Be very specific, ensure you target a particular demographic and area, and definitely have a call to action. For ads I typically average $6.50 per lead (roughly 3 leads for each $20 ad). The conversion rate last year, turning those leads into clients, was 23% (that does not include those who are on hold while cleaning up finances, saving downpayments, etc.). The rate is lower for article boosts but the goal there is more funneling (to my WP site) than actual lead gen.

     Anita Clark has already replied.  Be sure to join her group,  Facebook Fridays

    If you need more expertise, Debbie Gartner and Katerina Nestor & Katerina Gasset can advise.

    Lynnea Miller also gave some great advice in her answer on this page.

Targeting your database within Facebook and then local demographics. 

I spend $5.00 and it lasts 2-3 days and tends to work.

I spent $20.00 on a rental listing in January and got inundated with calls within 3 hours!

Anita Clark is the expert in this department!  Great advice/information from her!  As always, thanks Anita!

I target a specific area and demographic. So far I cannot attribute a direct sale but am still developing the leads and have had more likes. This will all eventually lead to business and dollars.

Target your ads to the geographical area and demographic that fits your client base. Facebook ads are cheap in comparison to other internet ads and have so much exposure. And you only get charged when someone clicks on the ad, so you are seen by many with potential little cost.

I have boosted my Fb posts - I think it helps to 'spread awareness' since you can target your recipients...  

Andy,

Anita Clark gavee you the answer. A

Anita is the Queen of Facebook! Thank you for your great answer!

we're listing agents and our listings come from direct mail marketing.....

Follow the blogs by Anita Clark for good advice.

Boosting is the only way to get business pages in front of people as they block them. I use my personal page for business more and more and get a great response

I do not pay 

Andy Fulton - select your target wisely. Use 'boosting' as compared to getting leads sometimes. Have a clear call-to-action and proper auto-responder and follow-ups.

Good Luck.

I am zero help here.  I have never used FB ads for lead generation.  I have clients that came to me from my FB Business Page but not from ads. 

I think it is effective and low cost to run a campaign for a week in a targeted area.

I get plenty of response from fb without paying them anything.

We do not pay for social media advertisements

Interested to see what others say

Since I don't use Facebook for business, tha answers will be interesting!

I don't pay for adds on FB

Always interested in a question like this so I will park for awhile.

I will park here and read as I have never had any success with this at all

I dabbled a bit with facebook ads. Haven't seen any discernable results. Quite frankly, I find the input process for facebook ads difficult to navigate. The program seems a bit jumpy. Maybe my browser is incompatible. So I don't have any best facebook ad practices to offer you.

I have done a few, with zero results yet, could be doing it wrong.

wow great ideas

Will Have to see what otheres say!

I don't use them

Be very careful about how you target your audience.  You can actually violate some fair housing laws (according to studies) by targetting too specifically.

I have never used paud advertising, but if I did I would listen to Anita Clark on this one.-Kasey

So far, I have no experience and very little knowledge about placing ads on Facebook.

No clue since I don't advertise there

My FB costs per lead is above $8. 

This is much less than other 'inbound' strategies.

However, the lead to closing ratio is better with the latter group actually making it more profitable.

What this shows me is a need for better nurturing of the FB responses.

ALL of them are better than paying a referral fee to other agents, organizations or companies.

Best practice? If you can not visualize your reader, you will not have the message to which they will respond.

Varies but there is a definate trial & error period. I was lucky to be good at it. There is a system that's good from EasyAgentPro that you might find helpful. At first, just sign up for their emails on FB or any marketing really.

Parked and reading...

I am intrigued by it but have not used it. I'm in a small community and it doesn't seem necessary because everything spreads word-of-mouth already.

Andy - Thanks for asking this question, and I am also glad that Anita Clark decided to respond. I personally have not used FB ads, but might if I create the right marketing plan.

I did not use FB ads yet....I know I know it is time to catch up. 

I don't use paid FB ads.

FB ads have not worked too well for me. However, I am still trying to tune my demographics, category and area selections. Parking for read the answers.

No idea

There are lots of resources on the web providing this information for different types of real estate objectives that you can check out.