Facebook Ad Targeting That Hits The Bullseye Every Single Time: Getting Your Ad In Front Of Seller Leads

Feature Download: Download the Facebook Seller Lead Generation Template. The step-by-step guide you need to generate seller leads from Facebook. (Download Now)

Targeting will make (or break) your Facebook ad.

In other words, you could have everything else perfect and if your targeting is off, your seller lead funnel will flop.

Targeting is the very first step to a successful seller lead campaign.

You need the perfect targeting combination that doesn’t waste your time or your money.

One of the biggest mistakes real estate agents make is in their targeting.

Either they completely forget to include targeting or, they try to reach too many people, in too many places, thereby eliminating the potential for success.

You want to focus on where your sellers live, not where they want to move to.

And, you most definitely do not want to target anyone and everyone.

It simply won’t work well for you.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help guide you through this…

1. Where should I target?

Here’s a hint, you do not want to target your entire county or town.

Ever.

Unfortunately, Facebook’s algorithm includes the specific county or town +25 mile radius around that county or town.

In some areas, that’s an enormous radius!

Instead, focus on targeting specific zip codes.

You have got to know your community.

You need to know what kinds of homes you want to sell and what zip codes those homes are located in.

2. How old are your sellers?

Well, how old are they?

Don’t tell me they are all ages.

Go deep on this.

In your desired zip code, what is the average age of the sellers?

It is important to connect your message with your seller and their lifestyle.

Knowing their age is extremely important for higher click-thru conversion rates.

3. Homeownership Details.

This is a priority.

You need to know if you want to sell mobile homes on acreage or downtown condos.

You need to know the homeownership details of your targeted homeseller…

if you don’t, you may end up running ads to downtown condo dwellers that resonate with mobile home acreage owners.

Utilize Facebook’s demographics targeting to use this feature.

4. Targeting Behavior.

One of the favorite things that many real estate vendors (aka: let’s mooch off real estate agent commissions) try to teach real estate agents about Facebook “success” is about using the “behavior targeting” options Facebook provides.

Case in point, the “likely to move” option.

Yes, you can target your ads to people that a “predictive marketing” firm is guessing will be “likely to move” in the near future.

Here’s a hint… it’s a waste of moolah to target based on “predictive marketing.”

After running hundreds of ads myself and overseeing hundreds more ads of Facebook Domination Secret members, we have come to the conclusion that predictive marketing, in its current form, sucks.

It doesn’t work nearly as well has the targeting I’m teaching you in this series.

Until the algorithm improves drastically, there are fantastically better ways to target… the foundation of it all rooted in knowing your seller, intimately.

Their wants, their needs, their desires, their emotional choices.

Don’t think that you are limiting yourself to working with only a select type of seller with your targeting.

You aren’t.

What you are doing is opening up the world.

Each ad funnel you create should have a very narrow target.

But guess what, you can (and should) have multiple ad funnels!

That means, multiple targets… but never multiple targets for one funnel.

My question for you is…

What targeting have you tried that failed miserably for you?

If you’ve missed out on the other pieces of this training series, here they are for you…

There are 4 essential elements that are required if you want to generate real estate seller leads from Facebook (start here).

You will want to have these all in place before you spend time inside Facebook’s Power Editor creating your ads…

1. You want an ideal destination funnel for the traffic you are going to generate.

2. You need foolproof photos that grab homeowners attention.

3. You need to write words that woo, words that convince homeowners to take action and convert homeowners into your database.

4. You need the perfect targeting that doesn’t waste your time or your money.

Now all you’ve got to do is put in the work and then mesh it all together.

I want to help you do this. That’s why I created the Facebook Seller Lead Generation Template.

It’s a step-by-step guide you need to generate seller leads from Facebook. You can download the template here.

Using Words That Woo To Capture The Attention Of Home Sellers On Facebook

Feature Download: Download the Facebook Seller Lead Generation Template. The step-by-step guide you need to generate seller leads from Facebook. (Download Now)

I think this might be the hardest of all of the elements of seller lead generation on Facebook… figuring out what words work best to captivate home owners attention.

The key piece to remember when you are writing your ads is this… do not try to reach anyone and everyone in this single ad.

In other words, don’t be “that guy,” the one that runs a home value ad and then includes “1st time home buyer?” and “I ♡ Referrals!” and and and…

Seriously! Don’t do this. Not only are 1st time home buyers and referrals going to ignore your ad, you are going to miss out on home owners (the whole point of running this home value ad).

You need to step back and write your ad for that single seller. Communicate directly with them, not “everyone.” If you also want referrals, write and run an ad targeted to getting referrals. If you also want 1st time home buyers, write and run an ad targeted to getting 1st time home buyers.

Ok, second only to your Foolproof Photo, your ad verbiage is a priority element to capturing the prospects attention.

If you don’t have the “write” words, the resonating call-to-action, your ad will flop. In other words, prospects won’t click on your ad.

