Instagram is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms. Brands saw a 100 percent median follower growth from 2015 to 2016. This has made Instagram an Interesting platform for businesses to promote their products and services. They also accelerate the process by using ads on Instagram. But not everybody is getting the most out of the platform. There are many who gain little from Instagram ads and may blame the platform for it. However, the problem lies with the common ad mistakes. In this article, we will explore the top 7 Real Estate Ad mistakes REALTORS® make that blow their campaign. We will also outline how you can avoid making them.
Who Are We?
As described in Inman news:
“roomvu is centered on lead generation, providing customers with a categorized library of ready-to-share video content on a range of real estate topics, such as trends and forecasts to seller tips and neighborhood profiles.”
Why Instagram Ads
Some tend to still be skeptical when it comes to ads and social media. Here is why you should be using them:
Instagram and Facebook Are Popular
In the U.S., one in five minutes spent on mobile is spent on Instagram or Facebook which is almost 20% of the time people spend on their mobile devices. The basic principles of digital marketing require marketers to be where their audience is. Given the amount of time spent on Instagram, there is no question you need to be there. You need to connect to your niche audience, or others will. Ads make your voice louder and more people hear you.
Businesses on Instagram and Facebook
In another study by Instagram, 60 percent of Instagram users say that they learn about products and services through Instagram, and 75 percent say they visit sites, search, or tell others after seeing an Instagram post. Gone are the days when social media was just to find out about what your friends and family are up to.
Now businesses, small and large make a living on Instagram and people tend to find their favorite products and services on social media rather than going through the trouble of browsing websites. Ads make your products and services found easily once you use them correctly.
Running Ads on Facebook and Instagram is Easy
Instagram and Facebook for real estate are also ideal for advertising because they don’t have the same sort of problems as Google Ads or other platforms. They can get around adblockers, which ensures your ads are seen.
Organic Reach is Failing
Organic reach is largely on the decline. Even with organic reach, there’re no guarantees in terms of who sees your unpaid posts: while some of your content might score a ton of engagement, other posts might feel like they’re hidden. By sponsoring content, you’re able to reach audiences that might not have come across you otherwise.
Real Estate Ads Mistakes
Instagram ads are incredibly powerful but many small business owners (including real estate agents) fail at creating converting ads. With more than 25 million businesses on Instagram and 9 million marketers on FB, it is hard to stand out in the crowd.
Having looked at many online campaigns (and learned from experience), I’ve gained the following lessons on why most Instagram Ads fail — and how to turn it around:
Most Instagram ads fail because they don’t have the right Creative or Branding Elements, are too crowded with text, are not connected to a high-converting landing page, or are not targeted right to the right audience.
These may seem trivial, but if you browse your own Instagram right now, you will see many of these problems happening.
Poor Creatives
Your content should tell a story with one central theme. Mistakes detract from the story that you are trying to tell. Facebook is a visually-oriented platform, so if the ultimate goal is to attract clients, your best bet is to use high-quality photos when creating posts and ads. Your ads need to be engaging, beautifully designed, and eye-catching — they should make someone who’s scrolling through their feed stop in their tracks and want to take a closer look at your content.
Wrong Format
To make things even better and increase the chances of your ads being successful you can use a video instead. Videos are easier to watch and convey more information in a short time. But don’t forget videos, just like images, should present a decent design and production. They are the first thing your audience sees.
Using mediocre or amateur creatives is a huge real estate ad mistake that will blow your ad’s chances. This is regardless of how great other elements like CTA are. Many people take creativity for granted and wonder why their ads don’t work. Visual elements matter, and so does their design.
Subtle Branding or Overdoing it
One of the real estate ad mistakes that realtors make is with their branding. For successful marketing, your branding has to tell a story. Otherwise, your audience will perceive it as a meaningless graphic that is detracting from the story you are trying to tell.
Moderation is the Key
It’s important to avoid overdoing your branding. If you use too much branding, your story will be competing for attention. This results in an ad without a story looking both cluttered and unprofessional. And such results are just a waste of your advertising budget.
Subtle Branding
On the other hand, using branding that is too subtle removes the brand awareness and recognition you are trying to create. It also makes your ad seem less legitimate because there is no name attached to it.
