How to Pay Virtual Assistants for Social Media Marketing | Land Geek Round Table

Hey, it's Mark Pinocchio, the land geek with their favorite niche real estate website, thelandgeek.com and on this week's roundtable, we have all the usual suspects. We've got the Zen master, Breathe in the mailing, Breathe out the marketing, Mike Zano. Mike, how are you?

Doing great.

We've got his partner in crime, the nightcap OG dude buddy Scott Bossman. Scott, how are you?

I'm doing great, Mark, thanks.

Good to see you. We've got Puttin in the reps, Terea Harris, Terrea. How are you?

I'm well.

Good to see you. We've got the technician, Eric Peterson. Eric, how are things?

I'm feeling good.

Great. I love it when you call me Big Papa. Tate Litchfield. How are things, Tate?

I'm good, thanks. Excited to be here.

And of course, last but not least, you know him, you love him. Scott. Todd. Scott. Todd.netlandmodo.com Learn anything about anything. Investor ninjas.com Scott Todd. How are you?

Mark?

I'm great. How are you?

I feel great. Because based on the last boot camp, we have a plethora, I love saying the word plethora of roundtable topics that we can discuss. And this week's roundtable we have two distinct topics. So the first question I'm going to ask, and we are going to start with Eric Peterson is, Eric, how do your VA's charge you for posting ads, say on Facebook, Craigslist, landmodo.com do they charge you hourly, where they charge you per ad and what do you recommend to your coaching clients?

So it does depend on the platform. Facebook, Landmodo, other land selling websites, those are going to be hourly in terms of how we pay, Craigslist is going to be by the stuck ad as opposed to hourly. So the reason for that, Facebook and the other land selling websites, it's really just the time it takes to get those ads out. And in the case of Facebook, maybe your poster is also responding to leads. And that's really an hourly task in my opinion. But when we start talking about Craigslist, it's not really effective to pay by time because number one, we want to encourage lots of speed. But number two, some of those ads that they post are non productive, mainly because they don't stick or they flagged. So as the buyer of the person's time that's doing that work, I want them to post successful ads and that's what I want to pay for. So we kind of build our pay structure around that. That's kind of our incentive, if you get a stuck ad, it's X amount of dollars per stuck ad or X amount of cents per stuck ad. And that's the difference between the two platforms. For us.

It makes a lot of sense to me. I have a feeling maybe T. Litchfield does something differently. Tate, how do your VAs charge you?

I just ditto what Eric does. I mean, this is. Craigslist is one of those areas where it's a performance based. Right. So if you're really good at getting ads to stick, you're compensated accordingly. The other reason I like doing it this way is I've got one VA who has a terrible stick rate, but it doesn't matter to me, right, Because I only pay him $10 a day because he's only paid to get 10 new ads posted every single day. So that works really well for us. Facebook and Land Moto, it's an hourly thing. Just because Lanmoto is super simple. I mean, anybody that can fog a mirror can post on Land Moto. And I think that's the way Scott designed it. And, you know, Facebook, it's the same thing, but we just have kind of a. A schedule or protocol that we follow based on profiles and when it's time to post and renew and that kind of thing. So very similar approach to Eric. I think it's what we found to work best for our individual businesses.

Okay. So so far we're in total competition, alignment, total harmony. Terea, putting in the rep. Harris, what are you doing?

So Craigslist is identical.

We.

We pay per stuck ad, and that's just a smart way to do it for us as well. Facebook, we have both. So I have someone who posts hourly because she posts, but she also does a lot of the responding as well. And then we have someone who is paid weekly to post on all our platforms. Now we determine what gets posted and how many on each platform. So we still structure what needs to be done. But it's a weekly payment we give for all the platforms that we're currently posting on. Including deal of the week?

Including deal of the week. Okay. Eric and Tate, do you guys pay the same people for your email for the deal of the week?

My deal of the week team gets paid hourly. Separate people that manage that process for us.

I could see Tate paying by open rate.

