4 Easy Steps To Sell Properties With Instagram - Part 1

4 Easy Steps To Sell Properties With Instagram - Part 1

The app Instagram is easily one of the most popular social networks worldwide. This is especially important if you’re trying to reach millennials – who are now a large part of the market for first- time homebuyers – since 18 to 34-year-olds are the largest age group on Instagram.

Instagram offers a lot of ways to share your content with that audience, and we’ll cover how to use some of the more advanced features of the platform in Part 2. But for now, let’s look at how to use Instagram to better showcase your listings and build stronger relationships to grow your business.

Bring your audience into the listing

Since Instagram is so visual, it’s an ideal way to show off your listings. You can post photos or short videos, giving your audience a sneak peek of new listings, or a behind-the-scenes glimpse of events or transactions. Best of all, you can provide a virtual walkthrough of a property to potential customers who weren’t able to attend a showing.

When you post a photo, don’t forget to tag your location. More and more people are using Instagram to search for local businesses, so tagging your location will increase your discoverability and ensure that your content gets seen. Consider using local landmarks or popular public locations near the property as location tags, to give buyers an idea of the accessibility of the listing.

 

Get around with a carousel

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but it’s the carousel feature that really offers a lot of opportunities to build your business. Instagram allows you to include multiple photos in one post, called a carousel post. This is excellent for a listing, because you can include pictures of each room, as well as the exterior and all the unique features of the property. You can break up a long photo – like a panorama shot of the incredible view from the property – into several carousel photos for users to swipe through as a way to get more out of Instagram’s square format. Carousel posts are also a great way to show before and after images of renovation or expansion projects.

But carousels aren’t just great for beautiful architecture – they’re perfect for events. You can share lots of photos of an event – tagging many of the attendees – without cluttering up your followers’ feeds. And a carousel can drive more traffic to your website. Whether you’re writing a roundup of the best spots in the neighborhood or publishing a list of advice for new homeowners, a carousel post can highlight the best of a blog post to give followers a reason to click over to your site.

 

Build trust by being social

While it has enormous sales potential, don’t forget that Instagram’s greatest function is to build communities. So don’t make every post a sales post. Remember the 80/20 rule and make sure that 80% of your content provides real value to your audience, not just a sales pitch. Instead, break up your posts with real estate tips, local advice, or even DIY or interior design inspiration. Furthermore, use the platform to pay attention – not just to influencers, competitors or the media – but to your audience. Engage with them and really listen to make a lasting connection.

When meeting with a client, business partner, or colleague, even for just a few minutes on a quick phone call, we’re presenting our ideas to them in hopes of meeting a goal.

Remember that quality matters more than quantity when it comes to followers, and don’t try to buy the numbers. If you have a huge following but very few likes or comments, your real followers will know that you have bots following you, and you’ll lose their trust. High quality content is all you need to build a strong follower base.

 

Celebrate real relationships

On Instagram, the more content you post, the more engagement and traffic you’ll see. And the same is true of relationships. Once you can show that you’ve built strong relationships, people will feel more comfortable to bring you referrals and new business. Take photos of yourself with clients to celebrate the milestones of buying or selling a house. And repost photos posted by your clients, to give a potential customer’s a real glimpse into the real estate process.

Always respond to comments and posts from followers, and when you receive a glowing comment or thank you note, post it to your feed to let your satisfied clients speak on your behalf. Social media comments are sometimes the easiest testimonials to get, so take advantage of customer feedback to boost the trust in your brand.

Ready for more?

Take some time to get familiar with the basics of Instagram, and you’ll soon see how useful it can be to build an audience and grow your business. And then when you’re ready to take your skills further, join us for Part 2 to learn about how to take advantage of more advanced features like Instagram Stories and Instagram TV!