Instagram for Realtors
We interview the queen of Instagram Sue B Zimmerman who is seen as one of the leading experts on Instagram marketing strategies; we discuss everything to do with Instagram with a clear focus on how real estate agents can use this great social media platform for marketing themselves in their local markets.
With Instagram now being a place where you can amplify, promote, and broadcast yourself as a real estate agent, it is the best platform to experiment and establish yourself as an agent. But remember, strategically as with any social media site, it is essential to respect the ad algorithm and not work against it.
Profile Description / Bio
You want to let people know when they visit, that they can understand who you are, what you do, why you do it, and how long you’ve been doing it. Create a bio that sets you and your business apart from everyone else. Secondly, upload an avatar that ensures your credibility. Instead of putting the logo of the brokerage you work for, switch it up to a professional photo of you smiling. People prefer to do business with people and not a logo.
Feed
Second to your profile bio is your feed. Your feed should mainly be the promise that you’re making in your bio. Think of the Instagram Feed as a digital magazine. The cover that you promise on that magazine and what you turn inside that magazine is essentially the feed. You may create themes based on colors or mix and match images with motivational or housing tips.
Business Account
For real estate agents who create social media pages for their business, it is preferable to switch to a business account as you will want to make sure that you have all those business features. Instagram business features include your contact information, the insights that you have, the ability to do ads, and being able to respond to inquiries quickly.
Video
Video is becoming the king of content across all four major social media applications. Instagram gives you the options to upload videos through your feed, IG TV, and stories. The feed, you can do video stop and go video right in the Instagram app. You can upload a video up to a minute. You can add video clips to a carousel post where you can add ten clips to that for longer video content. Take videos of everything open houses or you giving tips to your clients.
Stories
Stories are where most people enjoy hanging out. Instagram allows you to choose whether it’s video, an image, or a graphic. You can have a continuous video in your stories. An additional feature real estate agents should utilize to post your content and share it into a highlight on your profile.
Classify your stories into new openings, sold properties, house and lot, condominium, etc. They’re there to find out about a property that they want to buy. So if you can show that you’ve sold homes before, you can share that in your stories. You can talk about the new homeowners, ask for a review on your services, and take your audience behind the scenes of the business.
Hashtags
Hashtags are usually seen below the captions. You can incorporate up to 30 hashtags per post. Utilize this to be visible to different audiences in the platform. Choose hashtags with different audience population bracket, from millions to thousands and down to the hundreds.
Engagement
Everyone wants to generate business off of Instagram. To increase sales, you have to build trust. To build trust, you have to develop and prove your credibility to your audience. To be able to do that, as a real estate agent, you have to be professional but more so being authentic in your stories and post.
Schedule
In regards to the volume of posts, you should post on Instagram, that would depend on your personal preference and time. Content Management should be a priority, especially if you plan on working with Instagram. The key to this is to schedule your post ahead of time. Instagram has a couple of partner apps that allow them to organize posts strategically on the platform.
