Attention Target Demographic! Get Your Real Estate Ads in Front Of Your Ideal Leads

Smart real estate pros know to get very specific with their Facebook ad targeting.

Would you invite a teenager to an open house? Would you show the CEO of a Fortune 500 company a $500-a-month 1-bedroom apartment? Would you pass out flyers for a first-time homebuyers seminar at a Homeowners Association meeting?

Probably not. That’s why smart realtors get very specific with their Facebook ad targeting - to avoid the digital equivalent of those mishaps.

Facebook ad targeting helps get the right message in front of the right audience. In a field like real estate, that can be easier said than done. But we’ve put together a guide to Facebook’s targeting options to help you get your ad in front of the most interested people.

There are three types of audiences you can use in Facebook: saved, custom, and lookalike. Here’s how to use (and get laser-focused with) each.

Saved (or Standard) Facebook Audience

As the name suggests, this is level one of targeting for Facebook ads. Whether you’re using Boosts or Ads Manager, you’re telling Facebook to serve ads to users who match your criteria in the following areas:

• Location (must be a 15+ mile radius for FHA compliance)
• Age
• Gender
• Language
• People who match at least one demographic, interest or behavior

First thing’s first... don’t use these features to discriminate in any of the following areas: race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, disability, medical or genetic condition. Doing so is against Facebook’s policies as well as the Fair Housing Act.

So what can you do with targeting? The really rich part is in the “demographic, interest or behavior” area. Here are some examples:

• Spotlight a listing’s feature: If you have a listing on a golf course, target people interested in “golf, golf course, golf club, golf channel, golf digest, golf equipment” and so forth. Does the listing have a pool? Target swimmers. Does it have a gourmet kitchen? Target people interested in cooking. Is it on a lake? Target people who love boating.
• Target a company’s employees: If your listing is a convenient distance from a major employer, you can target people who have that company listed as their employer.
• Find other real estate agents: If you’re running hiring ads for your brokerage, you can target people whose employer is a real estate firm, or whose job title is “Real Estate Agent.”
• Use income targeting for high-value properties: Facebook no longer offers true income targeting. However, you can try targeting by “Household income: top X% of ZIP codes.” There are no actual dollar values associated with these categories, so I’m not sure I trust these demographics yet. I actually do estimated income targeting with things like education level, job title, etc. (I realize that this leaves huge gaps for people who don’t necessarily fall into those specific categories.)
• Market rental properties: You can serve apartment ads to people interested in apartments.com, Apartment Therapy, renter’s insurance, etc.
• Target investors or business owners for commercial properties: You can target business owners or property managers, or people interested in real estate investment.

Drilling down through all of your options is a little tedious. In the “detailed targeting” text field, start typing and a dropdown of suggestions will appear. Select one, then you’ll be able to view “suggestions” of similar demographics/interests/employers/behaviors.

As if that weren’t enough power, you can define your audience based on boolean logic: “and,” “or”, and “not.” Those options would be found under Exclude People or Narrow Further. For example: I want to show a downtown-Pittsburgh condo to people who like the Pirates OR the Steelers, AND work at UPMC or PNC, but NOT if they have recently moved (because they’re unlikely to move again soon).

I generally select the Audience Expansion checkbox for real estate ads. If someone is similar to my target audience, but doesn’t perfectly fit the characteristics I selected, it’s probably fine for them to see the ad anyway.

What’s the downside to creating a hyper-focused audience? If your audience is too small, Facebook won’t show your ads. Keep an eye on your Audience Definition meter to make sure you stay above a thousand people.

Custom Audience

Ok, now you’ve mastered the art of targeting complete strangers. Now, let’s talk about the other end of the spectrum: targeting people you already know by creating a custom audience! There are four types of custom audiences...

Customer File
Facebook allows you to upload your list of email addresses or phone numbers. It will then compare your list against the emails and numbers people use to log into Facebook. If there is a match, that user will become part of your Custom Audience. Here’s how to create a Custom Audience from your customer file.

Website Traffic
Once you’ve added a Facebook Pixel to your website, you’ll be able to build a list of people who visit your website or view specific pages.

Facebook Sources

This allows you to create a list of people who have engaged with your content, lead forms, events, videos, etc. on Facebook or Instagram.

Apps
You can target people who have downloaded or engaged with your app. (This probably won’t apply to you.)

Note: be especially considerate of these people. We all know how annoying it is to feel like a company is stalking you at every turn via targeting and remarketing. Be tasteful, discreet, and strategic in how you engage with these lists so you don’t ruin your relationships with overbearing, irrelevant marketing.

Lookalike Audience

Once you’ve created a Custom Audience, you can tell Facebook to find similar people. You start by telling Facebook the custom audience you want to match against, the location(s) you want to target, and the audience size you want to expand to. 

I can’t say this is terribly useful for local or regional real estate companies, because the Audience Size is based on percentages of the total population of the country you choose. That’s a pretty big leap!

You might want to use a lookalike audience if you’re running a nationwide brand-awareness campaign or a hiring campaign throughout the entire United States. Otherwise, you probably won’t find much use for a Lookalike Audience for local marketing efforts.

Bottom Line

Smart targeting helps you get closer to finding the buyer, seller, renter, investor, or agent you’re looking for. Keep refining your targeting until your audience is eating out of the palm of your hand.