All Forum Posts by: Michael McKay

UPDATE #15- How I set up my Facebook Pixel

Before I turned any of my ads live, I set up my Facebook pixel, events, and custom conversions. This allows me to do 4 things:

1. Track how much it costs to get a certain action on my website. I.E. How much does it cost to someone to submit the form with their contact info.
2. Re-target people who visit my website. If you've ever gone to a site and then been bombarded by their Facebook ads for a week after, that's re-targeting. 
3. Create audiences based on specific actions people took on my site. I can target people who visited specific pages, clicked certain buttons like my phone number, or spent the most time on my site. More on this in a later post about creating audiences.
4. Have Facebook use their algorithm to optimize my ads for that action. E.g. I can optimize for conversions and Facebook will try to get people to fill out the form on my site for the lowest cost.

There are plenty of step by step guides on how to install your Facebook Pixel, so I won't dive into that. Before I jump into setting the Pixel Events I use, you need to understand the user flow once they land on my landing page. Each step below is a separate page. I broke this up into several steps, so that if the seller doesn't complete all the steps, we at least get the info from the steps they completed. Most importantly their contact info!

1. Main landing page- They fill out a form with their address. We don't ask for any contact info here, just the address.
2. Contact info form- We ask for their contact info, including name, email and phone.
3. Survey about motivation to sell and asking price- See questions my Update #13 above.
4. Survey about property info and condition- See questions my Update #13 above.
5. Thank you page- says that we will call them shortly and includes a 45 second video of what to expect next.

Once I had the Pixel installed on my header code, I used Facebook's Event Set up Tool, to set up the events I wanted. I set up the following events. The names of these events are standard names that Facebook uses:

• Lead- When someone submits their property address
• Complete registration- submits contact info form
• Contact- they click the phone number or email address buttons on my site. The phone numbers are tracking numbers, so we can track where they called from.

Next, I set up 2 Custom Conversions, so I can track how much it costs for a seller to complete each of these actions.

1. Motivation & Price survey complete
2. Property Info survey complete

Finally, I tested everything to make sure it was working correctly. To do this, I used the Test Events Tool in the Facebook pixel. This let's you go to you website and see the events live as they would trigger for a website visitor. For Custom Conversions, you can check the last time a Custom Conversion was received in Facebook, so I just go through my site and check Facebook a few minutes later to make sure the Custom Conversion was received.

@Mark Sewell @Sam B. You both bring up great points. Another comparison for the strategy I'm testing on Facebook is bandit signs, assuming they are legal in your area. 10,000 people may drive by and see the sign, 5 may call, and only 1 is actually motivated to sell right at that time.

With Facebook, I can see who wrote down the number on the sign (clicked my ad), but never called, or even someone who looked at the sign for 10 seconds and considered calling, but never even wrote the number down (watched my video ad). I can then show that person with more ad with videos that Mark mentioned to build trust or stay in front of them, so when they do want to sell I'm right there.

To Sam's point, PPC campaigns are certainly effective and I would think the close rate would much quicker on average since the seller is actively searching for a solution. Lots of investors in my area are buying Google search ads. It's probably something I'll look into in the future.

In my area, Connecticut, very few investors are marketing on Facebook. I checked Facebook's Ad library to see who else is running housing ads in CT and it's almost entirely realtors. There are only 3-4 investors running ads at any given time and their ads aren't very good. If you're interested in seeing how many investors in your area are running ads in your area, you can follow the steps below.

1. Go to Facebook's Ad Library
2. Select Housing and type in your area in the search box. Personally, I checked my whole state.
3. Under the Advertiser dropdown, search for common words investors us for their Facebook or Instagram page names. I founds most either include "buys houses", "homebuyers", or "solutions".
4. Select all the pages that look like investors

Facebook will then show you all the ads those investors are running including their images/videos, how long they've been running them for, and what platforms they are running them on. Here you can see there are 4 investors running ads, including me, and 13 total ads running (5 are mine).

UPDATE #14- Ads have been submitted to Facebook!

I submitted my ads to Facebook last night. My top of funnel campaign was approved and is running and I'm waiting for my middle of funnel (retargeting) campaign to be approved by Facebook.

Before I submitted the ads, I added the Facebook pixel on my landing page. I set up some pixel events and custom conversions, which allows me to track actions people take on my website (e.g. do they submit the form with their contact info). I then used used these events to create some of my audiences for the campaigns.

I'll make a detailed post when I have more time later on exactly how I set up the pixel events, conversions, audiences, and campaigns.

@Sam B. Google search Ads are definitely better finding people who are looking to sell right now. I've always referred to Google search Ads as active ads, meaning someone is actively searching for what you're offering, vs passive ads like Facebook, where you may or may not come across someone's screen at the right time. 

