Part II: How to leverage Instagram for Real Estate Marketing
Jason Cassity is a member of SDAR’s “40 Under 40,” a Padres MLB Team Premier Club Agent, and an Instagram influencer. He frequently shares crucial tips for growing your Instagram account; much of this post is based on his talk at REALTOR® Mastery Summit.
First: Before you grow your presence, focus on engagement
With social media, people often focus on the numbers. A large follower count indicates a level of authority in the business or field the account focuses on. A large account impacts thousands or sometimes millions of followers—that’s how we got the term “influencer,” after all.
However, before getting into how to grow your Instagram account and use it as a marketing tool, first think about how Instagram works. If you are looking to grow your follower count, you must focus on engagement. Your Instagram engagement rate is the sum of the likes and comments that you receive per post, divided by the number of followers that you have. Engagement rates are an important standard to consider because they reflect how frequently your following interacts with your content. High engagement indicates high brand authenticity, and analyzing your engagement helps you focus on important content. Give the loyal followers you already have more of what they want!
Therefore, buying followers is not recommended. Anytime you post something, Instagram judges the level of engagement you have. If you have a high engagement, it will share the post at the top of your followers’ feeds. If you have 10,000 fake followers but the post gets just 50 likes, Instagram notices your engagement is low and suppresses the content.
Two tried and true ways to grow an authentic, engaged Instagram following:
1: Promote other businesses, including brokers and fellow agents
You read that right! In order to promote your Instagram account, promote someone else’s business. Head to the search area within Instagram and look within your city, neighborhood, and places you frequent. Engage with these people, and show them your support and interest in promoting them. Send them a DM, perhaps something like: “Hey, I have been following your account for a while, is there some value I can provide to you to help you to grow your business in exchange for you promoting me as well?”
Use Instagram as a referral source. Cassity shared one example: A fellow agent was selling a book; Jason bought 10 and made a giveaway on his profile. While using his platform to promote the book, the book’s author promoted the giveaway on his own account. In 24 hours, he got over 1000 followers.
2: Build relationships with homeowners, buyers & brokers
Building agent-to-agent relationships can help you become well-known in your city’s real estate circles, which can build overall camaraderie and ease conflict during transactions. Search hashtags for local brokerages and start to engage with other agents within and outside your company. Make new relationships, build connections, engage with their posts. In doing this you are actually adding value to your business and growing your channel’s engagement. When your clients see how well-connected you are in your local market, they will trust you as a local area expert. The same principles apply if you move to a new market area: If you don’t know where to begin, consider this primer in immersing yourself in a new network.
To the next level: Swipe-up in Instagram stories
Jason readily shares his secrets for converting Instagram stories watchers into engaged clients: “The Instagram stories swipe up add is the most underpriced marketing out there right now.” The average Instagram user spends 28 minutes on Instagram every day—this number grows each year with added features such as stories. Users with over 10,000 followers can add a swipe up link to any Instagram story panel. Your content can be displayed in a quick and conversational way. Begin a conversation with just a few words like: “Hey, I have a buyer looking for this type of house. If you are interested in selling, just swipe up and let me know,” or, “Have you gotten a home value report lately? Swipe up and enter your address.” In some cases, these super-short calls to action may be even more efficient than a long-form video your busy followers don’t have time to watch.
How can Clozio Help?
Make sure each listing gets all the attention it needs by incorporating social media marketing into your smart checklists. Set the smart checklist to remind you to promote each listing via Instagram posts, stories, and Instagram live tours. Other helpful marketing reminders can include tasks like: drafting content for your property’s website, ordering flyers, drafting postcards, researching social media hashtags, and more.
Staci Jackson
