April 2017 - iDashboard Blog

Victoria: The New Property Pricing Laws

From May 1^st, the laws surrounding how agents in Victoria quote properties will change. The Victorian government consulted with the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, which has resulted in changes to how properties can be both advertised and promoted.

These changes have come about following a high-profile crackdown on agencies who underquoted last year. This sting resulted in huge penalty fines – with a record fine of $330,000 plus $80,000 towards payable costs, for one big-time agency for misleading practice between 2014 and 2015.

These new laws governing the advertising and promotion of property were passed in November 2016, and will take effect come May 2017.

To help you understand these new changes, take a look at this quick guide:

What changes in theory?

The Estate Agency Act (1980) will be updated as of May 1^st. As mentioned, these changes are designed to prevent any shady underquoting from agents.

Consumer Affairs Victoria have asserted that advertising and real estate pricing can’t be misleading or deceptive.

CAV state that it’s illegal for a seller or agent to mislead consumers by any means, when marketing and advertising a property. This includes in writing, photographs or verbally. More information on the guidelines can be found on the CAV website.

What changes in practice?

New rules require that advertised residential properties be priced as:

A single figure – i.e. $300,000.
Or within a price range of 10% (maximum) – i.e. $300,000 to $330,000.

The advertising of properties which go beyond this 10% range will be banned. Agents and those representing a seller must also produce a “statement of Information” which is given to prospective buyers.

This statement of information for metropolitan listings will need to identify three comparable sale results. These will need to be within the past six months, and within a two-kilometre radius of the listed property.

Any agents who are dealing with rural, commercial and industrial properties, must comply with current Australian Consumer Law rules.

Any other catches?

It is now illegal to advertise a lower sale price than the seller’s auction reserve or asking price. This is applicable for adverts in print, online or verbally. This is the CAV’s definition of underquoting, and will incur a penalty if agents breach these terms.

It’s the agents responsibility to give prospective buyers an accurate opinion of pricing in a market, and a true representation of the property’s price. If this changes during a campaign, the corresponding advertising material must change to reflect this.

What if the seller doesn’t want to pay ball?

According to the new laws, vendors have the right to change their reserve price. They can even do this up to the point of signing a contract. In an ever-growing market, this means that prices can end up being higher than the price advertised by agents.

Don’t fear though, agents will not need to worry about accidentally breaking the law here.

If a seller opts out of giving their agent a reserve price during the campaign, the agent will be compliant. This is provisional on the price not being advertised for sale at a price lower than the sales estimate; especially where the agent has provided the basis for this price.

The new laws and how they’ll be policed

CAV will employ officers who will inspect real estate agencies in Victoria for compliance. During such checks, sales documentation will be audited. Agencies may also be required to produce historical information on past sales, and quoted sales data.

These compliance officers have a range of tools at their disposal to combat agents who underquote. Warning letters, enforcing actions, injunctions and prosecutions are all part of this repertoire.

It’s worth noting that the action to be taken against those who underquote, will vary depending on the impact to the buyer, and the seriousness of the breach.

How To Secure Media Coverage For Your Real Estate Agency

Media coverage is an essential tool for any successful real estate agency, particularly on a local level, as it establishes “money can’t buy” credibility and authenticity.

Things to have prepared before contacting any media:

Website and digital reputation: Research your brand. This is the first thing media professionals will do so it is important that your website is mobile-friendly, easy-to-navigate, updated often and reflects your company culture.

Social media:

A thorough LinkedIn profile as well as an active Twitter, Facebook and Instagram account all contribute to the overall first impression that is made to viewers.

If you are satisfied with the above, then you can start to consider the following:

Deciding who to reach

Identify the reason you seek media exposure, and how it will help your agency, then search for the most relevant media contacts you want to reach. Applicable contacts may include those at local newspapers, magazines and trade publications, as well as broader state and national papers. Generally, newspapers with an online readership may provide another avenue for broader exposure, so this should be considered when seeking relevant contacts to communicate with.

Gather contact details for relevant journalists and editors

Many publications list contact details for journalists, and email addresses are generally included. Try to avoid generic email addresses as they may not be checked regularly. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook may be listed publicly as points of contact, these could be used to open a dialogue with journalists and editors, and provide a relatively accessible way to start building the foundations of a relationship. These relationships will act as the foundation of securing media coverage, with journalists even potentially seeking you out for comment on related issues in the future.

