Besides being a gargantuan social juggernaut, Facebook offers an advertising platform that is different than the Google pay-per-click model, yet is still an important method of marketing for property management companies. The difference is simple: while Google offers specific keyword targeting, like “Tampa Property Management”, Facebook offers specific audience targeting, like “people within 25 miles of Tampa who are interested in Real Estate Investing”.
Google advertising is based on specific keyword searches. A property management company can go on Google and advertise to anyone searching for “property management Tampa” and pay nearly $4 for each person who clicks to that company’s website. Advertising on Facebook works in a similar fashion: property managers would pay for each person that clicks through to their website; however, the price is significantly lower – $1-$2 per click.
With Facebook, people can focus in on the audience that they hope to attract. This creates a targeted advertising campaign that can be quite successful. For example, when a company like Fourandhalf advertises on Facebook, it advertises only to property managers because that is its target audience.
Creating an ad is not difficult; anyone with a business page on Facebook can do this.
- Open up the business page
- Click on Create an Ad
- Choose the page the ad is for
- Choose the New Ad option
- Create a headline
- Write text
- Link the ad to a website
- Include video, pictures and anything creative
Keep following the steps until an ad is created and complete. The real value can be found when Facebook helps to narrow down the audience:
- Choose a country. For example, U.S.
- Choose a city. Use Tampa as an example.
- Define the radius. Try 25 miles.
- Select the age of your target audience. For example, 24+
- Click on the targeted gender, or select all.
- Define the precise interests such as real estate investing.
As an example, a property management company in Tampa might want to target real estate investors. Once all of the audience selection fields have been defined, Facebook will present the number of people who will be targeted. Instead of reaching a million people a company might never hear from – and doesn’t care about – that ad will reach 1,200 real estate investors within 25 miles of Tampa. This ad will be precise enough to only attract people who are potential customers. That is the power of Facebook advertising.
Facebook advertising is cheaper than Google. Property managers could, for example, elect to spend $5 per day, $10 per day or work within a $30 overall budget. The bottom line, however is cost per click. While Google advertisement costs $4-$8 per click in most markets, a Facebook ad will bring you targeted website visitors and “likes” for $1-$3 per visitor.
To give an actual example, Fourandhalf ran a special promotion in August where the company charged $59 for a basic Facebook “tune-up” for property managers. An ad was created on Facebook to promote this offer with the following results:
- 23,500 property managers saw the ad.
- 92 Engagements. This means 92 people played the video in the ad, “liked” the page, or did something after seeing the ad.
- 11 Facebook tune-ups were sold by Fourandhalf, within a few days.
- $46 was spent on the ad.
As you can see, after a $46 investment, $590 in revenue was earned. Facebook advertising was worth the expense.
If you have any questions about how different advertising models might work best for particular audiences, please contact us to set up a consultation with the Fourandhalf team.
