How to Track Buyer Behaviour Through Social Media Engagement

Why tracking buyer behaviour on social matters

Understanding what buyers do on social media helps you match the right people with the right homes. When you see which posts people like, save, share, and click, you can tell what they want and how ready they are to act. This means you can focus your time on the warmest buyers, shape better property campaigns, and give helpful advice that wins trust.

Key wins

• Find which buyers are most active right now

• Learn which suburbs and price ranges get the most interest

• Improve your ad spend by backing the posts that work

• Move people from scrolling to booking inspections and making offers

The core signals to watch on each platform

Each platform gives clues about buyer intent. Here is what to watch and what it usually means.

Facebook and Instagram

• Saves. Strong intent. People want to come back to the property later

• Shares. People share with a partner or family. This is a powerful buying clue

• Comments with questions. Signs of serious interest when they ask about price, strata, contract, schools, or open times

• Link clicks to listings. Shows intent to see more photos, floor plan, and location

• Profile taps and call clicks. High intent. They want to contact you

TikTok

• Watch time and rewatches. Longer time means deeper interest in the home or area

• Comments with feature requests. Clues about what matters such as yard size or parking

• Follows after a property video. Signals a new active buyer in your patch

YouTube Shorts and long form

• Average view duration. The higher the better

• Clicks on description links. A direct path to enquiries

• Chapters viewed. See which parts get replayed such as kitchen or backyard

Stories

• Link sticker taps. Hot interest in listings or guides

• Replies to stories. Great for starting private chats

• Forward taps. Quick skips may mean the topic misses the mark

Messages and forms

• Direct messages about a home. One of the strongest signals

• Lead forms completed. A buyer is ready to talk

• Call or email clicks. Very high intent

Set up your tracking toolkit

You do not need fancy systems to start. Keep it simple and grow over time.

Free tools to set up

• Platform insights. Use Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube analytics weekly

• A tracking sheet. Use Google Sheets to log results for each post

• UTM links. Add simple tags to your listing links so you can see which post drove each click in your website analytics

• Website analytics. Use a standard analytics tool to see which social posts send listing traffic

• CRM tags. Tag each enquiry with the post or campaign that brought them in. Tools like Rex, Agentbox, Eagle, and VaultRE all support tags or custom fields

Your tracking sheet columns

• Date

• Platform

• Post title

• Property or topic

• Link used

• UTM source and campaign

• Results such as saves, shares, comments, clicks, messages, enquiries

Simple UTM format

• Source equals platform name such as instagram

• Medium equals post type such as feed or story

• Campaign equals property address or theme such as 14SmithSt or DownsizerGuide

Example link ending

• utm_source equals instagram

• utm_medium equals story

• utm_campaign equals 14SmithSt

Build simple buyer segments from engagement

Group people by what they do. Then match content and follow up to each group.

Segment ideas

• Hot buyers. People who click through to listings, save posts, ask price questions, or book inspections

• Warm explorers. People who watch full videos, like and share, and click your profile but do not enquire

• Suburb watchers. People who often engage with local area posts, schools, cafes, and transport

• Feature focused. People who gravitate to certain features such as pools, views, land size, or pet friendly homes

• Investors. People who interact with yield posts, suburb stats, or renovation case studies

• Downsizers and upsizers. People who engage with content about stairs, storage, single level living, or extra bedrooms

How to tag them

• In your CRM create tags such as Hot, Warm, SuburbWatcher, Pool, Investor

• In your tracking sheet note the tag when you spot repeated behaviour

• In your remarketing audiences build groups such as engaged users in the last 90 days or video viewers over 50 percent

Create a lead scoring model you can use today

Use a simple points system. Update scores once a week. Anyone who reaches a high score gets a personal follow up.

Suggested scores

• Saves equals 3 points

• Shares equals 3 points

• Comments with a question equals 4 points

• Link click to listing equals 5 points

• Video watch over 50 percent equals 2 points

• Direct message about a property equals 8 points

• Form submission equals 10 points

• Call or email click equals 10 points

Heat levels

• 0 to 5 points equals cool. Keep nurturing with area content

• 6 to 12 points equals warm. Invite to next open and send matching listings

• 13 plus points equals hot. Call within 24 hours and offer a private viewing

Turn engagement into actions

The goal is to move a buyer from a like to a conversation and an inspection.

