Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
So you’ve tried using Instagram for lead generation, to spread the word about your business, and to hopefully get some listings.
But things haven’t worked out so well.
Most of the time you hear crickets after you post something, or it’s just other Realtors liking your post.
That won’t get you any business.
So I put together a list of the most common reasons you may not be achieving the success you desire on Instagram.
These are in no particular order since not each one of these reasons may be true for you.
1. You’re Not Posting Consistently on Instagram
As with all marketing channels, posting or publishing consistently is one of the most important aspects of developing an audience. And that’s true for all your other marketing channels as well, Facebook, and other social sites, emails to your database, and regular posts to your blog.
This doesn’t mean you have to post every day, it just means picking a schedule that you can stick to. Something like every other day, Mondays and Fridays, every Wednesday. Or whatever works for you. Your fans and followers will come to expect to see your content on the same day and time each week.
What’s that, you say? You don’t know what to post? Then check out these 50 post ideas for real estate agents.
2. You’re Not Engaging with Your Audience
Even if you haven’t started posting consistently, you can still engage on a regular basis. Daily is best, but being consistent is more important. So what is “engagement”? Simple things like liking and commenting on other people’s posts. Sending a DM to someone who just followed you, etc.
One great tip for building your audience is to search for prospects and then engage with their content to develop a relationship with them. For instance, say you meet someone at the store and you think they would be a good person to add to your database. Search for them on IG and then regularly comment on their posts. Within reason, of course, don’t be a stalker!
Anyway, being passive about building your audience is about as effective as being passive about any other aspect of your business. It doesn’t work! Just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come.
3. Your Branding and Look is Random in Your Instagram Feed
If you’re going to use IG for business, it needs to be only for business. Having photos of your listing one day and your pics from Taco Tuesday the next won’t cut it. That said, there’s nothing wrong with having 2 accounts, one for personal use, and one for business use. Just keep the content separate, and make sure the account you use for business is a business profile.
When a potential client or prospect comes across one of your posts or your feed, make them feel like you would be someone they would want to hire. Make it clear that you’re a professional agent and that you’re there to do business. Keep a consistent look, feel, and branding. Again, random is not a good approach. Choose a complementary color palette, use only two or three fonts on images that have text. Use just one or only a few filters for your selfies. And yes, selfies are not only good, but they’re also an important part of your Instagram strategy!
Your branded looks will give your feed a feeling of consistency. (Have I used that word enough yet? I’ll be using it a lot more so just get used to it.)
4. Your IG Bio is a Ball of Confusion
When a prospect, current or past client comes to your Instagram bio, what do they see? A bunch of random facts about you. Random emojis? Random hashtags? Do they even know you’re a Realtor?
You have 30 characters to use for your username (handle), 150 characters for your bio, and one website link. In that little space, you need to tell the visitor who you are, what you do, and where to find you.
Spend the time to do an excellent job of this, it will pay off big time. Remember, it’s better to be clear than clever, but if you can be clear, clever, and memorable, you’ve hit the jackpot.
5. You Don’t Have a Strategy
All of your marketing should be connected and have a structured plan. Strategic works. Random acts of marketing get random results. So if you’re going to really give Instagram a go for getting new business, you best have a strategy to make it work and keep you consistent. (See, I said it again.)
Your strategy doesn’t have to be complicated, just a clear and (hopefully) simple plan. Trying to figure out what you’re going to post today while you’re scarfing down your breakfast isn’t a plan. Spending time in advance will remove this knee-jerk marketing tactic will make your day a lot nicer.
6. You’re Not Using Automation
Using social scheduling tools to automatically post for you will save you tons of time, help with your consistency, and help you build good habits for when you have 10 listings and just “don’t have time to post today”.
I hear you say, “Yeah, but, I don’t have 10 listings now. I have time to post manually every day”. Here’s the thing. It takes time to learn how to use the tools, so you’ll want to do it ASAP. Many of the automation tools will allow you to also schedule your Facebook posts, LinkedIn posts, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. Learning and using these programs while you’re not busy is the only time to do it. Seriously. Think about how things are after you just got one new listing.
