Bill Graham is a blogger at Century Properties Real Estate, based in Pasadena, Texas. They work with local real estate agents to sell and close more houses in the Houston area. Visit their website to learn more at https://centurypropertiesrealestate.com/
As a real estate agent, do you know how to use Instagram for real estate marketing? It is not new to you. The thing is, you don’t know your way around it.
But, not to worry, you are about to learn something that will change the way you promote your offers on Instagram. This marketing strategy will help you increase qualified leads and convert them into sales.
If you have been looking for online real estate marketing strategies, this is one for you.
But first, I have to be truthful with you. Real estate agents or agencies these days are all just the same. They all have bad social media habits.
They create a business account on Instagram then start spamming flyers of properties they have for sale.
I mean, this can’t honestly be working.
And if you ask them why do you do it? The most common answer you will get is, “I don’t know. I saw other agents doing it, so I thought it must be working.
Ouch!
No one gets on Instagram to shop for properties. People are on social media to socialize with friends and have fun.
If you want your business to succeed on social media, you need to find a way to make it fun, or people will ignore you. Social media is for being social; it is not an ad in the classifieds.
Imagine if you were at the coffee shop having a drink with friends and a stranger walked up and tried to sell you something. You would probably dismiss them then try to ignore them so that they didn’t talk to you again.
Interrupting someone’s social time with a hard pitch doesn’t work well, and that’s what most real estate agents are doing on Instagram.
You will fail on Instagram or any social network if all you do is advertise. I am not saying that you can’t use Instagram for real estate marketing. Instagram is a powerful tool, but you have to use it correctly, or you’re wasting your time.
The average home buyer is only interested in buying homes once every few years. Your posts (homes/lands for sale) instantly become boring to us once we’ve found a place to live.
If your posts are boring to us and don’t benefit us, we will either remove you as a connection, block you, the flag you as spam, or ignore you.
Finding new customers is more complicated than keeping existing customers. If you want to support us as contacts and get referrals from us, then you need to appeal to us even when we aren’t looking for a property to buy.
Real estate agents are too self-serving on Instagram. That is why you have such a hard time getting leads or landing clients, making it harder for you to build new connections and get referrals.
Real estate agents need to do three things differently with Instagram;
Stop Posting Your Classified Ads
If all you do is promote properties you have for sale on your page, it will be hard for you to get buyers as they are 1001 real estate agents using Instagram for real estate marketing. And unfortunately for you, they are also going for the same category of buyers you are going after.
Could you stop it? Find time to educate your followers or potential buyers who may land on your page with your posts. Tell us why we should consider real estate. Show us how we can save towards acquiring a property without the stress.
Post things that are beneficial to homeowners and people thinking about buying a home or landed properties.
Anything valuable that you can offer to us before and after buying a house from you will work. If you are valuable to us, then we won’t delete you; we will read your posts occasionally, we will be more likely to recommend you, and you have a better chance of still being on our contact lists the next time we move.
Make Becoming a Property Owner More Fun
Make your marketing fun. I do with my Instagram page on Instagram and for all my clients that I manage their pages. When I create content for their page, I make sure I mix it up.
It is not all about promoting your offer; give your followers something to either think about or laugh about.
I have days I share funny posts. I do this to make my followers laugh and loosen up some muscles. Sometimes, I share posts that spark up a conversation with my followers. They get forced to contribute to add fun to the center.
With this, the reach of the post increases as more people engages with the post.
See, you can start a challenge. A 20k or 40k a month challenge. Teach them how they can be saving 10k a month for nine months and get to purchase a property from your company. Think of a fun challenge with an end goal in mind.
I know you are confused right now, and your brain is thinking fast. This is why you need help. This leads us to number 3
Don’t do the Marketing Yourself
I know you are a marketer but not an expert. Outsource your marketing to an expert and save yourself time and money.
Don’t try to run an Instagram ad yourself. You can’t do it correctly, no matter what you might be thinking. It is not just about posting and promoting the post because you know where it can be done using Facebook manager. There is more to it.
Nevertheless, there are some posts you should run Instagram ads for. And some posts will do better with influencer marketing. But you don’t know these, and that is why you need to hire someone who does.
So, there you have it. I have been getting questions from real estate marketers asking me if Instagram is a good platform for generating real estate leads. Yes, it is, and I just showed you how to go about it.
