In challenging times, it’s a smart idea to revisit the fundamentals of good business. This April, go Back to Basics with Inman.
Welcome to Instagram. Yes, this app may be the ticket toward your real estate success. In times like this, it’s important to know how to use this social media tool correctly. Now is a good time to learn how to engage users while building a sense of community and lending a helping hand. Here are five immediately actionable tips you can implement right now.
Get local
Our local restaurants need us now more than ever.
- Order once a week from a local restaurant offering takeout. Highlight those restaurants on your story or posts, and be sure tag them so they can share it on their pages, too.
- You can make this content engaging by speaking authentically to why you love that restaurant — favorite menu items, fun story about your connection there, history of the spot and more.
Go live
If you’ve been on Instagram at all these past few weeks, you surely noticed the influx of live chats. Join the club.
- Host a live webinar on real estate investment. You can bring in a guest lender, talk about the state of the market and try to ease fears.
- Take a walk (while keep 6 feet of distance), and give a virtual tour of your community.
- Host a Q&A session for your community. Potential buyers can ask you all of the questions you are often too busy to answer.
- Bring on a real estate adjacent specialist to feature, such as an interior designer, landscaper and any specialist in between.
Run a sweepstakes
Because who doesn’t love a good sweepstakes? And at no cost to enter, all you ask is for all entries to follow, like the post and comment with two of their friends’ handles to enter as well.
- Offer a subscription to a streaming service to keep everyone entertained while they’re at home. For example, last week, I offered a subscription to Disney+ in honor of Frozen II coming out.
- You can also offer a giveaway to a local business to help support small businesses in this time.
Post polls
But can we kick it up a notch? Instead of just a one-time poll via story poll button or post comments, why not create a longer-form poll game to keep your audience engaged over the next few weeks as they play along?
- March Madness may not be happening as we normally experience, but can you think of an engaging real estate-themed March Madness you can bring to your followers? For example, this week, I started a “Celebrity Home Edition March Madness Brackets,” where I feature polls of various celebrity homes and encourage my followers to vote on their favorites. Then, I compile the top picks between each battle to go to the next round, the final four and the eventual Celebrity Home Championship! (P.S. Feel free to steal this idea! I’m happy to share.)
- Try hosting a game of “This or That.” There are so many themes — dream homes, homes away from home, design picks and more — to explore with this one. Just keep it light, and have fun!
Share daily motivation
Spread some daily positivity and light within your community in the form of one post on your story every morning. A few things you can talk about or share:
- An interesting fact about your city.
- A motivational quote by a leader within the community.
- Trivia about your city.
Go forth, and engage with your community.
Andrew Jevin is a Realtor with Compass in Los Angeles, California. Connect with him on Instagram or Facebook.
