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New Facebook Ad Policy Means Big Changes for Real Estate Marketers
As of September 1, a new Facebook ad policy surrounding housing ads is in effect. Will these changes mean an end to real estate marketing on the social platform? Here’s what you need to know.
Facebook is no stranger to the limelight these days. From Cambridge Analytica and other confidence-shaking scandals to major changes to business pages, the only constant is … change. But this month’s new ad policies for special categories — including housing, employment, and credit — is set to have a major impact on real estate marketers.
Facebook settlement
To understand the changes and how they’ll impact marketers, we need to start from the beginning. On March 19, 2019, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), Communications Workers of America (CWA), and several regional fair housing organizations settled civil rights claims against Facebook. The NFHA and other organizations claimed that policies “unlawfully enabled advertisers to target housing, employment, and credit ads to Facebook users based on race, color, gender, age, national origin, family status, and disability.”
Changes from the settlement
The following rules are in place for housing (and employment and credit) ads as of September:
- Facebook will establish a separate advertising portal for creating housing, employment, and credit ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger that will have limited targeting options to prevent discrimination.
- Facebook now has a separate page where users can search and view all housing ads, regardless of whether users have received the housing ads in their News Feeds.
- All advertisers will be required to certify that they are complying with Facebook’s policies prohibiting discrimination.
- Facebook will no longer allow ZIP code targeting. All ads must have a minimum 15-mile radius of a specific location.
- Facebook’s Lookalike Audience tool will no longer consider gender, age, religion, location or Facebook groups.
What the new Facebook ad policy means for real estate marketers
Time to put on our thinking caps! While we believe real estate marketers weren’t intentionally discriminating against anyone, microtargeting has become a major asset in Facebook’s paid digital advertising. Microtargeting allowed real estate marketers to segment potential customers, helping decide who marketers should target and create personalized ads for those leads. Without the ability to microtarget audiences, real estate markets will have to shift their ad strategy.
A flicker of hope
There could actually be some benefits from these new policy changes for real estate marketers. Facebook is creating a new tool that allows users to search all housing ads for rentals or sales (or finance of housing or for real estate-related transactions, such as appraisals and insurance). This tool could help boost brand awareness by making ads more widely available to audiences and increase organic reach for brands.
The jury is still out
Though Facebook is still a powerhouse for digital marketers (don’t forget the platform has over 2 billion active monthly users), time will tell how these Facebook ad policy changes will impact real estate marketing. In an age when customers are demanding more personalized, custom content, off-target ads seem like a step in the wrong direction. Tick, tock.
Related posts:
- 6 Social Media Don’ts for Property Management Companies
- Infographic: 5 Tips for Using Facebook Live for Real Estate Brands
- 3 Ways to Boost Your Real Estate Marketing with Video
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Should I Be Using Facebook Carousel Ads?
Facebook carousel ads helped one real estate company achieve a 63% increase in click-through rate and a 24% decrease in cost-per-acquisition.
Facebook carousel ads offer a highly visual and engaging way to promote your properties. Not only that, Kinetic Social recently found that carousel ads are up to 10 times more effective than static sponsored Facebook posts at driving traffic to advertisers’ websites. And if that’s not enough, they boast a 72% higher click-through rate than single-image mobile app ads.
The data makes it clear: Facebook carousel ads are absolutely something you should be using to promote your properties! Here’s a quick refresher on what they are, and some of our favorite tips for making the most of this promotional tool.
What’s a Facebook carousel ad?
This ad format integrates across Facebook and Instagram. It shows 3-5 images, headlines, links, and/or calls-to-action in a single ad unit, which users can click through. The “carousel” refers to the way images scroll horizontally across the screen, creating an engaging way for users to interact with your images. Each image has its own description and link, helping to drive traffic more effectively.
As you might expect, having the ability to showcase multiple images in an ad helps in lowering cost-per-conversion or -click, optimizing your creative output, and driving results across campaign objectives.
If it’s not already obvious, this format is a no-brainer for advertising real estate. Check out this spotlight from Facebook on Lamudi, an online real estate marketplace that used Facebook carousel ads to the tune of a 63% increase in click-through rate and a 24% decrease in cost-per-acquisition.
Using Facebook carousel ads
Creating a carousel ad is a simple process. It allows you to be creative and tell a story with the images you choose. Here are three easy steps for getting started:
1) Decide on your objective.
Having a defined goal is key when it comes to any content marketing, and carousel ad creation is no different. Facebook helps you target an objective, giving you the choice to select either “send people to your website” or “increase conversions.” Depending on your selection, an algorithm optimizes who sees your ad and when.
2) Create your ad.
Start by selecting “multiple images in one ad.” Next, get creative! Be sure to connect your ad to your Facebook page, and write a message that will stay on the screen over the images as users scroll through. Select 3-5 images, with a recommended size of 600 x 600 pixels each. You can write a separate headline and short description for each image.
3) Make the most of your images.
Facebook gives you the option to select “automatically show the best performing images and links first” — do it! This means that, as your campaign progresses, the image that’s getting the most clicks will appear first. However, if the story you’re trying to tell depends on the images appearing in a certain order (a before/after at a property, for example), uncheck this option.
The bottom line is that Facebook carousel ads are an extremely effective way to drive traffic to your properties.
Related posts:
- Facebook Lead Ads: Why Your Property Should Use Them
- 4 Tools for Determining the Best Time to Post on Social Media for Your Property
- Paid Digital Advertising: A Beginner’s Guide for Real Estate Marketers
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