Boasting more than 800 million active monthly users and leveraged by more than 25 million businesses, Instagram is a growing visual marketing platform that proves a picture is truly worth a thousand words. For nonprofits, Instagram has proven its worth by providing a new way to tell stories and pull on the heartstrings, both of which are critical for recruiting and retaining employees, volunteers and donors. For consumer brands, Instagram has provided an avenue for showcasing products in their real life applications. And both benefit from leveraging high impact imagery to engage their target audiences and amplify their reach.
While the road to mapping an Instagram strategy is clearer for some companies and causes than others, nearly every organization can find a meaningful way to leverage Instagram as part of their marketing strategy and the real estate industry is no exception.
Instagram for commercial and residential brokerage
Properties are rarely bought or leased site unseen. Prospective tenants and residents want to see the views, experience the space and imagine how they could function in their new abode. Enter Instagram. Brokers can use Instagram to share room-by-room photos, a short video tour and even pics of nearby attractions and amenities. In this instance, Instagram becomes another tool in the sales kit and the perfect compliment to an online marketing program.
How property managers can use Instagram
Completing much anticipated renovations? Unveiling a new amenity? Launching an exclusive event series just for residents? For property managers, Instagram can serve as a tenant recruitment tool. It has a unique capacity to help showcase a “day in the life” of residents and lure newcomers into the community. For property management firms, Instagram can compliment both sales efforts and a robust public relations program, providing a new avenue for using storytelling to help sell.
Developers don’t have to dig deep to excel on Instagram
Bring out the back hoes and rev up the cranes, Instagram is a retail developers best friend. Breaking ground on a new building? Demolishing an outdated asset? Framing a new community room? Instagram is your one stop shop for providing behind-the-scenes access to real-time developments. For a real estate developer, a well-maintained Instagram account can showcase the range of their projects in an easy to digest and visually compelling format.
Architects can design their own Instagram success, too
From renderings to builds, architects have a wealth of Instagram-ready content at their fingertips. The inherently visual nature of this business screams “Let’s try Instagram” without even trying. For architects who are looking to take their social media marketing to the next level and establish a more personal connection with their audience, inviting specific project leads to share their Instagram “Stories” and conduct takeovers of the firm’s Instagram account are great ways to diversify content and increase reach.
Similar to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media marketing channels, a successful Instagram program requires getting the right content in front of the right audiences. Not to mention the added task of leveraging the power of hashtags to their full potential. (Of note, Instagram gave users the ability to follow not only accounts but specific hashtags in early 2018. In turn, hashtagging wisely has become a critical component of effective Instagram marketing.)
As you refine your real estate marketing program, consider how Instagram can help to amplify your reach and help to cultivate and engage new audiences. Similar to real estate PR, Instagram is an opportunity to tell a brand’s story. It requires a thoughtful and planned approach that puts high quality visuals at the forefront.
Whether you are a well-established residential broker selling luxury apartments in major metropolitan markets or a national developer working across a diverse range of industries, Instagram can help to tell your brand’s story in a dynamic visual format that can support everything from client recruitment to talent retention and beyond.