Think about it this way, you probably don’t open emails from senders you don’t recognize. So, just think about how likely you would be to open an email with no sender information at all if this was possible.
Minimal Wins
To avoid branding mistakes, opt for placement that is in the corner of the ad page and doesn’t obstruct the elements you are using to tell your story. You can also use minimal colors and design elements so that your branding stands out.
The Goldilocks Effect
Your goal is to hit that Goldilocks effect so that users will pay attention to the story, and also take note of who you are. Effective branding will enhance your credibility, showing that you are professional and trustworthy, allowing people to feel confident enough to click on your call to action.
Read More: 14 Real Estate Social Media Mistakes to Avoid: Stop Harming Your Brand Today
Not Using Videos
Your visual system activates over 50% of your brain.
Visual storytelling is the best way for people to grasp concepts easily.
Video is the most popular and engaged-with content on social media. This extends to ads as well, especially those on Instagram. Video ads naturally grab viewers’ attention as they’re scrolling through their feeds. They will also reach a large audience since the average consumer on the ‘gram now spends over half of their time on the platform watching videos.
Videos on Instagram receive 49% more engagement than static photo posts. Video ads own a 1.84% click-through rate, which is the highest average among ad mediums.
Don’t forget the Captions
Be sure to use captions on videos. Besides the obvious access reasons, 85% of ads are played on mute, so if you don’t have any captions, no one will know what the ad is about. Your story will go unheard, both literally and figuratively.
The Perfect Length
You will want to make your video longer only if you have to. And if it is longer, make sure it is interesting enough to justify the length and keep the audience watching. If you have no reason for longer videos, shorter videos tend to be more engaging especially if you include your branding in the first few seconds. The longer the video plays fewer people will watch it, so make sure you put the important messages right in the beginning.
Looking Bad on Mobile Devices
More than 3.25 billion active social media users access social networks through mobile devices. That means most social media ads are being viewed on mobile devices. Your mobile ads should be specifically designed for the small screen. If your content doesn’t suit mobile view, it will look unprofessional and won’t be clicked on. If you tell a story using professional, high-quality video ads that are optimized for mobile viewing, you will see results. You have created something that grabs attention and people won’t be able to resist the temptation to click.
Targeting the Wrong Audience
Targeting is one of the most important elements to consider when advertising through social media. If you make a mistake here, you are ensuring your ad fails before anyone has even seen it. Bad targeting on Instagram ads will not result in your ads being disapproved but it will heavily impair their reach and exposure.
If targeting is taken for granted, you will find you are aiming at people who are not interested in your business at all. That is a big fail as you can create awesome ads, but still fail as those who should see it, don’t. And those who couldn’t care less wonder why they see it on their screens.
Does your post impressions rate look like this?
You might try to click on that blue button that says “Promote This Post”. That is a great idea, but only if it is done properly in terms of audience selection. Instagram will offer a few options for that. Some need detailed configuration but there is one that seems pretty easy: Automatic Audience selection. This is selected by many of those whose ads keep failing. And it may be great if you have an audience that is exclusively following you because they are interested in real estate.
But just going the easy way with Instagram’s automatic audience selection will not yield favorable results. In the screenshot below Instagram offers to target people who are similar to your current followers. But not everyone on your follower list is interested in your services. And even if they are, that is not the best way to target your audience. The default algorithm will start targeting their friends, and before you know it your ad is being seen by your cousin’s barber that lives on the other side of the country.
As realtors, it is important to make sure your targeting isn’t discriminatory. You must avoid using targeting that violates the Fair Housing Act. This includes targeting based on zip codes, gender, and age.
But, not to worry, there are tons of other information you can use to effectively target including:
- Radius targeting: gives you some location control
- Interest targeting: allows you to target people with interests that may align with a specific property’s features.
Your goal is to create targeting that cuts through the noise but casts a wide net to reach the highest number of interested people, as well as the most interested people.
Using Landing Pages that Can’t Convert
Arguably, the most important phase of the lead generation process and where mistakes are most likely to occur is the landing page.
A landing page is a web page set apart from your website, created for a specific purpose.
For realtors, that purpose is to collect contact information.
Sending People to Your Website
If you’re reeling people in using your website, profile, or blog as your landing page, then you’ve committed your first mistake and most likely lost them.
