Paid Search
Both cost-per-clicks (CPCs) and cost-per-thousand impressions (CPMs) have dropped since the last quarter. This appears to be a result of more volume, which would correlate to more traffic. These cycles look similar to last year, though, with big increases in January, and dips throughout February and March, respectively. Unless there is inventory-specific traffic, we expect to continue to see some dips in traffic going into Q2.
Digital Insights
We continue to note the importance of having a robust, content-rich website. After seeing your ads, emails, and other creative collateral, people visit your website to learn more, and ultimately to convert. Having a website that is not only filled with proper conversion points, but also an expansive library of content where they can learn more about your communities, floorplans, and where you build is crucial in terms of optimization not only for SEO, but also for SEM. For example, New Home Inc. launched its new, incredibly informative site, after having a soft launch of a smaller website, and the number of conversions increased while the budget stayed about the same. One of the reasons is that the site has clear calls-to-action, tons of content, AND proper conversion points where it matters!
Social Insights
Just like in SEM, we saw extremely strong traffic coming through in January, but then saw dips in February and March. We are finally starting to see a lower CPC for our builders after noting higher numbers in the last quarter of 2021, due to high competition in the social advertising space.
As for trends in social, we are seeing more and more builders jump into TikTok! We are seeing more of an engagement with happy homeowners, pet photos, and personal stories than we have ever before, so start to incorporate the personal side of your company into your social media if you haven’t already.
Facebook has taken off some interest-based targeting options that pertain to housing such as luxury real estate, homes.com, and more. If you’re noticing that your ad sets have an error and are no longer running, check what interests you have targeted in your ad sets and make sure that all of the interests are still allowed by Facebook.