I was actually just looking at my open rate this today, and I was thinking, what can I do to improve this? I was actually boxing the VA this morning thinking we need to rework this because our open rate is not where I Want it to be and make some changes. That's a good idea, Mark. Maybe a little tiny bonus there, right?

Yeah.

You've seen that old commercial where it's like, tiny, tiny bonus day, where it's like, oh, it's whatever day. I got $5 bonus.

Right.

Thinking about implementing something like that. If we can get X percentage open rate. Yeah. I'll give you a nice little bonus. We do compensate when they sell and that kind of thing as well, so. But for deal of the week, it's just that flat rate is what we pay. I think we're paying, like, $4 an hour for that position. So super simple.

Okay, great. The nightcap OG dude, buddy. Scott Bossman, are you in alignment with your other coaches?

Yeah, pretty much. We have a marketing manager that we pay weekly, a weekly salary, and he kind of oversees Facebook posting. Our other, you know, land, Moto Land, Flip Land, Century deal of the week. He does those emails as well. And then he manages one other Facebook ad poster for us because we like to keep our property separate in different Facebook accounts. So he's managing which ads are being placed in which account. So he's being paid weekly on a salary basis. What?

Mike Zaino, are you confused by this? He says a marketing manager. When I hear manager, I think he's managing the team that posts the ads, but it sounds like he's the one that's doing the work.

He's a.

He's a little bit of both.

He's got kind of a hybrid. So I shouldn't say manager. Right. He's kind of managing one person. So we're kind of like, you know.

I thought you were looking at. Because he had a new strategy with, like, a Facebook account per property. I wanted to hear more about that. I thought that's when you started making that face, but I was confused. I like that. You got to talk more about your strategy.

I mean, whether he's the manager or, you know, he's kind of the manager. He's. He's managing the whole thing. I mean, it's a terminology thing. Okay.

He's a working manager.

There's nothing the working manager precision of.

Language matters on this podcast.

Okay.

Okay.

Sounds expensive.

You need to be clear. So he's a specialist or a manager?

He's a specialist. Let's do that.

He's a specialist. Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

So that's.

So he does manage one person.

Yes, correct.

So then that's fair. That's fair.

He's a supervisor.

Well, I mean, no.

Yeah, because the one person he's doing.

The most of the ads on the fire department. I'm a lieutenant, but I'm. I'm a. I'm a working supervisor, so I get that. I get where he's going with that. I think there is such a thing.

This is what happens when you don't work in corporate America for too long. You just don't know what anyone does with their titles. I really don't know. But it's. You know what, though? I think it's fun to stir the pot with Scott Bossman.

So.

And I like to see Mike Zano coming to his. His restaurant.

Yeah. Yeah, there is a working supervisor. I think it's like Terea said, that's a. That's a valid term.

There you go. So, Mike, in what ambitiously lazy way do you work with your VAs to do your marketing?

I'm in alignment with what's been said so far. We have the hourly rate for all of the posting except for Craigslist, because such variability and getting the ads to stick and so on and so forth. Yeah. I don't know much else to add. I guess I like going like, first mark. I guess going last now it's like everybody. I'm feeling the pain of being last now. I guess I can't be satisfied. Right. Because now all these wonderful things have been said. We still have to hear from Scott Todd, so I know we'll have that, but, you know. Yeah. Hourly. Hourly pay for the. For the marketing team manager, supervisor and, you know, per ad with the Craigslist, so. And not much else to add to that. I'm not really loving this spot on the podcast.

Okay, well, we'll circle back on the next question. First to you, Mike. There you go. It'll get boomerang right back. But Scott Todd, you're going to be the anchor on this. How do you handle. How do you work with your VAs? Charging them for ad posting?

Yeah.

So you know Craigslist. You got it. You know, pay. Pay per ad stuck. Right. Like that. You're paying for result because Craigslist is finicky and, you know, they take them down whenever they want and whatever. Everybody else kind of falls within that hourly range. Right. Like, I don't really pay for results. I do like the concept that Tate was saying, like, pay for an open rate to someone blasting out the email, but I don't do that today. It's a good idea. But maybe a bonus for someone like that.