People are not only incredibly visual creatures, but we are also very lazy, or what I like to call efficient. We don’t want to do any extra work than we have to. If I have come to a page to find the value of my home, I don’t want to, nor will I search for where I can do this. I want this information, or how to get this information right in front of me. So, don’t send me off on a wild goose chase. Instead, guide me to a dedicated landing page. Think of your landing page as a dead end. They should have nowhere to go, other than to complete your call to action.
Having More Than One CTA
Think about what your goal is. Is it to get your potential lead to sign up for something, like your newsletter, or book a call with you? If your goal is to get their contact information, the only action that is required on their part is to give it to you.
For them to do that, you need one specific call to action that is clear and concise. One we use here at Roomvu is “view home estimate report”. As you can see, there is only one place to click on the page and it is easy to spot. It only takes 2.6 seconds for a user to determine what they should focus on, so if they can’t find your call to action by then, you’ve lost them. Now they have successfully identified your call to action and are filling out the lead generation form, but you aren’t out of the woods yet!
Too Many Sections on the Lead Capture Form
People don’t want to do more than the bare minimum, especially when it comes to how much personal information they are giving away. If you’re asking them for everything and the kitchen sink, stop it!
Studies have found that lead conversions drop significantly if a landing page has more than four fields to complete.
So, stick with only the information you need, and the less, the better. Our suggestions are Name, Email Address, and Phone Number. If you have created a clear, concise, and dedicated landing page with as little action as required by your lead, you have made it! Now all that’s left to do is follow up.
roomvu Landing Pages
We at roomvu offer real estate agents practical landing pages that use great design and target a wide range of prospects, from home buyers to home sellers and even renters. These landing pages can be used anywhere from your ads to your social media posts to your blog and website.
Home Sellers Landing Page
This landing page is designed to target those who are thinking of selling their house regardless of how serious they are about it. The great design, together with the simple and minimal elements all guide the visitors toward your sales funnel. All they need to do is to enter their address and their contact information to get their home valuation.
Home Renters Landing Page
This is one of our newest landing pages. It targets those who are currently renting a home and tries to turn them into home buyers by offering homes they can buy with their current rent.
Ask Me anything Landing Page
Sometimes people are thinking about doing something in real estate but are afraid of taking the first step. They feel there is too much they don’t know. And are intimidated by this. This landing page aims at making people open up by providing them with a convenient way to ask questions in return for their contact information.
Ad Fatigue
Familiarity breeds contempt. Regardless of how much you believe in this sentence in your life, ads for sure are affected by this notion. Running ads should be a consistent part of your campaign, no doubt about that. However, they should not look familiar with the same creative, CTA, etc.
What is Ad Fatigue
Ad fatigue is when your audience sees your ads so often that they lose interest and stop engaging with them.
Deal with the Ad Fatigue without Affecting the Goal of the Ad
To avoid this mistake, you must change the ad to keep it fresh and engaging. The trick here is to maintain your marketing strategy and the goal of the ad. Ads take time to work, especially in industries with high customer acquisition costs like real estate. So, pumping out an entirely new ad is also a mistake. Instead, keep it simple and avoid ad fatigue by changing the ad’s creatives.
When Does Ad Fatigue Kick In?
This is the ad component your target audiences see first and pay the most attention to. The frequency at which you change the creative depends on how the ad is doing. As a general rule of thumb, If your audience has seen the ad more than 5 times, it’s time to refresh those creatives.
Ad Fatigue and Low CTR
More specifically, you can avoid ad fatigue by switching the creatives when you notice a lower click-through rate. Here at Roomvu, we fight ad fatigue by automatically switching up the creatives on your ads depending on how well the ad is doing. This usually amounts to a new visual every few days or so. If you are refreshing your ad creatives often and consistently advertising, you will see results. But, Instagram ads take money and endurance to be effective, so don’t expect the results to be instant.
Real Estate Ad Mistakes: Over to You
Instagram ads work, provided they are set up well and you know what to do with the leads they bring you. Bad targeting, mediocre creative, messy landing pages, not using videos and poor presentation of your brand are the main culprits for failing Instagram Ads.
Your ads are a representation of your brand. Make sure you show your brand and business the way you want it to be seen.