Another popular platform to create real estate social media success is Instagram. It is a highly visual platform and user-friendly, which makes it great for real estate.
If you are new to Instagram, there will be a learning curve, but you can create a following with a bit of practice.
There are several ways to use Instagram. Each has a different purpose.
The Instagram Feed is where you will post photos and videos of less than one minute.
Ideally, you should post at minimum 2-3 times per week in your feed. Posting just listed, just sold, and open houses are good content. I saw a recent recommendation not to post price reductions here. Price reductions may send the wrong message that you do not know how to price a home correctly. Price reductions are best saved for Facebook ads. You can also get clients to post a photo at closing on their account that you can share on yours, called user-generated content. Finally, don’t forget to include the content of your networking or behind the scenes of real estate. Reality TV is popular because people love to see what goes on behind the curtain!
Instagram Reels is in the process of rolling out a longer length for videos.
They were 15-30 seconds and will now be 60 seconds. If the longer length isn’t available to you yet, you should see it shortly.
Posting is ideally 2-3 times per week minimum. These are not the crazy viral TikTok types of video unless you want to do that! This is a great place for property teaser videos. For example, you could do a 3-second pan of 5 different areas of the house. (And you don’t have to be on camera if you don’t want!) Creating a video with buyer and seller tips is also another good idea.
Instagram stories are 15 seconds long and can be used in a sequence.
Posting daily is recommended. Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours. This is a great way to be seen on camera and not have it live online for an eternity. Stories allow you to build a connection by sharing on-the-job information. You can document your journey, and people get to follow along.
Instagram Highlights is a great way to categorize and archive your content.
You can create a category for each type of content you share. Great ideas for real estate agents are testimonials, neighborhood information, local events, travel, passions & hobbies, etc. You can then save your posts as highlights. Your followers can check out each category to see the content.
IGTV allows you to create 1-10 minute videos and use them whenever you see an opportunity.
The first 60 seconds of your video will be promoted in your feed. Some ideas for creating IGTV videos are property tours, city tours, community tours, events, and local highlights. You can repurpose your YouTube videos to IGTV also. Here is a good article from InVideo that shows you how.
You can also go live on Instagram for up to 4 hours and use it whenever the opportunity arises.
Using live video features helps you become the top-of-mind agent and stay the top-of-mind agent with consistent use. Some ideas for Instagram live video would be answering frequently asked questions, covering local events, and highlighting local businesses.
If you haven’t taken the plunge into Instagram, it may be time to explore how you can use it with all these options to increase your real estate social media success.
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