Anything above 10%, 12%, 20%, what would you bonus at? What's an outstanding open rate.

Well, I mean, I think that, I think it's about growth, right? You know, like I think that you've got to look at what your baseline is today and then grow it. So hey, listen, if you, you know, if you get the open rate to, you know, 10% higher or the click rate, right, you got to figure out which one of those metrics is important to you. Is it the open rate? To me, the open rates garbage. Why? Because the open rate defense that they open, they didn't do anything with it. The click rate to me is more important. Okay, so like figure out your baseline and then figure out what you want to improve it for. Like hey, 10, you know, 10% better. I want, look at your average and say I want it better than this. But you know, really what it comes down to on that open rate, Mark, is very simple. It's, it's the, it's the headline. Like the open rate is the headline and then the click rate is the offer. Right. Like if you're not getting that click rate, one, they didn't open it and two, they didn't take action on it because your offer is not good. It's not connecting with people. So you can pull a lot of data out of just those two metrics, like what people are thinking about what you just put out there.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. So Tate, you got to do the. Yeah, it's not just, it's open plus click. Right. So they got to really work on that headline plus the call to action to get any, any bonus.

For sure.

Yeah.

And I was going to say you got to know what your baseline is. So whatever you're, you're achieving currently, you got to figure out how much you want to double that or triple that percentage and go accordingly. But I'm with Scott, really, it's about the clicks.

Yeah. I do think there is a general metric overall which I think if you get a 10% or above open rate, it's really good. Now, I don't know necessarily in what it is in our niche because I know people have a much higher open rate. I'd imagine the click through rate is around 2% I think generally. But I could be wrong. I have to go to the Googles and Interwebs and get some updated information. Scott, Todd's making that face like Mark, you have no idea what you're talking about.

I think it was because you said interweb.

No, he said the Googles and that's like, I mean, we just literally, I just have a Feeling like if you were to look at our audience retention graph right there when he said the Googles, everybody just like plugged out fine.

You know, for your, for your people. SCOTT I should have said Bing. For the people that are on Bing, they can do a really nice search.

What is Bing? I don't even know what that is.

What are you.

Your surface. Does your surface.

That's what comes on that surface.

That's right. That surface that's baked in there, baby.

The does not know that.

Well, let's go to our second question, which is if you have multiple properties, do you need to post three ads per each property? So for example, you have let's say 10 properties that are in, let's say in the same county. Would you post three ads per unique APN number? Mike Zano well, thank you for asking.

No, and I'm glad you said that because we tend to hyper focus, right? We go to specific areas. So the idea is to generate leads, right, that they can later on warm up to you and buy from you. So no, not I don't. For every say I had 10 properties, there wouldn't be three times 10. I just want to make sure that there's enough ads going out to generate leads for that area where my properties are located. So I don't think that you have to get that detailed where you're throwing out specific ads on. You know, the thing is that we're looking for leads. We're going to talk to the people, you know, and if in the course of discussions, you know, you have a property that might better match them, you could talk to them about it. But the short answer for me would be no.

No. Scott Bossman I'd say no as well. You know, I think the platform you're marketing on too may have some limits as to how much you're posting that type of thing. So now Zaino's laughing at me. I don't even say anything wrong. But. So let's say we have three properties in rotation. Just keep it real simple. I mean, we're posting on Facebook. Let's say we're posting property A today, B tomorrow, C the next day, and then we'll repeat, rinse and repeat after that. If we have some very similar properties or let's say we have one property, I'm still going to hit Facebook every single day, but we're going to change the ad contact and change the title, the COVID picture, all that stuff. You can do a short form ad today and long format tomorrow. It's just all about showing up on that platform. The other land selling platforms are nice because you can kind of set it and forget it and then maybe renew a week later, that type of thing. So that's, that's what we do.

All right. Tree Harris.

