Using Social Media to Get Real Estate Leads

Social media marketing concept. Attracting (emoji, like, love, star, comment icon) with a huge magnet.

Is social media still an effective way to generate real estate leads for new agents?

Often, the answer is yes.

A recent survey from Sprout Social, one of the leading social media management platforms, revealed 47% of real estate agents say their leads from social media are higher quality leads than any of their other lead generation sources.

And, research conducted by the popular real estate website, The Close, found 44% of agents said they gained a new client in 2020 due to posting on social media.

In other words, when it comes to generating real estate leads for new agents, social media is still one of the most effective and affordable ways to do it.

However, if you’re a new real estate agent, you might have some questions like:

  • How to get real estate leads on Facebook
  • How to use LinkedIn to generate real estate leads
  • How to get free leads if you don’t have a big budget


Or, maybe you don’t see yourself wanting to use social media platforms much, and you’re still wondering if social media is a must to be a successful real estate agent.

Here’s a quick look at some of your options:

How to Get Real Estate Leads on Facebook

Like any social media platform, there are two main strategies for you to get real estate leads on Facebook: organic and paid.

If you’re someone who wants to get free real estate leads online, you’d want to go the organic route. On the other hand, if you have a budget for advertising, Facebook Ads can be a great way to generate real estate leads fairly quickly.

To generate real estate leads organically, most real estate agents engage in Facebook activities like…

  • Joining Facebook groups where they regularly share their expertise and engage with other users to form connections
  • Posting regularly on their account to share their interpretation of market data, show listings, and let people get to know them
  • Hosting Facebook Livestreams to do virtual walkthroughs of listings, answer real estate questions, or address important topics

The goal with organic is to stay top of mind, build momentum, and create content people will feel compelled to share or take action on. It does require some work and can take some time to see results, but it can pay off well in the long term since it can be done for free.

At the same time, paid Facebook Ads are a popular strategy for real estate agents because they can yield results in a matter of days or weeks rather than months.

Free Guide: Become a social media master with this free guide just for real estate professionals.

Paid ads are a great way to generate real estate leads for new agents because they don’t require you to have a big network or a lot of time upfront (like organic ads can).

To be successful with Facebook Ads, you need high-quality images, video, and copy, and have a strategy to grab prospects’ emails or have them book a call if they’re interested in what you’re showing them.

Often, people offer a free valuable resource, like a market report or access to a home evaluation tool, in exchange for an email address.

How to Use LinkedIn to Generate Leads

Prospecting on LinkedIn is similar to using Facebook. While it’s a more professional platform intended for job seeking and professional networking, finding real estate leads for new agents on LinkedIn is easy when you have a clear idea of who your perfect client is and what they want to know.

Like Facebook, LinkedIn also has online groups you can join, so it’s worth checking out groups where your local market is hanging out to make some connections.

Again, you’ll want to show up consistently and post content on your profile and in groups that your perfect prospect is looking for. For instance, if you want to work with first-time home buyers, posting about the myths of a 20% down payment, or how to build up your savings shows your target audience that you’re the go-to agent to help them buy their first home.

Plus, LinkedIn allows you to run paid ads similar to Facebook, so you can choose to generate leads with or without an advertising budget.

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