What Are the Best Converting Ads For Real Estate?

As so much changes in the real estate industry, there's one thing that remains constant: choice. Agents now have many options for everything from CRM vendors to advertising platforms. No matter what size budget you have to work with, it's important that no dollar is wasted and that the option you choose will maximize your spend.

When considering where to advertise, keep in mind that not all channels are created equal. Some might be better for brand awareness than generating leads, such as display ads. If it's leads you're after, then you should learn exactly how the platform will help you achieve your objective so you can zero-in on those particular features. The answer might be audience targeting capabilities, the post-click experience or when and how the ad is displayed. Every platform has its own unique advantage.

So, what are the best-converting ads for real estate agents? Let's review the top-performing options and why your ad dollars will be best spent there.

Facebook

This platform is well-known for being great for top-of-the-funnel activities like improving reach and brand awareness. But if that's all you know about Facebook ads, then you've missed a big opportunity on the platform. Namely, how its targeting capabilities and ad types can efficiently generate leads.

Audience Targeting

Reach is important when it comes to extending brand awareness, but your best-converting ads will be those that are shown to a targeted audience. Facebook gives advertisers a number of ways to narrow their audience, and the two following options are top choices if you want to generate leads.

Custom audiences: This option allows you to target a very particular group of people. So particular, in fact, that you get to decide who is included in the audience. What's great about custom audiences is that you can send different messages to each cohort you target, such as open house leads versus your sphere of influence. When you can customize the ad experience based on what you know about your audience, your ads will convert at a much higher rate.

Lookalike audiences: Once you have a custom audience set up, you can create campaigns that target people who have similar characteristics (such as demographics or common interests). This helps you reach even more potential buyers and sellers who "look like" your target audience, which improves conversion rates.

Lead Generation Ads

In the Facebook ad management platform, you will need to select a campaign objective before setting up your ads. When you choose "lead generation" as your objective, you will be able to create what Facebook calls an "Instant Form." This form will appear in-app when someone clicks on your ad, and it auto-fills contact information for anyone who clicks on your ad. By automating the process, Facebook is reducing friction and therefore the likelihood that consumers will stall in the process. This experience is what makes the lead generation ad one of the best-converting ads for real estate agents.

Google

Google Ads

Google Ads target high-intent leads, as these buyers and sellers are actively searching for a real estate agent. The ad's copy and content are everything when it comes to making these ads successful. One little-known secret to making Google Ads perform even better is to connect them to your Google business profile (GMB). By establishing this connection, you'll be able to activate the location extension on your Google Ads, which enables your business address to appear on the ad. That not only adds further legitimacy to your ad and increases its conversion potential, but it also allows your ad to appear on Google Maps as a bonus placement. Since many businesses aren't aware of this possibility, there is less competition on Google Maps than in search.

Local Services Ads

A brand-new advertising product from Google, Google Local Services Ads seamlessly facilitate contact from homebuyers and sellers to real estate agents in their market. They're prioritized at the top of the Google search page, above traditional paid search advertisements, and enable prospects to live call an agent directly from their desktop or mobile device. There's no friction, form fills, or needless clicks.

Best of all, you'll only ever pay for quality leads. You'll only pay when you receive a call from an interested buyer or seller.

Instagram

The key for any ad on Instagram—whether for awareness or lead gen—is to use a scroll-stopping visual and strong copy. But, if you want yours to be one of the best-converting real estate ads, you should use video on Instagram. Video is engaging compared to still images. Today's technology lets you enhance your videos by adding text, graphics and animations to make them even more interesting. It's a great way to capture attention and then pique the viewer's curiosity enough to submit their contact details to receive more information.

Waze

This navigation app is a great one for real estate agents to advertise on. First off, it's not on the radar of very many businesses, so competition is much lower than on other platforms. Second, it does a good job of driving foot traffic to open houses. It works in the same ways as A-frames around the neighborhood, except that it targets drivers instead of pedestrians. Drivers also don't need to be right outside of the property to see your ad pop up on the map, in search results or as a "digital billboard" when they hit zero speed. Just being in the vicinity is enough for the ad to show up.

To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.