So very similar. On the other platforms outside of, you know, Facebook, Craigslist, we post every time we get a new property, we throw it up there and we just kind of monitor it from there. So we do have a space specific ad for each property on those platforms. On Facebook, we typically try to just post geographically. So if we, we want to make sure we've covered all of our property in this area, which could be one ad that covers all of them. And as our leads come in, we funnel them to the property that best fits them in that area. So not so much specific for each property, but mostly for each geographical area.

Makes sense. Eric Peterson, what about you?

Well, I think kind of like everyone said, you know, the, the land selling platforms, we're going to make sure we have an ad on all those platforms that represent the type of properties we have. So if we're talking 10 properties in one county, maybe there's three different types of properties within those 10, you know, maybe there's a few five acres that are in one area, maybe there's some one acres in another area, etc. So we're going to represent one of each of those on those land selling platforms, Craigslist, you know, with 10 properties, we're probably going to go ahead and be posting, let's say, 10 to 15 ads a day in multiple markets to represent those properties on Facebook. It's going to, first of all, depend how many accounts we have access to. But again, we want to, you know, hit those markets where we want to advertise these properties on a regular basis for Facebook, we can't put out the quantity of ads that we're going to put out on Craigslist unless we're going to have like 20 accounts or something. So it's scaled back a little bit, but we're still going to try to get a couple ads out day and again, represent what we have in inventory and bring in those leads and, you know, work them.

Fantastic. Tate Litchfield, what are you doing?

Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, we're just trying to get as many ads posted as humanly possible. I mean, that's really what we're trying to do. We do a variety. It's not like we're sitting there writing ad copy for the same property a hundred times over. We try to Recycle it, We try to change it up, we try to alter it and make it unique. Little tweaks here and there can go a long way. But Facebook, you know, same as pretty much everybody else. Just due to limitations, I can't get as any ads posted as I would love Craigslist. It's all about posting a variety of property. Different headlines, different images, even price points in as many markets that are relevant as we possibly can. So, I mean, we're just going for the numbers thing here, trying to get as many ads as we possibly can posted in the correct areas that generate leads.

Right. I mean, knowing Scott Todd, he just goes to process Moto, presses one button, and all of a sudden it just populates ads. But I will ask you, Scott, what are you doing with your ads?

Yeah, I mean, thanks.

Yeah.

It is driven by process Moto. But the thing is, is that what we're doing, Mark, is a lot like what everybody else said. Okay. So we try to think of general terms like, I. I might have 20 or 30 properties in one area. If I had to write one or two ads for those 20 or 30 properties every single day, then we'd never do anything. Right? So the way that I approach it is I use the blank blind ad strategy where we talk about the general area. Hey, I've got land in this area. I mean, the other day I actually put an ad out that said, like, 39 properties in this area. Send me a note. And, like, people are like, tell me more. Okay. So all I'm doing with marketing is I'm trying to shake the trees of all the land buyers out there who wants to buy land. And I'm just. It's like fishing, right? Like, you're just throwing bait out there, then you're reeling them in. Okay. We're not trying to, like, you know, hook them or eat them right out of the fishing pond. We're trying to hook them first, and then we'll reel them in. Okay. So that's the thing is, that's what we're trying to do with our marketing. And so I don't necessarily have to write hundreds of ads a day. What I've got to do is I've got to be able to. To put ads out there that's going to generate interest, to find the people that are interested in land to raise their hand, and then I can start the sales process.

Absolutely. It's all about generating interest. I am shocked that Tate did not just make a sarcastic comment about the way you just casted that line. I Mean, that form.

I agree with everything he, everything he said. Right. I mean, it was spot on. The cast, on the other hand, you know, obviously I need to get. Come spend some time with you.

Yeah, it's okay.

Okay.

Whatever, you know, okay, whatever.

Maybe, maybe revisit A River runs through it.

Whatever, whatever.

