SOCIAL MEDIA

SERIES

MIKE HOY, MORTGAGE CONSULTANT

• Mike Hoy is your Dedicated Mortgage Consultant from Marketplace Home Mortgage

• We have many great mortgage solutions available!

What is Craigslist?

• Local classifieds– post your listings and services

• Can find everything! Jobs, housing, goods, services, romance!

• 50 billion page views a month

• 60 million people using craigslist a month in the US

• Starting to charge money for more and more types of ads

What We Will Cover

• Navigating the new (NEW) rules

• Ad Creation

• Best practices

• Craigslist Dos & DON’Ts

• Examples

BEFORE AFTER AFTER AFTER

Post, post, post, fast, fast, fast

You can only post to 1 category, in 1 city, no more than once every 48 hours

“ “

Free Fees depend on city and service- Jobs = $25- Cars/trucks = $5

“ “

Use outside sources to help you post

Craigslist ad tracker and sites like postlets are now in violation of the “terms and services”

“ “

Clickable hyperlinks to website, IDX, email, etc.

Links do not work – have to copy & paste

Cannot say “copy & paste” can only type website

Offer item of value/service (lead capture)- Buyers: more houses - Sellers: articles

Offer item/service of value - mortgage calculator, relocation service, financing, etc.

Cannot offer a service

Ads on property categories- Price ranges, geographical

areas school zones

Ads on property categories Singe, specific, currently available property

New Rules

• Each real estate for sale posting must be 100% about a single, specific, currently available property

• Lead capture, loans/financing, services, offers to buy, lists/directories, and/or driving users to a website are not allowed

New Rules - DO

Please DO include:

• All relevant information about the specific property you are selling

• Multiple high-quality photos of the specific property on offer

New Rules – DON’TPlease DO NOT include:

• Cartoon or graphic images, photographs of yourself or other people

• Links to “more information” elsewhere

• Photos with “click below”, contact info, or other writing on it

• Search links (aka deep links)

• Information about multiple properties

• Advertisements for services of any kind, including financing or loan info

• Advice about buying or selling or market conditions

What You Need

• An account – with a phone number & email

• A listing

• Headline/title

• Photos

• Property info

• Your contact info – PHONE NUMBER

Headline/Title

• Keyword heavy YET appealing to the audience

• Think about what they would put in the search bar/Google

• Post like you are the consumer

• Combo of being vague and specific • Vague: 3 BEDROOM HOME IN WEST METRO

• Specific: WATERFRONT, 4 BD 2 BATH HOME IN HEATHCOATE NEIGHBORHOOD

• Vague – more leads, specific – ready to buy

• Use eye catching titles and symbols

• Consumers are in “Browsing Mode”

Title Examples

• *****GORGEOUS CONDO****PELICAN BAY*****

• REMODELED 4 bd Home in perfect East Naples location

• Live the Life You Love on Marco

• 3 br – Walk to Shops on 5th Avenue

• DREAM HOME w/ POOL and Fabulous Updates!

• Adorable Family home in Naples Park!! Fall in love NOW!

• BEACH*VIEW

• YOUR 1ST HOME!

• Beautiful 3 br, 2 bath Olde Naples home with pool!

Ad Creating

HEADLINE

TEASER INFO & CONTENT

IMAGES

CONTACT

Step 1 . Create an account

Go to Craigslist, enter your email address and follow directions that they send.

2. Posting Description/ Teaser

• Keep it short and specific

• All relevant info about the specific property

• Agent notes

• Don’t sell anything else here!

• Phone number in the 1st line

• Make it about the house not about you

Step 2. Create Your Ad

Go to Craigslist, enter your email address and follow directions that they send.

Start with a “eye catching” title

Zip Code is required

In the posting body:

• Be sure content matches headline• 2 calls to action• Your contact information (I like doing this with a photo

to keep robots at bay)

Offer something of value

• Free first time homeowner guide• CMA• Staging tips• Etc.

3. Images!

• EVERY ad should have one!

• DON’T put up every picture of the house – 3-5 max

• Only images of the property (HIGH QUALITY)

• Don’t want people to eliminate the house/ad and move onto the next ad with a picture of the garage or basement bathroom they don’t like

• Square (640x480)

Brand your photos

4. Contact Info

• Phone number

• Brokerage

• Name

• Short “About us”/ Slogan

• Address

• Website

New rule --- you can not use the ad for the

sole purpose of sending the customer to

another web site. For example "all Naples homes with pool—Go to abcdrealtor.com". There has to be a product (house) for sale.

putting the web address can be there to further the information, but not the primary focus.

Use the copy and paste strategy:

Best Practices

• Post once every 48 hours

• Stay on the TOP of the page

• Repost!• Brings it back to the top of the list• After 48 hours have elapsed • You will have to RENEW it after 30 days• Change the headline – but keep same ad

• Post enough to appeal to a wide enough audience

• Use multiple “contact info” templates – switch ‘em up!

• KEEP IT LOCAL

Ask them to text you for more information.

• Starts the conversation• Easier for them to do as opposed

to calling• Captures their Phone #

• No more than 3 ads at a time• Space your postings out• Try multiple approaches• Many will not copy and paste -- try to

drive phone calls and texts instead

What You Need to Know

• You will get flagged, ghosted, and deleted

• There is fierce competition

• It is the land of opportunity

• Division rules for advertising apply

• No lead really belongs to you • Have the best follow up• “Hey! Come into my office for a buyers consult. Let me assess your

needs and help you find the perfect home for you!”

• Experts say it takes TIME• But if you are disciplined, organized, and systemized – it works!

Dos:

1. Post consistently

2. Track what titles/ads are working

3. Post at different times of days

4. Use emotion and fear to get clicks • “This one won’t last long!”

Don’t

1. Don’t give away too much info • If you are too specific you will only get that specific buyer

2. Don’t put to much effort into your ads• Have templates

• Short, sweet and use words and phrases that will get peopleto click

• Your goal = click on your header & call you

3. Don’t post once a week and expect results

4. Don’t think Craigslist is going to stay the same… it won’t

Why is it so great?!

•Generate leads FOR FREE

•Allows you to market a single property from different angles

In Summary….

• The old CL days are gone (but may return as a paid service.)

• The new leads will probably be more quality

• The strategies are still being figured out. Experiment and share you successes with your fellow agents

• It is still FREE

Homework

• List the nearby areas on Craigslist where you need to be posting

• Write 3 headlines

• Make 3 different “contact” footers

• Spend 20 minutes on “Real Estate for Sale” and see what works and what doesn’t

Next Week?!

Thursday, November 6th 2:00 PM