The goal for any ad is to get eyeballs to take action… not to just get eyeballs. “Reach” is pointless without action. Pointless. Don’t fall for that deception in your Facebook lead generation.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help guide you through this…

1. Who are you trying to reach? Remember, it’s not everyone, nor is it every seller.

As I mentioned above, you are not trying to reach everyone. But, to expand on that, you also aren’t trying to reach every seller.

Your ad will fall on deaf ears if you try to reach all home owners. In other words, if you simply run an ad targeted to homeowners offering them their home value… it will cost you more money and require you to push that ad out to more people in order to get a few to click through on that ad.

So, who ARE you trying to reach in this specific ad? Have you done any research in your market area to see which homes are selling and which ones are not? Which ones are in more demand than others?

Where are they located? What is their price point? How long have people lived in them? Why are the current owners selling? Where are the current owners moving to?

For example, there was a time in my market that 1st time home buyers were jumping into the market like crazy, and there simply weren’t enough homes for them.

So, I had to look and analyze, who owned the homes they were looking for? Turns out, the investors we had been selling like mad to were the owners of 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, entry-level homes in our market.

So what did I do? I started marketing to out of state owners (this was pre-Facebook targeting) who owned homes in 3 specific neighborhoods with a home size and price point that 1st time home buyers were jumping into.

We got listings, tons of them, and they sold like hotcakes. We couldn’t keep our hands on them. While other agents were out there struggling to get listings, we had them at our fingertips, because we appealed to out of state owners… their struggles, why they wanted to sell, why now was “the time,” etc.

So figure out WHO your homeowner is, first and foremost.

2. Why do they want to sell? It’s usually an emotional reason… what inspires people to want to sell?

Next you need to know WHY they would want to sell.

Better yet, how do you tug at their emotional reason for selling when perhaps, they haven’t considered selling?

You jump into their minds. Why do they want to sell? Why would they want to sell? Think beyond financial and practical. Go into emotions.

Are they tired of being a landlord? Are they tired of managing a property that’s far from them? Are they ready to invest in something else? Are they bored?

Granted, all of these questions I just asked are focused on out of state investment owners (as that is the example I’m using in this training article), but you’ve got to ask yourself these questions about your prospective sellers.

Has their family expanded? Whether through babies or parents moving in? Have they become empty nesters? Do they want to upsize or downsize?

Don’t guess, do some research! You will thank yourself for doing this later, when your ads are bringing in high-quality leads and are costing you pennies.

3. What conversation is happening in their head? Typically it’s unexpressed concerns about selling or moving.

What are they debating with themselves?

Are they unsure about the 1031 process? Are they concerned about the property being vacant while they sell? Should they hold onto the property a bit longer? These are very common amongst investment property owners.

Does the idea of moving exhaust them? Is it hard for them to leave the memories they’ve built in that home over the years? Are they worried they’ll make the wrong decision? Are they in a home they really can’t afford and are afraid to make a change?

What conversation is happening in their head? Once you figure this out, you’ve got it made.

4. What will convince them to take action?

Here’s a hint, when you write your ad verbiage, respond to the conversation that is happening in their head.

If you can solve their problem for them, they are more than likely going to take action.

In our case, I created short videos about the 1031 process, simplifying it into layman’s terms. I also provided a solution to the vacancy factor.

Can you provide a solution to the the problem that is rumbling around in their head? Can you provide a solution to a problem that they don’t even know is rumbling around in their head?

So there it is…

Use your consumer insight to create verbiage that focuses on a SINGLE problem, and offer a SINGLE solution to that problem.

If you’ve missed out on the other pieces of this training series, here they are for you…

There are 4 essential elements that are required if you want to generate real estate seller leads from Facebook (start here).

You will want to have these all in place before you spend time inside Facebook’s Power Editor creating your ads…

1. You want an ideal destination funnel for the traffic you are going to generate.

2. You need foolproof photos that grab homeowners attention.

3. You need to write words that woo, words that convince homeowners to take action and convert homeowners into your database.

4. You need the perfect targeting that doesn’t waste your time or your money.

Now all you’ve got to do is put in the work and then mesh it all together.

I want to help you do this. That’s why I created the Facebook Seller Lead Generation Template.

It’s a step-by-step guide you need to generate seller leads from Facebook. You can download the template here.

Foolproof Photos That Work To Capture Real Estate Leads From Facebook

Feature Download: Download the Facebook Seller Lead Generation Template. The step-by-step guide you need to generate seller leads from Facebook. (Download Now)

If you want to capture the attention of real estate seller leads on Facebook, you have got to have an attention grabbing image.

The photo you use in your ad will be the first thing that grabs the lead’s attention and you want to grab and hold on.

Your ad photo is very important. Very.

For some reason, we (real estate agents) massively underestimate the power of photos.

