If you’ve dabbled with Instagram to promote yourself as a real estate agent or agency and want to lift your game, then here’s the most recent Instagram features to better showcase your business, your people and the property sales journey.
Instagram today has over 1 billion active users, with at least half of those people interacting with the platform each day. More than 400 million people create or interact with an Instagram Story every day, which is a whopping 80%, so Instagram Stories are certainly here to stay – consumers love them.
More and more real estate agents taking to promoting themselves on Instagram every day too. From a business perspective there are 8 million business profiles on Instagram and over half of these have created an Instagram Story.
How to ‘pop up’ under the Instagram Explore Tab
What
Optimise your Instagram posts so that they are discoverable within the new and improved Explore Tab on Instagram.
The posts shown in search and explore are tailored to the viewer, so what I see will be different to what you see. Instagram might show you photos and videos that people you follow have liked or are liked by a large number of people.
Why
Now the best thing I like about this feature is that it has a Decor and Architecture tab and under those tabs you’ll find a bunch of recommended #hastags. Now if you’re a smart Instagram marketer, you’ll know that the vital ingredient on Insta is the #hashtag. So add these to your repertoire of tags when posting your content.
How
To see the Explore tab, click on the search magnifying glass.
Here are the hashtags that show up for me? Are they the same for you?
Decor
#coastalhome #houseenvy #melbourneinteriors #displayhome #moderncoastalbarn #australianhomes #coastalinteriors #homebeautiful
Architecture
#contemporaryarchitecture #architecture_view #whatarender #minimalarchitecture #architecturallighting #architecturedetail #residentialarchitecture
How to cross-share your teams’ Instagram posts
What
Share the love, by showcasing Instagram posts from your real estate team within your real estate agency’s Instagram Story.
Why
You may not be able to share other peoples posts like you can on Facebook, but Instagram is opening up a little and allowing you to share what’s happening around you, i.e. posts from your broader team, showcasing the day-to-day real estate activities and team wins. It just has to be within the confines of ‘today’s story’.
How
To share a feed post to your story, tap the paper aeroplane button below the post, just as you would when sending it via a Direct message. At the top of the list, you’ll now see the option to create a story. When your agency’s Instagram followers see the agents post in your Story, the agent’s name and account are features, and the viewer can tap to see more updates from that team member.
How to make the most of Instagram’s @mention sharing
What
When someone mentions you, using the @ symbol, in his or her Instagram Story, you can now share that photo or video into your own story.
Why
This feature is a bonus for real estate teams. Let the entire team share the love. Cross-promote each other or each other’s properties from your agency Instagram account to an agents account and vice versa. It’s an excellent way for agency owners to share some of the best highlights from their team and showcase their office’s collective real estate talent.
In fact, you can also add your teams @ handles to your agency’s profile. Including mention of your entire team helps to show that you are a formidable real estate sales and marketing force. It also helps your team feel included in your social media strategy.
How
Simply encourage your team to use the @mention in their real estate Instagram posts. When they do, you’ll receive a notification in your Direct message thread with an option to add that content to your own story.
Tap it to see that story – you can scale, rotate and position it and add creative tools like text or stickers on to it as well. When your Instagram followers see your story, your real estate agents name will appear and will be tappable. Helping you to feature them and grow their audience too.
Note: only public accounts can have their stories shared.
How to share to Instagram from your GoPro app
If you live your life in the real estate fast lane and own a GoPro (or work with a videographer that does), you can now share your videos straight from the GoPro app to the Instagram app. Your video shows up in the Instagram camera where you can edit and add it to your Story.
Get your Instagram Nametag known at open homes
What
Nametag is a handy identification card allows people to more easily find your Instagram profile and follow you. Think of it like a digital business card.
Why
It’s a great way to encourage the people you meet at home opens to follow you via Instagram and see new listings you have on your books before they are publically advertised.
How
To create your nametag, go to your profile, tap the button with three lines at the top, and a square with your “Nametag” will appear. Tap that and you can personalise it.
To have your home viewers scan your nametag, they can either;
i) Swipe right into their Instagram camera, hover over your nametag image and hold down on their screen, or
ii) Enter the camera by tapping “Scan a nametag” when viewing their own tag in Instagram.
The best part is that you can share your nametag with visitors after the open home too, by sending them a text message. Just press the arrow at the top right of your nametag.
Instagram TV (IGTV)
Last but not least, are you making the most of Instagram TV yet? I reported on the Launch of IGTV a few weeks ago in my article titled The video battle is on: enter Facebook Watch and IGTV.
Taking a look around Instagram TV (now that its been up and running for a while) I found a few good examples of agents making the most of this media channel to highlight stories of properties they’re selling, their personal brand, alongside local community updates.
Here’s a handful of IGVT channels that I recommend checking out:
The Serhant Team
US TV show Million Dollar Listing veteran, Ryan Serhant, has been making the most of IGTV with his “Cribs” videos. Ryan styled these IGTV videos on the old MTV home-tour classic. Here are two examples for you to watch.
Realestate.com.au’s two IGTV channels
This leading portal has pushed the boat out with not one but two IGTV real estate channels.
Here’s an example of a renovation story they share on their real estate lifestyle channel, with the owners of homewares brand Norsu.
Perhaps you could get one of your client’s properties featured under REA’s IGTV Dream Listing category?
Gary Vaynerchuck’s IGTV channel
Interestingly some brands, such as Gary Vaynerchuk aka Gary V have opted not to use the portrait video format and have uploaded videos in landscape mode. Viewers simply turn their phones sideways to view. I’ve also seen several real estate businesses do the same with their properties videos.
Lazy? Perhaps. Making use of the content they’ve already got. Why not!
Hopefully, you enjoyed today’s Instagram Inspiration. With a little creative thinking and nifty tricks with your smartphone, you can give these big brands a run for their money.
I’ll leave you with these thoughts from Gary V on Instagram and how to make the most of the here and now.
P.S. You’ll need to be on your phone and turn your phone sideways. If you’re on your computer, get a pillow! 🙂
Written by Melanie Hoole
My team and I specialise in helping real estate and property professionals perfect their personal brand, build a first-class digital profile and implement inbound marketing activities to attract leads. If you are unsure which direction to take with your digital marketing contact me for help.
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