Facebook Marketplace: tips for property listings

Facebook Marketplace is a burgeoning e-commerce platform with a massive audience spanning devices, platforms, browsers and demographics.
Reasons to list on Marketplace:

• Cost-effective boosted listing results.
• Organic viral reach with automatic micro-targeting.
• Geographically weighted impressions.
  
• Marketplace is a new platform in a competitive space but their advantage is that they already have a captive audience.

At this stage the selling interface is somewhat clunky for listing properties but here are some tips for getting started.

1. You can list an item under your personal profile but not via your business page.

At the time of writing business pages can only advertise products on Marketplace via specific inventory partners with integrated platforms - none of whom currently service New Zealand.

2. The category option for Home Sales sometimes work, but sometimes doesn't.

When you list an item, the category option for Homes for Sale may or may not show depending on whether you're browsing Facebook on your phone or computer. As a backup the Miscellaneous category option has the same fields for description, location, and price etc. The category options inconsistency is a known issue that appears to have arisen during the platform's overhaul from classic design to the current layout. Being listed under miscellaneous will not deter Facebook's algorithm from delivering your advert to a broad audience, particularly if you can pinpoint the geographic location in the next step.

3. Setting the location works best on mobile.

If you're using Facebook on your PC, the location options don't always accept the district or city that you type in. Location is also mandatory and you need to accept a suggestion (you can't manually type your own location).

In this example, the location is Greytown, Wairarapa but that township is not listed in the suggestions so our specified location is invalid.

The solution is to Save Draft then open the listing on your phone where you can drag a map marker to set the location. The location system likely works best on mobile because accuracy is superior on a smartphone compared to PC.

4. The Facebook pricing system is limited.

For pricing items on Facebook you can only enter a numerical value in the price field and it is also a mandatory field. This means you can't type POA, BEO, or Deadline Sale etc. This issue impacts all sellers and it is not uncommon to see vehicles or goods priced as $999,999 with detailed price info included in the title and description.

Note: A quick browse of Marketplace listings will highlight the number of listings priced as FREE or $123,456. Inevitably such listings are negotiable, seeking 'swaps' (common among vehicle traders), or may be Wanted to buy listings. That is to say marketplace users are by and large familiar with the pricing limitations and work around it using the description.

5. Personal contact info will be automatically hidden.

If you include your mobile number or email address in the description that info will be automatically hidden by Facebook's AI to protect the seller's personal information online. Facebook's intention is for buyers and sellers to engage via Messenger where they can then share contact details on a one to one basis. Some sellers work around this by uploading a business card photo. Similarly external links are not supported.

6. Boosting Marketplace listings get more views than Facebook ads for 3rd party websites.

Facebook incentivizes Marketplace listings by delivering them first and foremost, ahead of advertising that can reduce Facebook's traffic share through linking to external pages. A Marketplace listing traps the buyer in the Facebook ecosystem (including Messenger). Traditional Facebook advertising leans towards interactions on 3rd party company websites. Furthermore the Facebook business ads market is saturated with companies selling goods and services.

Other Notes:

• GIF images are not supported. Property photos should be in JPG or PNG format.
• Its not uncommon for people to assume that your listing is a rental because rentals currently predominate the real estate stock. It's unusual to find houses for sale on Marketplace.
• You may receive a lot of queries through Messenger, especially for a boosted listing.
• Don't think of Marketplace only as a way to sell, but more as a way to catapult your listing's exposure and gain market awareness of your own brand.
  

SalesPartner photos tip:

Wondering where to find your listing's property photos for uploading to Facebook? In Listing Entry, open the Media tab and click Explorer to view the file location in Windows.