Comparison of the “top” Real Estate social media lead generation sources.

Tired of articles like “Top 47 ways of generating Real Estate leads” or “Top tips to generate real estate leads from the Pros” ?

This is a blog post from a Software Engineer with 20 years of industry experience (not a Real Estate Pro) who knows how Search Engines work. How Facebook, Twitter and Google Ads work (or don’t work). If you are a Real Estate Agent, who has had success with any of these feel free to leave a comment below.

1. Facebook Ads (2 out of 5 stars)

You took that course in Facebook Ads (or worse hired a Digital/Social media Marketing Agency and fell for the pitch /looks of that 21 year old college grad). Then you literally started drooling when you saw how Facebook lets you create and narrow your Ad Audience to Age Range, Income Level, life events like having Kids or Divorce etc etc. Then you shelled out a few hundred or even thousand dollars in your Facebook Ad. The Ad ran for 2 weeks and you got hundreds and thousands of impressions and even some likes on your post or Facebook page.

But guess what? You can have a million likes on your page, but if it doesn’t convert, it is worthless.

Ask a friend, any friend. When they were looking to buy or sell their house, did they go looking on Facebook? If the answer is NO, you need to get off of Facebook. If your goal is to get likes for brand recognition, feel free to spend $100/month but nothing more. Also, remember Facebook is an Ad company, if you give it money it will happily take it from you. Also, don’t forget hidden costs. When you decide to spend that $100 on a Facebook ad, you will most likely need to spend several more hundreds on creating an ad that is attractive enough for people to like it or engage with it.

2. Instagram (1 out of 5 stars)

I see a lot of Agents on Instagram because Gary Vaynerchuk told them that is the platform of the future. I love Gary and he is a very inspiring personality. Instagram is a social network not a place to sell and buy houses. If you are tech savvy and want to network with other Agents, use it by all means. It is a great way to supplement your Social Media strategy. But don’t expect closings or leads from Instagram.

3. Twitter (1 out of 5 stars)

I have messed with Twitter for years (at least 10 years). It is a great platform to follow businesses or people and keep abreast of the latest buzz. But Twitter has struggled for years trying to monetize their platform and for good reason. Twitter Ads don’t work. Before writing this, we even tried the latest feature that Twitter introduced called “Promo Mode“. All that does is for a flat subscription fee of $99/month, it will promote all your tweets more often. All you have to do is “Tweet” and your tweets start showing on people’s twitter more often. But after running this for a month on a test account, we noticed not even 1 follower (Remember, followers are just followers they are not even conversions)

4. Google Adwords (4 out of 5 stars)

Let us talk about the 700 lb Gorilla. Start with the first question. When somebody is searching for Homes or Realtors, where are they looking? They always start with Google. Even if they might end up at Zillow or some other website. So, here is your real shot at getting some leads. But before you get excited, this is also a double edged sword because here is a secret shhh…. IT IS NOT A SECRET! When somebody is looking for Homes for sale or just looking for local Real Estate Agents, there are plenty of companies with deep pockets paying top dollar for their Ads to show on the top. So, although we rated Adwords 4, it is really a 4 for people with deep pockets. Because you will never get there on the top.

Are you doomed then? Absolutely not! In fact there are free options out there which you may not be aware of.

This article is not about telling you 10 ways to attract leads, but after discouraging you all along and shooting down all ad companies, I think it will be nice if I end the article on a positive note.

Well, the good news is that you are not doomed at all. You have options and they don’t cost anything or they are cheap. But there is nothing called “Instant Gratification” here. You have to put in the work, and but it is not hard at all. So, here are a few easy ways to get your name out there.

1. Google My Business

Have you noticed search results like these in Google? They are not limited to Restaurants. Here is your chance of dominating the search results when somebody looks for “Real Estate Agents” or “Real Estate Agents near me”. And best of all, it is free. Just register your business here, enter all the relevant information and it will popup on the right side of the search results as shown below => https://www.google.com/business/

2. Try Agent NEO — Voice Technology for Real Estate

Let me give an honorable mention to Agent NEO — Our cutting edge (almost bleeding edge) tool for Real Estate. All you do is sign up with us and you get your own Amazon Alexa app. That’s it! You are now just a voice command away from your clients for all their Real Estate needs. Your clients can just talk to Alexa whether they are looking to buy a house, sell their home or book a home showing. All their inquiries come to you via SMS/email.

Are you a listing agent? Our technology helps you clone yourself and be virtually present at your listings and answer all your buyer’s questions when they come to see your listed home. Check out the video below.

Sign up for your free 7 day trial here => https://neolocalagent.com/Account/Register

Home Page: https://neolocalagent.com

3. Advertise Hyper Local

If you want to use Google Adwords or even Facebook Ads, advertise hyper local. When people are looking to buy homes, they have already narrowed down neighborhoods in there minds. So, if they are in Dallas, they will not be searching for Homes in Dallas. They will most likely be searching for “Homes in Coppell” or “Homes in Highland Park” or “For sale by owner in Valley Ranch”. If you want to spend your ad dollars wisely, make sure you tell Facebook, Google or whatever ad platform you are using to only show your ads in hyper local neighborhoods in niches. You will end up spending less money and more people will find you.

4. Start Blogging

What do home buyers search when they are looking to buy a home? If you have knowledge about your domain, start writing meaningful content about it. Either start your own blog on wordpress or write for somebody else. Check out these few searches that home buyers/sllers look for in Google

1. best homes for first time home buyer
2. first time home buyer guide
3. process of buying a home
4. tips to sell in under a month
5. short selling your home
6. listing property for sale by owner

If you can write compelling articles that answer real questions, people will read it. You can even advertise these articles in your locality/neighborhood and add a plug at the end to contact you.

The bottom-line is there is not shortcut to success. There are well documented ways to get there, but all of them require you to put in a reasonable amount of work.