The good old days are long gone and technology moves fast.

Yesterday’s old-school real estate agents and brokers would get a listing, put it on the MLS or in an online property listing portal, place a classified ad, put up a sign, schedule a couple open houses, and wait for the offers to come in. Today, however, while online listings are still being used, if you’re not using Facebook and Google ads, you are not doing what you need to do for your clients. Here’s a quick guide on optimizing your Google and Facebook ads for Philippine Real Estate Leads.

Facebook

Facebook ads cost money and social media posting takes time, so it’s important to have a great strategy instead of randomly throwing time and money at a platform you don’t REALLY understand. Here’s some important things to consider to get more Philippine Real Estate Leads:

1. Zip Code Targeting

It probably doesn’t make any sense paying for an ad that is going to market a Philippine condominium to people in Eugene, Oregon or vice versa, a Eugene, Oregon apartment property to people in the Philippines, unless you’re sure that they’re indeed planning a cross-country move. You want to set your location based on those likely to move to it.

2. Age Targeting

Selling an upscale PhP 30,000,000 property? Then you probably do not want to target 18-year olds, or others without the means to purchase it.

3. Target by Income

Likewise, if you are selling an inexpensive home in a non-upscale neighborhood, you don’t need to target wealthy individuals with large incomes.

4. Likely to Move

Facebook DOES HAVE THIS DATA, and you NEED TO USE this feature.

When you have financially and demographically targeted your “most likely” buyers, you then need to work on your ad. To improve views, use video. The Australian Real Estate Group says that they get a whopping 403 percent increase in views when they use a video in their Facebook ads. A 360 or carousel video will help as the most professionally produced videos get the best results.

5. Go Local

Lastly, do not forget to localize the content of your ad. People appreciate more when seeing, reading or interacting with something that they can relate to and creating that personal touch would give you a better engagement rating and create a “local expert” branding image for yourself.

Google

Let’s first understand how Google works for your Philippine Real Estate Leads. Your goal is to appear when someone searches specific key phrases. In an organic search result, sites that are clicked on more often appear at the top. Those that are experts in organic site rankings know that fresh, clean, consistent and relevant copy that includes the proper keywords are the ticket for higher rankings.

While this may seem easy, it’s not, especially as Google changes its rules periodically by updating its algorithms. The other way to get Google results is to using AdWords, which means you pay and bid on keywords for keyword searches that consumers input. If you win the bid in a particular timeframe, your paid ad can appear on the top of the page. Here are a few tips for using AdWords.

1. Keyword Optimization

First you have to optimize your ad campaign by finding the right keywords to bid on. If you’re a sales agent or a broker in Makati, this might be “Affordable Makati Homes for Sale”. If you type that in your address bar, you will find two to four paid ads by companies that are probably paying a hefty per-click premium.

After you have analyzed and optimized your ad, make sure that Google will approve it. You can find disapproved ads and therefore not waste time if your ad looks like one that was not approved.

2. Campaign Optimization

Next, never start an ad campaign on a Friday, because people search differently on the weekends, and this can change your optimization strategies.

Facebook and Google are powerful tools, so don’t make an advertising budget commitment until you fully understand how both of these platforms really work. There are many detailed online instruction sources available, so do your homework first!

Prosperna is super passionate about helping Philippine real estate professionals sell faster, smarter and build better relationships so that they can go beyond their full potential. Become a real estate trusted advisor by subscribing to our FREE Industry Trend Reports.