Target your publications and programs

Most journalists receive hundreds of press releases and email pitches each week but barely have time to read them all, so the closer your idea is to their ideal story, the more likely you’ll be to gain their attention. Taking time to read examples of content produced by various publications may help ensure that you are targeting journalists that share your vision. Gathering an understanding of the publication will also help with tailoring pitches to suit the media outlet and make it far more likely a journalist will become engaged with your email over the dozens of others they receive daily.

Write an email pitch or media release

Local newspapers can often be short-staffed. A well-written media release with relevant information will be appreciated and may be printed with very few changes. Once again, this may come down to the level of engagement a journalist feels toward your content, as well as how it fits with the publication’s overall theme, so it is imperative for the pitch or media release to be accurate, concise and ready to be published with minimal input from the newsroom. A catchy headline may also boost your media release to the top of the pile.

Be prepared to follow up

If a journalist is interested in your story, they will generally get back to you within a day or so. But in a busy newsroom, stories can get missed, so don’t be afraid to chase up your pitches or releases by phone or email. When following up, it might pay to be persistent, journalists generally won’t intentionally ignore you, but in the fast-paced environment of a publication being tenacious and persuasive can be the difference between your release being published or left on the newsroom floor.

Be realistic in your expectations

Securing media coverage, particularly on a national level, can be challenging. It is therefore important as a professional real estate agent to be persistent, consistent and willing to learn. You’re essentially starting with building the foundations of your company’s public media exposure, creating relationships with journalists and crafting your professional image. Eventually these factors, combined with your persistence will act as the building blocks of broader media coverage in other publications and the growth of your real estate company’s reputation in the public eye.

If you’re still having trouble, a PR practitioner such as my agency, zanthii communications, will help you to get results. Please feel free to phone me on 0402 148 334, email: joanne@zanthii.com or visit Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/zanthiiau

Top 6 Real Estate Blog Writing Tips

A well-executed real estate blog will drive traffic towards your company, and generate good leads on which to win customers. With this in mind you’ll want a solid plan when it comes to blogging, so draft things out before you start writing.

Once you’ve drawn up a roadmap of sorts, you’ll be ready to crack on with some content generation. This is an exciting stage to be at in the blogging process, so get ready to punch the keys with our top 6 tips for writing a real estate blog.

1. Budget your time

If you go and ask any expert blogger, they’ll tell you that the key to their success is committing time to writing content. In this multi-facetted world of real estate, it can be easy to drop blogging for one of the hundreds of other things going on. Make sure you don’t do that.

Being successful in blogging requires prioritising some time for writing during your weekly schedule. Block out time periods in which you can generate content. If that seems a bit weird, think of it as booking out an appointment with a client.

Don’t forget to include time for drafting and editing. They need to be done separate of any actual content writing.

A Social Media Schedule for Real Estate Professionals

2. Embrace your own voice

Seeing that your voice comes through in your writing is critical to success. It’s what makes the content potentially fun and engaging for your audience. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind when tackling certain issues, and use plenty of anecdotes.

Blogging isn’t a formulaic thing, and so you can’t really say that a certain type of voice will win over the audience, as it’s hugely personal to you as an individual.

That said, if you’ve got a good sense of humour, why not let it shine through? This can only help to build interest amongst your readers.

6 Quick Lessons to Help You Find Your Brand Voice

3. Write compelling material

If you’re forcing it, the reader will know. Think of what you write as being what you would say to a client. Using keywords is important, but stuffing paragraphs full of jargon will turn off your readers.

Focus on creating engaging content that offers valuable advice to the target audience. Tricks like breaking large topics up into chunks, can be a great way of making the information more digestible and enjoyable to learn about. It’ll also keep things succinct.

Before hitting that publish button, make sure you feel that the content is worth the time and energy of your audience.

Running Out Of Social Media Content Ideas?

4. Seek out the right images

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that is true of blog posts too. Logs need photos as they help to illustrate the words you splash out onto the page. In short, images can help to sell your content.

Just a word of warning: make sure it’s appropriate and not copyrighted.

Stock Images And Copyright – What You Need To Know

5. Provide a call to action

So your blog has finally gone live and you’re starting to attract some attention from the audience. How do you turn that audience into a set of prospective clients? You need to provide a call to action.

Give your readers a great big sign post that tells them what to do next once they’ve finished reading. Offer a free download, tell them to sign up to your newsletter or to visit your social media page. People love to be connected nowadays and it can help to generate potential future sales.

Your Guide To Attention-Grabbing CTAs On Social Media

6. Track your analytics

Once you’ve published an article and are potentially generating leads, the work is done right? Wrong. Just because you’ve pushed the ‘publish’ button doesn’t mean the task is complete.

