Wanna grow FAST on Instagram?
In this video, I’m sharing how to grow fast on Instagram for real estate. I get asked from real estate agents all the time:
“Hey Stefanie, I’m just starting out on Instagram but I want to make a splash. How do I grow my account quickly?”
While you don’t need thousands of followers to connect with new clients on Instagram, I understand wanting to quickly feel established on the platform and see growth, so here are my top tips and tricks on growing fast on Instagram.
Step One: Niche Down.
As real estate agents we always are looking for the next deal which keeps us from doing the important work of niching down and identifying your ideal client. But what happens when we try to be the real estate agent for everybody? We aren’t the agent for anyone.
To build a strong Instagram presence, you have to give people a reason to follow you and just being a cool real estate agent isn’t enough. There are a lot of people on Instagram and a lot of real estate agents, so you’ll need to niche down to stand out.
The easiest way to start identifying your niche, and in turn your ideal client, is to look at where you want your business to go. For example, if I desire to be - or have already achieved the status - of a luxury real estate agent working in the hottest neighborhoods in town, I’m going to orient my Instagram presence to attract followers that fall into potential buyers and sellers who want to transact in that area. This is what helps us attract the right local audience of potential clients, and repel audiences with unrelated interests, to create a ravenous fan base of followers on our Instagram.
Step Two: Build your brand.
Now that you’ve identified your niche, you’ll need to set up a branded Instagram presence that convey who you are, what you do, and who you serve. That way, when people find your account, they will have a compelling reason to follow you.
A good place to start here is in your Instagram bio. Now, after this video you can download my free workbook on creating your perfect Instagram Bio, but here’s basically what you’ll want to do:
Add key words to your Instagram bio Name field. This isn’t your username, this is almost like a title field for your Instagram bio.
That field acts like a keyword for Instagram to suggest accounts for other users to follow, so tweak it to include your title and target market so those keywords can tell Instagram what kind of account you are. For example, people searching on Instagram might not know to look up “The Lugos”, but they might be more likely to search for “Arizona real estate”, which is what I included in the name field.
Then, make your bio description super clear by sharing who you are, what you do, and who you serve. Mine is right to the point - “A Husband and Wife Duo helping people buy and sell homes in Phoenix”. There are few other things you’ll want to do to ensure your bio is optimized, so again, download that free guide but wait until after this post because there are some other things we need to touch on first.
That leads us to Step three: Plan your next 9-12 photos.
It’s a lot easier to show up as an established account if your most recent posts are high quality and on-brand, so plan out 9-12 posts and share 1-2 of them a day over the course of a week to build up an established feed of content. These shouldn’t be advertisments - remember that Instagram isn’t a place to only advertise, it’s a place to educate, inspire, and entertain, so consider your ideal client and share posts that align with their interests, desires and values.
This might be photos of beautiful homes in your target market, highlights on the best shops or restaurants in those neighborhoods, Posts with helpful FAQ’s, and of course, a few of yourself sharing more about you, your hobbies, expertise, and unique interests. The easiest way you can set yourself apart is by showing your face, so I always suggest sharing a post with your face in the photo at least every third post. All this will help you create an established feed which will instill confidence in Instagram users who are considering to follow you after they find your account. Once you complete this step, resume posting on a regular schedule, 3-6 times a week.
Step Four: Start building your community.
The first thing you’ll want to do is follow the audience you already have: Your database! Follow any past clients, prospects, referral partners, colleagues, family or friends, and start engaging with them by liking and commenting on their posts. Then, begin expanding that community by following other local business owners, influencers in your target market, and like-minded real estate agents in other areas of the country.
Engage with these accounts as much as you can to receive follow backs, but more importantly to create meaningful relationships that could turn into business and referral opportunities down the line. Completing this step is going to connect you with your database which should be sending you referrals, and ensure that you are staying top of mind in a place where these people show up every day.
Step Five - Expand your reach using hashtags and tagging your location.
Spend some time to do hashtag research - I recently posted a video all about hashtags that can help you get started. Include great hashtags in your posts and stories, and when I say great, I don’t mean just broad hashtags like #realestate, I mean hashtags like, #livinginphoenix. This will help other users looking for that hyperrelavant content find your account, which means you’ll be attracting followers who are more likely to buy or sell in the market you’re looking to work in.
Remember, it doesn’t help us to have a bunch of followers just for the sake of looking cool and being popular, what we want to achieve is a profitable channel of referrals on Instagram. That requires connecting with the right people on Instagram, quality over quantity.
Step six - Stay consistent!
Building an established Instagram profile that will help you generate leads on demand really requires some sweat equity up front. So plan a consistent posting schedule, always be on the lookout for new hashtags, and continue connecting and engaging with your target niche - meaning residents in your area, local business owners and influencers, and like-minded agents who can become referral partners.
It’s simple, right? If I was starting from scratch, this is exactly what I would do to set up an established Instagram account that will grow super fast.
Now, here’s one giant mistake that I would avoid at all costs:
Don’t fall into the trap of trying to hack Instagram for followers.
There are bots and scammy strategies out there that promise to help you grow fast, but growing the right way is going to lead to more profits in your business. Those spammy, slimy bots and tactics are just going to give you fake followers, fake likes, and those don’t pay your bills. So forget about the vanity metrics of how many followers and likes you have, and focus on what real estate is all about: creating real relationships with real people who will actually transact in your area.
Now it’s time for the question of the day: What was your biggest takeaway from this post? Would love to help you through any questions or ideas you’ve got to grow big on Instagram!
And, hey, these posts are for YOU. If you have a topic idea that you’d like me to address, just leave that in the comments, too.
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We’re Bryce & Stefanie Lugo, award-winning husband and wife real estate duo in Phoenix, AZ. We are so glad you found us!
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