As a realtor, you are a personal brand, which means that you need to show up on Instagram as more than just what you do for a living (AKA drop most of those just sold and just listed’s sis!) most of your audience is probably not even in the market, so by leading with your real estate business you are speaking to less than 1% of your followers. You need to give your audience more to connect with, which means showing up as your authentic self because no one can do you better than you! So how do you differentiate yourself from the thousands of other realtors out there and create a brand style on Instagram that is true to who you are? Read on to find out how you can develop a well-rounded brand on Instagram that is completely unique to you.
ONE | Figure out who you want to talk to
This is usually referred to as your ideal audience or client and believe it or not it’s way more important than figuring out your colours, fonts and imagery! In order to stand out on Instagram, you want to start with the “who.” the people you want to work with and connect to. This can be a very overwhelming process for a lot of realtors who think that they can work with everyone and anyone. After all, the more people in the pot, the more leads, the more opportunity there is to get sales in business. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works and conducting your business that way more often than not leads to less-than-stellar clients. So, the goal on Instagram, especially on Instagram, is to fine-tune your voice and speak directly to one type of person. Now if you have ever done an ideal client exercise and have wanted to tear your hair out because you feel like you’re creating this fictitious person who doesn’t even exist, you are not alone. I’ve done countless exercises trying to pinpoint exactly who that elusive dream client is, painting rich backstories that just didn’t work for me. These exercises ALWAYS leave me feeling farther from my ideal audience than I did before. Here’s my top-secret (not so secret) advice if you too struggle to pinpoint who your ideal audience is. Forget the imaginary for a moment and whip out a piece of paper and then jot down your top three clients – I’m talking the ones that made you feel like the Rock Star of real estate. Then write down some traits for each that you really valued and start to dive even deeper by jotting down what made your experience with them so great. This allows you to picture real people with real personalities instead of trying to conjure up a made-up person who may or may not even exist. Once you have your ideal audience clearly laid out, you can then approach everything post, story and reel with them in mind. Speak directly to them, answer their pressing questions, THEY are your ideal audience.
TWO | Determine your “look”
Once you know who you are speaking to, head over to Pinterest and start a “brand board” with inspiring colour palettes, fonts and imagery (take a peek at the Fourth Street Brand Board). I love collecting everything I possibly can and then starting to whittle it down until I am left with one colour palette, a couple of fonts and imagery that really excites me. The goal here is to create a cohesive look and style that really resonates with you. Don’t be afraid to take a few days and then re-visit your Pinterest board, the time away may give you more clarity and insight. If you are really struggling to find a colour palette and style that works for you, here is my super effective no-fail tip: head over to your closet and ask yourself, What colour are the clothes that you gravitate towards most frequently. If you have multiple colours, pick out the most expensive and see if there is a trend you gravitate towards when choosing more expensive clothing. This speaks volumes as to what colours you naturally gravitate toward. The added bonus of doing it this way means when you snap photos of yourself your clothes are always within your colour palette and your Instagram photos will blend seamlessly into your grid. You can also take THIS QUIZ to narrow down your brand style with fonts, colours and imagery.
THREE | Create a connection plan
Part of your brand style is your messaging, and in order to reach your ideal audience, you have to do more than just post just sold’s and just listed’s. You need to connect and engage with content they want to see. What you want to do is create 5-9 connection points with your audience and then let those connection points guide your content. Connection points can include hobbies, brand-isms, tips, tools, behind the scenes, etc. Basically, you want to be able to connect with your ideal audience with where they are right now. Imagine you just sold someone a house, how would you connect with them? it definitely wouldn’t be to send them new listings because they are 100% out of the market, so how do you connect? I like to ask myself two questions:
1. How do I like to be engaged with on Instagram – what posts resonate with me, which ones are the ones I am most likely to engage with? and then incorporate those into my feed.
2. What are 3 topics that always come up with my BFF – paying attention to what you talk about with your friends is a great way to pinpoint what is important to you and can provide great insight into topics, categories or connection points for your IG audience.
Once you have 5-9 connection points you can lay out a plan on Instagram. I like to use Trello to layout my posts for the month.
And that’s it, 3 steps that will get you closer to leveraging Instagram for your real estate career. Not sure where to start? Take the quiz!
