How Real Estate Agents Are Using Instagram to Sell Homes

Written by Posted On Friday, 23 November 2018 20:42

Social media is vital to the success of any business - because the majority of today’s consumers conduct brand research before making purchases, and become loyal to brands they develop relationships with online.

Because of the visual marketing nature of platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, these are essential for real estate agents and will often work better than platforms like Twitter and Facebook when it comes to follower engagement.

Growing Their Following

The more people who follow your account, the more people will see your content. That’s why it makes sense real estate agents are working hard to grow their following, whether because they buy Instagram followers, or work hard to grow it organically.

How can you quickly and effectively grow a targeted following?

Automate your efforts - following people who are active in the hashtags you want to target, or who’s bios mention things you’re looking for in your target audience.

  • Follow new people every day. Unfollow those who don’t follow you back within a few days.

  • Like and comment on posts to show that you’re active and paying attention in the community.

  • Use hashtags related to real estate and the location you’re serving. Use at least five, but no more than 30. Keep the image description clutter-free by including the hashtags in a comment on the post, since they are there to help people find you.

  • Create your own hashtag and encourage others to use it, so you can build your own Instagram community.

Posting Eye-Catching Photos and Videos

First and foremost, Instagram is a visual network. Without quality photography and video, you won’t catch user attention. If you’re not the best photographer in the world, there’s nothing wrong with hiring a professional to take some quality shots for you, but remember - people want to see the real home - not something you’ve staged to look appealing. Keep the shots as natural as possible. Instagram users aren’t there to look at stock photography.

 

Short videos are also great content for engagement. With Instagram, you’ve only got 15 seconds to say what you need to say, so it’s important to know what you’re going to talk about beforehand. Create short scripts for each of the videos you want to share on Instagram, and then post them.

Obviously, because there’s so much more to say about a property than 15 seconds allows for, you can use the Instagram shorts as teasers for longer videos that you post to your YouTube Channel.

Making Use of Instagram Stories

Create and share virtual open houses with Instagram Stories. Though the content will only last 24 hours, you can walk your followers through the listing, showing the interior and exterior. You’ll also be able to include short descriptions of each room.

To save your story, click the three dots at the bottom of the story and tap “Save.” You can choose to save individual photos or videos that are part of the story or choose “Save Story” to save everything from the story as a single video. Then, you can use these videos on other social media platforms, too.

Geolocation Tagging

 

You have the option to tag your photos with the location where they were taken, which is an excellent way to show people where the property you’re highlighting is.

The Instagram Photo Map also allows you to share your photos to your Photo Map before you post, placing a geotag on the photo. It puts a thumbnail of the photo onto a Google Map so you can see where it was taken. You can highlight other things on the map that are close to your property, such as restaurants, malls, parks, and movie theatres.

Using the Photo Map feature is one way to show your potential buyers and sellers that you are highly familiar with certain neighborhoods or cities. As you add more content to your Instagram, you’ll be creating a visually appealing Instagram Photo Map that’s mixed with a Google Map. You can use it to show the listings you’ve sold, your current active listings, restaurants, and shops you frequently visit, and local events you’ve attended to prove to your audience that you are a local expert.

Working With Influencers

 

Influencers are often used in the beauty and fashion niche but are overlooked when it comes to real estate. However, in certain markets, particularly those in large cities or luxury, using influencers to help sell homes is becoming somewhat of a trend and can even boost your Instagram likes.

Some real estate developers are spending money to move influencers into buildings where there are available apartments. For instance, 21-year-old actress Tavi Gevinson lives in 300 Ashland - a 379-unit luxury apartment building across the street from the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Studios start at $2,365 per month. The developer, Two Trees, hired her and some other influencers to include photos of the building in their Instagram feeds from time to time, featuring the #300AshlandPartner hashtag. Sometimes, they’ll host events.

Though Gevinson and Two Trees didn’t disclose the financial terms of the influencer relationship, Gevinson stated that she pays her rent, and the developer pays her a stipend for the promotional partnership.

Real estate agents using Instagram to highlight their properties see engagement rates up to 10x higher than what they see on Facebook and Twitter.

There’s no competing with Zillow and other real estate giant websites, it’s quicker to rank with a real estate Instagram hashtag compared to traditional SEO methods, and on average, you’re dealing with a more affluent demographic, making it easier to sell the homes.

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James Stevenson

Hi, My name is James and I've been involved in the property and real estate industry for 10 years now. I hope people will like to read about my thoughts and experiences in the industry and please contact me if you want to discuss my articles further!

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