Instagram – power in pictures

Companies are harnessing the platform’s viral capabilities to sell or endorse their products, their brand and their services. Instagram is now the fastest-growing social media platform globally, increasing its users by 23 per cent in the last six months, according to research published by GlobalWebIndex.

Whilst Instagram is not the most obvious social media platform for agents to use, real estate is interesting to almost everyone, and, like Instagram, it’s all about aspiration.

Show listings before they go live, show keys being handed to new owners, quirky interiors…

Millennials have taken an especially keen interest in the property market, browsing Instagram and other social media platforms, to introduce them to the market and have a look at houses and apartments available.

Instagram is an extremely successful way of building your client base, and attracting more protective purchasers and vendors with the power of pictures.

Here’s our top five tips to make Instagram work as an effective sales tool, engaging with potential clients and use it to drive traffic to your website:

Get creative with your photos people want to see what’s ‘behind closed doors’

When it comes to selecting what photos to use on Instagram it’s all about showing what’s ‘behind closed doors’ – people are very nosey – why else would they be using social media?! Get creative with your images, show as much variety as you can. Show listings before they go live, handing keys to new home owners, quirky interior details of each property, even community events and activities you are involved in. It all helps to engage clients and promote what you do for purchasers and vendors.

Instagram videos ‘Short and Snappy’

With the rapid decline of our attention span, unless someone is already in love with your property, they probably aren’t interested in watching a long-winded video tour. Instagram only allows you to share video clip up to one minute long. You can do this live, in real time, or you have the ability to add previously recorded video from your device, and edit the best minute of footage to show your audience.

Location tagging ‘Where you at?’

Instagram has the option to share photos to a specific location or point of interest. This uses the geotag feature and puts a thumbnail of your photo onto Google maps so that you can see where it was taken. This means that people in the area will be shown your post on their ‘Explore’ page. This could enhance the reach of listings you’ve sold, and local events you’ve been involved in with proves that you are a local expert. However it doesn’t just stop there, there is now a third-party service called SnapWidget which allows you to showcase your photo map on your own company website. This means you can have a dedicated page on your website, inviting people to take a virtual tour of all your listings.

Hashtags on your posts? ‘#itsveryimportant’

Most of you are probably familiar with the ambiguous # sign used all over social media. It is vital to use hash-tags within your Instagram posts to make it easier for people to find your posts and information related to your properties. Hashtags provide a link for users to search content specific to them and what they’re looking for.

This is why it is so important to get your hashtags right to drive the most traffic to your posts. In order to make the most out of the hashtag, consider a phrase that will be easy-to-read, and specific to your company.

Try hashtagging what’s in the photo, relevant trending hashtags at the time and phrases or keywords linked to your properties and to the industry. Location hashtags are also a very simple way of attracting a local audience. However, you should limit each post to a maximum of 20 hashtags, as it can really hurt your engagement.

When to post? ‘Prime time’

It is well known in the social media world that 7pm to 9pm (prime time as we call it!) is the best time to post on Instagram. This is the most likely time for potential buyers to be browsing online.

Instagram has recently replaced the chronological style feed with an algorithm which gives priority to posts with higher engagement and more relevancy.

If you post during prime time when your audience is most active on Instagram, you’re more likely to drive engagement on that post.

This high level of engagement will translate into Instagram bumping your post higher up on users’ feeds. This then means you have a better chance of featuring on the infamous Instagram Explore page, resulting in even more engagement on your post.

It’s all part of the process to get the most engagement from your pictures!