Webinar launched to show agents how to navigate tough...

A webinar explaining the best way to navigate the tough new Facebook advertising rules for estate agents is to be hosted by online valuation specialists The ValPal Network (TVPN).

The brand's head of marketing Steph Rady and industry advertising expert Paul Long will address the recent Facebook updates, explain how they are affecting estate agents and outline what can be done to reduce the chances of accounts being restricted.

It comes after Facebook introduced the Special Ad Category: Housing update aimed specifically at the property sector last December.

Rady said: “The rules were pretty clear, if you’re promoting a housing opportunity, you need to declare the advert as Special Ad Category: Housing to prevent discrimination.

“For the first six months or so, any advert that listed keywords such as house, property, landlord, rental, estate agent was flagged by the algorithm and ‘rejected’ if it wasn’t listed as Special Ad Category - even if it wasn’t promoting a housing opportunity.

“This was a pain for most, but you could always jump onto Facebook Live Chat support, explain your case and nine times out of 10, they would approve the adverts.

“Over the past few months, however, Facebook has made further updates to the algorithm and made the rules even more restrictive.”

Rady said the reason TVPN as a marketing agency was so reluctant to use the Special Ad Category in the beginning was that it significantly affects your targeting options.

You cannot choose the age range, add any targeting or exclusion options and must target at least a 10 mile radius.

For agents who cover a small patch in London for example, this can be a real issue, Rady said.

Webinar co-host Paul Long added: “The algorithm has also become stricter, and the rules have been updated to include mortgages and appraisal services, so there is no avoiding the Special Ad Category now.

“In fact, we have experienced issues of completely compliant ad accounts being disabled, business manager accounts being restricted and more worryingly, business pages being permanently banned from advertising.

“Our advice to anyone using Facebook ads for their business in the property sector is to follow all the rules to a tee. If you’re running any property ads whatsoever, declare them as Special Ad Category.

“If you cover only a small patch and are concerned about the 10 mile minimum radius, we advise you mention the target area at every opportunity in the advert - in the caption, the description and on the actual ad image/video. Call out to the people you’re targeting, and the algorithm should do the rest.

“We hope that anyone affected by the new update will join us on the webinar. We’ll be giving a range of tips to get the best out of Facebook advertising under the new rules.”

The ValPal Network webinar on Facebook updates is on Wednesday 12 October at 1pm.

Find out more and sign-up: https://bit.ly/facebookupdateswebinar.

*The ValPal Network is owned by Angels Media, which also owns the Today sites