The Basics of Setting Up a Social Media Ad Campaign

Social media ads help you get in front of the right people in your suburb at the right time. If you are new to ads, this guide will show you the simple steps to plan, build, and run a campaign that brings in real enquiries. Everything here is written for real estate work such as listing promotion, open home attendance, buyer leads, landlord leads, and appraisal requests.

What a Social Media Ad Campaign Actually Is

Think of your campaign like a letterbox drop that only goes to households most likely to need you. The platform charges a small fee to place your message in their feed.

• A campaign is the big goal such as more appraisal requests or more open home visits

• An ad set is your audience, budget, and placements

• An ad is the creative your images, videos, headline, and text

You can run ads on Meta Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. If you are starting out, Meta is the simplest place to begin because your buyers and sellers are already there and the tools are mature.

Choose One Clear Goal

Pick one goal per campaign. This keeps the platform focused and makes your results easy to read.

Good real estate goals

• Promote a new listing to local buyers

• Fill an open home with more attendees

• Generate appraisal requests in a chosen suburb

• Find landlords for a rental list or investor guide

• Build a warm audience using video views for retargeting

Match the platform objective to your goal

• Leads for in platform lead form or your website form

• Traffic for sending people to a listing page or appraisal page

• Engagement for social proof on a key post

• Video views to build a warm audience ready for retargeting

Start with Leads or Traffic for most result driven campaigns.

Decide Your Budget and Timeframe

Begin small and steady. You can always scale once you see results.

• Daily budget guide

  • Appraisal or landlord lead campaigns start at 15 to 30 dollars per day

  • Listing or open home campaigns start at 10 to 20 dollars per day per listing

• Run times

  • Appraisal campaigns run always on

  • Listing promotion runs seven to ten days

  • Open home reminders run three to five days before the event

• Spend most of your budget on evergreen lead goals and a smaller part on listings and events

Tip
Do not change budgets too often. Let the system learn for three to five days before you judge performance.

Get Your Tracking Right

Tracking helps you see which ads create real actions.

• Install the Meta pixel on your website so you can measure visits, button clicks, and form submissions

• Verify your domain and set your top events such as Appraisal form submitted and Contact page visited

• Use UTM tags on links so you can see ad traffic inside Google Analytics

• If you do not have a website, use Meta lead forms and download the leads daily or send them to your CRM using a connector

Build Audiences That Match Your Market

Your audience decides who sees your ads. Keep it tight and relevant.

Core audience ideas

• Location radius around your target suburb or a group of postcodes

• Age ranges that match your typical sellers and buyers

• Home interest filters such as house hunting and property investment where available

Warm audiences for retargeting

• Website visitors in the last 30 to 90 days

• Video viewers who watched at least 5 seconds or 25 percent

• People who opened a lead form but did not submit

• People who engaged with your Facebook page or Instagram profile

Lookalike audiences

• Create a lookalike from your past seller and buyer leads if you can upload a clean list with consent

• Use a 1 percent lookalike to keep it close to your best clients

Always exclude recent leads and recent buyers who already converted. This saves money and avoids annoying people.

Prepare Strong Creative

Your ad must be clear at a glance. Use real faces, real homes, and real local proof.

Images and video

• Use square or vertical first since most people are on mobile

• For listings use bright hero photos, short clips, or a quick walk through

• For appraisals show you on camera with a simple promise such as Free suburb price update

• Keep videos short. Aim for 6 to 20 seconds for Reels, Stories, and Shorts

Copy and offers

• Lead with the benefit and name the suburb

• Keep sentences short and read it out loud to check flow

• Make one clear call to action such as Book a free price update or See full details

• Use social proof such as Sold in seven days in Fairfield or 32 buyer groups inspected

Helpful copy formulas

• Problem plus promise

  • Unsure what your home is worth in Manly Vale

  • Get a clear price guide in 24 hours

• Event invite

  • Open home this Saturday 10 am

  • 12 Smith Street, Paddington

  • Tap to add to your calendar

• Lead magnet

  • Free Suburb Report

  • Sales, days on market, and buyer demand for September

  • Get your copy now

Step by Step Meta Setup

Follow this once and you will be ready to run many campaigns with ease.

1. Create or open Business Manager

   • Add your page, Instagram, domain, and ad account

   • Add billing and a backup card

2. Install the pixel

   • Use your website builder or Google Tag Manager

   • Test with the Pixel Helper to make sure events fire

3. Verify your domain

   • Complete verification inside Business Settings

   • Prioritise your conversion events such as Lead and Complete Registration

4. Create custom conversions

   • Set thank you page URLs or button click rules for Appraisal Complete and Contact Submitted

5. Build audiences

   • Website visitors

   • Video viewers

   • Page and profile engagers

   • Customer list if you have consent

6. Create your campaign

   • Choose Leads or Traffic

   • Turn on campaign budget if you want the system to spread spend across ad sets

7. Set up your ad set

   • Choose location, age, and any interest filters

   • Pick placements. Advantage placements is fine for a start

   • Choose conversion location. Website form or Instant form

8. Create your ad

   • Add three versions of primary text

   • Add one strong headline

   • Upload one image and one video if you have both

   • Choose a call to action such as Learn More, Sign Up, or Get Quote

9. Publish and test

   • Check your live ad in the Ad Preview on mobile

   • Confirm links, form, and pixel events work

Simple A B Tests That Matter

Test one thing at a time for a fair result. Let each test run for at least three to five days.

