5 Effective Real Estate Lead Generation Strategies

Are you looking for proven ways to generate leads and income for your real estate business?

In today’s Post pandemic housing boom in Australia, the key to success is an effective lead generation real estate strategy. Many agents are struggling to grow their business and achieve lead flow in a competitive market. Keep in mind that only in Sydney there are more than 13,500 agents!

This blog post will discuss 5 practical best lead generation strategies that are sure to increase your conversion rate and beat the competition. 

What is lead generation in real estate?

Lead generation in real estate is getting potential buyers, sellers, or investors’ contacts through various channels: social media, website, advertising, offline promotion, emails, events, and many more, and leading them to close the deal.

Usually, lead generation follows several steps: 

1. lead capture when you collect the contacts via a form or personally, 
2. lead qualification when you determine if the client’s request is relevant and the lead is really interested in selling or buying, 
3. lead identification, and 
4. closure. In real estate closing the deal can take time, sometimes months or even years. It’s important to keep in touch with your client and nurture your relationship to get them closer and closer to cut the deal. 

You can also call it a lead funnel, and it involves knowledge in different areas: content writing, video editing, social media management, community engagement, search engine optimisation, CRM, and pay-per-click campaigns, and more…Not to feel overwhelmed let’s focus on the best lead generation for realtors.

5 Most Effective Lead Generation Real Estate Channels

The most effective channels upfront:

• Social Media and Content Management

• Social Media Paid Ads

• PPC (Pay-per-click), most known as Google Ads

• SEO and website building

• GEO Targeting

Cold calling should not be your reliable source of getting new leads. The research by The Keller Center shows that only 1.7% of phone calls turn into appointments or referrals.

Lead generation real estate has been around for decades. But lead generation and lead management are constantly changing, as is the way agents do business to stay ahead of the competition and drive revenue from their listings. 

Even with it, about 45% of leads Australian agents are losing every single year – it is so-called lead leakage discussed at Proptech panel due to poor leads management.

1 – Content Marketing Lead Generation Channel for Real Estate Agents

Real estate professionals benefit from a robust social media strategy because of the opportunity it brings to build relationships with prospects. 90% of agents use social media, do you? Most importantly, does it generate leads? 

In lead-generation content, the agent shares tips and resources for home buyers, sellers, renters, and investors while also promoting their own agency’s services.

The key is not just publishing new posts but actively engaging on social media in discussions about real estate topics that are close to prospective clients’ hearts—a strategy known as “social lead gen.” Remember that only 20% of all your content should be about sales.

Never underestimate social media, as today it’s the source of referrals for all industries, including real estate. 

After all, not only Instagram or Facebook should be on your social media planning. Don’t forget to include Pinterest – the most visual social media, LinkedIn – the concentration of TOP managers, and, of course, YouTube – video content cradle. You can start managing your social accounts all by yourself, but once they are growing, invest in a professional social marketing strategy.

Video and photo content for real estate lead gen

Content strategy involves not only writing but also building a community, producing high-quality video content and photos.

The best property listings always have amazing videos. This should be your number one priority – hire a professional team to make exceptional videos and photos that will generate traffic for months for your website. Only in 2020, 80% of video marketers claim that video has directly increased sales. 

Even if videos are gaining leadership, stunning pictures are still in-game. According to a study, properties with high-quality photos were sold at a higher price and 32% faster.

2 – Social media paid ads – Highest conversion rate lead generation real estate

Today, both Instagram and Facebook are strong sources of real estate lead generation as they offer a variety of placements and targeting options. For example, the trending now new Reels feature on Instagram is a low-competition ads placement, where you can showcase your best listings and get quality leads in 7 seconds! 

Facebook Lead Generation Real Estate

Generating leads through Facebook ads for real estate has been shown to be effective and cheaper than Google or Bing Ads. 

According to a Wordstream study, the average cost per lead on Facebook is $16.92 US while the average cost per conversion on Google Ads (search and display) can vary from $77 to $100 US. Meanwhile, using our team’s expertise we were able to lower cost-per-click for real estate clients to USD 2.04 per lead! 

For one of our real estate clients, we generated 233 leads from Facebook in the first 4 months of 2021. Another client received 17,297 leads from Paid Ads from June 2020 until December 2020. If you would like to know what strategy and budget will be the best for your lead generation, let us help.

3 – PPC – Search engines advertising for real estate leads

Average real estate agent gets as high as 0.4% – 1.2% lead to transaction conversion rate while the potential with a marketing agency is up to 10% according to a Wordstream study. 

Google Ads lead generation for real estate agents is the most popular lead generation method, especially as almost every client is going to search online first.

Using Google Ads we can reach people while they are searching for something relevant and typing their query in the search box (Search Ads) or while they are browsing different blogs and websites (Display Ads).

We can also witness how last year lead generation through Google Ads has increased by 17%, which means if you’re still not getting results from it, you’re doing something wrong and your competitors enjoy all the juice.

Still, Google Ads can require a certain budget, as the average cost-per-click (CPC) in the real estate industry varies from $2.37 to $95, and it’s when the expert agencies work on it! 

If a real estate agent has never considered digital marketing, paid ads can be an easy way to spend more than you planned. Working on a website and Google Ads with our Geonet team we were able to increase real estate agency website traffic and leads 1.5 times just in few months.

4 – SEO – Free Lead Generation Real Estate

Search engine optimisation helps Google and other engines notice your site and boost the flow of visitors to your sales page. SEO includes both technical and content aspects and is the ONLY long-perspective strategy to generate leads in real estate.

SEO lead generation strategy for real estate should include:

• Local SEO starting with Google My Business and to right structured markups
• High-quality content targeting local low-competition keywords
• Mobile-friendly website visible on all search engines
• Working on domain authority and building local backlinks

SEO is clearly the most complex field to master if you’re new to marketing and it is the part where you can easily make some critical mistakes. With Geonet, we’re building SEO strategies for real estate agencies in Australia helping them show up on the first page of Google.

5 – Geo-Targeting  – Best real estate lead generation for the local market

Building a website, social media accounts, and creating great content can be useless if you’re not featured on the local market. You should be at the right time at the right place. Geo-targeted digital campaigns allow you to reach potential clients in the exact areas you’re selling your real estate. 

Geo-targeting not only funnels more leads but also creates a full new database that you can reuse later, and boosts brand awareness.

Lead Generation Real Estate FAQ

How do new real estate agents get leads?

If you’re entering the competitive real estate market, here are some tips for you:

• Create an Instagram account or Facebook page for your brand and use lead conversion strategies like paid advertising, lead magnets, lead capture forms, and content.
• Make professional photos and videos for your listings.
• Create a lead magnet that is relevant to the audience you serve (i.e., first home buyers) so they will share it on social media and lead you to lead generation opportunities.
• Set up a website with a high conversion rate and right funnel
• Start creating content and posting your listings online.
• Join real estate platforms to get new potential leads.
• Get lead generation ideas for real estate agents from a trusted agency.

How do you get leads in Real Estate?

• Run online lead generation advertising on Facebook and Instagram targeting local audiences that are most likely to buy a property soon.
• Invest in SEO, content writing, and search engines advertising.
• Create lead capture forms and lead magnets on your website (either on a lead capturing plugin or using lead magnet techniques). You should have lead capture forms for first home buyers, investors, sellers, and renters.