If you want to get the most out of your blog, you’ll need to think about hitting the analytics side of things. Where did your audience members come from, what topics have received the most traffic, when are readers viewing content?

Having access to this kind of information will mean you can target specific readers and provide a more tailored blog experience for the end-user. This will create a tighter bond between your agency and any potential future clients.

13 Must-Know Google Analytics Reports for Your Real Estate Website: Part One

If you are looking at putting more time into your blogging to increase your digital market presence, check out AgentPages.com.au, which will take your blogging to a whole new level.

Top 7 Real Estate Blogging Tips

In the real estate world, brokers tend to have their attention split across a million different things. When you add in another factor, it can feel like pulling a block out of a Jenga tower – it’ll either hold together, or it’ll all fall apart.

Blogging can be a great way to generate original content for your agency website. Not to mention that a blog can contribute to the marketing of your company, and may even help prevent that Jenga tower from falling over.

Think of your blog as the glue which holds that tower in place – yes I know that is technically cheating in Jenga, just don’t tell my friends. The key to blogging success is not in the actual writing as such, but by having a plan.

1. Why are you blogging?

Think of it like dating. Most people tend to date for months, years or even decades before they make that final commitment of getting married. You should think of real estate blogging in the same way. Think about the reasons why you want to start blogging, before you take the plunge.

What do you want to gain from blogging? Set your objectives before you get cracking. For example, do you want to build a brand reputation? Generate some traffic for your company website? Get potential clients to sign up to your newsletter?

Whatever the goals, set them out before you start blogging – it’ll give you some much needed direction.

2. In it for the long-run

Blogging is a long-term kind of thing. It won’t garner instant success for the company, so be patient and be ready to stick it out for a while. Even the most prolific industry influencers who receive thousands of hits per day, won’t be able to achieve instant blog success.

Get out that tin of elbow grease, apply it firmly and get ready to be patient. The followers will come eventually, but you need to be willing to stick it out for the meantime.

Think of it as a stand-up comedian playing at 4am. One guy is watching in the crowd, but one day you might headline and then you’ll be playing to packed out venue. So keep pounding those keys and don’t be tempted to bail.

3. Know your niche

Now that you’ve got an objective for the blog and are up for the challenge of sticking it out, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty of a successful blog.

The best real estate blogs are those which have a niche. The spectrum of topics they cover will be narrow, with an intense focus on a particular segment of the industry – for example, Sydney mansions, or rural property on the east coast.

You really need to think about what your special area is, and how you can write about it. Once you know what your specialism is, think about how you can convey that to your audience.

Which social media platforms do they use and which is the best for your blog to be hosted on?

This is essential to the upcoming ‘content distribution plan’.

4. Select a blog host

Does your business already have its own website? If so then your content management solution might already have a blog as part of its repertoire. Get in touch with your webmaster, and see if adding a blog is as easy as activating a plugin or service.

If this isn’t the case then you’ll need to start researching blog providers. Not all of these providers will be appropriate, but it really depends upon the nature of content you will be posting.

Services such as Pinterest and Tumblr are great for photo blogs, but AgentPages.com.au will be more appropriate for people who want to blog with text, images & video.

AgentPages.com.au offers two different levels of subscription options, so there is something for everyone. These Agent Profile sites also come with a personalised domain name, which will make your blog look far more professional.

5. Brainstorm some potential topics

Now that you know your specialism, you’ll want to come up with some killer topics to get things off the ground. Before you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, brainstorm some ideas of what you will write about. Get several ideas in the pipeline before you write too.

Think about which topics are likely to really drive interest on the website, not content that will fade out of fashion as soon as it’s pushed out online.

Well written posts about interesting topics will attract organic traffic growth for years to come. Short-term trending and viral posts however, will get you a considerable amount of traffic very quickly.

You can turn to analytics to pick up information about readers in your niche too. If your website or blog has analytics built in then that’s fantastic. If not you can use Google Analytics to get this kind of information.

6. Create a schedule

Having a content calendar will help to keep your blog ticking from day one. Think about holidays and special events. Planning this ahead can save time when it gets to the busy periods of the year.

Scheduled posts means you can spend time doing other things towards your business. Scheduling also ensures that posts go out at the times when people are most likely to read them.

7. Distribution planning

Having a well-researched, keyword-based set of topics is not enough to truly drive traffic to your blog or website. You’ll need to draw up a distribution plan. A content distribution plan will address areas such as – how will you promote your content?

