People go to Instagram to see beautiful things. You know this. That’s why you’re already advertising your beautiful property listings there.
According to research by Smartly.io, a staggering 50% of marketing teams spend half of their marketing budgets on social ads. But not everyone can afford to spend the big-bucks on Insta marketing. So, how can you navigate through the social media minefield and generate actual leads, on a bootstrapped budget?
We’ve put together a list of Six Sizzling Hacks that will level-up your Instagram marketing, at no extra cost.
Hack #1: Goal Scorers Win Matches
Ask yourself, why am I marketing on Instagram? Is it to engage first-home buyers? To target tenants? Or introduce yourself to a new market?
Whatever your goals are, you must first define them. Then quickly identify who the leaders in that space are. Scroll through their activity history. Learn how they got to the top. Was it a particular post that catapulted them from average to top-dog? Was there a singular consistent message or style they adopted? Figure out what did it for them, then apply the same, your way.
Hack #2: Hope Springs Eternal
Location targeting is essential. You already know this. You’ll have configured the location you cover in your ad manager. But here’s the real trick. Make sure to include areas where your audience tends to move from, to your target location. If you’re a suburban agent, chances are your clients are shifting from urban areas as their families grow. Swim upriver to the natural water spring whence they came. Bottle them at the source.
Hack #3: #Hashtag #Rules
Hashtagging might seem like a useless sport, but it’s actually extremely powerful. According to Sprout Social, Instagram posts with at least one hashtag have 12.6% more engagement than those without. There are tons of tech tools available that provide data on popular hashtags by industry (try RiteTag or Hashtagify), and social media experts are quick to report trending hashtagging hacks.
But here’s the trick. Don’t just dump a load of hashtags into your post. Spread your hashtags out over one or two post comments, to achieve maximum algorithmic satisfaction 🙂
Hack #4: Swipe Right When You See Something You Like
One Instagram ad format you can’t go wrong with is the carousel ad, perfect for when you’ve got images that are screaming to be seen. Let your audience swipe-right 👉 through as many images as you can show them. At a subconscious level, the action itself tricks the mind into a positive sensory state.
Hack #5: From the Horse’s Mouth
Picture posting video testimonials from your happy clients, beaming in their new homes and waxing lyrical about your professional service. When it comes to real estate marketing, testimonials are invaluable. But wait. Before you go sending out camera crews, remember this. Staged videos look, well…staged. People aren’t fooled by them.
Take the non-interventionist approach. Simply ask your clients to shoot their own unscripted video testimonials, on their own camera-phones, in their own time and place. That raw, natural client feedback is much more honest, and powerful.
Hack #6: Sell It With A Story
Want to leave a lasting bad impression? Write bad or boring content.
We’ve talked a lot about imagery and ad formats, but make no mistake, poorly written copy will seriously put your audience off. Whilst people use Instagram as an advertising platform to look at nice images, this absolutely does not mean you should neglect your copy. The algorithms that mine content on Insta, trawl for quality content. If yours is bad, you’re going to see it in your metrics.
Your property description should be unique, engaging and definitely not read like every other realtors’ ads. Lifestyle must be incorporated into your marketing copy. Lure your audience in with emotive content that they can relate to. Or simply let overwrite.ai instantly autowrite the most incredible marketing content you’re ever going to publish, for you.
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