As the world gradually returns to normalcy after the havoc wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy, most industries have started to witness a slow resurgence. The real-estate industry is one of those sectors that have witnessed a gradual upswing in the last few months. The global real estate market is expected to grow from $3386.11 billion in 2021 to $3741.06 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 10.5%.
While things might look bright for other aspiring players in the real-estate sector, they need to integrate unique marketing tactics into their overall operations for better results. And leveraging the marketing potential of existing social media platforms should be an integral part of that marketing strategy. This may sound like an uphill task for real-estate brands as the concept of “regular customers” doesn’t exist in this industry unless the buyer is a third-party agent.
However, many real-estate brands have successfully leveraged the potential of marketing avenues like Facebook and these three following brands offer the ideal examples that can motivate budding players from the real-estate sector to capitalize on Facebook’s massive potential as a marketing platform.
1. OSK Property
OSK Property was established in 1997 and has become one of the most reputable property developers across Malaysia and Australia.
Their Objective
OSK Property aimed to generate a higher number of leads at a lower cost per lead while driving sales for its property, YOU City III.
Solution & Approach
OSK Property wanted to see whether Messenger could help it generate more leads on a large scale for its latest condominium. So, it ran a split test to compare the two lead-generation campaigns using the same creative. These ads were available in both English and Bahasa Melayu, which highlighted the property’s benefits such as the layout of the apartments and its proximity to public transit and commercial hubs.
To assess the efficacy of lead generation strategies, one campaign used Facebook lead ads while the other used lead generation in Messenger. Upon clicking on the lead ads, people were directed to a form pre-filled with information from their Facebook profile, which could be confirmed or modified before submission.
OSK Property also used interest targeting to reach people actively looking to purchase a home along with location-based targeting to reach people near the property.
The Result
The Facebook campaign delivered outstanding results for OSK Property and led to 3X more leads through Messenger. Also, it resulted in a 50% lower cost per lead generated using lead generation in Messenger.
2. Dubai Properties
Dubai Properties is behind some of the most iconic residential and commercial real estate destinations in Dubai, including the luxury Jumeirah Beach Residence and the striking Business Bay district.
Their Objective
Dubai Properties sought to drive interest in its waterside La Vie residences, part of the Jumeirah Beach Residence development, ahead of the official launch, and generate quality leads from potential buyers.
Solution & Approach
Dubai Properties joined hands with media agency Magna MENA on a campaign using Facebook Augmented Reality Ads in News Feed and Instagram feed. The concept was to provide potential buyers with an instant virtual tour of the property.
Dubai Properties wanted to use this format to the utmost effect. So, it used reach and frequency buying to run video ads and create a buzz with broad and affluent audiences in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It launched the Augmented Reality Ad to invite people to participate in the virtual tour after 75% of the target audience had been reached.
After Dubai Properties managed to reach a large and engaged audience with this Augmented Reality ad, Dubai Properties showed lead ads and Page posts with a lead form that people could easily complete.
The Result
The Facebook campaign turned out to be a massive success for Dubai Properties and 90% of its La Vie residences were sold out within six weeks after the campaign ended. In fact, 50% of its units were sold within the first two weeks of the campaign. Their Augmented Reality Ad reached 2.2 million people. Also, 17% of their web leads became qualified leads.
3. intu
intu is home to some of the UK’s most famous retail destinations and aims to create the best shopping, dining, and leisure destinations.
Their Objective
intu sought to drive awareness about the family-friendly festive activities that took place at its local intu destination amongst the people living near its centers. This way, it wanted to encourage people to visit it.
Solution & Approach
intu’s campaign revolved around a 15-second version of its Christmas TV commercial, which it used as the lead creative for the initial awareness-driving ads. Broad audiences that lived near intu centers saw this video in ads across Facebook and Instagram feed in Stories.
intu then began the retargeting phase of the campaign, which used dynamic ads with the store visit objective to show more ads to people who had previously watched the video. These ads featured localized messages about the exciting festive activities happening at their intu centers like family activities and late-night shopping and dining activities.
intu added more relevance to these ads by using locally sourced and user-generated content in some ads to reflect the best of each center in such a way that it would resonate with the communities.
The Result
intu’s Facebook campaign performed quite well and helped it attain a 17-point lift in ad recall along with a 3.6-point lift in action intent. Also, it resulted in 160,000 store visits, which were measured by the store visits metric in Ads Manager.
Bottom Line
Over the last decade, Facebook has undoubtedly cemented its position as the prime marketing platform for brands of all sizes and industries. With a plethora of marketing options that it offers such as Augmented Lead Ads, photo ads, video ads, dynamic ads, and Messenger, it can play a vital role in helping brands reach their target audience. A sound combination of Facebook’s immense marketing potential, a solid marketing plan, and top-notch content can help brands from any industry attain their marketing goals with ease.