis. People use Facebook to check on their friends, the news, and like pages for businesses and companies they are interested in. Therefore, you don’t need to do much at all to get people to come to you — and, that’s kind of the beauty of it.  

Facebook is a quick visual. It’s a way to get all the information you need with a click of a button. That being said, as a real estate agent, you need to decide whether or not Facebook is the route you want to go. If you can do it correctly, you can have a major advantage over the competition in the upcoming year. But, if you do it haphazardly, it could backfire.

So, if you decide to move to Facebook, here’s what you need to know. 

Build a Strong Facebook Page for Yourself 

Creating a business page is the easy part. Most people can figure out how to do it on their own, as Facebook walks you through the process. There are also plenty of guides online on how to do it. Once you’ve got that down, there are certain things you’ll want to add to your page to make it more successful. Here are some tips: 

• Write clearly and use a standard format for each post: For example, “REMODELED THREE-BEDROOM NEAR L.A. DOWNTOWN” is great. But, your next post shouldn’t then be, “We have a two-bedroom family home near Summerville.” Keep it bold, keep it consistent. People will scroll through your page to see what houses are available, and they don’t want to see messy headlines. 
• Photos: Just like you would add photos to your website, make sure they are on your Facebook page as well. This is one of the great things about using Facebook as a real estate agent. It’s easy to share photos, and even boost your posts if you so choose. 
• Make contact information accurate and visible: Unlike a website where you might have to click around a bit to find the agent’s contact information, Facebook puts that right on the top of the page. You can put a “Call Now”  button or a “Send Message” button, and if you reply quickly to leads, you’ll earn a badge for your page that lets users know your response rate. Of course, you can also set up generic response messages to answer people when you’re not available. 
• Ask for reviews: When people search your page, they will first see the number of reviews you have and what your rating is. Positive reviews can really come in handy when bringing in new clients. 

Utilizing the Marketplace and Other Techniques 

In addition to having your own page, there are other strategies you can use to maximize your services and make sure those ads reach a wide audience. One of the ways is through the Facebook Marketplace. 

To tell you a little more, Facebook recently announced that it will be joining up with Zumper and Apartment List to help property managers connect with more users interested in finding information about rental properties. Additionally, in September, Facebook launched Dynamic Ads for Real Estate, which is directed at real estate agents like you who want to post listings live. These specific features are spreading slowly, as they aren’t yet available in all regions that have access to Facebook. So, now is a great time to get on top of it. 

Another strategy is — for lack of a better word — “stalking.” No, you shouldn’t be following people you don’t know on Facebook, asking them to check out your page. This is a business type of “stalk” — one where you search out similar Facebook groups, join, and get involved with sharing what you have to offer — as long as it follows the rules and guidelines set out by the administrators of that group. 

Is Facebook the Right Choice? 

While there are a lot of factors that come into play, we have to say that you should definitely be considering Facebook as a major avenue for advertising. That being said, a good Facebook presence should be balanced out with other traditional tactics, such as advertising in local newspapers, using a website, referrals, etc. 

Ready to dive a little deeper? Check out our article on the new algorithm.