5 Instagram Strategies for Agents
Do you use Instagram?
If you find yourself floundering when it comes to your Instagram page, not knowing what to post, or posting and not getting any engagement? The good news is you’re not alone. Many agents tend to look at the app and they don’t know what they’re supposed to do with it.
In this post, I’ll share my top 5 tactics to take on Instagram to grow your audience, create authority, and ultimately, position yourself as the “go-to” agent in your market.
First, before we dive into the top 5 strategies, let’s do a brief overview of the various components of this platform.
Main Feed. This is what you want people to see when they come to your profile as well, anything that you post, be it minute or shorter video or the static photo shows up in your audience’s feed. So this is where you want to make sure that what you post is your finished (well edited) product.
Instagram Reels. This is a relatively new feature, and is Instagram’s answer to the popularity of tik tok. Now, I’m not gonna say that you have to dance around like they do on tik tok, but you can use Reels to create 15 to 60 second videos about your business (are they actually kind of fun to create). You can get really creative with these by adding text, as well as music. Currently, in 2021. Instagram is really pushing reels, so it should be one of your main features to concentrate on as your organic reach will be so much greater than just posting regular photos within your feed.
Instagram Stories. Now, I can’t say enough about stories – they can consist of texts, photos or and videos that are only available for 24 hours, so very short lifespans, and meant for your followers. One of the cool things is that they play to the viewer in sequence. This is where you can really build, raw, authentic connection with your audience. If you follow me on Instagram, or you have been watching my other videos, I keep on talking about the “know, like, and trust” factor, through our online exploits we want people to get to know us, like us, and trust us. Once we have the trust, they will do business with us. Using stories, we can give our audience a behind the scenes view into our lives. People love to see the authentic you. Think about how popular HGTV and other reality TV shows are now, you can create your own using Instagram Stories.
Check out my downloadable guide of 300 Instagram Stories Ideas for Agents for some great ideas you can try!
IGTV. Instagram TV is for a well produced long form video that you want your audience to sit down and dive deep into a topic, an interview with a local store owner, or watching a feature length video walkthrough of a new property that you have listed.
Instagram Live. Instagram live feature can run up to four hours, and can be really used any time so you kind of want to think of yourself as a reporter on scene when you are covering local events happening in your community or, you know, running virtual open houses. That’s a really good time to use Instagram Live.
So, Now that you know the features, let’s dive into the five tactics and put all of these features to use.
Strategy #1 – Post Consistently
Posting three to five times per week into your feed. Remember, this is quite often people’s first introduction to you. So when posting, you do not want your feed just to become a series of “just listed” posts… I can’t think of anything more boring, and people can’t get to know you that way. Try to only aim for 20% of your feed to be real estate related. The other 80% should be about the community, lifestyle, family, etc. This is the content that prospective clients will get to know you from, so show that you are what you like to do, and the community you live in. Here’s a pro tip: have yourself in these photos and or the videos. My posts where I take a selfie, or a picture of myself always does way better than if it’s just a graphic.
Strategy #2 – Get Real On Stories
There is no better way to build trust with your audience than on Instagram stories. Think of stories like your own reality TV show where you show your audience the “behind the scenes” of your day and what’s happening in your life. Be your authentic self and have fun. Create 15 second videos of what’s happening, thoughts that have come to you, and fun things you see or hear in your daily life. Now, this may seem slightly narcissistic but trust me, your audience wants to see this. And what better way to get to know you, than to see your authentic self, and above all, have fun with your stories as the only last for 24 hours.
Strategy #3 – Engage With Your Audience
If you’ve seen any of my past videos, or read some of my blog posts, you’ve probably heard me talk about the “buck 80” technique before. You can search hashtags or geo-tags that are relevant to your audience. The hashtags or geo tags that you select can be about your location, topics, community events, or hobbies that you may have in common with potential audience members. For each tag you search, comment and like the first nine posts that come up under “recent posts”. Comment by saying something nice and light, sharing your opinion, giving your 2 cents, and being friendly. Now, do this 10 times. Basically what you’re doing is giving two cents on 90 posts, for a total of 180, hence the term “buck eighty”. Do this technique, consistently, and over time, you will grow your following and network. To make your life really easy. There is a great buck eighty extension for Google’s Chrome.
Strategy #4 – Tag Your Posts For Exposure
Number 4, when you’re out and about, making posts from locations around your community, use the geo-tag function to tag a business or landmark. So next time you’re out for a meal or a drink, make sure to post a nice photo with a nice write up about that beer or meal. This will help you become the digital mayor of your town, and business owners love the props you’re giving them.
Strategy #5 – Do Video Interviews
So tactic number five is going to take a little planning, this is going to be long form video for your IGTV channel on Instagram. What you’re going to do is you’re going to go around your town or your neighborhood and interview 30 business owners in 30 days. Each video will be to feature of their business. This will help you to be known as the digital mayor of your town, as well as spread a lot of love to those businesses. Remember to tag them in your posts for exposure, too!
So there you go folks. Five proven strategies to help you build your authority as the “go-to” agent in your area.
Catch my Podcast where I discuss all of these strategies and more at realestateagentmasterypodcast.com or head over to my youtube channel to watch the entire episode on video. https://www.youtube.com/c/ColinBreadner/videos
If you want to learn more about Instagram for real estate agents, I created a full course where I go deep into the platform and show you how to get the most out of it for growing your business. Check it out here: https://colinbreadner.com/courses/
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