The numbers don’t lie. Over 500 million users flock to Instagram every day. Of these Instagramers, more than 120 million interact with a comment, a like or a share. Such audience engagement surely delivers a wallop that any real estate agent would want to have on their fingertips. Using Instagram to promote real estate is a must.
In this post we explore:
- Why you should consider Instagram to promote your real estate brand
- Instagram users’ salaries compared to Facebook or Twitter
- What Instagram is doing for realtors
- How to use your Instagram as your real estate portfolio
- How to highlight other people on your Instagram
- How to use hashtags efficiently
- Making use of various features of Instagram
- Instagram’s best practices for real estate
Why Instagram?
Instagram is ranked as one of the most popular social media platforms around the world with nearly 800 million active users worldwide. Many companies/businesses have jumped onto the trend to help promote their product or service and thus, have seen a tremendous amount of growth in e-commerce sales. Instagram perfectly validates the common phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.” With just a single photo or video clip on Instagram, businesses can instantly and effectively convey a marketing pitch that would otherwise require a long and complicated copy or description. This makes it perfect for realtors who are looking to boost their social presence and gain more leads:
An Aspirational platform to show off your listings
With real estate Instagram, you can generate images of your listings in a steady stream that could stoke buying aspirations and spur market interest. Hence, be sure to consistently create stylized and beautiful curated content that delivers aspirational messages and invites engagement.
Instagram allows you to present not only full-shots of your property listings, but also you can have a more detailed pictorial of their interior features as well as post video walkthroughs of rooms, gardens, and landscaping.
The Instagram crowd has more money than Facebook and Twitter followers
Real estate Instagram posts allow you a more targeted market approach. Users of this social media platform, industry data indicate, count in the more qualified residential property buyers. According to a study by data cruncher Statista, Instagram users’ salaries are higher than those on Facebook and Twitter. It is also noteworthy that more online purchases are being channeled via Instagram than on Facebook or Twitter.
How to act Like an Advanced Instagrammer in Promoting your Real Estate
Adopting Instagram for real estate marketing purposes can shake the way realtors not only network but also advertise their brand/listings. It isn’t surprising that 90 percent of brands analyzed in a 2019 industry report have made Instagram a vital part of their marketing mix. Compared with a prior study, this slice notably represents a 13 percent jump in marketing communication via Instagram.
With this increase and its resulting clutter of messages, it has become hugely important for marketers to level up their game in this online mass communication tool. Shared below are some of the ways how advanced real estate Instagrammers are precisely doing:
1. Post original photos and content
Post original shots of your newest and best listings on Instagram. Use these materials to showcase your mastery of your market territory. Include not only the key features of your listings, whenever appropriate, also include short scripts in your IG photos/videos to highlight positive client opinions on your business.
2. Maximize your Marketing Exposure Using Multi-photo upload
Instagram (IG) allows up to 10 pictures per post. This multi-photo feature per post offers you the opportunity for a full showcase of your sales listings. In one IG post, you can present both the home’s interiors and exteriors, as well as the choice amenities in the neighborhood.
Write vibrant photo captions not only descriptive of the home features. Also go for those that seek to draw a response from the viewer, such as “Isn’t this your dream home?” Another killer trick in captioning comes in direct call-to-action spiels like “Ask us for a viewing today!”
3. Include Real Estate Videos
Videos of your listings contribute much to real estate marketing through Instagram. Make your videos natural and spontaneous, and be sure to first identify the features you want to highlight. Shoot short few-second clips of these aspects and build your commentary on them.
Upload live Instagram video to attract a wider following on your real estate business. You can peg your live IG videos on major real estate events, such as realtor conferences or property development launchings that you participate in. Alternatively, you can deliver off-the-cuff video commentaries on real estate market news updates or tips to prospective home buyers or sellers.
4. Utilize the stories feature
Take advantage of the interconnectivity of various social media platforms, including portals like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Invite members of your family and your friends, as well as their own connections, to follow you on Instagram. You can channel such invitations via other social networking sites.
Always make it a point to announce to your IG followers any new additions to your Instagram page and provide a link to those posts. Also, harness the various groups that you join in social media to reap more benefits from your Instagram for real estate marketing
5. Use Emojis for Branding on Instagram
Emojis, the various visual expressions of emotions popular in social media networks, are potent inclusions on Instagram. Posts with these icons have higher audience recall, research shows. An emoji can make your Instagram page friendlier, according to the same study. To get the most out of emojis, be sure to be up to date and choose those which are trending not only among Instagram users but also those on Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat.
