Facebook Essentials: Organic Lead Generation for Real Estate
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When properly harnessed, it's an extraordinary platform for lead generation in real estate. And as you already know, it holds immense power in helping realtors reach with potential clients.
After all, you've heard us talk non-stop about how with the right strategy, lead ads can just as competitive a source for high-quality leads as Google PPC. You probably already know all about how lead registration coming in from your ad campaigns are as important as your campaigns themselves.
But did you know there's a way to capture even more leads on Facebook on top of the ones you're already paying for? I'm talking about organic lead generation on Facebook.If you're unfamiliar with the topic, organic lead generation is about attracting potential clients naturally without resorting to paid advertisements.
Think of it as cultivating a garden: instead of buying plants (paid leads), you're planting seeds (organic leads) and nurturing them to grow.
It's an ongoing effort, but it's one that reaps long-term rewards in the form of a strong, loyal customer base. You can even think of it as an extension of your sphere of influence, but digital and online.
Much like with a physical garden, however, navigating without the right tools and know-how can jeopardize your lead generation efforts.
But fear not, because today we'll decipher the essential elements of organic lead generation on Facebook together and ensure that your real estate business is maximizing every bit of value you can be deriving from your online presence today!
But first, a quick reminder of all the best lead generation tools every realtor should have in their toolkit in 2024:
Ready to generate leads organically and convert them into customers? Let's dive in.
If you're completely new to the term "organic lead generation," don't worry.
Depending on the platform, the meaning of the word changes completely. For example, the term just means SEO when you're talking about organic lead generation on Google or Bing.
But it's a little different for platforms like Facebook, given how the platform isn't really just a search engine but also a social platform. People are in here to connect with friends and family, learn about the latest gossip, find news updates, and more.
So in reality, you're not just competing against other realtors in your location and your niche; you need to compete for attention against all those posts from their Aunt Sally too! In essence, organic leads are potential clients that you haven't paid to attract.
These are individuals who find their way to your Facebook page naturally, as a result of captivating content, excellent community management, or perhaps a shared post from one of your followers.
Paid vs. Organic Leads
In contrast, paid leads are generated through paid advertisements.
We will not delve too deeply into the topic (because we already cover it extensively here), paid leads do have their place in your lead generation strategy, especially if you're planning to use Facebook.
For one, organic lead generation potentially offers a higher return on investment that scales with your ad spend.But if you don't have a big budget to work with, organic leads are a must.
Done right, you could build for yourself a self-sustaining cycle of engagement and discovery, one where your followers naturally amplify your reach by engaging with your content.
How Facebook's Algorithms Affect Organic Reach
Even if you're not as entrenched into the tech world as others are, you've probably heard the word "algorithm."
It might sound intimidating, but it really isn't. All it means is that Facebook has a list of rules and regulations that guide the way it works, rules that are grounded and enforced by code.It's not a chance game. Facebook's algorithms are behind the curtain, controlling the organic reach of your content.
For instance, you've probably noticed that Facebook's algorithm determines which posts appear at the top of your news feed, as well as when they appear there. It also identifies who sees what content and where it appears in your feed.
That said, have you ever wondered why your Facebook post doesn't reach everyone who follows your page?
Let's take a peek behind the curtain of Facebook's algorithms for a minute.
As mentioned there are algorithms that determine who sees your content and how often. When you post engaging content, your followers are likely to interact with it - whether it's a like, comment, share, or even a “click to read more”.
Facebook's algorithm takes note of these interactions and is more likely to show your future posts to these engaged users.
As this interaction continues, your organic reach increases, which then leads to higher organic lead generation.So the name of the organic lead generation game on Facebook, really, is trying to please its algorithms so that your content is more likely to surface in people's feeds.
For the most part, the algorithm favors posts that drive engagement, are relevant, and come from trustworthy sources.
So, if a post gets a lot of likes, comments, shares, and has high-quality content, Facebook’s algorithm will likely give it a better reach.The rewards for mastering them are undeniably massive, especially for real estate professionals aiming to grow their brand without shelling out large sums for paid promotions.
But there's a catch: Facebook's algorithms are always changing and evolving based on users' behavior and feedback. And not only that, sometimes Meta deliberately changes their algorithm to accomplish certain ends.
