Many real estate agents treat their Facebook page like a brochure. Sure, it’s great for branding, but it’s probably not helping you with what you really need, and that is leads, leads, leads!

Shift your focus. Your page is not about engagement, it’s really about inbound marketing. That’s what is needed for lead generation.

Many businesses, not just real estate companies, make the mistake of force fitting their new Facebook page into the old outbound marketing techniques. We all know outbound marketing. It’s the traditional ad buy and email list buy we use for leads. We make the mistake of using our Facebook pages to nurture leads rather than generate leads.

Inbound marketing is completely different. It’s about creating quality content that is so compelling, it literally attracts customers to your real estate company.

To be effective, you need to know your customers’ interests, then align your content accordingly. It’s the concept of moths to a flame. They’re naturally attracted to your Facebook page, and it’s low hanging fruit to convert them from leads to customers.

So what are they interested in? Home values? Land purchases? Neighborhood and community details? It is imperative that you know this.

As real estate agents, we also are fairly siloed and we typically don’t look to other industries to see how they’re successfully using Facebook to do what we’re trying to do, and that’s generate leads.

It’s also easy to make the mistake of not really “counting” Facebook as part of your advertising/marketing budget. After all, you’re probably spending a pittance on Facebook ads (if you’re even doing ads at all), so it’s no big spend to worry about. You’re not spending money to get post comments, you’re spending money to generate leads.

Real estate agents who have figured this out don’t have a lot of Facebook Likes. If you look at their page, it may not even appear successful to you. But it is successful. These agents spend maybe $2 per day and in return get dozens of high quality leads for your specific niche. Over time, this adds up to a lot of new additions to your email database.

And once you have the information, you can develop a strategy to nurture those leads and convert them into clients that close deals.

So how do you join the bandwagon? Here are some tips on becoming successful at Facebook online lead generation.

• Stop focusing on Likes. Go for relevance. You can have 1,000 Likes, but if you don’t get any click-throughs, you don’t get any leads.
• Run Facebook targeted ads. Facebook has a tool called Power Editor that will help you do this. Target the demographic that makes sense for your real estate business: zip code, income level, or whatever works for you. Be sure to include a link to direct the lead to your website’s sign up form, and include a strong call to action to make sure the lead visits your website. Run similar targeted ads focused on website conversions and on page Likes. Resist the urge to ask everyone you know to like your page. You want to keep this list pure and limited to true potential clients only (not Aunt Mary!)
• Facebook has a “real estate space” on your business page, so use it to run targeted campaigns. Use a strong call to action that sends leads to your website. Moth to a flame, remember?
• Regarding your content, only post content that is relevant and valuable to your customer base. Don’t waste people’s time. And don’t forget to mix it up. Real estate agents make the colossal mistake of only posting photos to Facebook. Post lots of different things. Be sure to post content frequently. Really, you should be posting three times a day, at a minimum. Ideally five posts are best. Schedule your posts to occur periodically throughout the day, even in the middle of the night.
• Don’t be afraid to promote yourself. It’s not bragging. Home purchases are the most major purchase a person will likely make in their lifetime, and they want a trusted and knowledgeable agent. Highlight your listings. Even better, post customer testimonials. Only do this a couple of times per week to avoid overkill. This schedule will provide value without being blatant.

Try this for a while. You have absolutely nothing to lose. You’ll be glad you did. Just focus on your primary goal of using Facebook to add people to your email database.

If you found this blog article useful, you may also like our article on 5 Ways to Use Twitter to Drive Real Estate Leads.

The post 5 Ways to Use Facebook to Drive Real Estate Leads appeared first on WolfNet.

Gives Off the Wrong Impression to Customers

Your website is the first experience most customers will have with your brand, so first impressions are key. An old stodgy design, a poor property search experience and hard to locate information – including your contact information – are all reasons a potential buyer will move on to the next Realtor’s website. Streamline and modernize your web design and optimize for lead conversion with simple forms throughout your site.

Lacks Consistent or Relevant Content

Customers are looking for you to be an expert in the Real Estate industry and the neighborhoods you cover. Content such as blogs, videos and photos are a great way to provide them with relevant information before, during and after the home buying process. Develop a consistent posting calendar or strategy in order to keep customers engaged on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Reduces your SEO Ranking

Your SEO settings and ranking are important so that customers can find your website and listings. Older sites with outdated algorithms, coding and iframes reduce the chances of your site showing up in prospective buyer searches. Many search engines will even penalize sites for not having updated SEO settings. For example, Google launched a new search algorithm on April 21^st, 2015 which will rank mobile friendly sites above non-mobile friendly sites. Test your site now!

Poor or No Lead Capture Capabilities

Capturing potential leads is one of the most important functions of your website. Low-quality sites with ineffective capture tools let potential customers slip through the cracks. Updated sites with engaging calls-to-action, easy to find contact information and lead capture tools within the property search increase your lead capture potential exponentially.

The Property Search is Cumbersome

Home buyers will spend a majority of their time on your property search in comparison to the rest of your site. Older search platforms provide limited functionality to customers making the process slow and cumbersome, especially on mobile devices.

Your Website is not Responsive

More than 50% of home buyers say that they use mobile during their home search. Your website being accessible to customers across all platforms (mobile, tablet & laptop) is key to growing more web traffic and leads. A responsive design allows you to provide a smooth customer experience whether they’re waiting in-line with their phone or using their tablet on a flight home.

Using these tools, audit your website often to make sure you’re taking the necessary steps to keep your business and brand relevant to your target customers.

The post Six Ways an Outdated Website is Hurting your Real Estate Business appeared first on WolfNet.