Anyways, we're at the point now where we're going to ask Terea for tip of the week. A website, a resource, a book, something actionable for the art of passive income listeners to go improve their businesses, improve their lives. Before we do that, I have to give out a shout out to our sponsor, which is flight school. Learn how the next 16 weeks can literally transform your life. Start building that passive income without renters, rehabs, renovations or rodents and go up that mountain of land investing with Scott Todd, who's done it thousands of times as your Sherpa. The investment that you are making in flight school ain't going to cost you nothing because you're going to make that money back 180 days or less, guaranteed. Most people do it in eight weeks. All you have to do is show us your work, learn more. Go to thelandgeek.com training thelandgeek.com training Terea, what do you got?

Okay, so this is pretty basic and it's kind of one of the land geek staples. It's what Landon and I first heard when we got the boot camp that really just, we held onto it and it was, can you see my thing in the back? Remember your why? It's the other way. Right. Remember your why? So there were times in our business where, and I'm still. We have times where things are going really well and then things aren't going as well. So in those moments where we are frustrated or, you know, there were times where we really thought, this is not going to work, we're going to give up. But we always went back to our why. Why did we get into this?

This.

What's the purpose of it? What do we want to get out of it? And that was our driving force. So remember your why.

I. I love it. I love it. I can't even make a snarky comment about it.

Scott Todd can.

I?

Can.

No problem. See, look, here's. Notice what Taria just did, though.

She.

She went to the person who she thought would. Would ding her on the thing and then she did a. She did a preemptive strike.

That's right.

Like, you know, to like, oh, well, he can do it. And now, like, if I go and do it, I'm like the mean guy that goes and does it. So I have nothing to say.

Come on, Scott, you know you want to do it.

I'll do it when she's not expecting it. I will do it when she's not expecting it. But you know who will do it? Eric Peterson.

The irascible Eric Peterson.

I mean, he's just looking for revenge for the jot, not pro. Whole deal. Like, you know.

It'S all good.

Oh, he must. He must have a rib in his mouth then, according to Mark.

Whoa.

Wow.

That was.

Wow.

I don't think I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen Scott go after Eric ever.

He couldn't come after me, so he.

Diverted to lash out at somebody. Like, no one ever lashes out at Eric except for you.

So, you know, I tell you, I mean, Taria is a tremendous influence now on this roundtable. I mean, you can just see all the changes happening in the flow, the.

Balance of dynamic, isn't it?

It is. Yeah.

Who wants to mess with her, man? Like, he doesn't eat for 21 days.

Yeah, right.

That's true.

I'm out.

Zayn and I were just talking about that. Actually. I just bought a case of bone broth. I'm ready with a mini fast.

Always. Bone broth, good for you.

But the bone broth, fantastic. Well, before we get to our little bonus content, I want to thank the listeners and remind them the only way that we're going to be able to get Terea to preemptively strike Scott Todd is if you do three little favors. You gotta subscribe, rate, review the podcast, send a screenshot of that review. Supporthelangiq.com we're going to send you the $97 wholetailing course, how to double your money, 30 days or less for free. So please do it. It really helps us out. Even if you don't want the course do just helps us. It's just a nice thing to do. It could be like your. Your. Your good deed of the day, so check that box off. Scott Bossman. Are we good?

We're good.

All right.

Eric?

We good, sir?

Tate?

Yep.

Sriya?

All good, Mike?

Yes.

All set, Scott?

All set.

All right. One, two, three. Three. Let freedom ring.

All right.

Not bad. I thought. This is a fun podcast discussion. We got. We got two questions in.

It was kind of tough, though, because I started feeling like I had to look at everybody's reactions. And then I started, I don't know, kind of throw me off my game. Look at everybody's Reaction. I wasn't laughing at you, Scott. I was just sort of caught up in the moment.

Okay, all right.

No, not you, Scott.

The other Scott.

Wait, wait.

Scott Bossman, not Scott.

Jeez.

Mark gave me a weird expression.

Okay.

Mark gave me the. Really?

You're gonna call him a manager?

Zayn's laughing at me.

