Here are master tips to make the most of Instagram as a real estate agent.
So you've read this introductory guide to using Instagram as a real estate agent, and you've done the basics.
You've created a business account.
You've set goals for your Instagram account, like attracting new leads or advertising your open house events.
You're posting engaging content like video home tours and real estate tips.
You're posting on a frequent schedule— at least once a day.
You're posting consistently. Perhaps you've ventured into scheduling your Instagram posts with a tool like Buffer.
You're even starting to advertise through Instagram.
But now you want more. Is there something else you could do to maximize the time and money that you spend on Instagram? Can you attract even more leads? Gather even more referrals? Engage an even larger number of your followers?
Absolutely!
In this post, we'll share how to make the most of your Instagram experience. We're going beyond the basics. This is Instagram for Real Estate Agents 102. Let's get started.
Here’s a list of post ideas for your real estate Instagram page.
Who are you speaking to on Instagram? Depending on your goals, you may wish to speak to several groups of people. We’ll call these groups “audience personas.” Ideally, you should craft content for each of your target audience personas.
Your audience personas (and the associated content) can be broken down as follows:
This first group is comprised of:
This second group is comprised of people you currently work with. They’re engaged with your content because they’re currently in need of your services. This group includes:
This third group is comprised of people you’ve worked with before. While they may not currently need to use your service, they may need you in the future. So, it makes sense to stay top of mind for this group of people. Also, your former clients can become excellent referral sources for your real estate business.
This fourth group is comprised of your fellow estate professionals, including:
You may wish to reach all of these audience personas or just a couple of them.
Once you select the audience personas that you’d like to target on Instagram, it’s important for you to create a steady stream of posts for each.
On Instagram, aim to make between one to three posts per day.
So, how does that work when you’re trying to reach several different audience personas? Here’s an example:
Let’s say you’d like to reach three different audience personas. You’ll make three posts every day, one for each group. On a weekly scale, you’ll have 21 posts: Seven daily posts for each audience persona.
Now, at first glance, the idea of coming up with 21 different posts every week can feel overwhelming, but don’t panic. This is why you need to create a posting calendar for Instagram. Take an hour to come up with content for each of your audience personas for the entire week.
Your posting calendar for audience persona #1 (prospective clients) may look like this:
To make the process even smoother, you can come up with a posting schedule where Mondays are always “new listing property” days and Saturdays are always “local activity highlight” days. This will take a lot of the pressure off of you to come up with a new posting schedule every week.
You’ll do the same for all of your audience personas.
From your car to your clothing, you should project a single, cohesive message. Your content on Instagram should reflect that message.
If you could summarize your brand in three words, which words would you choose?
Perhaps you’d like to use the words discerning, elegant, and innovative, or affordable, experienced, and resourceful. Go with words that immediately describe your brand, your clientele, and the type of service that you provide.
Once you’ve settled on the top three words to describe your brand, check that each post reflects those qualities.
For example, let’s say your top three descriptors are affordable, experienced, and resourceful. Before posting on Instagram, ask:
Also, because Instagram is a visual medium, it’s important that your posts visually convey your brand message. Create a template that you can use over and over again which will reflect your brand message. You can find and customize your own Instagram template on Canva, a freemium graphic designer. Be sure that your visual branding on Instagram has the same colors, fonts, and style as your other branding (i.e. your business cards, your website, etc.).
Remember that, in order to successfully connect with your target audience persona(s), your Instagram posts should be consistent with your overall brand message.
Make the most of each of your Instagram posts. Don't just give them information that's "nice to know.” Activate your followers with a call of action at the end of your post. Here are a couple of call to action examples:
Are you optimizing your Instagram posts with hashtags? Here’s a look at the top hashtags to include in your real estate posts:
Keep an eye on your analytics. There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to Instagram. While the above tips will help you extract the most out of your time on Instagram, you should also check your individual stats to figure out what’s working and what’s not. Fortunately, there are a ton of analytic tools that you can use for this very purpose.
Check out Instagram’s built-in analytics tool, Instagram Insights. This tool will help you learn more about your followers, see what posts are the most popular, and how many people see your content every day. Instagram Insights is only available for business accounts.
Other popular Instagram analytics tools include Iconosquare and SproutSocial.
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