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by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

Do you feel like Facebook is too expensive? How to bootstrap Facebook lead generation for your real estate business so you don’t starve to death!


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Do you feel like Facebook is too expensive for beginners? Too expensive for brand new real estate agents?

Well guess what?

It’s not, but you do need to know what to do and how to do it?

Today, I am going to walk you through exactly what to do to bootstrap your Facebook lead generation for your real estate business so you don’t starve to death. That’s a bit dramatic, but it’s true. So basically I am going to show you how to do Facebook on the cheap.

Thank you for being here whether you’re watching this in replay or you are live right here with me now. And as always I always have something for you.

Today  I am actually giving away the entire steps, the steps I used. I am going to tell and show you in just a minute but I am giving it away. Just type any comment in the video above.Then go over and check your Messenger. #RIBBIT will send you the information.

So basically this will be the outline of everything I am talking about with you today.

When you get it, you’ll see a replay link. Come back and watch it with your notes in hand.

If you’re watching this on YouTube or IGTv or Twitch just click the link below in the description and it will bring you back to this original video.

So do you feel like Facebook is too expensive for beginners? For brand new real estate agents?

Well guess what? . . It’s not.

But you do need to know what to do and how to do it.

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Is Facebook Too Expensive For Beginners?

Recently, a member of my Facebook Real Estate Agents Group said Facebook is too expensive for beginners. I thought “No, it’s not! Why does she feel that way?”  

Well I am guessing for a number of reasons:

Number one, probably because “gurus” from the stage are telling you that you need to have a complete ad budget of $500 a month to even make any headway. Or maybe she is throwing money at it $30, $100, a couple of $100, maybe even a couple of thousand dollars over the course of a year and hasn’t seen the results she wants to see. No closings, maybe that’s why. There are a lot of reason why it may be that way or not be that way, etc.

Here’s the thing.  Why they would think that? Here’s the thing.

I am going to walk you through the steps and the truth is even if you have a $1,000 a month to invest in ads on Facebook, they’re not going to work.  They’re not going to give you the return you want if you don’t actually do the things I am going to teach you today.

This actually involves understanding a little bit of Facebook’s algorithm, understanding a little bit about your prospects, etc. In away that’s easy to implement, so I am going to start with strategery. We’re go into tactics and walk into tools.

If you’re having problems with #RIBBIT you need to send a manual message. Usually, most of the time, here’s the problem you may be having with  #RIBBIT. #RIBBIT is our Messenger bot.

You’re requesting; you’re commenting on this, whatever and RIBBIT is sending you a message saying type a certain word a specific way.

What’s happening is you’re typing the wrong word because you’re looking farther up on your message or your missing a letter etc. because #RIBBIT knows what to send you based on if you type the exact word or not or some of you are actually not typing the word. You’re just commenting and we’re sending you the messages but because you’re not responding – you’re not getting the stuff.

Every single time. If want something from #RIBBIT, type right in the comments of the video above.  Then you have to immediately go over and say what  #RIBBIT tells you to say without any wrong spellings or missing letter or anything. He is particular.  

There are 1 or 2 of you, out of a 100, so 1% of you where #RIBBIT will not send you anything. I don’t know why. It’s like he is a little toddler. It’s usually a little glitch we’re trying to figure out. There’s just not a lot we can do on that so send in a manual request and we will see what we can do so on that.

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Strategies

First off strategies.Your strategy on Facebook is cannot cannot be selling S-H-I-T to people. I was going to say the word but I won’t so hopefully no kids are listening!

You can’t have this I need to sell crap so I need to be pushing sells, doing this, doing that.

You cannot do that.

Well you can do that but it’s not going to work. It is literally not going to work because people are not going to listen to you. They’re going to respond at all.

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You Have To Help!

Number two you have to help!

In your strategy always be helping. The stuff you’re putting on Facebook, the posts you’re putting on Facebook, the ads you’re putting on Facebook all have to be focused on helping. Not helping them buy your crap or use your services but helping them, giving them answers to the questions that they have.

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Educating

The third one is educating. It goes along with helping.

To educate people you need to give them real answers about real things. You have to do that. You have to educate people.

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Build Relationships

You have to be building relationships.  

Somehow, someway this is about real, well not real face to face but you’re getting to know me and I’m getting to know you through comments, through everything.

That’s how you have to build relationships this way. This is how you build a relationship.

You have to do this and the additional piece to this is; here is a good example.  

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Be Consistent

I just heard this one this morning: You must be consistent. Absolutely. You have to be consistent. That means that it’s like going to a party. You go to the party and sit on the couch in the corner. Nobody is going to be interested in you.  They’re not going to come to you. You have to go out and mingle to meet people, right?

Side note….all of you are typing “Bootstrap” in the comments here. This is not the place you type it. You have to respond to RIBBIT over in Messenger. You’re getting mixed up there.

Type your comment right here in the comments of the video. #RIBBIT will send you the message and then you have to go back over to Messenger. You have to type that over there. You have check exactly what he says to say because when you type that, when you type that word, that tells what him what you want him to send you.

So each word is like a card/catalog thing. It’s a title of something so he knows “Oh send this!” So go over to Messenger and type that.. it  happens all the time so I am not calling anyone out! This happens all the time.

Alright so strategy; serving, helping, educating, relationships, consistent. If you are not being consistent and here’s what I mean; if you’re not consistently every single day putting up content on your Facebook business page we’re going to talk about; if you’re not consistent it’s not going to work for you.

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What About Direct Mail?

For a lot of you it’s the same thing with direct mail. You put out a mail piece here and there or based on your budget. You look at your budget and go I need do this but you don’t look at your budget and go I need to do this over the next 12-18 months and that’s what your budget needs to spread out over so you’re inconsistent.

This is why Facebook doesn’t work for you.  This is why your website doesn’t work for you. This is why snail mail, direct mail, doesn’t work for you.

Consistent. You must be consistent!

