Agents have enjoyed quite a run of being able to get cheap real estate ads on Face Book. Even today, after six price hikes since 2014, the $5 price per ad on Face Book is a steal compared to the $100 price per ad on Zillow.
Even though its prices have risen 24% year over year in Q2 2017 according to SEC filings, there is no doubt that Face Book will continue to offer agents more and more effective templates and targeting for its real estate consumers. Ever improving templates and laser sharp targeting are the genius of Face Book’s growth strategy.
Seemingly, real estate agents and Face Book have a symbiotic relationship. Some agents testify that Face Book has taught them to design better ads and to sharpen their targeting to ”just the right people.” And, looping back from the social network’s side, Face Book’s CFO, David Wehner, said, “Real estate is an area we’re betting on…we think it’s content that consumers want to see…and I think Face Book has a lot of ways that we can help the industry in general.”
One way that Face Book has already developed to help the real estate industry is its templates, “Dynamic Ads for Real Estate.” Built for brokerages and listing portals, not individual agents, the Dynamic Ads have been gobbled up by portals and firms. “This idea, like all of our best ideas, came from clients,” said Face Book’s Keith Watts, head of Real Estate and Financial Services Industries.
Certainly other networks and other products are not standing idly by in this contest for real estate advertising. Zillow’s CEO Spencer Rascoff said in 2015 that he “…is watching and learning from (Face Book’s) playbook. “ Zillow’s “Premier Agent Direct” builds upon Face Book’s inroads into real estate by pushing its ads to Face Book users who have visited Zillow or Trulia. Additional companies such as Adwetz, Boom Town, Back At You Media, Commissions Inc., etc. are building products just as Zillow is to piggyback on Face Book’s dominant and worldwide reach.
In addition to its dominant market share, Face Book has consumer trust going for it. Research shows that Face Book is trusted more than other portals, networks or individual websites. That trust is the reason Chris Smith, co-founder of real estate software and marketing provider Curaytor said, “…agents need to master the art of Face Book advertising now…before this learning becomes more expensive.”
