Step by Step: Setting Up Facebook Ads for Real Estate

Facebook ads can help you reach local buyers, sellers, tenants, and landlords at the exact moment they are looking. This guide keeps the steps simple and clear, so you can set up strong campaigns with confidence. Follow the steps in order, use the checklists, and you will have ads running that bring real leads into your pipeline.

What you need before you start

• A Facebook Page for your business

• A Business Manager account inside Meta Business Suite

• An ad account with a valid payment method

• A clear offer such as free suburb report, free property appraisal, rental appraisal, open home and auction reminders

• A simple landing page or an Instant Form inside Facebook

• Your privacy policy link and basic compliance details

How Facebook ads are structured

• Campaign
  Sets your main goal such as leads, traffic, awareness, sales

• Ad set
  Controls audience, budget, schedule, placements, and optimisation

• Ad
  The creative people see such as images, video, headlines, text, call to action

Think of it as goal, who and how much, then what they see.

Step 1. Set up the business side

• Open Meta Business Suite and add your Page, your ad account, and your payment method

• Add your domain if you will send traffic to your website

• Install the Meta Pixel on your site if you have one

• If you have a developer, ask them to add the Conversions API to make tracking stronger

• Create a basic thank you page on your site for form success tracking

• Save your privacy policy link so you can add it to forms

Tip
If you do not have a website yet, choose the Lead goal and use an Instant Form inside Facebook.

Step 2. Choose the right campaign objective

For real estate, these three objectives work best.

• Leads
  Uses Instant Forms. Fast to set up. Higher form completions. Good for appraisals and free reports

• Conversions
  Sends people to your website to complete a form. Best when your website converts well and you want stronger intent

• Traffic
  Sends people to a landing page. Good for open homes, auctions, and brochure views. Add a clear call to action

Pick one objective per campaign. Keep it simple.

Step 3. Create your campaign

1. Click Create in Ads Manager

2. Choose your objective such as Leads or Conversions

3. Name your campaign with a clear format
   Example
   Lead Appraisal Suburbname Month Year

4. Leave Advantage Campaign Budget off at the start so you can control spend in each ad set

5. Save and go to the ad set level

Step 4. Build your ad set

Audience

• Location
  Use target suburbs or postcodes. Try a radius of five to ten kilometres around the listing or farm area

• Age
  Keep broad unless you have a strong reason to narrow

• Detailed targeting
  Start broad. You can add interests like property, house hunting, home improvement, investment property

• Custom audiences
  Upload your past contacts if you have consent
  Create website visitor audiences if your pixel is active
  Build engagement audiences from your Page and videos

• Lookalike audiences
  Create a lookalike from your best past leads or clients

Budget and schedule

• Start small
  Ten to thirty dollars per day per ad set is fine for testing

• Schedule
  Run all day to begin. If you have call only support in business hours, add a note in the ad copy

Placements

• Choose Advantage Plus placements to begin. It spreads delivery across Facebook feed, Instagram feed, Stories, and Reels

• Later, you can test feed only if creative is text heavy or test Stories and Reels if vertical video is strong

Optimisation

• For Leads objective choose leads

• For Conversions choose your form submit event

• Set attribution to seven day click by default for a simple view

Step 5. Create your ad

Pick one primary format to start.

• Single image
  Clean image of the property or a simple branded graphic for appraisals

• Carousel
  Up to ten frames to show key features such as kitchen, outdoor area, floor plan, suburb map

• Video
  Short vertical video under fifteen seconds for Stories and Reels works very well

Write your copy using this simple formula.

• Hook
  Call out the suburb or benefit
  Example
  Free Suburb Market Report for Carina

• Value
  State what they get
  Example
  Prices, days on market, buyer demand, and recent sales

• Proof
  Add a simple trust point
  Example
  Local team helping families move for over ten years

• Action
  Tell them exactly what to do
  Example
  Tap Get Offer and we will send it today

Add a clear headline

• Example
  Book a Free Appraisal
  Example
  Download the Carina Suburb Report

Select your call to action

• Learn more for reports and info

• Sign up for appraisals and events

• Get quote for property management

If using Instant Forms

• Keep questions short

• Ask only what you need such as name, email, phone, suburb, move timeline

• Add your privacy policy link

• Use the Thank you screen to confirm next steps

If sending to your website

• Make sure the page loads fast

• Place your form near the top

• Show one clear call to action

Step 6. Add tracking and naming

• Use clear names for campaigns, ad sets, and ads

• Add UTM tags to your website links so Google Analytics shows the source
  Example
  utm_source=facebook
  utm_medium=paid
  utm_campaign=lead_appraisal_suburbname