The old adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words” (~Arthur Brisbane) is true. VERY true.

It refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image.

So the deeper question is… what complex idea are you trying to convey in your ad image?

That’s what I’m going to help you with today… how to use images that resonate with prospects, images that compel prospects to take action on your ads.

Here’s the first tip… don’t use stock home/house photos for your ads.

Use photos that connect on a social and emotional level with the leads you are trying to capture.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help guide you through this…

1. What can you take a picture of that is recognizable & local?

In our efforts to “get our ads out there” we tend to just throw up an image and hope it will be ok.

But, if you want your ad to work, you’ve got to connect with the prospect.

The key here is… the photo that you use will directly depend on the audience you are targeting, the message you are trying to convey and the action you are wanting them to take.

Since your goal is to find people who want to move in your area, you should definitely be using pictures that are recognizable and local.

Think about neighborhood features, unique houses in the neighborhoods you serve.

Think about community parks, trails, activities, events.

Think about favorite businesses & venues.

All of these are places, things & events that people connect with.

Any one of them are reasons why people move. Use them!

2. What message does your photo convey?

Seriously, what emotional message does your picture convey?

Selling a home is emotional. People sell for emotional reasons.

Oh sure there are real circumstances that instigate their desire to sell… but their desire to follow through, who they choose to use to help them, even the offer they accept… is all based on emotion.

We like to think that we don’t make massive financial decisions based on emotion. We like to profess that it’s all logic. But that is simply not true. We are human!

Remember, your photo needs to connect with the seller prospect on the emotional level. On the emotional reason why they are selling.

3. Does the photo include embedded text?

If so, what words? Are those words necessary?

Always keep in mind that a picture is worth 1,000 words and the perfect picture doesn’t need words.

A foolproof photo will convey the message without any text.

Stop trying to “sell” and instead, focus on connecting emotionally with the seller prospect.

4. What are its dimensions?

I can not tell you how many times I’ve seen photos messed up simply because the user didn’t size the image to Facebook’s recommended dimensions.

It’s not hard. In fact, it’s insanely easy when you use PicMonkey to resize the image.

Facebook’s image dimension recommendations for Facebook ads is 1200×628 pixels.

Often, you’ll see self-professed Facebook “experts” out there giving different dimensions.

Perhaps they are even saying your image can be smaller. Yes. Perhaps.

However, the clue here is what Facebook prefers and in this case, Facebook knows best.

Facebook knows that your image will be displayed in multiple operating systems, on multiple devices.

Facebook knows the best image dimensions to make your image look it’s absolutely best across all of these platforms and devices.

Ignore everyone else. Listen to Facebook.

Something else to always remember…

The minute a photo is created, a copyright is created. That means it is legally owned by the creator.

It doesn’t matter if the image has a copyright symbol (©) on it or not. Upon creation, it’s copyrighted by the creator.

What does this mean?

It means that if you didn’t take the photo, NO MATTER WHERE YOU FOUND THE IMAGE, you are not allowed to use the image.

Period.

• It doesn’t matter if you found it in a Google search.
• It doesn’t matter if it’s on your local Chamber of Commerce’s website.
• It doesn’t matter if other people are using the photo.

You are stealing the image when you use it.

The only photos you can use, for any reason, without anyone’s permission, are photos that you took yourself.

Photos that you used your camera or your smartphone camera to take.

The only other photos you can use are photos that you have WRITTEN permission to use.

• This includes stock photos that you purchase through sites like ShutterStock.
• This includes photos other locals have taken and shared online.

Sometimes you can find photographers who willingly share their images.

However, you need to confirm, in writing, that you can use these images for commercial gain.

Yes, using photos on your real estate Facebook page or on your real estate blog site is commercial gain.

I’ve seen too many real estate agents claiming ignorance on the topic of image ownership copyright.

Don’t be one of those unethical real estate agents.

Consumers are intuitive. Consumers know when you are pulling unethical stunts.

Don’t ruin your reputation, both amongst your peers and with consumers, over a photo.

So there it is…

Are you giving enough thought to your images?

Are you losing the opportunity to capture prospects because you are simply throwing up an image that doesn’t resonate with them?

If you’ve missed out on the other pieces of this training series, here they are for you…

There are 4 essential elements that are required if you want to generate real estate seller leads from Facebook (start here).

You will want to have these all in place before you spend time inside Facebook’s Power Editor creating your ads…

1. You want an ideal destination funnel for the traffic you are going to generate.

2. You need foolproof photos that grab homeowners attention.

3. You need to write words that woo, words that convince homeowners to take action and convert homeowners into your database.

4. You need the perfect targeting that doesn’t waste your time or your money.

Now all you’ve got to do is put in the work and then mesh it all together.

I want to help you do this. That’s why I created the Facebook Seller Lead Generation Template.

It’s a step-by-step guide you need to generate seller leads from Facebook. You can download the template here.