When you said manager. Tate and Eric just heard Cha Ching. Like, this is manager.

Yeah, yeah.

We're like, boy, that overhead. What is he. What's he got going on here? This big organization. He's got a marketing manager. He's got an intake manager.

You throw out that title, and all of a sudden your. Your upwork applicants are asking for $50 an hour.

Yeah, you're right. I should have used. Again, she used a different term.

Yeah. Speaking of upwork, like, do you guys have a favorite platform now to find talent? Is upwork still the best place to go?

Easiest?

Yeah.

Is it easiest?

Yeah, they'd make their interface a little bit more user friendly. I'd be thrilled with it. Yeah, I hate that, but I like upwork.

Okay. All right. Did anybody watch Lupin over the weekend on Netflix? Lupin? It's French with subtitles. No. Highly recommend. The guy. The. The people that made. Now you see me movies made Lupin L U P I n. And it's, like, easily digestible. It's not, like, real long. It's like a. It's like British. Like, I love those little British series. Like, six episodes. And you're, like, done with the season? I don't know, Scott. Todd's giving me this. This weird look. What's. What's on your mind, Scott?

I will reserve. See, you did the same thing Tariq just did. You're looking. You're looking. You're preempting the strike. I got nothing.

All right. Did anybody watch White Tiger?

Nope.

Not yet.

No. Look at Zano. He's such an intellectual elitist now. He's like, mark, I'm reading. I don't have time for Netflix.

Fine.

I'm sorry. I'm not reading my books either. I'm still reading, but at night, I do like.

I like. I'm gonna watch Lupin tonight. I've been looking. Cobra Kai. I just finished third season of that, which is very addictive. Season three, if you guys haven't seen it. But I'm looking for a new show, so Lupin it is.

What?

There's a good one on Netflix that we watched last night. It's called Dig.

I watched it last night.

That's crazy.

That was awesome. Wasn't that good?

Yeah, very good.

That was fantastic.

What's so fantastic about it? Why is it so great?

Great story.

It's a great.

Just go watch it. I mean, it's like an archaeologist dig movie about.

I just fell asleep when you said archaeologists.

No, it's exciting. It's fantastic. Watch it and you'll see Indiana Jones.

Yeah, yeah, there you go. Indiana Jones.

Kind of. Sorry, I'm distracted. Somebody's sending me inappropriate images right now.

I will admit it. I just dropped the bomb on tape, and I did it at the most strategic time. You know, thanks to the bossman stirring the pot yesterday, I got this very appropriate picture to drop right on tape to where he just lost it. He couldn't even continue. His face is all red.

I don't even know what to say anymore. Like, I gotta go, guys.

I know what picture that was.

God, that was rude and uncalled for.

I've never seen Tate's face get this red.

He's so red.

What's funny? I was watching Tate's reaction to the thing, to the first picture he saw. He chuckled right as he kept talking. And then Mike Zano's like, what? What? Mike Zano picked up on a difference in Tate. And then I had to drop the other two bombs off them right at the right moment. Oh, man. Eric's like, what is this? Don't worry, Eric.

I'll get.

No, I know what it is.

Oh.

Anyways, yeah, go watch that movie. It's fantastic. I don't even dig, I think is what it's called. Yeah, it's great.

Although I know what Scott Todd would like. It's called Fierce City. Have you seen that.

City doll about.

The FBI and the mafia? And it has the actual tapes that they listen in on the mafia leaders when they. When they. It shows how they taped way back in the day. It's the whole story of the took down the mob. It's a really good Netflix show. Yes. City.

Hey, I have been enjoying that show, the Sopranos, man. I'm a little late to the party, but definitely, definitely enjoying the show. And got some good ideas too, I feel.

No.

Oh, good. I think on that we're gonna end. All right. Thanks, everybody. Yeah, yeah. Thanks for listening to the Art of Passive Income podcast. Start your journey at www.thelandgate.com and www.scotttob.net. rate and review the podcast and email support at the Land Geek. Your screenshot for a free passive income launch kit.