Where Facebook Marketplace is a relatively new feature to Facebook's already powerful social media channel, it bodes to be one of the most powerful.
Targeting businesses such as eBay, Gumtree, Rightmove and Zoopla (to name a few) it is essentially trying to become one channel for most things we need on a daily basis. Including social interaction, buying and selling, MONEY (Libra, expected 2020).
So what exactly is Facebook Marketplace? It's a new design feature of the social media channel Facebook (released in 2016) that gives users the opportunity to advertise anything they want to sell for FREE, whether its a car, clothing, a cupboard or in our case - rooms to rent.
The most common demographic is 25-34 year olds and with more than 18 million adverts posted PER DAY worldwide, its safe to say Facebook has already taken this market by storm and in my opinion I wouldn't of expected any less.
Targeted at offering a new style of "localised advertising" to almost replace that of newspaper adverts (Interestingly how Steve Bolton filled his first HMO). Let me also mention Facebook Marketplace also remains completely FREE unlike any of its competitors.
So how can we as the general public utilise Facebook Marketplace as a place to rent our rooms out? Here's a few top tips...
- Make sure you fill out EVERY field within your category.
- Always confirm your exact location area - research showed that over 90% of sales came from within a 15-20 mile radius from the location.
- Make your title catchy, just like in your SpareRoom adverts (None of the "1 bed room to let" rubbish) we want something similar to "Beautiful ensuite rooms to rent close to Eastleigh town centre"
- Price your room slightly higher and be prepared to haggle slightly. (Facebook Marketplacers are renowned to loving a bargain).
- Make sure your photos are high quality and show the BEST features of your home.
- Re-share your advert into local buy and selling groups with its easy re-share feature on the marketplace app.
Now you may be thinking, I get a lot of business through SpareRoom/Rightmove ect. Why would I use Facebook? Here's why!
- Its quick and easy to set up, can be used on mobile or desktop.
- Completely FREE
- Its a great way of finding people in your local area, with the map search feature on the properties section, it makes it easy for potential tenants to find you.
- The adverts are eye-catching and give out some great information to its audience.
- It has over 42 million active Facebook users in the UK.
- The most common age range of a Facebook Marketplace user is 25-34 (Coincidentally the age range of average PPP HMO tenants)
Now the next bit is easy, go to the Facebook Marketplace website or go to the app on your phone and and put your first listing on there!
