How New Agents Can Optimize Facebook For Better Lead Generation

Facebook has a lot to offer in real estate. It includes a potential audience of more than 2 billion users, including 68 percent of all adults in the U.S. It also includes robust features to subset your leads and provide targeted marketing campaigns.

As a new real estate agent, you are well placed to cash in on these advantages. You are armed with beautiful listings and content. And you live a fast-paced and interesting life.

 But you also need to know how to use Facebook strategically. Here are a few guidelines to help new agents optimize Facebook for better lead generation.

Complete Your Profile

For many online leads, your Facebook profile will be the introduction to you and your brand. In that sense, it is the foundation of your business. It should be full of relevant and up-to-date information. Here are a few points of emphasis that new agents tend to overlook.

Milestones

Milestones are like life events, but for your business page. They tell the story of your business and help you take stock of its growth. For leads, milestones can help give a sense of the pace and trajectory of your business. If you achieve something in your real estate work, post it as a milestone to show that you are on the rise.

Cover Photo

Your cover photo is the largest visual element on your Facebook page. You should take advantage of this to further your brand or a particular campaign. Use a high-resolution image and overlay it with text to promote your mission as a real estate agent.

Call to Action

Your call to action button resides directly under your cover photo. As a default, it reads “send message.” But this can be edited to a more appropriate message for your real estate business. Use your cover photo and call to action together to convey an idea and get your leads to act on it.

Build SEO

Your Facebook page should be a place where your leads can go to get a more intimate look at you and your work as a real estate agent. But it also should be accessible to a broader market. For this, you will need to work on SEO.

Keywords

Your profile includes an about us page,  description, overview, products and other places to describe your business. You should include keywords in these texts to make your page more searchable.

Custom URL

Facebook gives you the option to customize your business page URL. You should take advantage of this to include your brand name or some keywords. This will help leads remember your page and strengthen your visibility online.

Address

Include your work address in your profile to localize your SEO.

Send IDX to Facebook

Facebook dynamic ads can help you promote listings to leads even after they leave your site. You can use software to automatically send your IDX to Facebook and build up a catalog for ads and campaigns.

Strong Content

Your Facebook page is not your resume. It should be dynamic with new content posted regularly. Just like the page itself, this content should be optimized for lead generation.

Upload Directly

When given the choice between uploading your photos and videos directly to Facebook and linking them from another site, you should choose upload directly. Native content sometimes performs better on Facebook which will help you capture the largest audience possible.

Exclusive Content

You should encourage leads to like your page and to visit often. Exclusive content is a great motivator in this regard.  It also will help build a community of regulars readers around your page.

Know Your Audience

Even the best content is ignored if it’s not formatted for its intended users.

Mobile

Facebook has said that more than half of its users are now mobile, so when designing content, use what will show up best on a smart photo. This includes square video and large texts that are easier to read.

Peak Hours

Post new content when you know your leads will be browsing. Peak activity on Facebook has been shown to occur between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Facebook holds a lot of potential in the real estate sector. It is especially true for new agents looking to build a brand and market online.  With these guidelines in hand, you are equipped to optimize Facebook for better lead generation.

Tait Militana is a writer at Realtyna, home to Organic IDX and online real estate solutions for agents and brokers. Follow the Realtyna Blog for more technology and marketing tips.