In this post, I will outline how you can leverage Facebook ads to target all levels of the real estate sales funnel to produce more buyer and seller leads (read our related post, Facebook Ads For Real Estate Agents: 10 killer ad strategies).
The unique ability of Facebook’s ad platform to target prospects at all levels of the sales funnel, combined with flexibility in budgeting and robust targeting features makes it one of the most effective ad platforms for realtors (never mind the fact that the average consumer spends an hour per day on Facebook!).
I will walk you through the importance of the real estate sales funnel, but most importantly, how your Facebook ad tactics change at each level to nurture more buyer and seller leads. (Read our popular related post, How To Get Seller Listing Leads With Facebook Ads)
For each of the 3 levels of the sales funnel, I will cover:
- The goal
- Facebook campaign objectives
- Facebook ad content differences
- Budgeting
- Targeting differences
But first, let’s briefly discuss the concept of a sales funnel and why it’s important.
What Is A Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel is a framework for placing potential customers or audiences in a hierarchy that is defined by their differing needs at each level of the funnel and by the amount of time each customer segment is away from becoming a potential client or needing your realtor services.
Advertising without the context of a sales funnel means your ad tactics are not well planned and only focused on any one area of the sales funnel with no clear overall strategy. The result of this is that you’re competing with all the other realtors focused on that same goal and your advertising is far less effective.
The Different Levels Of The Sales Funnel
Below is a graphic depicting a sales funnel.
The Sales Funnel
The Sales Funnel
Top Of The Funnel - Awareness:
At the top of the funnel, we have the Awareness stage. These people are the furthest away from becoming a buyer or seller lead.
The reasons this audience may be further away from becoming a customer are many and varied – perhaps they don’t have enough equity in their home to sell now, or maybe they are waiting for their kids to move out of the house before selling.
However, just because they are not ready to act now does not mean they will not be in the future. Actively marketing to this stage creates awareness that will increase demand and grow leads lower in the funnel at a later point. By advertising at the top, you are cultivating future leads that other realtors are not. Traditional tactics commonly used by realtors that advertise to this segment are community garage sales, food drives, etc.
Without advertising at the top, you are left to fight with everyone else at the bottom.
Branding and awareness at this level of the funnel builds trust and familiarity – people feel as if they already know you. This is why big brands spend so much money on branding and awareness ads. They are building awareness and creating familiarity with the brand. And if you’re worried it’s expensive to do this with Facebook ads, it’s not…stay with me here; I will cover budget examples at each level of the funnel down below.
A Side Story Example
Some of you may have heard me talk about how my wife and I arrived at our decision to choose the realtor to sell our first home, but it was a result of years of awareness built up with one particular realtor. Now, this was just before Facebook ads were available, but he was everywhere we went in our community consistently. We saw Claude’s face in the for sale signs, in the grocery store that we frequented, and had his direct mail pieces on our kitchen counter. We lived in this community for four years, and Claude had a presence that nobody else had. So, when we started thinking about selling, he was front and center in our minds and therefore our decision-making.
The adage, out of sight, out of mind still rings true today.
Middle Of The Funnel - Consideration
People in the middle of the funnel are in the Consideration stage, and they are closer to potentially becoming a lead. Perhaps it would just take a special deal or situation to get them to act – perhaps the value of their home was greater than they thought and they can now sell with enough equity to move up to a bigger home.
Bottom Of The Funnel - Leads
People at the lower part of the sales funnel are actively looking to buy or sell. These are people that need a realtor and are ready to act.
Goals, Objectives, Ad Content, Budget Consideration For Each Level Of The Funnel
Awareness – Top Of The Funnel
Goal:
- Branding
- Mindshare
If you’re not familiar with Facebook’s campaign objectives, it provides more than a dozen to choose from that align with specific business goals. Many people are familiar with the Boost Post objective (referred to as Engagement as well), but this is only one of a dozen different campaign objectives to choose from (a related post here on Boost Posts vs Facebook ads and why you need to be running ads, not Boost Posts).
Here are the Facebook campaign objectives – you can see they have different objectives to choose from at each level of the funnel. In this case, Facebook is referring to the three tiers of the funnel as Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion.
Facebook Ads Campaign Objectives
Facebook Ads Campaign Objectives
Facebook Ad Content:
Because the audience at the Awareness level of the funnel is not ready to buy or sell, the advertising goal is to get your image and your brand in front of the audience on a consistent basis. So the actual ad content, for example, can focus on, “Top Realtor in 2017”, or “Leading Agent in Morgan Ranch – these are just examples but notice that we’re not trying to capture a lead – just build awareness.
Budgeting:
For the top of the funnel advertising on Facebook, you can spend as little as $150 per month creating ongoing awareness and mindshare with potential prospects.
Targeting:
- Geographically: focused on the local neighborhoods that you are farming at a minimum
Consideration – Middle Of The Funnel
Goal:
- Traffic capture to nurture leads into potential prospects
Facebook Ad Content:
- Listings, market updates, open houses.
Budgeting:
- Because these are lead acquisition ads, you need larger budgets – a good starting point is $400/mo
Targeting
- Geographically: focused on the local neighborhoods that you are farming at a minimum
Leads (Sellers) – Bottom of the Funnel
Goal:
- To acquire seller leads
Facebook Ad Content:
- Prices in your neighborhood are rising. Find out how much your home is worth with a FREE online home evaluation report.
Budgeting:
- A minimum of $700/mo – If you are running lead ads to capture real potential sellers, you will need a higher budget than what is necessary at the top or middle of the funnel
- Leads at this level can cost $20/lead or more so larger budgets drive better results
Targeting
- Geographically: focused on the local neighborhoods that you are farming plus homeownership at a minimum
Managing Facebook Ad Budgets
Remember budgets for Facebook ads are typically set up by the day. This setup facilitates running multiple types of campaigns even with a smaller budget.
The way to manage a budget is to plan by the week. For example, when we recommend a budget of $700 per month for Lead Ads, it really means a daily spend of around 25 dollars per day if you spread 700 into 30 days.
However, you could decide instead to spend $100 dollars per day for 7 days and spend the same 700 dollars. In other words, setting a daily budget and stopping ads when you reach your target budget will give you the flexibility to plan for a smaller budget even if you choose to run campaigns that are more expensive. This technique also allows you to run multiple campaigns and stay within a target budget.
Example With Limited Ad Budget
Here's an example of how to plan your budgets with a limited budget yet targeting all areas of the sales funnel:
The benefit of this planning is that it allows you to plan and control spending at all levels of the funnel.
Placing your Facebook advertising tactics within a sales funnel and allocating budget at different levels of the sales funnel will allow you to become a far more successful realtor and the advertiser and to differentiate yourself over the long haul from your competition.
Still have questions? Please ask them in the comments below – I welcome comments and questions, and it helps the community as a whole.
Read our related post, Facebook Ads For Real Estate Agents: 10 Killer Ad Strategies
