Idiot's guide to Facebook for estate agents

Today's guest blog comes from Paul Anthony, who works alongside brand mascot Charlie as Marketing Manager for Northern Ireland's largest property website, PropertyPal.com. His role within the company includes managing all search engine optimisation, search engine marketing and social media activity.

This makes him perfectly placed to talk about what Facebook (the world's most popular website and a subject this blog has ignored for too long!) can do for estate agents.

"The web is increasingly becoming one of the most important channels estate agents have to reach their target audience. Technically savvy Generation Y consumers are now moving from the high street, directly to the web in search of property – whether it is to rent or buy. Smart agents are adapting to this change, and begin focusing much more on online marketing in pursuit of increased business, with the current economic climate being somewhat unstable, every sale counts. So what is the best way to market your estate agency online?

There are a variety of different services out there that you can tap into to deliver more leads and more traffic to your website, however many agents continue to get it wrong when communicating with an audience. Here are some of the services that you can use and the best practise advice for each.

Facebook

You would have found it difficult to be online in any capacity without finding articles surrounding Facebook, its size, and how much traffic it generates for websites. However, we’ve seen some really unprofessional Facebook pages, that fail to capitalise on the essence of social media – and are more or less just ‘done because everyone else is doing it’ rather than understand how the platform at it’s core really works.

Hopefully this guide takes you through the pitfalls.

Understand the types of pages you can create

Facebook can be confusing at times when setting up a presence. There are a couple of different options:

a) A personal profile, which allows you to add friends. Generally this is used for individuals and Facebook’s terms and conditions forbid using this for a business! If they find you are using a personal profile for business marketing, it could get deleted in a snap. A lot of people have done this so they can setup loads of friends, but unfortunately this is a sure fire recipe for disaster, and all your efforts going down the pan.

b) A fan page is a dedicated page for business, and is the preferred option when setting up a Facebook strategy.

c) A community page is used as a community effort, pulling in relevant information from around the Facebook network from friends you currently have.

d) A facebook group is for supporting or championing causes within the Facebook network.

Pages are generally better for long-term relationships with your fans, readers or customers;

Groups are generally better for hosting a (quick) active discussion and attracting quick attention.

Understand the correct types of fan page

To further add to the complexities, there are multiple different types of fan page, that can be setup.

• Local Business (for offline businesses)
• Brand, Product or Organisation (encompasses websites)
• An Artist, fan or public figure.

I recommend if you are solely trying to promote your website, to setup a page that is ‘a brand, product or organisation’. If however you are trying to promote an offline entity – a local business page (listed under the category of property) – is likely to be more beneficial. Local business pages will allow you to list things such as opening hours and location, and could in the case of estate agents attract more footfall.

Getting your content right

Like putting any content online – what you post to your Facebook 'wall' is a reflection of your brand. Don’t think that you can simply start posting properties listed on your website and start to get immediate traction, improved traffic or instant results.

Social media simply doesn’t work like that.

What you can do, is mix your own message (interesting properties new to the market, with particular points of interest) along with interesting articles about homes, gardening or lifestyle. Bottom line is, no one cares about your business, unless you can prove yourself to be useful or interesting to them – particularly as the majority of the Facebook audience are not in ‘property hunting mode’. Hook them in with other means first, so you can increase your brand exposure – not directly shove your message and brand down their throat.

The simple truth is that within a social network such as Facebook people want to be entertained. But not (obviously) at the expense of your brand image – inappropriate content can do as much harm as good.

There are easy ways to gauge whether you are posting content that people are interested in. The more ‘likes’ you get within Facebook, the more interaction you are receiving. The more interaction you receive, the more likely you are to get repeat visitors to your page, viewing your content. There are also ‘Insights’ on Facebook fan pages, which give an overview of post quality and interaction. If you pay close attention to this, you won’t be long figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

If you manage to do so successfully, you’ll find that more people like your status updates. If more people like your status updates that are following you – you win, as the viral process starts to take place, and attracts a new audience back to your business. Giving you increased marketing reach, which is exactly what you want.

There is a variety of content options that you can use to keep your audience amused. Videos, Images, Web Links and plain old fashioned status updates are the main ones at your disposal. Keep an eye on the sort of things other large brands post to their wall. Understanding why and how people engage is critical to the success of your own page.

Facebook Advertising

For B2C (consumer facing) companies, Facebook Advertising campaigns can be a great way to quickly drive traffic to a fan page, and increase fan numbers. For estate agents or letting agents, this is a fantastic way to reach a locally targeted audience that could in the future become a customer, or at the very least tell friends about your business, as Facebook are able to locally identify people much better than say Google at the minute. You can drill down into small little areas, towns and villages with their ads, and be pretty confident you are getting in front of the correct audience.

Setting Facebook ads up is a pretty simple step, where you create and advertisement, setup your budget, determine what you are prepared to pay – specify your location – and away you go. The following checklist is what I would recommend for any new agent starting a campaign.

1. Track your conversions with a reporting service like Google Analytics.
2. Utilize Facebook's demo/geographic targeting to focus on a niche audience.
3. Set your bid price within Facebook's suggested CPC bid range.
4. Use a captivating image in your ad (you can combine an image with text).
5. If you generate a strong impression share initially, but then it trends downward over time, you should rotate new ad creatives to keep a fresh message in front of your audience's eyes.
6. If you are unable to generate any substantial impression share at all, then try experimenting with different or fewer demographic segments. You can also try targeting a larger geographic area to boost your ads' reach."

Finally

Remember that Facebook is not the only online method you should be promoting your business. There are a number of platforms in the social media sphere worth a look. Social media is another weapon in your arsenal, not the be all and end all in your marketing strategy."

Paul Anthony
PropertyPal.com

About PropertyPal: PropertyPal is the biggest and best source of properties in Northern Ireland, and we maintain and regularly blog on property news and issues on our site.