For instance, Facebook announced in 2018 that they would prioritize posts from friends and family over public content, affecting the organic reach of brands and businesses.
Although it may seem challenging, understanding these updates and aligning them with your strategies is key to staying afloat in the sea of Facebook content.
Here are some of the factors that the Facebook algorithms currently look at to determine which content to prioritize:
Relevancy Score: Every post has a relevancy score, an estimate of how well your audience will react to it. It's based on factors like how your post is performing and the past performance of similar posts.
Post Engagement: If your post prompts engagements like reactions, comments, and shares, the algorithm is more likely to distribute it organically to more people.
Post Type: Certain types of posts are prioritized by the Facebook algorithm. For example, videos often get more organic reach than text posts.
User Preferences: The algorithm also takes individual user behavior into account. If a user often engages with your posts, they're more likely to see your future content.
We will talk about some of these more in depth later, but suffice it to say that we need not talk about Facebook's algorithms as hurdles but as a compass for creating content that resonates with your audience and fulfills their needs.
Understanding how the algorithms work and constantly updating your strategies accordingly allows you to leverage the full weight of the platform to your advantage.
That being said, it's always useful to keep an eye on Facebook's newsroom for any updates or changes to the algorithm. Stay informed, adapt, and reap the benefits of organic lead generation.
As mentioned, to generate organic leads on Facebook, you need to create engaging content that provides value to your audience and encourages them to interact with you.
You also need to build a community around your page and establish yourself as a trusted and helpful source of information and guidance. Here are some best practices for organic lead generation on Facebook for real estate agents:
Creating Engaging Content
Engaging content simply means content that captures your audience's attention because it provides them value. In real estate, that looks like content that showcases your expertise, your personality, and your value proposition.
It also looks like content that educates, entertains, or even inspires your audience to take action, making them want to learn more about you and your services.
To generate organic leads on Facebook, the number one cardinal rule is to create content that resonates with your audience. Here are some concrete ways to hook your audience and keep them coming back for more:
The vast and versatile canvas of Facebook presents numerous opportunities to produce content that captures attention and sparks conversation.
The undisputed champion among these is video content. Videos bring stories to life, offer valuable insights, and create a bond with your audience that is hard to replicate with other formats. They can take many forms - property walkthroughs, client testimonials, or DIY tips for home sellers.
For perspective, video ads have an average CTR of 1.84% across all industries, whereas the CTR for Facebook ads is 0.90%.
There is an element of immediacy and authenticity with Facebook Live that makes it a powerful platform for interaction. It's like inviting your audience into your world, in real-time.
Facebook Live events could include Q&A sessions, virtual open houses, or behind-the-scenes looks at your day-to-day activities. This medium breathes life into your content, making it more relatable and engaging for your audience.
Interested in reaching a broader audience through done-for-you video ads with your branding on it? Learn more about DyVA here.
Building a Community
Creating engaging content is only one part of the equation. To maximize organic lead generation leads, you also need to focus on cultivating a community around your content and your brand. Here are a couple of strategies toward that:
Facebook groups are potent tools for community building.
Whether it's a group dedicated to a particular neighborhood or a platform for sharing real estate tips, these communities act as a safe space for your audience to interact, ask questions, and share experiences.
When you create and manage a Facebook group, you are in a good position to establish yourself as a credible and approachable resource in your field.
Interaction with your audience is not a one-way street. It's crucial to be responsive to comments, messages, and reviews.
Show your audience that you value their input and are ready to assist them.Engaging with your audience regularly not only builds trust but also boosts your visibility in their news feeds, further enhancing your organic reach.
Regular Interaction and Updates
Consistency is the third pillar of your organic lead generation efforts on Facebook. The following are what it looks like in practice:
When you post consistently, you’re telling your audience that you're active, engaged, and invested in providing them with valuable content.
It’s a simple yet effective strategy for maintaining visibility and attracting organic leads.
Timely responses to comments, messages, and reviews foster a sense of community and make your audience feel valued.
By interacting with your audience, you’re not only maintaining engagement levels but also improving your chances of appearing in their news feeds.
Now that you have a good idea on what to do with content and how to grow an audience, let's discuss some of the finer points of your strategy.
