Beginner's Guide: All-Things-Instagram for Real Estate Agents

Nearly 100% of home shoppers start their buying journey online, meaning you need to ensure you're seen where they're searching.

The National Association of REALTORS® 2022 Member Profile found that Instagram, one of the top social media platforms in the world, is a key outlet for real estate professionals to promote their business.

With social media endlessly surging in popularity and shaping consumers' behaviors, how can you make the most of the popular photo and video platform?

We're giving you a crash course in Instagram: how it can help your business, setting up your profile, and what posts can work best for you.

How Can Instagram Help Your Business?

Instagram's heavy usage of over 1.27M monthly users makes it easy to connect with your community and build your brand by tapping into broader audiences.

Its visual-focused format also offers you various posting options across stories, Reels, and your feed, making Instagram the perfect place to display listings and show off what you offer.

Before you dive into posting a variety of content, let's zero in on what Instagram can offer to help amplify your business.

Your Profile = Your Portfolio

Think of your Instagram profile from its first glance and treat it like a professional portfolio — infused with plenty of personal elements.

As you get started with your profile, make sure you have the following foundational pieces:

• Your profile photo: Upload a current, snazzy, professional headshot so followers and prospective connections know that it's you.
• Your profile name: Whether it's your username or your display name, make sure you share the name of your business — even if it's simply your name. This will help people remember who you are and recall where they can find you on Instagram.
• Your bio section: This is where you can start to introduce yourself before people engage with your posts. Be sure to include your location and what areas you serve so people know where you can work with them.

This setup is the virtual business card, or lead-in, to the rest of your profile. Make sure it's clear and prepares your followers — and prospective followers — for who you are and what your page is about.

• Pro Tip: When you set up your profile, make sure it's a creator account. This will give you flexibility in how you manage your online presence and allow you to access deeper insights into your audience and post performance.

Get More Eyes on Your Listings

Now that your profile is set up, you can start posting!

You want to be strategic with your posts and focus primarily on your business. Still, the beauty of Instagram is that it offers plenty of opportunity to integrate your voice and personality into your posts and profile.

A great way to use Instagram is to make posts to promote new listings, allowing you to tap into new audiences to get more eyes on these properties. Promoting new listings also gives your followers a good idea of your areas of speciality and expertise.

You can also promote old listings to continue to reinforce your experience and success rate. Consider highlighting these listings with testimonials from the happy clients, too.

Real estate is a people business, so including personal posts in your regular schedule allows potential clients a peek into your personality and interests. This helps them picture working with you and also gives you a headstart on finding common ground and building rapport.

• Pro Tip: Make and post Reels regularly. Reels are short-format videos that drive higher engagement and views than regular photo posts.

If you don't fancy yourself a cinematographer, not to worry: all you need is a smartphone and some inspiration. Instagram has made creating these videos super easy — check out their guide to making Reels here.

Make Connections, Quickly and Easily

Instagram offers simple ways for you to find your real-life contacts' profiles on the platform.

You can connect your phone's Contacts list, your Facebook account, and your email address to find people you already know. Once you start adding them, other suggested contacts will appear. These are usually people they're following or people they're being followed by. You may also see suggestions for pages with similar content to theirs.

Take advantage of these second- and third-degree contacts to grow your following and get more eyes on your business. Start by following these profiles, and engage with their posts regularly. Like and comment on their posts, and reply to their stories.

Reminder: Don't focus solely on selling. Provide value to your followers and the people you engage with by educating them about real estate, your local market, your interests, and other topics. Offering a full view into who you are professionally and personally helps offer a well-rounded display of what you bring to the table.

To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.