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Don’t Start Where You Leave Off

It is really true. You just don’t start where you leave off. You literally have to dig out of the hole because you were going up like this…. website, direct mail, whatever…because you were going up like this when you stop you actually drop below the line. It’s actually harder to get going again.

So serving, helping, educating, relationship and consistent. That is the strategy!

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It’s All About The Customer

Okay? It’s all about the customer.

It is not about YOU!  

Your strategy is about the person, the prospect. It is not about you.

Until you get that into your head and heart and it comes out in your hands and how you’re acting, nothing will change for you, in anything you do!

When you start panicking about sales, nothing will change. It will not change until you have this that the more people you help…. I’m not talking about closings. The more people you physically help, the more people you give service to and value to, the bigger your business will be.

It’s that simple but we think that means the more people transactions we close or the more people we help just in that space….no it’s much bigger.

Your strategy absolutely must be:
It’s about the other person, serving, helping, educating, relationship and consistent is a must, must, must! That strategy.

Number two, our tactics. Here are the tactics that you will need. Now because you are going to bootstrap this you will have to invest time. And you will have to invest it for 2, a couple of years,12, 18, 24, 36 months.

Flat out plain and simple, you have to do this. You can’t go on a, what’s it called, a roller coaster. You can’t do it. You cannot do it. You can’t stop doing it because you don’t think it’s not working. You can’t go back etc.

YOU MUST BE CONSISTENT! Period.

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Tactics

Your tactics, number one: A lot of you are going to love this.

You have to have a website. And no, not a broker website and no, not a vendor website and no, not a freebie Wix or Squarespace website.

No way, not at all.

You need to have a website that has a blog attached to a the website. I will give you the tools, I will tell you who to use. You need to start building up your organic SEO. And here’s the thing with that website.

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You must absolutely blog weekly

Now I am giving you the exact roadmap I used to start Leads and Leverage.

This is how we did it in real estate although there wasn’t a website when I started so I’ve been in real estate….well I am old so I have been in real estate a long time.

So here’s the thing. This is how I started an organizing firm that I sold. This is how I started Leads and Leverage. I am giving you exactly what I did. I bootstrapped Leads and Leverage. I started a website and I blogged a couple times a week. I was like I need to answer questions for agents.

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You Need To Answer Questions For Clients

You need to answer their questions. That’s what blogging is. You have to answer them. You have to give them real answers, not write crap because “blah, blah, blah” like the Associated Press. You have to actually serve people.

You have to actually serve people and answer them.  If they were standing right in front of you would you just go, “Um yeah use a Realtor because you’re FSBO, use a Realtor” and just move on?  Or would you actually answer their questions, their burning needs. Do you have the kahunas? Do you have the courage to tell them how to do it without you?  

That’s where you’re going to win the game. That is where you’re going to win the game. If you can tell people how to do stuff without needing to use your services, you’re gonna win!

Period. You’re gonna win.

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These Tactics Work

I know you don’t understand this. Stop thinking like “Oh my gosh, I am going to lose their business.” No you’re not, you’re not. Most people are not going to do it on their own or take the time. This is why most of you won’t actually do these tactics that I am telling you but they work.

I am going to reveal something. I started Leads and Leverage and I started blogging in September of 2013.  I actually opened the business in February 2014. February 2014 was when I actually had products available, a membership services available.

From February, 2014 – December, 2014 we hit six-figures. Why? Because I invested months of time before answering questions, helping you guys and I continued doing that even we had the membership.

This business was fast. Our real estate business was fast. Why? Because I am serving.

You’re going to say websites aren’t worth it or I don’t have the time to invest in a blog. You’re throwing away a hundred thousand dollars a year minimum by having that type of attitude.

You need to answer questions. You need to blog weekly.

Barry says,

So you recommend content even if it comes from other articles or bloggers?

No, that’s not blogging. That’s curating and that’s not the same thing.  You need to get your butt behind a keyboard or behind a video and you need to answer questions. You need to serve people, not get other resources.

Yes, you can leverage that but that’s not what I am talking about. You must blog  weekly. You are literally throwing away, $100,000 a year by not having a website where you’re actually answering questions and then leveraging it.

I am going to show you how to leverage it along the way.  You are literally throwing it away. How many transactions is that for you? 10, 20? I don’t know what your commissions are. I’m sorry I don’t know what your average sale prices are in your area but that is 10-20 closings you are throwing away because you’re not actually helping people through your website.

You must blog weekly. You must. At the beginning, twice a week would be better.

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Answer Questions That Provide Help

You have to answer questions. Don’t know where questions are?

Go to Trulia Answers or Trulia Questions or whatever and read the questions and answer them! If they are for San Jose and you live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, change it to Tulsa, Oklahoma and answer it like it’s from someone in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Here’s the thing. You have to blog at least weekly. You have to answer questions, you have to provide help. You have to be valuable. Just sharing others people’s crap is not going to make you valuable and it doesn’t actually give them a reason to connect with you.

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You Have To Talk To People

You can do that in type, in video like I am doing. It does not matter but you have to do this.

This is a tactic. This is true. We were at six-figures in the middle of February, in 10 and a half months by doing exactly what I am saying.  It took from September to February.

I blogged twice a week, I answered questions twice a week, I started my Facebook page, I am going to give you that next I started the Facebook page. I started answering questions.
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You Have To Have A Blog Site

So number one – you have to have a blog site that you are actually answering questions on. You must do that. You must, must, must. This is how you build you build relationships with people who do not know you.

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You Must Have A Facebook Business Page

Number two – you must have a Facebook business page. You have to start building up your Facebook presence. Period. It needs to ooze the lifestyle. You need to share about your community.

You need to be a resource. You need to be valuable.

It needs to not be your name because no one gives a flying fig about “Jane Doe Realtor.” They do NOT. They don’t care. They care about what’s in it for them.

Well, what’s in it for them? They live in your local market?

What’s that lifestyle?

They’re going for a lifestyle. That is contextual. You need to be focused on the consumers. Okay? Ooze the lifestyle, share the community, be a resource, be valuable.

