Facebook advertising for real estate on a budget with Katie Lance

As a real estate agent or broker, Facebook is still the number one place to get in front of your current and past clients as well as new and potential clients. And, having a Facebook Business Page is still one of the best ways to market yourself and generate new business. Nobody knows this more than social media expert Katie Lance.

She has 10 power tips for managing and monetizing your social media while controlling costs.  We share five of them here, but you should really read all of them!

There are a number of ways you can maximize Facebook on a budget. Here are a few of the most important tips and strategies you can implement today.

1. Think beyond the now.

The biggest challenge with most agents and brokers is content and thinking ahead in terms of content. I recommend using a content grid to think about the type of content you could create or curate based on your brand.

A content grid is a simple spreadsheet where you map out the 30 or so topics that are related to who you are, your brand and your expertise. (Note: You can download the complete content grid at KatieLance.com/contentgrid)

2. Batch your content.

In addition to planning ahead with a content grid, one of the best things you can do to be consistent with your page is to use Facebook’s scheduling tool. By ‘batching your content’ – meaning scheduling out 5-7 days at a time – you will ensure that you have consistent content on your site.

Know the best time to post to your Page. Use the Insights tab on your Facebook Page to schedule content at the optimal time. This will be when your fans are most likely to be on Facebook and then schedule out your content.

I recommend scheduling content 5-7 days in advance – nothing more than that. Also, you need to have a system in place for responding quickly to messages and comments.

3. Have a system for responding quickly.

Download the Facebook Pages app (available for iOS and Android) and then make sure your notifications are set to ‘ON’. This way, anytime someone reaches out to you on your Page, you will receive that right away.

4. Boost your posts on a budget.

Not sure about advertising? One of the best ways to get your content in front of more people is to boost your posts. Only boost posts that are linking back to your site. Why? No need to drive traffic anywhere else right? This is why it’s ideal if some or all of the posts on your Facebook Page link back to your site or your blog.

Start with boosting your posts by $5-10 each to people who like your page and their friends. By boosting the post to people who like your page and their friends – they are more likely to click on the post. You can run targeting on a boosted post. To get the most bang for your buck when boosting – you want to boost to people who already know, like and trust you!

5. Get more life out of past posts by boosting!

Extend the life of your posts. Go back to your Insights tab, click Posts and then sort by Engagement. Here, you will see the posts that got the most engagement on your Page. You can then choose to boost any one of those posts. If those posts are still relevant, pick 3-5 and boost each by $5-10 each to generate more traffic and engagement to your page.

Creating a Facebook strategy on a shoestring budget is possible. The key is getting a few systems in place for creating and posting content as well as making it a priority on your schedule.

The key to anything is time and although it doesn’t take a lot of money to have a successful business page. Time is money and it’s the only thing we have! Schedule time each week to plan and schedule your content as well as create content. You may also look into hiring a Virtual Assistant and/or Copywriter on a part-time or project basis to assist you with some of these tasks.

Do you have tips for growing your Facebook page? I’d love to hear! Leave me a comment below or join in the conversation in Katie’s Facebook group.