The time for all this is while you’re in a lull, not while you’re being buffeted by the hurricane of multiple buyers and sellers.
7. You Don’t Have a Lead Magnet
Uhhh, what? OK, so you have one link in your bio. Where are you sending your visitor? To your home page? To your blog? Those types of pages are important but they usually don’t generate leads or capture email addresses. Having a lead magnet, or freebie, or giveaway is essential for getting your website visitor to give up their precious email address.
Your lead magnet needs to be compelling to the prospect, something they really want. This can come in the form of a free report on how to buy a home, get their current home value, a video on insider secrets, free checklists, etc. (People LOVE checklists, and they’re super easy to create.) For Realtors, your lead magnet needs to be relevant to real estate, or you’ll end up with a bunch of random people opting in.
8. You’re Not Promoting Your IG Handle (Everywhere)
If you want to build an audience on Instagram, plan on promoting that everywhere you can. Have a link to your profile in your email signature, on your business card, on your Facebook profile, on your website. Tell your mom, your friends, that guy you met at the grocery store today.
The one caveat here is, other Realtors are not your target audience. I know. You know more Realtors than anyone else. They’re your friends, associates, co-workers. They are all those things, but they probably won’t be buying a home from you. Right? (Seriously, If I’m wrong here, please let me know.)
Connect with your Realtor friends on your personal profile and leave your business account for suspects, prospects, current, and past clients.
9. You’re Obsessed with Vanity Metrics
More! That’s your internal call to action. More followers, more likes, more, more, more. Vanity metrics are the things you measure that make you feel good but don’t necessarily translate into business or relationships. Wanting 10,000 followers will not necessarily turn into listings and buyers. Having 100 raving fans who are really interested in what you have to say, what you do, and your expertise as a real estate agent is 10x better than having 1000 followers who don’t care much.
The followers who are of value to you are the ones you are of value to. Social Media marketing should be about giving value and developing relationships, not creating a number you can boast about at the water cooler.
Would you rather say to your colleagues “Did you see? I’ve got 9.2K followers on my page!” or “Did you see? I got three new listings this week.”
[click_to_tweet tweet=”The #socialmedia followers who are of value to you are the ones you are of value to. #value #relationships” quote=”The followers who are of value to you are the ones you are of value to.” theme=”style5″]10. You’re Using Random Hashtags in Your Posts and in Your Bio
OK, so we’re all guilty of using random hashtags now and then. Come on, it’s fun. #ijustdidthechickendance (OK, so I just made up that hashtag and it turns out there are 2 posts using it. Check it out! ) And sometimes we even use hashtags to boast with. Like #realtorlife (3,652,808 posts), #realtorlifestyle (196,480 posts), or #ilovewhatido (1,641,848 posts).
Unfortunately, hashtags are to Instagram what keywords are to Google. People use hashtags to search for things and people they are interested in. I promise you, someone looking to sell their house is not interested in your lifestyle. They may become interested later after they get to know you. But they are not going to the hashtag hub #realtorlifestyle to choose their agent.
Using the hashtag #realtor with 12,396,789 posts in your bio will not help you either. Too much competition on that page. That leads us back to strategy. To get the results you want means using the right hashtags to attract the right people. And unfortunately, that means research. But it’s not really as hard as it sounds. Just go to IG and type in the search box a hashtag you think would be good for your business. If the results are good, use that hashtag. Then rinse and repeat.
Conclusion
OK, so that turned out to be a lot of reasons and a lot to think about when it comes to succeeding on Instagram. The good news is, you don’t have to do it all at once, and you don’t have to be perfect. Like all things you want to know how to do, we all start in the same place. We didn’t know how to do it either.
You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.
You just need to make the decision that you’re going to get this thing down and make some money on this platform.
There’s no time like now, so pick one thing on this page to work on and commit to doing it until you’re satisfied with the results.
If you have questions, please leave them in the comments section, or on my Facebook page.