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Run Page Like Ads

As soon as you start that page –  as soon as you start sharing value and local stuff on your page, you need to start running page “Like” ads at $1 per day, okay?

I typically teach that you need to whatever your audience size is you need do it for $10 a day for 10 days but if you’re bootstrapping it and you have $30 a month we can do this.

Now, remember this is going to take you time. It absolutely is going to take time if you’re running page “Like” ads and your page name is all about you, your page “Like” ads will fail.  

If you’re running page “Like” ads and your content is all about selling crap, your page “Like” ads will fail.

If you’re running page “Like” ads and your pictures or header or profile picture is all about selling stuff, your ads will fail.

Period. They will fail.

So you must absolutely put your page in a position where it’s for the lifestyles, for the consumers.

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The Facebook Page Setup Checklist

I am just realizing you will need the Facebook Page Setup Checklist so if you would please comment in the video above, then go over to opt-in with RIBBIT, go over and respond to RIBBIT for the notes, I will then later send you the link to the download so you can go through these so your page will actually produce results for you.

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Run IDX Focused Posts

The next step after you’re running page “Like” ads, you never stop. You never ever stop running page “Like” ads. What did I say? You never stop running page like ads. You always have page “Like: ads running. Alright?

Your page is oozing the lifestyle, you’re sharing the community, you’re a resource, you’re valuable, you’re page “Like” ads are running, they never stop.

Once a week run a “Home for sale in _______ (specific area)” It’s an IDX focused post.

Here’s how you do it. This is where the specifics are.

Number one: You must have an IDX that allows you…I am going to give you the link for the best IDX to use. It’s in the resources so here’s the thing:

Number one, first step on this ad. It must be using IDX. I have the link for you.  If you comment in the video above I will send you the link. RIBBIT will send you the IDX to use. It must require immediate registration.

You’ve got to get over the whole “They can get the stuff on Zillow” attitude or whatever mindset. You must require registration.

That is number 1.

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Your Posts Should Not Be Salesy

Number 2: your post you’re putting up needs to not be salesy. It needs to say “Check out the latest homes that have come on the market for sale!” “Can you believe blah, blah, blah is there?” “Can you believe what it is?”…It doesn’t matter.

You need to put this post up every single week. If the link is dynamic, it will change and it will update. You must require registration. Basically, this post is called your lead magnet. Okay, so what you’re going to do is to bring people who are targeted to your page.

You’re going to be giving out free stuff that is valuable and interesting and engaging about your local market, local photos, community stuff, funny stuff, whatever it is and once a week your going to run “Check out  these home in blah blah blah”, whatever it is, whatever little town you’re doing! Okay?

Not Los Angeles….nobody wants to see homes throughout all of Los Angeles. If you’re in one area, narrow it down. If you’re in a big area, just narrow it down to a small, specific area for this IDX. Your IDX search must absolutely have this small layout or be focused this way.

So you’re going to put that post up every single week. This is your lead magnet so basically you’re building your audience on Facebook. You now have a lead magnet that you’re getting people to opt into your list. Alright, so that means your email list.

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You Need To Send A Weekly, Valuable Email

So now what they’re doing is, they’re in your email list. Again I will send you my links to a free email service to use.

You need to send a weekly, valuable email to everyone on your email list.

What do you send?

This is to people who have specifically opted in through your lead magnet.

This is not to everyone in your contacts. This is what you do…the very first person who opts into your email list, you better be committed to sending every week same day, same time, sending them an email.

This is exactly what I did with Leads and Leverage, What did I send them? Well, the first part of that email is sentence or two about me or a thought that I had, how I am doing this week, whatever it is, it’s personable.

Second piece of it is, “Hey I just got the question, blah, blah, blah, blah and I answered it right here.” You don’t have to say on my blog but it was on my blog and I would drive these people to a valuable, real answer resource on my blog.

So I gathered them on Facebook and got them to opt into my email list and I am starting relationships with them on my email list. I am driving them back to my blog so I am getting this traffic going and of course as you grow you start re-targeting all of them in there.

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Always Be Posting On Facebook

You have to always be posting on Facebook. You have to always be writing blog content for your website every week.

In the beginning write two a week.

You must be doing that. You must be sending a weekly email.

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These Are The 3 Key Things To Building Your Business

These are the 3 key things, the 3 keys things that I did that when we launched. Five months later from the time I started doing this, 5 months later when we launched….from that date until December 21, we were at six-figures in a brand new business.

Now that means that if you do this it is easy to get 10 transactions a year from doing this. Really easy, meaning it’s simple, simple to do it, but here is why it’s not easy to do because you won’t actually sit your butt down and do it.  You will go, “Ughh I don’t know what to say.” or “The blogging is not working, I’ve been doing it 3 times or 20 times or even 30 times” That’s like 15 weeks…you didn’t do it long enough. Period.

You’re building a business. It takes time. It takes time to build a business.

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How To Bootstrap All Of This

If you’re going to bootstrap it, this is what you’re going to do. The minute you have another dollar a day to spend on for ads, page “Like” ads at $1 a day, the minute you have another dollar a day to spend on ads for Facebook ads, then you need to be running an engagement ad. Probably around the homes for sale in IDX so you need to be pumping out your lead magnet.

So your first step is page “Like” ads, your second is pumping out your lead magnet and keep adjusting your budget with those as you have more revenue to do so.  

This takes time. You are going to wash, rinse repeat. You are going to never stop doing this.

You’re going to become more valuable. More and more content will be out there for you. You’re going to focus on getting people to engage with your page because the people who engage with your page are more interested and more willing to hear what you have to say.

Then you are going to focus on people who engaged with your page to opt-in into your list because you’re giving them something that they want. Then you’re going to focus on being valuable to your list, email list so that they convert.

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The Process Is Really Simple

It’s really simple. The process is really simple.

The hard part comes is we’re just not plain willing to do it. We say we don’t have time because we’re busy, well really?? Has Netflix ever been turned on in your house? Is the TV ever turned on in your house?