Think about the different channels at your disposal. Will you promote your blog via your website, social media, emails quarterly updates etc? Create some space in your schedule too, to note how these blog posts will be promoted.

VIC Legislation: Statement of Information

We have made changes to iDashboard to allow you to upload a SOI on each listing, which will then upload to your website, Realestate.com.au, Domain.com.au, Realestateview.com.au and other portals. Please note that while Realestate.com.au, Domain.com.au and Realestateview.com.au have confirmed support for SOI, it is up to all other portals to ensure they process and display the SOI download link that we send them.

To ensure all of our Victorian clients can be compliant, we have made the necessary changes on all of the websites we host to ensure the SOI download link appears on each property.

To upload a SOI in iDashboard:

Load your property
Go to Edit > SOI
Upload your SOI file in PDF format

If you use a third party CRM, but have your website hosted with us, we will be processing the SOI via our feeds and will display the link to the SOI on your website (as long as your CRM sends us the link!).

More information on the legislation changes, Statement of Information and templates can be found on the please visit Consumer Affairs Victoria website.

[Original Post]

Upcoming changes to legislation in Victoria means that as of the 1st May 2017 you will be required to provide a Statement of Information (SOI) on your online advertisements for every listing.

We are currently in the process of making changes to iDashboard to integrate new SOI functionality that has been put in place by Realestate.com.au and Domain.com.au.

Your website, Realestate.com.au & most other portals:

You will be required to upload a PDF version of the SOI which will be done within the Edit tab of your property. This will then appear as a download link on your website, Realestate.com.au and most other real estate portals.

Domain.com.au:

Domain has taken a different approach to the SOI and will not be accepting a PDF. You will be required to enter all of the SOI information into individual fields and the data will then be sent to Domain. Please note that these fields will only be visible and applicable if your office loads to Domain.com.au.

[UPDATE] Domain will, for a short period, be accepting a PDF file. Domain has indicated that this is temporary as agencies adjust to the legislation changes.

Using another CRM:

If you use another CRM but have your website hosted with iDashboard, we will be accepting and processing the PDF link inline with how Realestate.com.au do it.

More information, the availability of the new SOI function and instructions on how to upload SOI will be made available closer to the 1st of May. For more information on the new legislation, including SOI templates, please visit Consumer Affairs Victoria.

16 Marketing Strategies For Real Estate Brands

Are you struggling to get your real estate brand noticed? Need to seal more deals?

If so, then you need to start asking whether you’re using enough real estate marketing tactics.

There’s a plethora of methods for finding buyers, sellers and investors to get involved with your business.

We’ll look at 16 of these marketing strategies, to help you boost the number of clients coming through your doors.

1. Article marketing

A bit like this really – you’ll want to be writing and publishing your own articles. They don’t have to be cutting edge, but if they’re informative and engaging then you’ll stand in good stead with potential clients.

Don’t be afraid to put your expert knowledge out there, especially when it comes to showing off what you know about the local market.

2. Landing pages

Landing or squeeze pages are a great way of funnelling potential leads into an order, which can in turn make them prospective clients. If you’re not too tech-savvy there are online services which provide the means for turning leads into hot prospects.

3. Facebook ads

With social media ever growing into the beast that it is, Facebook ads can be a great way to generate leads. You only pay for what you get here, making it much more affordable than Adwords.

4. Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms out there. It has more users than Snapchat and is currently displacing Pinterest. Being able to post pictures of your listings is a great way of drumming up some customer interest.

5. #hashtags

Use a mix of popular, real estate-themed and your own hashtags. Make sure to do this across all social media platforms, as it may give you a little more exposure to potential clients. It will also help to build the brand – #melbournerealestate.

6. Influencer marketing

Influencers are perhaps a little pricey, as you’ll be giving away products to them; but use them as much as you can. People with major social media influence can make or break a brand, which in this day and age is a killer tactic to use.

7. Product giveaways

Giveaways and competitions might seem a little odd in real estate, but let’s face it you’re not going to be giving away a house right? Still, giving away home appliances or running competitions can generate leads, get you noticed and build some good will locally.

8. Mailing lists

Thankfully the days of postal mailing lists are gone – no more paper cuts. Yay. Sending out a company newsletter and keeping customer up to date via email is a super effective way of making people aware of your brand. It will also improve relations and build a rapport with potential clients.

9. Referral partners

Don’t simply rely on your contacts. You can help other people to serve their clients better, especially if people are referred to you. Help them to do that.