Step 7. Launch checklist

Before you publish

• Offer is clear and valuable

• Target location is correct

• Budget and schedule are set

• Placements are set to Advantage Plus unless you have a test plan

• Pixel or Instant Form is connected

• Privacy policy link is present

• Spelling is correct

• Images and video look good on mobile

• Thank you message explains next steps

Step 8. Simple optimisation routine

Daily quick check

• Delivery is active

• No ad disapprovals

• Cost per result is within your comfort range

Three day review

• Click through rate above one percent for feed. If lower, test new images and shorter copy

• Form completion rate above twenty five percent. If lower, remove extra questions or improve the offer

• Cost per lead within your target. If too high, improve creative first, then test audience

Weekly actions

• Pause the weakest ad and add a new creative

• Duplicate the best ad set and test a new audience

• Rotate offers to avoid ad fatigue

• Review comments and reply fast

Key numbers to watch

• Cost per lead

• Click through rate

• Cost per click

• Landing page conversion rate if using your site

• Form open and completion rate if using Instant Forms

• Frequency. If frequency goes above three in a week and results drop, refresh creative

Three ready to use campaign recipes

Buyer interest for a new listing

• Objective
  Traffic

• Audience
  Ten kilometre radius around the suburb. Add interest in property and home search

• Creative
  Carousel with five images. Headline New to Market in Suburb

• Copy
  Short features, open times, link to listing

• Budget
  Twenty dollars per day

• Goal
  High quality traffic and enquiry messages

Auction or open home reminder

• Objective
  Reach or Traffic

• Audience
  Local radius and your warm custom audiences

• Creative
  Square tile with date and time. Short vertical clip for Stories

• Copy
  Clear details and call to action to book an inspection

• Budget
  Ten to twenty dollars per day for three to five days before the event

• Goal
  More groups through and stronger competition

Seller appraisal funnel with free suburb report

• Objective
  Leads

• Audience
  Homeowners in target suburbs. Add lookalike from past appraisals if you have data

• Creative
  Clean graphic. Headline Free Suburb Market Report

• Form
  Name, email, phone, suburb, timeline

• Follow up
  Send report by email. Call within one business day

• Budget
  Twenty to thirty dollars per day

• Goal
  Consistent appraisal leads at a steady cost

Creative tips that lift results

• Use real photos from your listings and area. Show lifestyle and street appeal

• Keep text short and clear. The first two lines matter most on mobile

• Test one change at a time. New image or new headline or new audience

• Add captions to video so people understand with sound off

• Use vertical video for Stories and Reels. Use square for feeds

Compliance and good practice

• Follow Facebook advertising policies and local laws

• Do not promise a result you cannot guarantee

• Include your business name. Add licence details if your state requires it

• Get consent to upload customer lists. Follow privacy rules when handling personal data

• Use inclusive language and fair targeting. Avoid any form of discrimination

Simple follow up system

The speed of follow up can double your results.

• For Instant Forms
  Connect to your CRM if possible. Otherwise download leads twice a day
  Send an email with the offer within fifteen minutes
  Call or text within one business day

• For website leads
  Trigger an automatic email with next steps
  Make a personal phone call where possible
  Book an in person or video appraisal if the lead is warm

Troubleshooting guide

• Ad is not spending
  Widen the audience. Increase budget slightly. Use Advantage Plus placements

• Clicks are high but leads are low
  Improve the landing page or Instant Form. Make the offer stronger. Reduce fields

• Cost per lead is high
  Test a new creative first. Then test a new audience. Then adjust the offer

• Ad was disapproved
  Rewrite the copy in simple language. Remove words that sound like guarantees. Check images for too much text

• Results fell after the first week
  Refresh images and headlines. Add a new offer. Reduce frequency by expanding the audience

Scaling a winner

When an ad set is working well for seven days

• Raise budget by twenty percent and watch for two days

• Create a lookalike audience from the new leads

• Duplicate the ad set to a nearby suburb

• Turn on Advantage Campaign Budget to let Facebook move spend toward the best ad set once you have two or more strong ad sets

Your action plan for today

• Pick one offer
  Appraisal, suburb report, open home, auction reminder, property management appraisal

• Build one campaign with one ad set and one ad

• Start with twenty dollars per day

• Let it run for three days

• Review the numbers and improve one thing at a time

Keep it simple. Lead with value. Follow up fast. If you keep this routine each week, your ads will become a steady source of buyers, sellers, tenants, and landlords for your business.

Author Ken Hobson
ken@agentslibrary.com.au