I am going to get into some mindset stuff. Are you able to have time to go to bowling league? Are you able to have time to go out to eat? Are you?…..

You have time. Every single one of you has time. It’s how you’re choosing to use your time. It really is how you’re literally choosing to spend your time.  So if you’re not committed to actually growing your business over the long haul you won’t actually do this.

You may think you are but maybe . .you are not persisting in being consistent then you’re not actually committed. Then that gets into the whole why are you doing this blah, blah, blah etc.

The key is….the key is this takes time and so many of you I’ve heard say, “well yeah I know you said it would take time, I’ve been doing it for 3 months!” That’s not time, that’s not time. You expect a sale after 3 months? You expect a sale after 6 months?

Like it takes time. It takes time to do this, to get people because most people you’re bringing into this have to get to know you. Then they’re about 7, well more like 9-18 months out from actually closing a transaction. So you can’t just stop. This is why you must keep doing this, all 3 of these.

You must, must, must have your website where you’re creating valuable content, giving valuable answers.

You must, must, must have your Facebook page where you’re gathering an audience who doesn’t know you and getting them to opt-in into your list.

You must, must, must be sending an email every single week without fail to your list to drive them to your website.

You must be circulating this whole thing. You have to be.

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Build Your Business And Scale It

If you want to build your business and then scale it this is how it works or you could go spend $2,000 a month and run Facebook ads that you in six months have to spend $3,000 a month for the same thing because you’re only going for low hanging fruit.

Then you’re going to have to spend $4,000 six months later because it’s going to get more expensive and people aren’t going to have a relationship with you and you’re always going to have to be doing that because you’re not actually building any relationships with any of those leads that are coming in.

So basically, if they’re not ready, willing and able right that second, you’re not interested. So 1 out of 500 are available, ready, willing and able right then. 1 out of 500. What are you going to do with the other 499?

Hello, it is much cheaper to keep communicating with them in your email list and in your community and giving them value than it is to keep spending 2, 4 or 6 thousand dollars a month on ads. Like it’s absurd to do that or buying Zillow or Realtor.com and spending like $40,000 a month.

If you’ve got a team, you need to be doing this as a team leader, as the lead generator for your business. This is what you’re supposed to be doing.

All the “gurus” are going to tell you other things. Get on the phone, do this, da de da da, bullcrap. Bullcrap.

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Relationships With People Are Where It’s At

If any of you know who Brenda Bouchard is, any of you? I don’t know if you know who Brenda Bouchard is? However, he started a business about 10 years ago and up until now he still, he is still the one doing his videos.

He has an 8-figure per year business. It’s still him in the videos. It’s still him writing the emails, still him writing the content. He has other people who are putting the pieces together for him but he knows that the business is based on his relationship with you or me or whoever. That is what he knows. That’s where the power is.

The biggest businesses that are now growing, right now in the world, know that relationships with people are where it’s at and if you as a real estate agent think you can outsource this stuff, good luck to you. It’s not going to work anymore.

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Don’t Get Distracted

I guess I am kinda, I started out with yes, you can absolutely bootstrap this, however the caveat with bootstrapping it is you have to put in the time and you have to stop kidding yourself that you don’t have the time and you have to stop letting yourself get distracted because “Oh I’ve been doing this for three months so I am going to go buy Zillow leads” or “I am going to do this.” Fine. Go buy Zillow leads but don’t stop doing this.

If you are starting out brand new absolutely you should be doing everything you possibly can. If you forsake what I am teaching you here, you will never ever grow. You will be scattered and having to panic until your next deal. You will always be that way.

This is key. If you can start this process before you actually get you license there are a lot of things you can do before you get your license. You can start a lot of this process before that and as you’re moving in, go ahead and do door knocking, go to open houses, go do those things but make sure your leads fit into this process.

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You Can Have A Self Sustaining Business

You’re going to have a self sustaining business in 3 years, in 4 years. Myra Hall did it, absolutely. She went from 0 to over a 150 transactions and she is now working 1 day a week. One day a week guiding her team after 4 years.

And, and, and she started this in her 60’s. This is what she’s doing, I taught her exactly what I did with Leads and Leverage. This is what she’s doing.  

So if you want to not work in 4 years and you want income coming in so now she works one day a week, you might still have to do that, but geez one day a week to have a six-figure income coming in….hmm….not too shabby.

But you have to invest the time and you have to keep doing it and you have to be consistent.

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The Tools I Recommend

So again, the tools I recommend…oh I didn’t go over the tools. Sorry about that! The tools I absolutely recommend – these are important: Your website I strongly, strongly, strongly, strongly, strongly, strongly, do you get the point recommend using Mike Muller with AreWeConnected.com

Why? Because every other vendor ties you to their system, straps you into their stuff which does not work as well as the pieces I am going to have you do to put together and not only that but for most of them you can’t take it with you.

If it’s your brokerage site, if you change brokerage or they change franchises you cannot take it with you and you’re screwed. He will help you own your own site. Own your hub, Mike Muller with AreWeConnected.com

If you comment in the video above, I will send you the link to his site and how to contact him in the resources I am sending you.

Number two, you need to have a Facebook business page. That your focus is on the client, meaning your page name is about them, your header is about them, everything else is about them and you need to have a page “Like” ad running for  $30 a month, $1 a day.

Again, if you comment in the video above, you’ll get the Facebook Page Setup Checklist in these resources.  Everyone who comments and actually opts-in and goes to RIBBIT and says, whatever RIBBIT says to get this, I will send you that checklist later this afternoon. I forgot to do that, so if you want that comment in this video and make sure you go respond to RIBBIT.

Number three tool you need is IDX. I strongly recommend a specific IDX.  I am not going to say the name on here. I strongly recommend a specific IDX and I put that information in the resources.

And email. You need to use MailChimp. It is free. I put a link to it in the resources, I believe if you that if you end up paying for it there is a discount for MailChimp in that link.

