The world of real estate is constantly changing, and no part is more obvious that how you reach new clients. With the advent of social media, real estate agents have a variety of tools that can help them prepare, market and sell a house in ways that were not possible even one year ago! None of these new services has made an impact like Instagram.
While many of your friends on Facebook use Instagram to take filtered photos of their dinner, cats or whatever landscape has caught their eye, real estate agents can use Instagram as a way to effectively show their property to anyone, at any time, and anywhere your clients may find themselves.
Instagram isn’t something you should just throw pictures up on and hope that someone will come check it out. Even if you only have a few clients who follow you on Instagram, it doesn’t matter. You can share your Instagram photos on every social media site including; Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest (not to mention the blog you should be maintaining). Instagram is more a content creator app than anything else. The more content you put up with Instagram and share on your various social media accounts, the more followers you will accrue, and the more exposure you will have, making it easy for new clients to find you and hopefully list or buy from you.
There are many tools within Instagram that can make your property pop off the computer screen (or however your clients find you). One of the better things Instagram is used for is memes. Memes are the pictures you see on the internet which generally consist of a picture (usually a landscape or something beautiful) and a line of text above and below. These memes can be shared on your social media accounts and give your clients (and potential clients) something to look at while surfing their Facebook accounts on a break. These inspiring postcards can help demonstrate other parts of the town or city you live in, giving potential clients a view of what their new home might look like. If there are landmarks or stunning vistas nearby, take photos of them and attach your company’s information on them so that you send or share them for people.
Recent statistics have shown that more than a third of all Internet users in 2013 will access the web through their smartphone. Instagram’s native capability to easily show the photos you take on your account makes it a breeze for your Instagram followers to see your photos in an easy to read manner. They can follow, “like” and share the photos you take from anywhere in the world. If they’re bored while waiting in line for their coffee, they can browse and share a photo with one of their friends who are looking for a property just like the one you list.
Instagram also offers services like Postagram, which allows you the ability to create postcards for your clients from one of your photos. If you have a client who is looks at a home, a nice follow-up on their visit might be a nice postcard of the property they viewed with the caption saying “If you lived here, you’d be home by now!” Obviously, you don’t want to send clients pictures of homes they’ve already dismissed out of hand as somewhere they don’t want to live, but if there is someone who is waffling on whether or not they want to buy something, little nudges like a postcard in the mail with a picture of the home they’re considering may be just the nudge they need to make the effort to close the deal.
Stickygram is another great app that is a companion to your Instagram account. Similar to how you can print out postcards using your photos, you can print out smaller sized photos that can be printed on magnets. This service is fairly cheap for what you get, and only costs you around $14.99 for a pack of nine magnets. Occasionally Stickygram will run deals, so keep a close eye on the site to take advantage of those deals when they come out.
Hopefully your firm already has a Facebook page (if you don’t, you are missing out on an easy opportunity for FREE promotion), and you have already posted a few pictures to your account demonstrating the different properties you manage. One of the best parts of Instagram is the ability to easily create photo collages of all your properties into one photo that you can upload as your “Cover Photo” on your Facebook’s Timeline. Some good collages to use as a Facebook cover photo include pictures of the properties you represent, photos of happy couples/people who have just gotten the keys to their brand new home, or landmarks and stunning vistas that are in your hometown. All these can serve to help promote a positive mindset about your firm for clients who check you out on Facebook first before they decide whether or not they want to list with you or buy one of the properties you represent.
With so many tools available to the real estate agent professional, marketing your properties and getting the word out about you has never been easier. It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, Instagram gives you the ability to write volumes about what and who you represent. Taking great pictures has never been easier, and with the various filters you can apply to your photos, you can make each and every photo you take pop off the screen and make a great impression on your clients.
If you aren’t leading, you’re following the crowd, and even if you don’t have an Instagram account, it’s guaranteed that at least some of your competitors have one. Don’t be left behind! Set up your Instagram account today and you can begin reaping the rewards that will offer!