10. Online reviews

No, I don’t mean you need to go online and review the bread maker you just bought. Although I love reading facetious reviews of bizarre products and points of interest in town.

When people leave reviews of your company online, you should display them proudly. They are no longer a tool for people to debate working with you or not, they are a tool for generating leads. Don’t neglect ‘em.

11. Personal Blog

At the very heart of the online real estate community, is personal blogging. It is the soul of marketing in real estate. Your blog feeds your social media and emails. It’ll also boost your rank in the online search engines.

Check out Agentpages.com.au for a beautiful looking agent profile site, that you can easily run your blog through. Make sure you then post those blog articles to your social network pages, driving even more traffic to your profile whilst increasing your credibility and SEO.

12. Google tools

Google has a wide range of tools on offer for growing your real estate brand. Google+, business listings and Google local guide are all great options for marketing your company more effectively.

13. YouTube

Video is a hugely important marketing tool in real estate. YouTube is undoubtedly the largest repository of videos on the planet, and the biggest platform for you to share your online assets.

14. LinkedIn

Since Microsoft bought it out, LinkedIn is coming back to the forefront of professional social networking. It can be a great way for you to extend your brand’s online presence, but is also an effective tool for finding potential employees/partners.

15. Knock, knock – who’s there?

Your real estate company, that’s who. It might be an old-school method, but going out there in person and drumming up interest by putting boots on the ground is a must. It’s a fast and free method of marketing your company too.

When the locals see that you’re a team of real swell guys and gals, they’ll be more likely to spread word of mouth about how great you are. This method also gives you a chance to explore the local area and find out what is important to the people who live there.

16. Press releases

Don’t get upset if your competition winds up in the news – you can be that company too you know? Create and publish your own press releases. This will land you some great local exposure.

Social Media As A Selling Tool

Remember that notorious short film made by an ambitious real estate agent in 2015? They used drones, actors and Facebook to sell a house on the Gold Coast. After the airing of the film, it sold in three days for a cool $1.6 million.

Some real estate agents and marketing firms push social media to the bottom of the pile, but I’m here to say that social media has power when it comes to marketing and selling.

Social platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest and Tumblr, are all used to share a huge amount of information each day.

We love to tell people when we are out with friends, eating food or even when we’re on the toilet. Well maybe that’s just me? Why not use it to sell our homes then? After all, social media is one of the most powerful online tools to date.

Social media allows users to have access to special tools, which can be monumental in terms of advertising. It is the new word-of-mouth, but on a digital and global scale. Reposting, tagging and ‘liking’ can send your advertisement, post or photo to thousands of people worldwide. All of that in a few minutes.

The power is in your hands to use social media to your advantage – a kind of social leverage to use in conjunction with your real estate agency network. Lucrative connections on LinkedIn for example, can be exploited to showcase a listing.

Similarly, using sites like Instagram and Pinterest can generate interest from potential clients. This is useful for clients who might live abroad and can’t physically travel to see the house.

Using social media to advertise property is becoming increasingly popular, simply because of the accessibility and quantity of people it can touch in a short space of time.

A wicked Facebook campaign

When your agent goes ahead and lists your property, you should push for them to advertise through social media. Especially Facebook. This might come at a little bit of an extra cost to you, but it is worth it. Facebook is an excellent tool for advertising property online.

Ultimately you can decide how much you want to spend on advertising, which will determine the reach your Facebook ad has. Facebook’s various algorithms allow you to really home in on a specific audience, which will increase your chances of making a sale.

An example of this is that you might choose to target everyone between the ages of 21 and 36 within 25km of the property. You could also try to target people who have specific interests; i.e. if there is a swimming pool at the property, think about targeting people who post about/follow swimming online.

So what should go in these posts I hear you ask? Well agents who want to maximise the reach of a post should consider the following points:

Social media has constantly changing algorithms, so it can be hard to determine what will rank highest at a given time. Facebook tends to give more screen time to photos and videos, over pure text posts. It is also not a huge fan of links as it detracts from Facebook itself.

Walkthrough videos are becoming popular, especially with the advent of 360 degree cameras. A short tour of the property can visually display its redeeming features, especially that stunning balcony view of swimming pool.

The aim should be to stop people from scrolling through the daily social media feed. It’s like sifting through a great big garbage can and finding a diamond the size of your fist. Drones are a good idea, as they’re creating quite a buzz in the property industry at the moment.

Whatever you choose to do, be creative. The content that gets the most attention on social media is that which has a bit of thought and effort behind it. If it stands out from the crowd, the crowd will share it about.

