Paul long... who is he and what does he do?

well first of all he is the number 1 Facebook marketing expert for estate agents & property professionals in the UK. Today we are going to be concentrating on what Paul is doing for a whole host of leading agents around the country.

As we know there are around a million and one different specialists in this arena (figuratively) but the problem is you may end up spending an eternity trying to get them up to speed with understanding where you fit in property and the different habits and niches that go into it, being able to pick up the issue and just roll with it is one of the great qualities paul possesses (or at least that's what the other agents say).

"You've hit the nail on the head when you said about understanding the industry" Thanks paul... Social media lead generation for anything you do is so different than general lead generation elsewhere but after working in this industry for 25 years you tend to know the areas which are weak and when people come to use the services paul already knows what you're thinking and what you're looking for (like a mind reader)

Okay, so let's get into the service itself and what paul has to offer...

So paul helps agents understand and utilise all the powerful data that Facebook has, to generate landlord/buyer leads to get that exposure and give them that omnipresent feeling that they're looking for. this is done in a few ways:

Training agents

"We provide training videos, training calls and also content on a membership programme which is very popular" doing this they can train 200-300 agents at any one time, this is available to everyone.

Manage service

If agents don't want to get involved (which is understandable) with there being more and more things agents have to do now, some agents just want to concentrate on selling or letting properties. the managed service builds funnels which identify sellers and buyers and can look at where agents are getting the touchpoints on a digital platform to try and remain in front of the people showing interest.

These are the different ways that they can help depending on how involved the agent wants to get.

"Where is facebook now in terms of advertising because with google some of the adword spends have almost ruled out SMEs from being able to get involved?"

Facebook isn't as cheap as it used to be but is still reasonably cheap for everything else we do as agents in terms of marketing, you can still get your message ahead of others for pennies. The offerings by Facebook improve all the time with them bringing on new platforms and new apps giving you more places to show your adverts/content for extremely cheap.

Another thing with Facebook is that they discount the advertising depending on how relevant you've been (which is rather innovative) so by engaging someone/yourself by getting the messaging across better you should be (over time) getting a better rate of advertising expenditure. (It's like a reward) Meaning that the "little boys can compete with the big boys".... again, thanks paul, great wording.

"so how many agents have you helped and are helping at the moment?"

There is the membership programme which as previously stated can help between 200-300 agents at any time in a sort of group environment and that's not including the management service which could bring the numbers up to anything.... literally. On average the base number is between 200-300 agents at any time. over the space of 25 years, that's a lot of agents. (That also sounds like a lot of work...)

"Do you have any exciting new projects on the go based on what's happening out there?"

The short answer is both yes and no.... "there are a few things we are doing, one of the things we are doing, which isn't really a new thing, but we all know videos are so important and its something which agents sometimes struggle with, but Instagram recently said that they're no longer an 'image platform' and wish to become more known as a video platform" which is really pushing that direction.

"we're looking at a few things to help agents with video" one of them is working with the Property video club, working closely with Matt and Chris from 'property video solutions' The idea is to have a package where agents can get their video content and Facebook advertising in one place.

There will be a few more ideas coming in that direction with video being such an important thing for agents now.

Identifying problems and where things 'might' be going wrong in advertising.

Taking a step back, agents' expectations of Facebook is probably wrong... sounds awful doesn't it, but hear me out. For example, some agents might think they can just put one advert out and get a response.... facebook is a priming and reminding platform that you have to lead with value first instead of a  direct sales message (oh how times have changed)

Most agents are used to putting leaflets out or messages on other portals saying "I'm an estate agent and I can sell your property" Facebook... totally different, often its a case of 'are they retargeting' 'are they getting back in front of people that are showing interest' Then looking at how they're trying to convert these people into actual paying clients.

One of the biggest mistakes is not getting back in front of people showing interest and that's something that's very important, in fact probably more important than just getting exposure as people are starting the journey so early.

Can you still specifically target a particular audience with the data already collected?

Pretty much yeah, you can upload your data into Facebook or connect Facebook to your CRM as Facebook is pushing to do this on a regular basis when you're in the Ads Manager. You could do an evaluation in the morning and in in the afternoon they could be seeing your ads on Facebook "which is something agents need to wake up to really" (not my words)

Preframing is something agents can do now... if you're are a bit fuzzy pre-framing means that we can sort of change the opinion of what vendors are thinking before they use our service, mainly done by showing regular adverts or posts and perhaps taking them through a marketing journey which might position them as the expert, making them understand what their brand is about or seeing reviews / social proof.

Can I use this on my wife, can I change her opinion of me with adverts and posts? Fake videos of me cutting the grass and doing the washing up..... Dragons Den sign me up.

"Without giving away trade secrets, how do you stay in touch with all of this forbidden knowledge?"

Paul - "one of the things that I do and have made a decision to do is, every day I spend a couple of hours keeping up to date with Facebook and the connected platforms and I do that by being in touch with some of the biggest ROI Facebook experts in regards to ads and what they're doing but also being in groups and programmes which actually have direct access with people working with Facebook".

It's not just what you know, it's who you know.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.