So here’s the thing: You need a website. A Facebook business page with a page “Like” ad running. You need a specific IDX and you need the email program.

Not Top Producer, Not Contactually. Not Liondesk, Not Wise Agent, or not whatever. Those are CRMS. You want an email service that is focused on getting emails into the email inbox. That is a whole other topic and I will do a video on that.

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Let’s Recap

So that’s what you need. Let’s recap this okay?

You need a website. You have to have a website. I’m not talking a brochure. I mean you need to be putting content that you’re writing, that you’re creating on that website. It could be written, it could be video, it could be audio.

It doesn’t matter at this point. You need to get content on that website. If it is video or audio you need to have it transcribed so that Google can read it.

Alright, that’s blogging. You need to be blogging once a week at minimum.

The second thing you need a Facebook business page that oozes the lifestyle and you’re running page “like” ads for $1 a day at a minimum to be building your audience.

And you need email. That is number 3. You need email specific so you need to be sending  out a valuable weekly email the minute you get one person on that list without fail.

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Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Again wash, rinse, repeat.

You never stop doing this.You become more and more valuable. Literally this is exactly what I did to launch Leads and Leverage. This is exactly what I did to launch an organizing firm before Facebook existed.

I didn’t have a Facebook business page but what I did instead was get a snail mail list of people and did all this in the snail mail realm. That’s what we did for our real estate business. The process works.

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Put In The Time And Be Committed

You just have to put in the time and be committed and I mean be COMMITTED.

You have to.

If you want a real estate business, you’ll be committed. If you’re a part of the 87% you’re going to fail. Sorry to be so blunt here but it’s true only 13% of people make it past 5 years and of that 13% less than 20% of them are actually making a living at it. Like actually making a living so if you want to be different, if you want to be that person that succeeds, you have to put your head down and do this.

You’ve got to ignore everything else. You have to, have to, have to and it is, I’m telling you right now that it is way easier now with advent of Facebook and the ability to create this audience and drive this audience to these resources on your website then it was 5 years ago, 7 years ago. Way easier now….you have to put the time into it. You have to put the time into it.

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Always See Things As Content

And you’re constantly looking to see what people are interested in and wanting, always seeing things as content.

Every time someone ask me a question, I’m like “Oh yeah, that was a great one, I’ll do a video on that.”  The same way I did in real estate, which is really funny, I think it was like nine years ago, I had a memory come up a couple days ago from nine years ago and I was called out as one of the big people in the area, in our area, using video.

I’ve been using video for almost a decade. Video is huge so you should probably get on video but I still started with blog content with Leads and Leverage. I didn’t actually start doing video until I really started for Leads and Leverage until my Facebook page started moving.  

It will move faster if you use video. That’s just the changes that are happening.

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What Was Most Useful For You?

So I talked about the tools you need etc. I really need this from you. I want to keep giving you content. If you want me to dive deeper on any these things I talked about whether it’s strategy, whether it’s pieces of the tactic, or any of the tools, if you want me to dive deeper on there I need you to tell me what I should be doing in the comments below.

Additionally, I would love it if you told me “What was most useful for you?” What was most useful for you today? What did you need to hear? Or what did you hear that made you go, “Oh I hadn’t thought of that?” Or “I haven’t implemented that.”

Every time, I mean I know a lot about Facebook. I know a lot about lead generation, I’ve had a lot of success using both and in multiple businesses, but every single time that I get a chance to listen to someone who is having a different form of success than me, in a different industry, I always learn something new.

Just this morning, I was like “Oh I need to test that to see if it will work in my industry, in real estate.” It’s not that it won’t work, it’s will that work? Let me try it to see if will work.

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You Don’t Have To Be Perfect

The reason you are getting these videos every single day at 10:00 am weekday…..you want to know why?  Because I am in a coaching group. I am being coached for Live streaming and it’s because the main person said, “I want you to do a live everyday in August.”

Now, I heard that and I went “Live everyday in August?” Can I go live everyday? No, but I can go every weekday because that’s when you’re online so I’ll go live every single week day. I cleared my calendar so I could go live for 10:00 am, every single weekday in August, right?

Well I started do that. You are showing up asking me questions. I am helping you with these answers. I am loving it… it is fueling me,…it’s helping me be more creative. It’s fueling my membership. I am able to answer more questions because I am talking it out. I’ve created more classes, more resources etc. for my members so it has been an amazing, creative outlet for me.

But here’s the thing, it’s also growing my page. Here’s the kicker. I am doing it wrong. Yeah, I am doing it wrong. I’m not doing the live everyday in August the way I am supposed to.

What was it supposed to be? Actually, it was meant for people to answer a specific question that they ask each day inside the group on video. I didn’t know that. I had no idea. Am I doing that now? No because I heard Live everyday in August and I went I am going to help my community, my members, etc so that’s what I’m going to do. That’s what I turned it into.

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Stop Worrying About Getting It Right

My point is that even if you’re doing it wrong, it’s still probably going to be right because this has been amazing for me not doing this right. I’m not at all. But it’s working because I am enjoying it. I am answering your questions. You are getting value out of it and so do you get it? Stop worrying about being perfect. Stop worrying about getting it right. Just get started.

Literally just get started. That’s what you want to do. I want to encourage you. I want you to stick to it. This has been a challenge. I only go live during the weekdays but you know what’s interesting? I thought for sure I was going to have a day or two where I  just didn’t want to go live but because I made the commitment to all of you, I haven’t felt that way.

In fact, I have cleared out my calendar as much as possible to go live everyday, every weekday at 10:00 am for the rest of the year because I have about 500 questions you guys are asking me. I want to make sure that the people I am helping are the people who are coming live. If you’re here and you hear this and you’re commenting, tell me what I need to help you with? What do you want me to go deeper on?

Again, make sure you get that so what was most useful for you? What do you want me to go deeper on in any of these steps?

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This Is The Plan

So today I walked you through how to bootstrap. This bootstrap worked for this business, Leads and Leverage. I bootstrapped it, absolutely.