6. Use Relevant Hashtags
Categorize your Instagram posts via hashtags, the words or phrases following a # sign. In one study, it was shown that real estate agents who use hashtags properly generate more than 12 percent engagement compared to those who skipped hashtagging altogether. You can use hashtags based on general real estate terms, such as #realty, #realtors, #luxuryliving, etc. In addition, it may be wise to adopt hashtags from your specific listings or neighborhoods in your market territory.
Use your realtor’s brand name or smart phrases to come up with hashtags like #pricedtosell, #newlisting, #rareoffer, etc.
You can be creative too and go for fun hashtags like #lastchance, #condogem, #dreamdeal, etc. You get the idea.
Get more traction from your Instagram posts through real estate hashtags in your comments to expand linkage to other folks using those hashtags. Adding hashtags to your posts’ comments will likewise help make your Instagram appear less spam-like.
7. Respond to Comments
Always respond to those who commented on your Instagram posts, and don’t forget putting @ as the symbol prefix to their names so that they can see your response. Go beyond the basic response of thanking commenters; answer any inquiry or volunteer other vital information about your business. Smart Instagrammers for real estate, moreover, use third-party tools, such as Agorapulse, to better monitor comments and notifications on your posts, as well as reactions to your ads.
8. Have an Updated Photo and Bio
To use Instagram to promote real estate, stay firmly engaged with your Instagram followers by periodically updating your photo and bio. Doing so would relay the message of how dynamic and successful your real estate business is. By updating your bio, you can highlight your most recent deals, career achievements, or sales milestone reached.
9. Put Your Website Address in Your Bio
An Instagram bio won’t be complete without a clickable link to your website. This link readily facilitates access to the “About” page on your website that could elaborate more on what’s contained in your Instagram bio.
10. Upload Multiple Instagram Posts a Week and Use Repost or Regram App
Advanced Instagrammers for real estate post Instagram several times a week, with multiple posts per day an option. You can post three Instagram stories daily. To better use Instagram to promote real estate, be sure though that you can maintain the frequency of your posts and that you do your postings when your target market is active on Instagram. Also remember that once you post three photos in one day, you can’t post the following day. Nonetheless, you can share posts, which could easily be done using Instagram’s repost function or the Regram app.
11. Geotag Photos in Your Office, Listings
Generate more traction to your Instagram Stories by adding the geolocation of the place where your photos were taken. With this geotagging, your posts get linked to other Instagram posts geotagged in the same neighborhood as yours, thereby maximizing the chances of your Instagram posts to be seen.
12. Tag Photos and Ask People to Tag Their Friends in the Comments
You can highlight or tag other people in your Instagram posts and those you tag in effect get an immediate link to your posted Instagram real estate listing. Highlighting other people on your Instagram is a good tactic to draw comments on your posts. Make sure you respond to these and any other spontaneous comments that your posts generate. Doing so would significantly boost your connection with your audience.
Your Instagram Stories get more boost in engagement once you tag the persons in them. Those whom you tagged would get immediate notification of their Instagram appearance. In the Comments sections, you can also ask those you tagged and your Instagram followers to tag their friends for a snowball effect on your Instagram Stories and use Instagram to promote real estate business you are running.
13. Use the Direct Message Feature to Reach Out to Someone Privately
Instagram has a new companion mobile app allowing users to send direct messages privately. Called Threads, this app was launched last October and has already drawn close to 400,000 users worldwide. With Threads’ standalone direct messaging, you can send text messages, your location, as well as photo and video messages.
14. Increase Your Followers by Following Your Competition’s Followers
Access the names of followers listed in your competitors’ Instagram profile. In all likelihood, those in this list also count as your target market. Pick those which are active, then follow and comment on their posts to initiate a connection with them for potential leads later.
15. Share Your Presence Daily on Instagram
Stay active on Instagram daily, even on days that you’re not posting photos or videos. Browse on the posts, especially those of your followers, and comment or like their posts. This tactic puts you not only in a position to invite engagement from potential clients but also to generate more following. This is a summary of how you can use Instagram to promote real estate.
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References:
- How to Get More Targeted Followers on Instagram: Herman, Jenn. (2014, September 24)
- The Face of Online Information Processing: Effects of Emoticons on Impression Formation, Affect, and Cognition in Chat Transcripts.
- Instagram Exposed: Advanced Instagram Marketing Tactics to Get a Ton of Followers.
- The Power of Instagram Storytelling