With more homes on the market, a new listing has more competition for buyer attention. Getting it in front of the right people quickly, and showing the seller it happened, is a big part of the job.
Paid listing ads on Facebook and Instagram are one of the most efficient ways to do both. Harry Kierbow, Senior Director of Paid Social at CINC, has managed social ad campaigns for more than 15 years, most of them in real estate. In a recent webinar, he shared what two years of listing ad data shows, how to set campaigns up for results, and how to turn those results into something your sellers can see.
Real estate ads on social usually take one of two approaches. Some are built around a buyer need, like VA-eligible homes. Others feature a single property. Harry's team has run both for years.
In 2020 and 2021, housing supply dropped, homes got harder to find, and buyer behavior changed. A listing that matched what someone wanted was suddenly rare, so when buyers found one, they connected with it and acted fast.
That behavior has stuck. Buyers still respond to real homes they can picture themselves in, and the performance data reflects it.
As Harry put it, showing people actual listings drives action and urgency.
Over the past two years, Harry's team has tracked listing ad campaigns across the US and Canada, and lead production has stayed consistent from market to market. In 31 of 37 larger markets (areas with at least 10 campaigns running), listing ads generated leads for under $5 each.
The cost to reach buyers is low, too. Cost per click and cost per thousand impressions both come in below industry benchmarks for real estate ads on social, with cost per thousand impressions running close to half the benchmark. Harry explained why: ad networks like Meta want to keep people on their platforms, so they reward ads people engage with. When buyers swipe through listing photos, watch the video, and sign up, the network shows the ad more often for the same money.
On average, every $100 buys about 7,700 impressions and around 300 clicks, counting photo swipes, video replays, and click-throughs.
That turns into 20 to 25 leads per $100. A $200 campaign, the most common budget, typically generates 40 to 50 leads, and a $500 campaign brings in around 100.
That consistency matters. Most ad types get less efficient as spend goes up, because you start paying to show ads in less productive places. Harry's team hasn't seen that with listing ads, at least for campaigns under $1,000. Cost per lead holds steady as budgets grow, which makes it easier to scale across multiple listings or push harder on one that needs attention.
A listing ad is only as good as its setup. Here's what Harry's team has learned about getting results.
Homes near the typical price point for your area tend to perform best, because that's where the most local buyers are shopping. Strong photos matter too. Listings that need extra visibility, or that a seller wants promoted, are good candidates.
Start with the listing's city plus about a 30-mile radius. Local targeting tends to perform best, especially on smaller budgets. Then think about where your buyers come from. Some markets draw heavily from outside the area. Many luxury buyers in Naples, for example, come from New York, and IRS migration data can help identify feeder markets like that.
In a small market, start with a smaller budget and widen the area. For a town of about 10,000 people, Harry's advice was to start at $100 and target beyond city limits, since buyers don't always live in the same town as the home. Keep in mind that social platforms restrict targeting for housing ads, so you can't narrow audiences the way other industries can.
Run the ad across Facebook and Instagram feeds, Stories, Reels, Marketplace, and Meta's Audience Network instead of picking a single placement. Meta adjusts the format for each one. Pair a single-image ad, usually the first listing photo, with a carousel of up to 10 photos so buyers can swipe through the home.
If you've already produced a listing video, use it. Harry sees a lot of agents post great videos organically and get little traction. A $100 budget can put that same video in front of local buyers nearly 8,000 times.
A lead form that opens inside Facebook or Instagram keeps buyers on the platform they're already using. Show the listing photo, address, and description, then ask a few qualifying questions: whether they own a home, their timeline to buy, and whether they'd like a tour. After they submit, send them to the full listing so they can keep looking.
Then make sure every lead lands in your follow-up process right away, routed to the listing agent or into your normal lead rotation.
Short runs work well around a specific moment. Seven and 14-day campaigns have become the most popular choice, and they pair well with a listing launch or an open house. Schedule the start date so ads go live when the listing does.
Running listing ads from your Facebook business page puts your brand in front of local buyers every time you promote a new listing. Over time, people in the areas you sell see that you're consistently listing homes there. Comments, messages, and likes also land on your page, so you can respond directly. Ads can't run from a personal profile, so you'll need a business page.
Boosting a listing post is quick. A campaign built to generate leads involves more decisions: targeting, multiple ad formats, placements, a lead form with qualifying questions, and a way to get every lead into follow-up. Doing all of that well takes time and practice.
That's why many agents hand it off. An attendee asked Harry what makes a managed listing ad different from running Facebook ads yourself. His answer came down to who does the work. The agent picks the listing, the budget, and the timeframe. A team, like his at CINC, that runs real estate social ads full time handles the rest, guided by data on which ads produce leads that move through the pipeline, not just which ones get clicks.
Sellers want to know their agent is actively marketing their home. A simple results report answers that question better than a status update.
A good report covers the numbers a homeowner cares about: the top-performing versions of the ad, where people saw it, how many people saw the home, how many times the ad was shown, how many interested buyers clicked, and how many asked for more information.
Here's what one $100 campaign produced: about 3,000 people saw the home, it was viewed more than 5,500 times, 520 people showed interest, and 20 requested more information. Numbers like that keep sellers confident and give you proof to bring to your next listing appointment.
Listing ads work best as one piece of a broader lead generation plan. They reach buyers while they're actively looking and give them something specific to act on. The payoff depends on what happens next, so every lead needs fast, consistent follow-up.
For CINC clients, Self-Serve Listing Ads handle that end to end. Agents choose the listing, budget, and timeframe in a short form, and campaigns typically launch within one to two business days. Leads flow straight into the CRM, and a seller report is emailed automatically when the campaign ends. To see how it fits with the rest of the platform, schedule a demo.