It has worked for several members who are actually…this is the plan, this is it. This is what I am teaching, this is it.  This is literally the plan. There is a whole bunch of nuances into it but you could take this and run with it, like literally take it and run with it.

So I would really like to see you guys take this and run with it so let me know how it’s working, how I could help you, what other questions you have, if you have anything else let me know.

Make sure you comment below if you want the bootstrap steps and then make sure that you go ahead and go over to Messenger and respond to RIBBIT in Messenger to get it right.  

Okay you guys are awesome! Thank you so much for being here today. You inspire me, you energize me so I thank you for that!

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Sneak Past Your Colleagues & Dominate Facebook


Sneak past your colleagues and dominate Facebook. Join me inside THE VAULT: CLICK HERE to join:


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Filed Under: Lead Generation

by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

It’s the little things that make the biggest difference in our results. If you’re not getting prospects from Facebook, you’re probably making these 7 mistakes.


Featured Download: The Facebook Page Setup Checklist – specifically for real estate agents – get your Facebook page setup to capture real estate leads.


I see it all the time: Real estate agents baffled about why their lead generation efforts on Facebook lead aren’t bringing any of the promised rewards.

Namely, leads. Closings.

But here’s the kicker: They haven’t set up their presence on Facebook to generate leads.

For the most part (and this isn’t even their fault), they’ve done what they know and that’s not much because there is no one is showing agents what they need to do to get targeted, valuable leads from Facebook.

We’ve been fed a load of blather about exposure, branding, conversations, reach, engagement and absolutely nothing tangible — nothing that leads us anywhere except going around in circles.

Of course some vendors have popped up that provide “automated resources” for us that fill in the gaps of all that blather I mentioned above.

But  guess what? All the gibberish these vendors are providing are a colossal waste of our money.

I hate to call these mistakes but they’re something I see happen all the time because the agents committing them simply don’t know any better,.

Here are the seven that I see the most often:

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Pick The Correct Category

First, when it comes to our Facebook page setup, we default to the “local business” category on Facebook.

Did you know there is another option? An option that actually gives you more avenues to drive and capture leads?

There is. It’s called “service.” It’s actually under the “Brand/Product” category with a sub-category of “Product/Service.”

Now, why would you want to categorize your page like this? Because you are a service!

Seriously. Your bricks and mortar brokerage is the local business but you are the service.

Don’t throw away your Facebook efforts by naming your page incorrectly.–Christina Ethridge

Now, there is something you lose when you categorize yourself as a service. You lose the space that the map takes up on the business page. You also lose the space dedicated to your location address.

However, you gain something important. You gain the map space you just lost. Space that you can use for a short description that includes a valuable call to action.

You also gain an above-the-fold push for your videos, which means people see your call to action and videos rather than a map.

These are infinitely more valuable.

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Naming Your Business Page

Second, most agents name their business page using either their name, their brokerage name or their franchise name.

I’m specifically talking about the display name of your page, not the URL name. Why is this a problem? Well, for many reasons.

  • What happens when you change your brokerage?
  • What happens if you start or stop a team?
  • What happens when your brokerage merges with another brokerage?
  • What happens when your brokerage goes bankrupt?
  • What happens when your brokerage owner changes franchises and thus brokerage names?
  • What happens if you get married or divorced or change your name for any reason?
  • Why are these questions a big deal? Because you get one opportunity to change the name of your page.
  • And if you have more than 200 page likes, that opportunity is at the discretion of Facebook, period.

In other words, if you spend the time, energy and money building your presence on Facebook and one of these things happen, you’ve just thrown away all of your efforts.

Another big reason real estate agents shouldn’t use their own, brokerage or franchise name is because the customer doesn’t like you — they like themselves.

That means they aren’t likely to connect with your name; they are likely to connect with what you can offer them.

So think about naming your page something different. Something local. Something with a lifestyle focus. Something they would consider valuable.Something that interests your customer.

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What Should I Share On My Facebook Business Page?

Third, one of the most-asked questions I get from real estate agents is: “What should I share on my Facebook business page?”

What you share on your Facebook business page should be what your customer needs and it needs to be relevant to their lifestyle.

It needs to solve their problems. It needs to be focused on walking them through their journey, including buying a home, selling a home, living in the community and repeating the process.

Remember, their journey is about 10 to 12 years long (that is the average length of time people own their homes), so you need to go on that journey with them through the content you share.

Don’t focus on a random calendar of events because you aren’t their activities director.

Make it about their lifestyle which includes the journey they go through with their home.
When they start thinking about moving, what are their needs?
What are their problems?
Did they get married? Adopt? Give birth?
Bring another generation into their home?
Get divorced?
Experience a death?
Change jobs?

Be meaningful, not meaningless, on Facebook. Yes, it matters.

Each one of these experiences can (and most are likely to) happen in the lives of your customers.

What do these mean for their lifestyle?

Their home?

That is what you want to share on your business page.

Here’s a clue: run away from national statistics which completely bore consumers. They’ll scroll on past.

Why?

Because national statistics are meaningless to them.

Most real estate agents don’t even understand how national statistics drill down and relate to their home so how can a customer who is outside of the real estate industry be able to connect those dots?

Be very careful with local statistics. If all you are doing is pushing out stats and saying “now’s the time to buy” that is not helping your customer. Not one iota. It’s pushing your agenda which is to have more closings.

Don’t kid yourself that it’s for your customer.

If you want local statistics to be for your customer, share a single statistic and drill it down to explain exactly how that statistic affects them or their home, personally.

If you can’t explain it to a 15-year-old so they understand it, you don’t understand it yourself — and neither will your customer.

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Stop Chasing The Algorithm

Fourth, stop chasing the algorithm.

There’s two things. Number one, it’s really, really, really hard to chase the algorithm. In fact, it’s impossible to chase the algorithm.

