Using Instagram to Promote Real Estate for Sale
Instagram is an incredible visual platform every real estate agent and seller should be using to promote properties. Those who are scrolling an Instagram feed are looking for quick, colorful, clear snippets of information. While you shouldn’t be using Instagram as your complete home picture gallery platform, you can definitely use it to drive traffic back to your listing sites or websites. Here’s what you need to know.
Complete Your Profile
You don’t have a ton of space to write a lot about yourself in your Instagram profile, but make sure you are using as much detail as possible. Include your main website URL, if you can. Tell people who you are and what you do. It should be short, sweet, yet informative.
Home Listings on Instagram
Don’t use Instagram as your primary gallery for home listings. Include an image, or a collage with a couple of images, for each home you want to showcase. The image(s) should be nice enough to draw interest. Use the description of the image to give a general location and a link back to your website or official listing site.
Be Consistent, but Not Boring
Be consistend with your Instagram posting, sending an image or two at least 3-4 times per week. Don’t over-do it, though. As a real estate agent, you will want to stay away from the random, fun photos people tend to share that have absolutely nothing to do with you or your business.
You don’t want to be boring, though. Between listing images, you might share a photo from your office (home or not), a neighborhood event you went to (or one in an area where you sell), pictures of your staff members at work or enjoying an office event, or things about the cities you work or sell in. Be engaging, yet professional.
Use Hashtags and Photo Maps
Hashtags are more important on Instagram than they are anywhere else. Let’s say, for example, you use #houseforsale and someone else does as well. Someone you aren’t yet connected with might click on the #houseforsale hashtag in someone else’s post and it would bring that person to a list of all of the posts using that same hashtags, from friends and strangers. Hashtags serve as an index that increase both visibility and followers. Make them specific to your business and your locations.
Photo Maps are especially great for real estate agents because they help people to better see the location of a listing. When you post an image of a listing, use the Photo Map to geotag your location so that people can see a bit more about the surrounding community and area.
Instagram shouldn’t be your only social media platform for real estate listings, but it can certainly be a strong and effective addition to your overall marketing and social portfolio.