Issue #23 | 12.11.2013 | 249,520 members

Facebook Real Estate Ads Take On Zillow and Trulia

To use Zillow Premier Agent and Trulia Pro, or not to use them?

It’s a question that plagues agents and doesn’t leave room to back out once you’re locked into a contract. As the largest real estate portals on the web, Zillow and Trulia frequently hawk their ad services to agents… but do their services deliver? Ask any real estate agent that question and you’re bound to get mixed answers.

A third option, Facebook real estate ads, has come into the forefront as a powerful alternative to the other guys. Today we stack up Zillow Premier Agent and Trulia Pro against the largest real estate ad service on Facebook, READ ADvantage. See which one works best for your business!

Great placement means great reach.
The location of your ads on the web matters…a lot. Ads should appear where your target audience congregates. Facebook is the most popular site on the web, with over 1.1 billion users. Homebuyers and sellers ages 25-55 frequently use Facebook, with up to 83% checking the site multiple times per day. Zillow and Trulia offer no socially viral advertising options, while READ ADvantage is built on Facebook. With your ads linked to your Facebook business page, READ ADvantage helps you reach more prospects. You'll get more leads, better value and greater return. 

Visually appealing ads attract more attention and more clicks.

Consumers notice ads that are eye-catching, relevant and fulfill a need. So when the best ads that Zillow and Trulia offer are tiny agent ads that appear on other agents’ pages, buyers may not find much incentive to click, if they notice the ads at all. Furthermore, agents can’t choose what types of ads Zillow and Trulia will run. READ ADvantage gives agents a complete spectrum of ads, 100s of ad templates and designs, and agent, listing, and promotional ads. Agents can decide what imagery and messaging fits their branding and stand out from their competition. Total control over your branding grows YOUR business, not theirs.

More lead capture options connect you to more clients.
When Trulia and Zillow visitors click your ads, they are asked to fill out a manual contact form, which can result in a large drop-off and missed opportunities to connect. With READ ADvantage, interested parties simply click your ad(s) and their contact information is sent to you. With no manual forms to fill out, you instantly receive lead information. You can visit the user’s personal Facebook profile and send them a message, and they’ll receive a Facebook notification thanking them for visiting your page. Clients who click your ads may also choose to message you on Facebook.

Several thousand more views per zip code at half the price offers better return.
A side-by-side comparison has shown that agents using ADvantage average 25,000 more views per zip code than Trulia and Zillow. Additionally, the price to use ADvantage is nearly half the cost. Agents using ADvantage experience an average 33,600 views per week, while Zillow’s average views are 7,554 and 2,989 per week, respectively.

No contracts mean you can advertise for as long (or short) as you want.
A common concern we hear from agents is the lengthy contracts imposed by Zillow and Trulia. Undoubtedly their contract strategy brings more revenue to the large real estate portals, but with no guarantee of ROI, six months can be a long time to commit.  READ ADvantage doesn’t require agents to sign any contracts and agents can advertise at various price points for as short as a week or for as long as they’d like.

Compared to Zillow and Trulia, READ ADvantage on Facebook has the competitive advantage.

Learn more about Facebook Real Estate Advertising with READ ADvantage and try it here—no contracts required!