Here’s the thing. There will always be anomalies. You’re always gonna have things that just don’t seem to make any sense based on what had been happening on your page, right? There will always be anomalies and Facebook will always have random “what the heck” times. “What the heck” moments. It’s crazy posts. You’re just like, “What’s going on?”

Over the years I’ve seen the algorithm shift all over the place from heavily pushing text-only posts out to heavily pushing photo-only posts out, to heavily pushing video posts out to whatever. They just go back and forth.

What I watch and what I see are agents constantly trying to chase that algorithm. You’ll go to a conference and they’ll say, “Oh, it’s all about memes now. It’s all about memes now.” You start pushing out these memes and it works for a week or two. Then all of a sudden, boom, your page goes down again. You’re like, “What the heck? I can’t figure this out. What’s going on?”

There has always been a disconnect between what they heavily push out and what page fans actually engage with. There’s always been a disconnect with that. Which is surprising because why would they push something out that people are not interested in?

It’s been really interesting to watch. I’ve said this before, that I have content posts on my page. Things like blog articles, how-tos, etc., that you, as my page fans, really like. I know you like them because you click on them. You click through to them.

If it’s a blog, you’ll click through to go read it. If it’s a video, you’ll click through to watch it. I know that. The analytics show me what you actually like, right? Facebook just doesn’t push those out nearly as much as photo quotes or viral posts.

Now, the exception of that is a live video. They will push those out. They’ll push those out more than other posts because here’s why.  

Even though those valuable posts that people are liking, that your people are really liking, even though they’re getting more clicks and more people actually looking at the posts, not just reach, but actually looking at the posts, even though they consistently get more clicks than the ones that they do push out, they’re not gonna push them out because most of them lead people off Facebook.

That’s the first thing. Number one.

Does that mean you should stop putting them on there? No. Let’s keep going.

Now the question can be, “Why don’t they push them out”, and the answer is pretty obvious. They lead people off of Facebook. I gave you that answer.

Then the next question is, “Do I give Facebook more of what Facebook wants?” Yes and no. Here’s the thing. You always want to have a nice, healthy balance of about 6 posts a day spread out over a full 24-hour period, alright? A nice healthy balance of six posts a day.

What does healthy balance mean? A balance between what Facebook is currently pushing out. That’s where you have to watch your analytics on your page.

 Analytics can be a scary word, but that’s why you just kind of have to watch the insights on your page to see what’s being pushed out over the last 7 to 10 days and make sure to give them more like that. 

But you need to have a balance between what they’re currently pushing out, what your page fans like and you know that because not just the reach, but what they respond to, what they engage with, not, “Oh, I see a comment over here”, but literally looking at the analytics on your page and what Facebook has previously pushed out.

You need a balance between what they’re currently pushing out, a balance between what your page fans like, and a balance between what they previously pushed out.

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The Facebook Provided Unique URL

Fifth, we worry too much about our Facebook provided unique URL.

What am I talking about? I’m talking about the www.Facebook.com/YourPageName URL that Facebook lets us have.

We can’t figure out what to put there.

Should it be the same as our website?

Should it be the same as our Facebook business page name?

Should it be local keywords?

Here’s the thing. In general, no one really looks at it, so my suggestion is to align it locally. In other words, use your local town or city name and another descriptive word.

For example, www.Facebook.com/ChicagoLiving (at the time of writing this, there isn’t a page that is published using this unique URL — this is only an example).

Drive offline traffic to your Facebook business page. You’ll build a tribe. — Christina Ethridge

Although no one really looks at it, if you want to use it on any print pieces and drive traffic to the page  you’ll want something short and easy for your customers to use and connect with.

And yes, you should be driving traffic to your Facebook business page, especially really cold offline traffic. That connection is a way to start warming your traffic up to you and to get them into a space that allows you to keep re-targeting them everywhere they go.

But always remember, you don’t own the real estate, so your goal is always to be driving that same traffic to your website and your database.

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Don’t Succumb To Facebook’s Pressure Tactics

Sixth, don’t succumb to Facebook’s pressure tactics to get page likes when you first start your page.

Highlight

This one is a doozy and I’ve trained on it a plethora of times (and I’ll keep training on it).
Don’t ask your friends.
Don’t ask your colleagues.
Only gather targeted page likes.

Why would you do this? For many reasons.

Think of your Facebook business page likes as another database of sorts. That database is the beginning of building your tribe. People you want to work with, and people who want to work with you.

When you have a highly targeted tribe, you get the benefits. You get an engaged audience. You get energy on your page. You get freshness. All of those things affect your page’s health in the Facebook News Feed. In other words, they affect your results in the algorithm.

Although I advocate not chasing the algorithm, I also advocate not sabotaging your presence in the algorithm. Untargeted (detrimental) page likes will sabotage your page.

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Don’t Create Multiple Pages

Seventh, don’t create multiple pages.

For some reason, this one is a struggle for agents and quite frankly, I can totally relate. I struggled with it. Heck, at one time I had a Facebook business page for every subdivision I targeted in my area. What a colossal waste of time and energy!

Don’t create a different page for each town in your area. Don’t create a different page for each neighborhood. Focus on your most important, main area for your page.

 Want to master Facebook lead generation? Don’t create multiple pages.  

Why? Because creating and maintaining multiple pages divides your assets.

On Facebook, you’ll get better traction with one page. There is a snowball effect. The more traffic you have on a page, the more it’s rolled into the algorithm, the more it’s pushed out in your tribe’s news feed.

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When you have multiple pages, you divide your focus.

In an age when we are already overwhelmed by shiny objects and squirrels and the book “The One Thing” is a novelty (it’s a powerful book — I suggest you get your hands on it and read it over and over again), we need to take a step back and stop trying to create niches in every single thing we do.

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You can not maintain multiple pages.

You might think you can, but if you aren’t getting a steady flow of closings from the page you already have, what makes you think that dividing your focus will give you different results? In reality, you’ll get even less than you are already getting.

When you have multiple pages, it will monopolize your time, and you’ll be on the constant hunt trying to figure out how to make multiple pages work for you.

