Creating eye-catching ads on Facebook that attract the kind of business you’re banking on sounds tricky - and it can be - but there are some essentials you can focus on to help improve your ad’s chances of success.

1. Tell your audience what to do

What do you want your audience to do? Enquire, browse, buy or something else? Show them how they can. Most advertisers don’t realise that the best way to get a result is to tell their audience what to do. That’s the call to action - short, sharp and specific: ‘Sell your home now!’, ‘Click here to get a valuation on your property’. Keep the purpose clear, use strong verbs to encourage action: ‘call’, ‘click’ or ‘submit’.

You also want to get your call to action in early - aim to put it near the top of your ad so people don’t have to guess what you want from them.

2. Invest in Professional Photography

The choice and quality of the images you use are key in online advertising - and, specifically, in the property space. When you’re posting a listing, your biggest asset is the photographs of the property. Get great photos that are evocative and really show the potential of the property - it’ll help prospective buyers picture themselves watching TV on the couch in the lounge or entertaining their friends on the patio. Properties are aspirational - so help spark would-be buyers’ imagination.

The quality of the images can double your chances of generating an enquiry - so spend a bit of money on getting something you’ll be proud to make the centrepiece of your ad.

3. Leverage Trust with your Corporate Identity

Your agency has a Corporate Identity (CI) that’s been honed over a long time and had money spent on it to make sure it’s recognisable to your audience, building trust with them. Why wouldn’t you use all that hard-won trust to help them recognise you and your brand?

A brand’s CI is carefully crafted, from the colours to the logo and the font - and understanding how it works and how to use it can be a powerful tool for you. If you go off-brand, the odds are your audience will think you’re either a fly-by-night, or poorly attempting to imitate the brand that’s familiar to them.

Know what font your agency uses - what colours and how their ads are usually laid out. If there’s some leeway to choose colours for certain parts of your ad, pick ones that are harmonious with your agency’s image. Natural colours inspire a sense of authenticity. If you’re a young agency, showcase your vibrancy. Colours speak to people in the same way that images do, so make sure you choose wisely.

Flow makes social media advertising ‘one click’ simple by helping you create targeted ads - and our new template feature is here to help you keep your ads looking slick! All the templates are based on best practise, so you won’t have to worry about the image you’re projecting. Log on, pick a template and list with a click!