How to create a lookalike audience on Facebook is a frequently asked question by most marketers online. The concept of creating a lookalike audience on Facebook is simple: create a page in Facebook that mimics the look and feel of an actual, real-world marketing website, and then begin sending visitors to that page. While this method might work in some cases (i.e., a relatively obscure brand), for the vast majority of brands and businesses, the results will be less than effective. Here’s why…
First, let’s discuss why real estate is a category that doesn’t lend itself well to “social networking.” Real estate websites generally revolve around selling a home, and therefore are not highly social networking sites in any way. It’s not that they aren’t good marketing tools… it’s just that there’s little need to share information with the world about a particular home or property in real life. That said, if you have a page about your brand, that shares links to your pages, as well as posts about how to design homes, you’ll get a lot more “truck traffic” to those pages than you would to, say, a page for a local realty company. And this is where the problem comes in.
In reality, how to build an audience for your real estate brand on Facebook comes down to two things: sharing information that appeals to your audience, and creating unique pages that are appealing to Facebook users in general. You can share links to your pages via Facebook’s news feeds, which is the best part of the whole process… but you’ve got to remember to add the appropriate keywords so that the readers you’ve targeted come to your page. A haphazardly tossed together page for a brand that isn’t even in the same state will fail miserably. So, make sure you use solid tags that accurately identify your pages, along with an attractive description. It should also include a link to your main website, which will increase its overall exposure.
If you have several real estate pages, you can combine them by making pages about each of the brands or real estate types. One example is a page about homes for sale in a specific area. Another idea would be to start a page about each of the various regions in which you currently do business. Both of these strategies will help expand your target audience and thus increase your conversions.
The second step to how to create a lookalike audience on Facebook is to start creating unique pages that appeal specifically to Facebook users in your particular market. In the real estate space, for instance, you might want a page about custom-house listings and another about housing foreclosures. Your general realty blog might have a page about commercial properties, another about residential properties, etc. By carefully selecting the type of content you distribute, you will build trust among your audience and significantly boost your revenue as well. This is a much more effective way to connect with a prospective buyer than relying on generic ads on your main site.
If you’re just getting started with your own realty blog, you may want to consider creating some fan pages for your various real estate categories. This is especially important if you plan to use social media marketing in order to reach a large audience. Social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter have become some of the most popular destinations on the Internet for both consumers and businesses. When you build a fan page based on one of your real estate categories, you’ll be reaching a very targeted audience. You’ll also be able to interact with people who are interested in real estate and looking to find houses for sale.