Leveraging Facebook's Native Organic Lead Gen Tools
It starts with understanding the tools available and how to best utilize them. Toward that end, Facebook has an array of resources tailored for organic lead generation.
We've already covered tools such as Facebook Live and Groups, but there are two more powerful tools that can help you engage users on the platform.
Stories are short, ephemeral videos or photos that disappear after 24 hours. They can help you capture your audience’s attention and curiosity by showing them a glimpse of your day, your work, or your personality.
You can use stories to showcase your listings, share tips or insights, or give shout-outs to your clients or partners.
Stories are one of my favorite tools to use on Facebook because they allow me to connect with my audience on a more personal level.
You can use stories to show the behind-the-scenes of your work, such as preparing for a showing, negotiating a deal, or celebrating a closing.You can also use stories to share valuable information that can help your clients achieve their real estate goals, such as market updates, home improvement tips, or financing options.
Of course, you can also use stories to show appreciation and recognition to your clients and partners, giving them a shoutout in the form of thanking them for their referrals, congratulating them on their purchase or sale, or featuring them in a testimonial.
360-degree posts are photos or videos that allow your audience to explore a scene from different angles by moving their phone or cursor.
They can help you create an immersive and interactive experience for your audience by showing them the full picture of a property or a location.
One use that's very popular among realtors is using 360 posts to showcase the neighborhood or community where they are located. This helps prospective buyers get a better idea of the area and explore the surroundings.
You can also use this to give your audience a virtual tour of the properties you're selling, so they can see every detail and angle of the home.
You can also use 360-degree posts to highlight the amenities and attractions of the locations where your listings are located, such as the views or the neighborhood vibe.
Facebook Insights allows you to track various metrics, such as page views, page likes, post reach, post engagement, video views, and more.
You can also see the demographics and behavior of your audience, such as their age, gender, location, and when they are most active on Facebook.You can use this information to optimize your content and timing to match your audience’s preferences and interests.
You need to check Facebook Insights regularly to see how your posts are performing and what kind of feedback you're getting from your audience.
Use this data to adjust your content strategy and experiment with different types of posts, formats, and topics. You can also use Facebook Insights to identify your most engaged and loyal followers, and reach out to them personally to build rapport and trust.
By using Facebook Insights, you can make data-driven decisions that will help you improve your organic lead generation results.
You can also use Facebook Insights to measure your progress and success over time, and celebrate your achievements.
There are other things that you can do to boost your organic reach on Facebook:
Use hashtags: Hashtags are words or phrases that start with a # sign and are used to categorize or label your content. They can help you increase your visibility and discoverability on Facebook by making your content searchable and relevant to specific topics or trends. You can use hashtags related to your niche, such as #realestate, #homebuying, #homeselling, #luxuryhomes, #waterfrontproperties, #urbanliving, etc.
Use emojis: Emojis are symbols or icons that represent emotions, objects, animals, or activities. They can help you add personality and emotion to your content and make it more appealing and engaging to your audience. You can use emojis to express your feelings, emphasize your points, or create lists or bullet points.
Use polls: Polls are questions that allow your audience to vote for one of two or more options. They can help you increase your interaction and feedback from your audience by making them feel involved and valued in your content. You can use polls to ask for opinions, preferences, feedback, or suggestions from your audience.
Leverage User-generated content: Leveraging user-generated content (UGC) is another strategy you can employ to boost organic lead generation. User-generated content is essentially any content—text, videos, images, reviews, etc., created by people, rather than brands. UGC is relatable and authentic, which prompts more engagement from other users. If you succeed in creating a strong UGC strategy, your followers will become your marketers.
Organic lead generation on Facebook is not without challenges. As Facebook's algorithm changes frequently and becomes more selective about what content users see, organic reach tends to decline over time.
This means that you have to work harder and smarter to create engaging content that stands out from the crowd and reaches your target audience. You also have to monitor your performance and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Here are some common challenges and solutions in organic lead generation on Facebook:
Low Organic Reach
Low organic reach means that your content is not seen by many people, even if they follow your page or have engaged with your content in the past. This can result in low engagement and lead generation. To overcome this challenge, you can use some of the following solutions:
Boosting your posts means paying a small amount of money to increase the visibility and reach of your posts.