That is the best kind of advertising you could ask for – and it’s free.

New Outgoing Feed: Gavl

iDashboard welcomes Gavl to our family of portal sites that we upload properties to.

About Gavl

Watch Auctions in Realtime

Gavl Live Auctions is a purpose made live streaming app and website for the real estate industry. It allows Real Estate agents to broadcast auctions in absolute real time to potential buyers. Buyers are able to browse listings, shortlist properties, watch auctions without having to physically be there and receive live results of auctions seconds after their completion.

Reach a bigger audience for your auction

Quite simply, more eyeballs on an auction means more potential buyers. Have a buyer who can’t make your auction? An overseas buyer? They can now watch your auction. If they can watch then they can be involved.

Watch your own Auction!

No longer do you need to be hidden away inside completely in the dark as to how your auction is going. Now you can see it unfold for yourself.

Passed in Safeguard

A vendor’s worst nightmare come auction day is your property passing in. What if you had an additional audience to those physically there that your agent could communicate instantly to? With Gavl, your online audience becomes a secondary target for your Agent to communicate your property to.

Watch from anywhere in the world!

Never miss an auction again – with Gavl you can watch from the comfort from your own home, sitting by the pool or while at your footy. Take your Saturday’s back! Not only that, if you are using Buyers Advocates or family members to bid on your behalf, you can now see exactly what is going on as opposed to just being on the other end of a phone line.

Research the market

Before you make any purchase, it is important to understand the market. By allowing you to watch auctions without being there you can get a real sense of demand in the area you are buying in. How many bids were there? How many bidders? Were there vendor bids?

Get auction results live

No more having to wait until the paper comes out on Sunday, or having to call agents to find out the result of an auction – with Gavl, you can get results to delivered to your phone within seconds of the Auction finishing. An auction is passed in? Be the first to know and the quickest to start negotiating with the Real Estate agent

This information has been sourced from Gavl

To send your properties through to Gavl from iDashboard, simply setup an account with them and they will contact us to activate your property feed.

Facebook Advertising For Real Estate – What Do You Need To Know?

As the social media manager for your real estate agency, understanding how you can utilise Facebook Ads as part of a marketing strategy is absolutely key. Not only can Facebook ads completely reinvigorate your agency’s social reach, they’re also pretty cost effective.

What does Facebook advertising mean?

If you, like 3 billion other people in the world are using Facebook, you will no doubt have noticed the little ‘sponsored’ posts that pop up in your News Feed. If you have, that’s because you’re part of someone’s target audience – feel special.

By advertising on Facebook, you’ll gain an invaluable insight into the online habits of your current and potential new customers. When running a Facebook ad, you’ll collect data that’ll allow you to enhance and optimise your future advertising experience – both online and in the real world.

3 Facebook advertising best practices that you need to pay attention to

Before starting out with your Facebook advertising, take a look through these 3 best practice tips:

1. Work out your objectives at the start

Before launching a Facebook ad, it’s crucial that you figure out what you want to gain from it. Not only will this make tracking your agency’s marketing progress far easier, it’ll also give you the nod that you’re moving in the right direction.

Sit down with your team and spend some time figuring out what your objectives are. Whether they’re to boost conversion rates, gain video views, or simply to increase your brand awareness, it’s essential that you get them laid out before your ad launches.

2. Set clear goals for your Facebook ads

When working on your goals for your Facebook ads, you need to make sure that they’re achievable, measurable and relevant to the topic at hand. By working on these points, you’ll be able to ensure that you generate a better return on your investment.

3. Work on an overall campaign objective

Now that you’ve set clear goals for your ads, you get to select your campaign objective from the Facebook Ads Manager. If you’re looking to boost attendance for a local open house event, for example, you should select ‘raise attendance at your event’. If you’re looking to drive traffic to your blog, you should opt for ‘send people to your website’.

Report on the successes (and failures) of your ad

Once you’ve launched your ad, give it a good 72 hours before judging the impact it’s had on your target audience. After this period, it’s important to analyse the performance of your ad so you can improve it in future.

Head over to the Ads Manager section and click ‘reports’ in the navigation. You’ll automatically be shown data drawn from the past 30 days of your advertising campaigns.

After selecting which advertising metrics you want to see in your report, click ‘export’ to download it. Review the data within the reports to see where your advert’s shortcomings are. If you’re getting a lot of reach but not a lot of click-throughs, for example, it could be time to work on your advert creative.

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