Whereas some see low homeownership rate amongst millennials as something alarming, truly ambitious realtors see this as a huge untapped market. What they also know is the fact that the generation gap between millennials and baby boomers becomes deeper with each passing day, which is why the real estate industry needs to find a way to adapt. One of the ways for it to do so is to start reaching out to their audience through social networks such as Instagram. With this in mind and without further ado, here are five fresh Instagram tips for realtors in 2018.
1. Set-up a real estate account
While some people believe that they could just use their personal Instagram account for business, this is usually not that great of an idea. Sure, a successful real estate agent can give their efforts a boost by investing their personal brand but still, it is much handier to keep these profiles separate. The reason behind this is the notion of a business profile. With a business profile, you can get a bit more insight on your followers, as well as find out how many of them saved your images or viewed your video. Needless to say, by just turning your joint personal-real estate account into a business account, the results of your analytics will get much blurrier.
2. Hashtags can be incredibly informative
Apart from being quite efficient as keywords (although there are some notable differences), hashtags can also be incredibly informative, when used correctly. For instance, apart from describing everything you display in a picture, like pieces of furniture and decorative solutions used, you can also go to lengths to mention the material between these items. After all, sometimes it can be incredibly hard to tell the material based on the texture of an image, so this can be a quite great promotional tool.
Aside from this, you can also mention the location, as well as the designer behind the interior décor. Adding the name of the photographer who took the picture can also be a nice touch to promote both of you. Sure, some people dislike the idea of using too many hashtags at once but keep in mind that people who look for real estate on Instagram aren’t your average Instagram audience. They want to know all these details, seeing as how they are all relevant to them personally. So, take your time, choose your words and use as many hashtags you believe your post deserves.
3. Social media management
Another thing you need to keep in mind is that the Instagram, like any other social network, has its own rules of the game. What this means is that there are certain metrics that will determine the engagement rate of your content. For instance, the best time to post in general is on Wednesday at 7 PM. Not only that but there are also some differences between whether you’re posting a video or an image. For a video, any day between 9 PM and 8 AM will do, while picture posts are more or less consistent all week long. Still, this is just the tip of the iceberg of all you need to keep in mind, which is why, prior to starting your Instagram real estate campaign, it might be a good idea to contact a marketing consultancy agency and ask for a quote.
4. Contact a real photographer
While taking pictures of the household you are trying to sell with your phone is a viable choice, it is usually not the optimal one. You see, in order to make the place as dream-like and appealing as possible, you need a high-end camera, proper lighting, perhaps even a different perspective than you, as a layman, had in mind. Sure, taking a picture with your phone will seem more spontaneous but it will also appear less professional. When having to choose between spontaneous and professional, a realtor always chooses the latter option.
5. Fixer uppers are Instagram friendly
Finally, while in the world of real-estate, fixer uppers are more or less a controversial grey area, when it comes to the Instagram, people usually look favorably on them. This can be particularly effective if you decide to pose it as a form of a challenge. For instance, by showing a couple of fixer-uppers that were successfully sold and turn this into a transformation story (before and after photos), you can have people’s imagination working overtime. In turn, every next modest establishment you decide to offer may appear as a challenge for people willing to try making this transformation on their own.
As a platform, Instagram is quite favorable towards real-estate, therefore, it would be a shame not to utilize this enormous potential to your benefit. Moreover, as millennial audiences become more and more financially potent, realtors will simply have to look for new channels to reach them through. All things considered, Instagram seems to be the platform they were looking for all along.