You can boost your posts to target people who have engaged with your page or your content in the past, or people who have similar interests or demographics to your audience.This can help you increase your organic reach and engagement, as well as generate more leads from your boosted posts.
I know this defeats the purpose of keeping things "organic," but as a last resort, this works well to increase the reach of important posts that you think can drive engagement for your brand.
As you already know, video content is favored by Facebook’s algorithm and tends to have higher organic reach and engagement than other types of content.
However, not all video content is created equal. You need to optimize your video content to make it more appealing and effective for your audience.
Some of the ways you can optimize your video content are by using catchy titles and thumbnails, adding captions and subtitles, keeping it short and concise, using a clear call to actio
n, and repurposing it for different platforms or formats. If your the video content you uploaded recently isn't performing well, replace these elements with better, more value-driven ones.
As previously mentioned, Facebook groups are spaces where people can interact with each other around a specific topic or theme. You can use Facebook groups to share valuable content, answer questions, provide feedback, or start discussions.
However, you also need to engage with your group members on a regular basis to build relationships and trust with them.
That means you shouldn't be only at the receiving end of the interaction.Facebook also rewards you with small boosts of visibility when you engage with the content of your group members by liking and commenting on THEIR posts, sending them personal messages, tagging them in relevant posts, inviting them to events or webinars, or asking for their feedback or testimonials.
Low conversion rate
Low conversion rate means that your leads are not turning into clients, even if they have shown interest in your services and have provided their information. This can result in wasted time and money. To overcome this challenge, you can use some of the following solutions:
Following up promptly means contacting your leads within 24 hours or less after they have submitted their information or engaged with your content. This can help you build trust and rapport with your leads and show them that you are professional and reliable.
You can follow up with your leads by phone, email, text, or messenger, depending on their preference and availability.
Providing value means offering something useful or beneficial to your leads that can help them solve their problems or achieve their goals. This can help you establish yourself as an expert and a helpful source of information and guidance.
You can provide value to your leads by sending them free resources, such as ebooks, guides, checklists, or reports, or by inviting them to sign up for a webinar, a newsletter, or a consultation.
Asking for referrals means asking your leads or clients to recommend you to their friends, family, or colleagues who might need your services.
This can help you generate more leads from word-of-mouth and trust. You can ask for referrals by phone, email, text, or messenger, depending on their preference and availability.
High Competition
High competition means that there are many other real estate agents who are using Facebook to generate organic leads for their business. This can result in lower visibility and differentiation for your content and page. To overcome this challenge, you can use some of the following solutions:
Showcase your personality: Showcasing your personality means adding some flair and humor to your content and page that reflects who you are as a person and as a real estate agent.
This can help you stand out from the crowd and attract people who resonate with you and your style. You can showcase your personality by using emojis, memes, gifs, jokes, stories, or anecdotes.
Showcase your expertise: Showcasing your expertise means demonstrating your knowledge and skills in your niche and market.
This can help you stand out from the crowd and attract people who trust you and value your services. You can showcase your expertise by using statistics, facts, testimonials, reviews, awards, or certifications.
Showcase your unique value proposition: Showcasing your unique value proposition means highlighting what makes you different and better than other real estate agents in your area.
This can help you stand out from the crowd and attract people who are looking for what you have to offer. You can showcase your unique value proposition by using slogans, taglines, logos, or images.
More recently, a number of real estate agents have been moving away from Facebook saying how it is too hard and expensive to generate organic leads on the platform.
They claim that Facebook’s algorithm favors paid ads and suppresses organic content, making it difficult to reach and engage their target audience. They also complain that Facebook’s rules and policies are too strict and unpredictable, limiting their creativity and freedom to post what they want.
They argue that organic lead generation on Facebook is dead, and that they are better off investing their time and money on other platforms or channels.
The facts are true, but I disagree with the sentiment.
Organic lead generation on Facebook has decreased, but it is not dead; it’s evolving.As Facebook's algorithm changes and becomes more sophisticated, organic reach and engagement will become more challenging and competitive.
However, this also means that organic leads will become more valuable and qualified, as they will come from people who are truly interested in your services and have a strong connection and trust with you.
To succeed in organic lead generation on Facebook, you need to adapt to the changes and trends of the platform and the market. You need to create engaging content that provides value to your audience and encourages them to interact with you.
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