• Creative test

  • Image vs video

• Hook test

  • Two different first lines of copy

• Audience test

  • Core location audience vs warm retargeting audience

• Offer test

  • Free suburb report vs Free appraisal

Pick the winner and pause the rest. Then launch a new test.

What To Watch In Your Results

Open Ads Manager and focus on a small set of numbers that tell the story.

• Reach and Frequency

  • Are you reaching enough people and not showing too often

• Click Through Rate

  • Above 1 percent usually shows your creative and hook are working

• Cost per Click and Cost per Lead

  • Keep a simple target such as under 3 dollars per click and under 40 dollars per appraisal lead for most areas

• Landing Page View Rate

  • If many people click but few load the page, your site is slow. Use lead forms as a backup

• Lead Quality

  • Check phone and email accuracy and suburb match

• Time to First Response

  • Call or text within five minutes for best results

Create a weekly habit. Review on Monday, adjust on Tuesday, and let it run until Friday.

Creative Ideas For Real Estate Ads

Use a mix of short campaigns and always on campaigns so your pipeline never stops.

Always on ideas

• Free Suburb Report for homeowners in your core farm

• Free Appraisal offer with a benefit such as a three page pricing summary

• Local market update video every month with retargeting to viewers

Short campaigns

• Just Listed with hero image and virtual tour link

• Open Home invite with time, address, and a tap to add to calendar page

• Just Sold with result and the buyer demand number to spark appraisals

• Investor guide for top rental yield streets in your area

• Downsizer guide that explains small steps to sell and buy smoothly

Connecting Leads To Your Follow Up

Speed and care win. Plan your lead flow before you spend.

• Choose one destination for all leads such as your CRM or a simple shared inbox

• Set up instant alerts by email and text

• Use a two step follow up

  • First five minutes call or text

  • Same day email with the promised guide or link

• Add every lead to a simple nurture

  • Day 0 thank you

  • Day 2 value email

  • Day 5 case study

  • Day 10 offer for appraisal or meeting

Key Compliance Reminders

This is not legal advice. Follow your local rules and your office policies.

• Ask for consent when collecting personal information

• Link to your privacy policy on forms and landing pages

• Respect unsubscribe requests and the Do Not Call Register

• Use fair and truthful claims. Include your licence details and any required disclaimers on listing ads

Troubleshooting Guide

If your ads are not delivering or results are weak, try these simple fixes.

• No delivery

  • Audience too small. Widen your radius or age

  • Text or image rejected. Edit and resubmit

• High cost per click

  • Improve your first line and creative

  • Try video. Movement stops the scroll

• Clicks but no leads

  • Page is slow. Use an instant form or compress images

  • Offer is weak. Make it clearer and more specific to the suburb

• Leads but low quality

  • Tighten location to your farm suburbs

  • Use extra form questions such as Street name and Selling timeframe

A Simple Campaign Blueprint To Copy

Use this exact structure for a suburb wide appraisal campaign.

• Campaign objective

  • Leads

• Ad set 1

  • Location your farm suburbs

  • Age 28 to 65 plus

  • Placements advantage

  • Daily budget 20 dollars

• Ad set 2

  • Warm video viewers last 90 days

  • Daily budget 10 dollars

• Ads

  • Ad A selfie video 15 seconds with price update offer

  • Ad B local street hero image and clear headline

  • Ad C sold proof tile with results and call to action

• Follow up

  • Five minute call or text

  • Same day email with your suburb price guide

  • Book in person appraisal inside 72 hours

Final Checklist Before You Click Publish

• Goal chosen and one clear call to action

• Pixel installed and tested

• Domain verified and events set

• Audience built and exclusions added

• Creative ready image plus video plus three text versions

• Budget and schedule set

• Lead flow confirmed and alerts working

• Calendar blocked for quick follow up calls

• Review on mobile preview

• Publish and monitor daily for the first three days

Next Steps

Start with one campaign and learn by doing. Keep your message local, your offer simple, and your follow up fast. Save what works as templates for your next listing and your next lead goal. With steady improvements each week, your ads will become a reliable source of buyers, sellers, and landlords in your core suburbs.

Author Ken Hobson
ken@agentslibrary.com.au