As marketers, it’s always important to pay attention to the ads we receive and understand why we received them.
This morning I’m not in my usual setting. I’m in Dripping Springs, Texas. My Uncle is getting married in Waco and we’re staying at my Aunt’s ranch. I know, so very Texas.
After I posted this picture of my dog, I was surprised to see an ad in my newsfeed about real estate in Dripping Springs. Most real estate agents don’t know you can do this, which is surprising because I would consider this to be a basic skill of Facebook marketing.
How is Realty Austin targeting me?
It’s pretty simple. They could be doing a few different things. Facebook has 4 micro-targeting options which are very useful:
1. Anyone in this location
2. Anyone living in this location
3. Anyone recently in this location
4. Anyone traveling in this location (people who are in the area but whose home is over 100 miles away)
Although this ad is not properly targeted, I’m going to give Realty Austin an A for effort. They are probably targeting anyone whose location indicates they are in Dripping Springs, TX. Or maybe since Dripping Springs is growing quickly and per my Aunt, “it’s all people from California,” they are targeting people who are traveling in the location but whose home is over 100 miles away. You never know, I could be in the market to get out of Nashville and buy property outside of Austin.
Facebook Website Custom Audience Pixel (WCA)
Once I clicked on the ad, it took me to a landing page where I was greeted with a Facebook Website Custom Audience Pixel (WCA). If you’re a real estate agent and not using a FB WCA, you are missing tons of leads. The WCA essentially saves the digital footprint of anyone who landed on your site and allows you to retarget them on Facebook. Think about all the people who go to your site. Wouldn’t you love to get in touch with them again? Well you can if you use a WCA. If you look at this like a funnel, Realty Austin is targeting anyone in the area of Dripping Springs as the top part of the funnel.
The middle part of the funnel is anyone who clicked on the ad. These should be the people who might be interested in buying the property. Austin Realty can now retarget me on Facebook with a more detailed message for the bottom part of the funnel: conversion. Their call to action can be much stronger considering I’ve indicated through actions that I might be interested in learning more. “Are you interested in learning more about this property in Dripping Springs? We have an agent who can answer your questions right now.”
What other tools are available to real estate agents?
Facebook has other targeting options that Real Estate agents can consider. Did you know you can target people who were recently approved for a home mortgage? You can event target people who are renting and likely to move soon. Using the above micro-targeting options, we can overlay people currently renting a home in Dripping Springs, likely to move, recently approved for a home loan, and has a household income between 75,000 and 150,000. That might be a small audience but it’s ok. You can move prospects through an audience funnel for about $1 per day.
Real Estate marketing, from what I’ve been told at least, can be very expensive with little return. Facebook marketing should be a prominent portion of your overall marketing strategy because of its targeting capabilities, low entry cost, and conversion tracking.
Are you using these techniques to market homes on Facebook?