Obviously, there are things like re-targeting with Facebook, so there is some cross over between people who may have originally come to your site from a Google Ad or other marketing method that you are now serving ads to on Facebook.

I used to run the Facebook ads for a fertility clinic and they actually ended up getting a much lower cost per patient compared to the Google Ads they were running. Lot's of other clinics in the area were spending a lot on Google, so the CPC's got very high. There was a lot more follow up to get the Facebook leads to book though and they took longer to convert.

Ultimately, I decided to try Facebook for this project because I'm more familiar with it. I don't have much experience in Google Ads, so the learning curve would have been a lot steeper. I think the key here is going to be in the follow up, but we'll see how it goes!

PROGRESS UPDATE #13

I realized I haven't posted an update here in a week. Some things took longer than expected. Here's an update of what I've been working on.

• My VA completed editing all 10 videos with subtitles yesterday
• I've been going back and forth with the landing page designer to tweak the page. I underestimated how long this would take, since there was some custom coding needed.
• I created a multi step survey that asks questions about motivation, price, and the property. Leads are brought to this survey after they submit their contact info on the landing page. Even if they don't fill out the survey, I still have their contact info, but I'm hoping to get additional info from 50% of the people.
• I built the automated marketing campaign in my CRM. When someone submits their contact info, I get a notification to call them right away and they get a text message asking if they're available to speak. The CRM then reminds me to call them every day for a week and also sends automated text messages and ringless voicemails until they answer. When I used to buy a lot of Zillow leads as an agent, I found that you have to get in touch with leads right away or the chance of conversion goes way down, so I set up the CRM with this in mind.

Here are the questions I'm asking in the survey after someone submits their property address and contact info. If anyone has suggestions of things to add, I'd love to hear your feedback:

• How much would you sell your house for today?
• How soon would you like to sell?
• Why are you selling your house?
• Are you flexible on price?
• Number of bedrooms
• Number of bathrooms
• Property type (E.g. 2 family)
• What condition is the house in?
• What repairs or maintenance does the house need?
• What repairs or maintenance does the house need?
• How long have you owned the property?
• Is the house currently listed with real estate agent?

I plan on covering all these points on the phone when I call the person, if they don't complete the survey portion.

@JT Rose Thanks! I've never heard of yaytext, but the bold or underlined features sounds like a great idea for the copy. I'lll also keep in mind to test longer headlines in the future.

@Account Closed no problem! Glad you've found it helpful.

PROGRESS UPDATE #12

Today I wrote the ad copy for my top of funnel and middle of funnel (retargeting) Facebook Ads. For the top of funnel ads, I plan on using dynamic creative, which means that Facebook will automatically test different ad copy and headlines with different video. This allows me to find the highest performing combinations.

For the middle of the funnel campaign, some copy goes with specific videos that you can see noted below. When someone watches 50% or more of a video, I will set the ads so that it does not show them that person the same video again to avoid ad fatigue (when someone sees the same ad over and over). I'm also going to experiment with using dynamic creative for images ads in the middle of funnel campaigns.

I'll dive more into the specifics of the ad campaign set up on a later post. For now, here's the exact copy I'll be testing.

Top of funnel

Primary Text: Need to sell your house, but don’t want to deal with repairs, showings, commissions?

We buy houses in CT in ANY condition and often close in 14 days or less.

✅ No repairs

✅ No showings

✅ No commissions

Headline: Get a cash offer on your CT house today

Primary Text: CT Homeowners. Is it really possible to sell your house in 14 days without giving it away?

Just imagine if you sold your house... WITHOUT having to list it with a real estate agent.

WITHOUT having hundreds of buyers walk through your home.

WITHOUT making costly repairs.

The answer is YES!

Get a REAL CASH OFFER on your house today.

✅ No repairs

✅ No flaky buyers

✅ No waiting

Headline: Get a cash offer on your CT house

Primary Text: CT Homeowners

Is it really possible to sell your house in 14 days without giving it away?

Just imagine if you sold your house... WITHOUT having to list it with a real estate agent.

WITHOUT having hundreds of buyers walk through your home.

WITHOUT making costly repairs.

The answer is YES!

Get a REAL CASH OFFER on your house today.

✅ No repairs

✅ No flaky buyers

✅ No waiting

Headline: Sell your CT house fast

Primary Text: It’s a common misconception that selling your house in 14 days is impossible.

Real estate agents tell you it takes months to sell a house, you have to make expensive repairs, and you have to be ready to leave your house at a moment’s notice if a potential buyer wants to see it.

I’m here to tell you that there’s a better way.

