As a real estate agent or broker, Facebook is still the number one place to get in front of your current and past clients as well as new and potential clients. Having a Facebook Business Page is one of the best ways to market yourself and generate new business.

But, for many agents and brokers - budget is top of mind. With this in mind how can you generate more engagement, more traffic to your website - and ultimately more business using Facebook without spending a ton of money?

There are a number of ways you can maximize Facebook on a budget - here are a few of the most important tips and strategies you can implement today.

1. Think beyond the now. The biggest challenge with most agents and brokers is creating content and thinking ahead in terms of what to post. I recommend using a content grid to think about the type of content you could create or curate based on your brand.

A content grid is a simple spreadsheet where you map out the 30 or so topics that are related to who you are, your brand and your expertise. Download the content grid here.

2. Batch your content. In addition to planning ahead with a content grid, one of the best things you can do to be consistent with your page is to use Facebook's scheduling tool. By ‘batching your content' - meaning scheduling out 5-7 days at a time - you will ensure that you have consistent content on your site.

Know the best time to post to your Page. Use the Insights tab on your Facebook Page to schedule content at the optimal time for when your fans are most likely to be on Facebook and then schedule out your content. 

I recommend scheduling content 5-7 days in advance - nothing more than that. Also, you need to have a system in place for responding quickly to messages and comments.

3. Have a system for responding quickly. Download the Facebook pages app (available for iOS and Android) and then make sure your notifications are set to ‘ON' - this way, anytime someone reaches out to you on your Page, you will receive that right away.

4. Boost your posts on a budget. Not sure about advertising? One of the best ways to get your content in front of more people is to boost your posts. Only boost posts that are linking back to your site. Why? No need to drive traffic anywhere else right? This is why it's ideal if some or all of the posts on your Facebook Page link back to your site or your blog.

Start with boosting your posts by $5-10 each to people who like your page and their friends. By boosting the post to people who like your page and their friends - they are more likely to click on the post. You can run targeting on a boosted post - but to get the most bang for your buck when boosting - you want to boost to people who already know, like and trust you!

5. Get more life out of past posts by boosting! Extend the life of your posts. Go back to your Insights tab, click Posts and then sort by Engagement. Here, you will see the posts that got the most engagement on your Page. You can then choose to boost any one of those posts. If those posts are still relevant, pick 3-5 and boost each by $5-10 each to generate more traffic and engagement to your page.

6. Get the most of each post by tagging. Did you know there is a simple ‘hack' to bring more people into each of your posts? When you post something on your business page that you think may also appeal to one of your Facebook friends you can click the drop-down arrow on your post and comment as yourself versus your page - then, you can tag any friends who you think may be interested in this post. Be careful here - don't spam your friends but tag a handful of friends. This will bring them to the post to hopefully like or comment - which will help get your post seen by more people! For more details on how to do this exactly click here!

7. Promote your Page through email. There are two simple things you can do to promote your Page through email. First, make sure you have your Facebook Page link easily listed in your email signature - I love using Wisestamp.

Secondly, make it a point in your email marketing efforts to promote your Facebook Page from time to time. For example, if you are emailing your sphere once a month using Mailchimp, Aweber, Constant Contact or any other email marketing system - make sure you not only put a link into your newsletter to promote your Page, but you give people a reason why they should like or visit your page. For example, you may say, “Are we connected yet on Facebook? Visit and like my business page this month to stay in the know about the latest homes going on the market in your area and selling in your neighborhood!"

8. Promote your Page on all of your blog and/or videos. At the end of each blog post and/or video - make sure to add a simple CTA (call to action) - something as simple as, “I'd love your thoughts on this too - leave me a comment on my Facebook Page which is_"

9. Invite people who like your posts to like your page. This is one of my very favorite Facebook business page hacks. Here's how it works - if you receive more than a few likes on a post, you can click on the list of people who liked the post and are then given the option to invite them to like your page. This little hack has been a huge tool for increasing Facebook likes for both my clients and myself. This is now something I do about once a week and it's helped me consistently increase my Facebook likes.

10. Create and upload video to your business Page. One of the best ways to drive traffic to your Facebook Page and generate business from it is to create simple videos  that are uploaded directly into Facebook. When you upload video directly into Facebook, you will see a big jump in organic (non-paid) reach and engagement.

If you've never done video before, I encourage you to think about creating short videos giving tips and answering questions. If you get asked a question more than once, it's a great opportunity to create a quick video. When you create your video, make sure you follow the simple rule: tell them who you are and what you are going to tell them, tell them what you are going to tell them and then wrap it up with a simple call-to- action with where they can connect with you.

A great place to start with video is by doing a Facebook Live video, where you are live broadcasting to people who like your page. You can access Facebook Live through the Facebook Pages Manager mobile app.

11.A picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures and visuals are still one of the number one things you can add to your Facebook Business Page. You can create simple graphics that are branded to your Page using tools like Canva.com or Picmonkey. Create graphics such as ‘before and after' photos of homes, photos that represent the community you live in, inspirational or funny quotes, and/or photos of you and your happy clients.

Creating a Facebook strategy on a shoestring budget is possible. The key is getting a few systems in place for creating and posting content as well as making it a priority on your schedule.

The key to anything is time and although it doesn't take a lot of money to have a successful business page - time is money and it's the only thing we have! Schedule time each week to plan and schedule your content as well as create content. You may also look into hiring a Virtual Assistant and/or Copywriter on a part-time or project basis to assist you with some of these tasks.

Do you have tips for growing your Facebook page? I'd love to hear! Leave me a comment below or join in the conversation in our Facebook group.

This post originally appeared here.

Katie is the CEO and Owner of Katie Lance Consulting. Katie is a nationally known keynote speaker at conferences and events, teaching the latest tools and strategies in social media, mobile and technology trends. She is a frequent blogger and contributor to Inman News and The Huffington Post.