6 Tips for Building a Great Real Estate Instagram Profile
Recent reports show that Instagram has 1 billion active users. And according to Facebook (who owns Instagram, in case you didn’t know), 83% of those users say they discover new products and services on Instagram. That’s a lot of people!
These numbers are no joke. All agents should consider using Instagram as part of their real estate marketing strategy. Here are our six tips for building an engaging Instagram profile to grow your business.
Use paid advertising to reach your target audience.
With Instagram ads, you can get your posts in front of the exact audience that you want. Is your target audience in the 35-50 age bracket? In what location are you listing? Target your posts based on these factors. You can even create ads that are shown only to those that visit your website.
Share high-quality photos.
Low-quality photos have no place on Instagram, an inherently visual platform. It’s worth the investment to purchase a nice camera and use that to take the photos you want to share. If you want more tips for taking quality real estate photos, check out our blog.
Hashtag with confidence.
In a nutshell, hashtags get more eyes on your post. When a user types in a hashtag, Instagram offers up all of the posts that are using that hashtag, which increases the post’s reach and allows the user to search for images and videos by subject. Just be sure to use your hashtags strategically so you don’t look “spammy.” You can place hashtags in the actual caption of your post or in the post’s comments; it has the same effect. Check out this list of the top 25 best hashtags for real estate agents and take your pick. After a few posts, check Instagram’s analytics platform, Instagram Insights, to see which hashtags are working and which aren’t.
Use Instagram stories to show your more candid side.
500 million Instagram accounts use Instagram stories every day. Additionally, ⅓ of the most viewed Instagram stories are from businesses. Instagram stories give you the perfect opportunity to show a more candid, behind-the-scenes side of your personality and your real estate business. Shoot videos at open houses or home tours, or go beyond that by posting inspirational quotes or anything else that motivates you. People appreciate when you authentically share a slice of your life, and Instagram stories present the perfect place to do this.
Share the right content.
Ensure that you’re posting content that is interesting and relevant to your users. This definitely includes photos of homes for sale (both the interior and the exterior), but can also include:
- Personal photos of your family or friends — as long as that kind of content works with your brand. Some agents would never dream of sharing personal photos on a professional Instagram page, but there are many who do this and it works for their brand and their audience.
- Videos of yourself answering common questions that you receive about your business.
- Videos of yourself sharing tips for other agents and the lessons you’ve learned, if you’re established.
- Photos of beautiful homes that inspire you, but that you aren’t listing. Hank Bailey of RE/MAX Legends does this really well. He posts photos of homes from other photographers simply because he admires their architecture and design. This invites his followers to see a more personable side of himself and shows that he is passionate about beautiful homes and architecture. He’s got a great following of people who also appreciate the same home design that he loves — so that if he were to ever periodically insert his own listing into the mix, he would have a built-in list of interested leads at the ready. Score!
Listen and join the conversation.
Think of Instagram as a space for network-building. While you can (and should) use Instagram as a platform to grow your business by posting photos of properties for sale, you can also use the platform to make connections with mortgage brokers, for example, or people who aren’t interested in buying a new home now but may be in a few years. And the only way to build a genuine network is by engaging with those who visit your profile. Ask questions in the captions of your photos and respond to people’s answers. When you do live videos, check the comments and interact with those who are watching you.
We hope that this post has been helpful as you’re considering creating an Instagram account for your real estate business. As you’re growing your account, don’t forget to think about the other ways that you can engage with prospects while you’re offline. Direct mail is one great option for keeping your brand top-of-mind in the neighborhoods you care about. In fact, the Data and Marketing Association’s 2018 Response Rate Report showed that direct mail has a 9% response rate for household lists and a 4.9% response rate for prospect lists.
Our AutoMail solution was built for agents who want to implement quality direct mail marketing but desire the ease and efficiency of an automated system. With AutoMail, agents can schedule and send multiple automated marketing postcards over the course of 12 months, building relationships with prospects that lead to new clients. Interested? Get started today to elevate your real estate marketing strategy.
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