We buy houses in CT in ANY condition and often close in under 14 days.

✅ No repairs

✅ No commissions

✅ No waiting

Headline: Get an offer on your CT house

Primary Text: It’s a common misconception that selling your house in 14 days is impossible.

Did you know there is a better way than spending months waiting for the right buyer?

We buy houses in CT in ANY condition and often close in under 14 days.

✅ No repairs

✅ No commissions

✅ No waiting

Headline: Get your offer today

Primary text: Behind on payments or repairs 🔨 while trying to sell your house?

You have options!

We buy houses in ANY condition or situation.

✅ No repairs

✅ No fees

✅ Quick closing

Headline: Get your cash offer today

Middle of funnel (retargeting)

6-9 months- Primary Text: It’s a common misconception that it’s always best to use a real estate agent to sell your house.

Everyone’s situation is unique...So how do you choose the best option for YOU?

If you have 6-9 months to sell your house and are willing to make costly repairs or renovations, selling with a real estate agent is probably your best option and will make you the most money.

If you have too many repairs, you’re behind on payments, or you need to sell quickly, there’s a better option for YOU.

I’m a local CT investor and I’m looking to buy houses just like yours! I buy houses fast AS-IS, which means you’ll never have to make repairs.

I work with homeowners in all situations and I’ll help you find the best solution to your real estate needs.

Headline: Get a cash offer for your house

Us vs Real estate agents Primary Text: Still thinking about selling your house?

Here’s how we’re different from real estate agents.

If you have 6-9 months to sell your house and are willing to make costly repairs or renovations, selling with a real estate agent is probably your best option and will make you the most money.

If you have too many repairs, you’re behind on payments, or you need to sell quickly, there’s a better option for YOU.

I’m a local CT investor and I’m looking to buy houses just like yours! I buy houses fast AS-IS, which means you’ll never have to make repairs.

Headline: Get your cash offer

Website video 2 Primary Text: How much would your life change if you sold your house in 13 days?

These homeowners avoided foreclosure because we closed on their house in 13 days.

Headline: Get your cash offer

3 easy steps in our house buying process Primary Text: It’s a common misconception that selling your house takes a long time.

Here’s how you can sell your home in 14 days…

1. Fill out the form on {WEBSITE}

2. Schedule a virtual or in person viewing and get your cash offer

3. Pick your closing date

We'll buy your home in any condition or situation, even if you’re behind on payments or taxes.

Headline: Sell your house in 3 easy steps

Who sells us their house Primary Text: If you need to sell your house, but don't want to deal with the hassle of listing, you still have options!

We work with homeowners in all situations…

Problems renters, behind on payments, inherited properties, and more.

Let us find a custom solution to your real estate needs.

Headline: We buy houses in CT

Images- Primary Text: Selling your house in 14 days sounds impossible.

But it’s not as crazy as it sounds…

We buy houses in ANY conditions or situation and often close in 14 days or less.

✅ No repairs

✅ No fees

✅ No waiting

Headline: Now buying houses in CT

Images Primary text: Sell your CT home in 14 days. Get a cash offer today!

Headline: Get your cash offer

Images Primary text: We buy houses in CT AS-IS. Get your cash offer today!

✅ No repairs

✅ No commissions

✅ No repairs

Headline: We buy houses in CT

Here's a screenshot of one of the edited videos with subtitles. The reason I added subtitles is that 80% of people watch Facebook/Instagram videos on mute.

PROGRESS UPDATE #11

• I created a process for my VA to edit the face to face videos and add subtitles to them. My VA uses the free version of Kapwing to trim the videos, adjust lighting, and resize them to 1 X 1 for Facebook and Instagram. Then, she uploads them to a software called Zubtitle ($19/month) that auto subtitles them. She double checks the subtitles to make sure they are correct. 3 videos are done so far and she is working on the others.
• The landing page website should be coming tomorrow morning from my web designer. I will probably have some small changes for him to make, but I hope to launch the site and Facebook campaign by mid next week.
• I had a designer on Fiverr create the post card below for $30. The first part of my landing page only asks for the property address only. People who only fill out their address and not their contact info on the 2nd page will be skip traced and automatically sent this post card. I'm building this using Zapier and Click2mail. The post card has a tracking number on it, so that I can track how many people call from is vs from my landing page or other marketing.

@Rodney Menendez Thank you!

@Daniel Eisman Haha. I'm not sure why people are so secretive. Most of us are in different markets or focus on different strategies. It's better to collaborate and learn from each other. I've learned a lot from others in this thread already. Plus with Facebook's ad transparency, you can look at all your competitors ads anyway :) Glad you found the thread useful!