Increasing Likes and Leads to a Real Estate Facebook Page Using Facebook Ads and Custom Tabs: Case Study

Increasing Likes and Leads to a Real Estate Facebook Page Using Facebook Ads and Custom Tabs: Case Study

For real estate professionals, finding sound guidance about marketing on Facebook can be difficult. The mantra of engagement abounds, but is engagement on a Facebook Page enough to make marketing efforts pay off? With many in the real estate industry spending hours every day attempting to market their listings and services on the social network, the question must be asked: How does a real estate professional effectively utilize Facebook to yield Likes to their Business Page and leads for their business? This case study examines the use of Facebook ads to increase Likes to the Cape Coral Real Estate Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/capecoralrealestatebrokerage), as well as increase solid leads from their target market. Problem: Susan Milner, Broker at Florida Future Realty, Inc., created a Facebook Page for her real estate business, but wanted to receive more Likes to her Page and solid leads to her business. Goal: To obtain an increasing and steady number of targeted Likes and leads from potential Cape Coral home buyers and home sellers. Plan: Create targeted Facebook landing tabs (http://www.faceitpages.com/real-estate-facebook/)using the Fan Gate application (http://www.faceitpages.com/facebook-application/fangate/) and run targeted Facebook ads to those landing tabs.

Trial #1 Approach The first landing tab and ad campaign targeted people who reside in Cape Coral and nearby locations. The Facebook ad featured the title What s Your Home Worth?. When people clicked on the ad, they would be taken to a custom tab (view below) on the Cape Coral Real Estate Facebook Page. Using the Fan Gate app, the tabs were designed to encourage people to click Like from the initial landing page, which revealed a form the visitor would fill out to get their home s worth. This is what appeared prior to someone Liking the Page:

Once a person Liked the Page, the form was revealed and the Page changed to this:

Results After running this ad for approximately one week, the campaign drew in 30 clicks and 12 Likes. The click-to-like conversion was a decent 40%, but none of those 12 Likes filled out the What s Your Home Worth? form. After analyzing the results we realized that, 1) The reach was too small 2) The ad was not getting clicked as often as we wanted 3) The CPC (cost-per-click) was higher than what we wanted, and 4) None of the Likes converted into leads. While 12 Likes may be a small sample for determining like-to-lead conversion, we felt that we could see more activity here.

Trial #2 Approach In consultation with Susan, she decided to narrow the focus to investors and people seeking waterfront homes, since a significant portion of the market in Cape Coral are retirees and people looking for waterfront property. With the redefined focus, we set up two different landing tabs: One directed towards people looking for waterfront property and the other towards investors. We ran a Facebook ad campaign that targeted investors, testing different variations of copy and photos. The ad was defined to target people ages 40 and older who have previously liked or engaged with anything to do with Cape Coral, real estate investment, or Florida investment property.

In Trial #2, we set up a different custom landing tab that encouraged people to like the page.

This time when someone Liked the Page, the tab revealed Cape Coral waterfront homes starting under $200k.

If a visitor clicked on a property, they were taken to the detail page for that listing on Susan s website. Tracking was in place that recorded impressions, clicks, and leads from this landing tab to the search and listing pages on Susan s website. This enabled us to determine how many clicks and leads were being sent to these properties. Results The results from Trial #2 were much better: 441 clicks to the Facebook ads 410 of those clicks Liked the page (click-to-like conversion) 4% of people who Liked the page performed unique user searches on Susan s website 2 solid leads (12.5%) were obtained from people who clicked over or searched Susan s website 796 landing page tab views (how many times the landing tab was viewed once or more) The click-to-like conversion dramatically improved over Trial #1. 93% of people who clicked the Facebook ad also Liked the page. The CPC averaged 40 cents, and the cost-per-like averaged 43 cents. While Trial #2 was an improvement over Trial #1, we were still not satisfied with the amount of leads that were generated from these Likes. Some Like-to-lead conversion would likely happen naturally over time by posting relevant, updated content to the Facebook Page, but we still believed we could see more of an upfront improvement here.

Trial #3 Approach In our third trial, we didn t change anything with the Facebook ad campaign, targeting, or initial landing tab, as we were satisfied with the CPC and Likes obtained from these. Instead, we added a form on the revealed landing tab that required fans to fill out their name and email before viewing the waterfront property under $200k.

Results By implementing this form, Susan received an average of two leads per day (10 to 14 per week) from her Facebook Page. The cost-per-lead averaged $3.60 to $5 per lead (far below real estate industry standards). Conclusions By utilizing Facebook ads and customized landing tabs, we attained a 93% click-to-like conversion rate and gained 700 new, targeted Likes (fans). These fans are interested in Cape Coral waterfront and investment property, and are potential buyers or sellers for Susan and her company. Keeping in mind the incubation period for leads, which industry experts now say is up to three years, Susan plans to keep her Page updated with engaging content on a regular basis to keep in contact with fans and ensure the best possible outcome for the leads she has gained. As with most successful methods of advertising, the key was nimble research and niche targeting. By using targeted Facebook ads that link to customized landing tabs with lead capture and call-to-action features, the Cape Coral Real Estate Facebook Page became an effective marketing tool for obtaining real estate leads and enhancing business. Special thanks to Susan Milner (http://www.facebook.com/capecoralrealestateagent), Broker of Florida Future Realty, Inc., for letting us go for it. Susan was very open to us trying different things and gave amazing feedback. We would not have had the end results we did without the feedback and ideas she provided. Facebook ad campaigns, landing tabs, and case study created by FaceItPages.com.