There is a reason that canned content doesn’t work to bring in closings — the same thing goes for multiple pages. Your customer knows when your focus is divided and you are pumping out robotic content. They know when you are just in it for the lead and not for them.

You’ll be a jack of all trades and a master of none. You’ll be less effective in your Facebook lead generation efforts.

OK, now my questions for you are:

Are you doing any of these things and, what are you going to do to change it?

What are you going to do to stop sabotaging your Facebook lead generation efforts?

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Get The Facebook Page Setup Checklist


Featured Download: The Facebook Page Setup Checklist – specifically for real estate agents – get your Facebook page setup to capture real estate leads.


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Filed Under: Lead Generation

by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

Don’t underestimate the power of saying thanks and celebrating life. Learn the 5 simple steps today on how to turn holiday cheer into lead conversion with Facebook


[Featured Download] Need a step-by-step checklist for this? I created one for you. Click here to download it and enjoy.


Celebrating with people will bring you more business than selling to them

Do you want more real estate closings in 2018?

I’m sure you do, so I’m going to show you something powerful and yet so simple. Something that we sorely underestimate in its ability to convert people to using our services.

I’m sure you’ve either heard of or even run your own Facebook ads for seller and buyer leads.

You’ve probably also heard me talk about how important it is to make sure your Facebook business page likes are highly targeted, aka beneficial to your business.

 Online lead generation isn’t always about how many people you get into your database. 

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Don’t underestimate the power of the simple things in lead conversion.

If you don’t believe me when I say you need to remove all of your friends, out-of-area family and real estate colleagues from your Facebook business page, please stop right now and read this article.

If you move forward with what I’m going to show you with a mixed audience, you’ll waste a whole lot of money and see minimal results from what follows.

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OK, are you ready? Let’s do this.

One of the best ways to convert prospects into clients is to give to them without the expectation of return. I know you’ve heard this before but what does it mean exactly and how does it apply to your online presence?

Well, in this case, it’s about saying thanks, making people feel special and celebrating life. Specifically, I’m referring to running holiday ads on Facebook that are geared toward your Facebook fans and website visitors.

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Give without the expectation of return.

You might be wondering, how does running holiday ads convert prospects? When you do it well and often you create an avalanche of good will and as we all know, what goes around comes around.

People love it when someone else says or does something that makes them feel good.

Even Facebook knows how to do it:

Here’s the deal: Doing this is so incredibly easy (and inexpensive); it’s a no-brainer.

Here, I’ll show you how to run this step-by-step. If you have any questions  please hop into the Facebook for Real Estate Agents group to ask and I’ll see what I can do to help you.

 Making people feel special is one of the best ways to convert prospects. 

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Step 1: Aim your traffic and your targeting

Make sure your Facebook page likes are highly targeted. Like I said earlier, this will be a waste of money and time for you if you’ve got your random family or friends and colleagues connected to your business page — random meaning people who are not your ideal client.

If they live in Turkey and aren’t contemplating a move, they are random.

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Get rid of your detrimental page likes.

And, make sure you are pixeling your website traffic. This means your Facebook Ads Pixel should be up and running on your website.

Facebook ad conversion depends upon targeted page likes.

If you aren’t sure where or how to do this, here’s a quick explanation:
Go to Facebook Ads Manager
Go to Audiences Go to Create Audience
Go to Custom Audience
Go to Website Traffic
View or Create Your Pixel Code

Install your pixel code on your website (you might need help from your website creator)

Note: If your site is a sub-site of your broker’s, or you’re using eEdge or a mass template that doesn’t allow you to add code to the header section — <head> </head> — of your site, you will not be able to pixel (or target) your website visitors so this step will not be an option for you.

And, if this is the case, you need to look at better website options. The power of using Facebook lies heavily in the power of ad targeting your website visitors.

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Step 2: Choose your (original) visuals

Select your image and optimize it according to Facebook’s standards.

You have so many options open to you, but always remember, you absolutely must own your image — in other words, you must take the picture yourself — or you must have written permission to use the image.

All photos are copyrighted by the creator automatically the minute they are created, and the last thing you want to do is ruin your reputation (and run into legal issues) by stealing someone else’s photo.

So you can’t go to Google or Flickr or any other source and just pick an image to run. You have to make sure in writing that you, as a business, are allowed to use the picture. Most free-use images exclude commercial gain.

Don’t make this mistake.

Stop stealing! Those photos aren’t yours.

I highly recommend using Shutterstock to gather images. The quality and selection are second to none. You want a fabulous image that stands out against everything else on Facebook.

Some keywords you can input on Shutterstock include: Christmas, holiday, Christmas manger, Hanukkah, December, new year, holiday celebration, etc.

Next, go to PicMonkey and resize your image. You want 1200 by 1200 pixels for this particular creation.

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Step 3: Put your ad together

Create your ads. Here are the steps you’ll need to follow to create your ad (inside Ads Manager):

Create Campaign (name it)

Buying Type: Auction

Objective: Page Post Engagement

Create Ad Set (name it)

Note: You’ll want to run two ad sets — one for website visitors and one for page fans.

Budget: (Choose)

Schedule: (Choose)

Audience: (Custom Audience: Website Visitors or Page Likes)

Placement: (Choose)

Optimization and Pricing: (Leave default)

Advanced Delivery: (Leave default)

Create Ad (name it)

Text: Give your holiday greeting

Image: Upload your image

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Step 4: Go live

It’s time to publish your ad. Don’t be nervous, this is going to be fun!

 Don’t underestimate the power of saying thanks and celebrating life. 

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Step 5: Enjoy the journey

Yes, enjoy this. When people comment on your ad — respond to them. Engage with them. They wouldn’t comment if they didn’t want to engage with you.

Did you make people feel special? Please share your results in the comments section below.

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[Featured Download]

Need a step-by-step checklist for this? I created one for you. Click here to download it and enjoy.


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Filed Under: Lead Generation Tagged With: facebook ads, facebook marketing

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