Actions to use

• Auto replies in DMs. Set quick replies for price guides, floor plans, and open times

• Comment prompts. Ask a clear next step such as Comment open for inspection times

• Link in bio. Keep it updated with your latest listings, a suburb guide, and a buyer registration form

• Retargeting audiences. Show new property ads to people who saved, shared, watched half the video, or visited the listing page

• Social to CRM. Add a field in your forms that captures UTM tags or ask How did you find this property in your message script

• Personal video replies. Send a short video answering their question and inviting them to book an inspection

Step by step workflow to run each week

Follow this routine to stay consistent and learn fast.

Step 1. Plan three content pillars

• New listings and tours

• Local area value such as schools, parks, and transport

• Buyer help such as finance tips and inspection checklists

Step 2. Post with a clear goal

• Awareness posts drive views and follows

• Consideration posts drive saves and shares

• Action posts drive clicks, messages, and inspections

Step 3. Use UTM links in all clickable posts

• Copy your listing URL

• Add simple UTM tags for source, medium, and campaign

• Paste the link into your post or story link sticker

Step 4. Check analytics twice a week

• Note saves, shares, comments, clicks, watch time

• Add numbers to your tracking sheet

• Tag buyer segments when patterns appear

Step 5. Update lead scores

• Add points for each action taken

• Sort by highest scores

• Book calls and inspections with the top group

Step 6. Retarget and refine

• Build audiences from engaged users

• Show them new listings and similar homes

• Pause content that does not move people to action

Step 7. Report and learn

• Choose two wins and one fix each week

• Wins are posts with high saves or clicks

• Fix is one change to test such as shorter video or clearer call to action

Practical examples you can copy

Example 1. High save count on a backyard post

• What it means. Buyers love outdoor space

• What to do. Create a carousel of yards across your listings. Run a story poll on yard size. Retarget savers with full tours of homes with large yards

Example 2. High watch time on a school zone video

• What it means. Families are active in this area

• What to do. Post a school zone map, walk to school routes, and a weekly family friendly activity guide. Invite watchers to your family buyer email list

Example 3. Many DMs asking about strata and fees

• What it means. Strong apartment buyer interest

• What to do. Prepare a simple strata explainer. Offer a copy of the strata report for registered buyers. Retarget DM senders with similar apartments

Example 4. Lots of clicks from Instagram stories but few enquiries

• What it means. Interest without clarity

• What to do. Add price guide, open times, and floor plan in the first story frame. Use a stronger call to action such as Tap to book your inspection

Privacy and consent essentials

Good data practice builds trust and protects your brand.

Simple rules

• Tell people you use tracking to improve service

• Link your privacy policy from your bio and website

• Offer an easy way to opt out of marketing

• Store data in your CRM with secure access

• Keep only what you need and delete what you no longer use

On social platforms

• Use native lead forms with a short consent note

• When moving to email or SMS, get clear permission first

• Do not share personal details in public comments. Move to DM or email

Lift results with better creative and clearer calls to action

Tracking works best when your posts are easy to understand and act on.

Tips for creative

• Use strong first frames that show the best feature

• Keep captions short with a single clear next step

• Add subtitles to all videos

• Show the suburb and price guide early

• Include floor plan or a clear link to view it

Calls to action that convert

• Tap save to keep this property handy

• Comment open for inspection times

• Message me floor plan for instant access

• Tap the link to book a private viewing

• Join the buyer list for off market alerts

Your weekly scorecard template

Keep a simple scorecard to guide your focus.

Metrics to track

• Views and reach per post

• Saves and shares per post

• Click through rate from post to listing

• Direct messages and form fills

• Inspections booked from social

• Contracts requested from social

Targets to set

• One save rate target for listing posts

• One click rate target for story links

• One DM target per week

• One inspection booking target from social each week

Quick checklist to get started today

• Create a tracking sheet with columns for results and tags

• Add UTM tags to your listing links

• Check insights twice a week and update scores

• Build remarketing audiences from engaged users

• Prepare three quick reply messages for common questions

• Add a short privacy note and link in your bio

• Review your top three posts every week and repeat what works

Tracking buyer behaviour through social media is simple when you focus on the right signals. Saves, shares, clicks, watch time, and messages tell a clear story. Use a basic scoring model, tag your buyers by interest, and follow a steady weekly routine. This will help you spend time with the people most ready to buy, improve your marketing, and move more buyers from social into open homes and offers.

Author Ken Hobson
ken@agentslibrary.com.au