May 18, 2020
Tips For Succeeding As a Realtor on Instagram

We all know that real estate photos are perhaps the biggest factor in getting a potential buyer interested in a home, so are you making sure you’re doing well on the world’s most popular photo-sharing social media?

We want to help you thrive, so here are some tips for helping you grow both your real estate business and brand on Instagram:

  1. Your Profile

    Obviously, the first step is to make sure you’re profile is created and optimized. Some people choose to have one profile that they post both personal and professional content on, and others choose to have two separate ones, a business and a personal one. Personally, I think setting up a profile for just your realty business is a better choice, because then everything you post and create is solely for the purpose of your business, and you don’t have to wonder if what you’re posting is too personal for business followers, or too business-like for personal friends and family.

    Instagram is designed and optimized to be used on the mobile app, so I recommend using it anytime you use Instagram. When creating your profile, spend time thinking of your username, profile photo, and bio. You want to craft a distinct identity on your profile, and you also want it to convey how serious a business person you are, while still showing off your friendly personality.

    Once you have your profile all set up, start off with following everyone you know. For those that you don’t know too well, I would recommend following them a little later, once you have made few posts. If a person doesn’t know you well, your profile is going to make an impression on them when they view it, and you want to make sure you’ve taken the time to start building it.

  2. Creating Content

    When thinking of how to build your profile and what to post, think of your Instagram as an advertisement. You want to post fun, professional, and most of all, engaging content. Post what you find interesting and fun! Quality photos of your home, a picture of you out walking your dog. As a real estate agent, you want to convey the type of person you are: the type of person that anyone would feel comfortable approaching or contacting, and trusting to sell their home. Additionally, what you DON’T post is just as important. Like with any professional setting, it’s best to stay away from politics and religion. You don’t want to make any potential clients feel excluded or hurt by what you post! If posting about political or religious topics is important to you, this is where having a separate, personal profile is useful. Post that type of stuff on there, and I would recommend setting that profile to “Private.”

  3. Types of Posts

    There are 4 types of Instagram posts you can do: Regular feed posts, Instagram Stories, Instagram Live, and IGTV.

    1. Regular feed posts are the majority of the content you see on Instagram, and you can post on it by hitting the small plus [+] symbol at the bottom of the app. They’re the photos and short videos you see in the main feed as you scroll down on the app. These types of posts are great for highlighting what you really want someone to see. It could be anything like displaying a new listing or showing off a fun vacation. The difference I see between regular feed posts and Instagram story posts, is that main feed posts are more carefully crafted and for something really worth showing off. So what should you post in IG stories?

    2. Instagram stories are best used for quick, fun things that are maybe a little less special than what you would post on the main feed. Post a quick photo of your dinner, or your first visit out to a new listing, or you can even use it to highlight a post from your main feed. Also, don’t forget that you can post both photos and videos, as well as post content taken from the app camera or photos/video already saved in your phone photo library. Simply hit the camera icon on the top left corner in the app, or swipe right while on the home screen. When on the camera, swipe up to see photos and video you’ve already taken.

    3. Instagram Live is a tool that Instagram loves to boost. Use this tool to do a casual walkthrough tour of your home, or do a Q & A! If you go live, it’s good to plan on it going at least a few minutes, so people have time to join in and watch. Otherwise, it might be better to just post a normal video. To go live, hit the camera icon in the top left, and then scroll all the way to the left with the bottom options until you see “LIVE.”

    4. IGTV is a newer feature from Instagram that is used for videos longer than 60 seconds, which is the maximum length a video in the main feed can be. Use IGTV to post videos such as full length walkthrough video tour. Simply go to post a video like you would in the main feed, and choose any video over one minute, select “long video” option, and you have the option to choose a thumbnail as well, and then simply add a title, description and hashtags and you’re good to go!

    Bonus Tips:

    1. Post consistently and sustainably. Consider creating a content calendar, and update it at least once a week. Planning out a minimum amount of posts makes it much easier to stay on top of.

    2. Use hashtags, and research the best ones for the type of post, your business, and location!

    3. Use ads to target the people in your market.

    4. Be generous with your likes and comments!

Post Written By: Jackson Erb, Real Estate Photographer

Thank You

We want to say thank you for taking the time to read this. Our desire is for our clients to succeed. We hope that this writing helped you in some way, and if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions feel free to reach out, we appreciate any feedback.

Lastly, we would be truly honored to have you share this article on social media.

We are a business that strives to make people successful by promoting them and their work through beautiful photos that tell a remarkable story about them.

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