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When we post on social, we often get caught up in creating our own content, getting more likes on our posts, and driving the number of followers up. But are we missing out on a key opportunity? 

Social was originally meant to bring people together. Yet, over the years we’ve turned it into a lead generation tool through landing pages, ads, and sales funnels. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, there are other more authentic ways of connecting with your ideal customer. 

So, in this week’s episode, we’re talking about how to not only find your next potential customer but how to strike up a conversation that could lead to a real relationship. 

Are you guilty of thinking about social as a one-way street? I know that I can sometimes. While we might scroll through the feed and occasionally like posts, do you make it a point to really roll up your sleeves and engage? Engagement is the key to a successful social strategy and engagement isn’t something that happens on your feed alone. That’s why I absolutely love Instagram for real estate marketing

.Where else do you have the opportunity to find people you’ve never met before and start a connection? After all, that’s why we use hashtags and tag locations. Instagram users are actively categorizing what they’re interested in and establishing themselves in their local communities. 

So let’s dive into how to find potential new customers using Instagram and how to engage with them as well. 

Time Spent on Your Instagram Marketing

Let’s begin with the most important factor - your time. How much time do you want to devote to Instagram marketing every day. 

First, I want you to honestly think about how much time you’re killing using social but not being productive. If you’re on your profile on Instagram and hit the menu option (the three bars) there’s an option to see “your activity” if you click on this it will tell you how much time you actually have spent on the platform. So, now that you know your actual number, let’s use your time in the most efficient way. 

I want you to split up your time into 3 buckets. The first bucket is curating your own content. Now, this could be coming up with what to post and even commenting back on people who’ve engaged with you. The second bucket is engaging with people you already follow. This isn’t double-tapping on a photo to like it. This is making the effort to comment on their posts, respond to their stories, or even send them a DM. The third bucket will be for finding people to engage with, and that’s what we’re talking about today.  

Engaging & Connecting on Instagram

Now, this part might be the part where you’re not so sure. It’s easy to respond to your own comments or reach out to people you already know. But complete strangers? This is where the nature of Instagram is at your advantage. We can complain about algorithms and rising advertising costs all day long, but the beauty of Instagram is that if somebody has a public profile (which most people do) you can engage with them. 

This same strategy won’t work for Facebook. Because on Facebook if you randomly send friend requests to strangers, they’ll probably think it’s weird, and Facebook will eventually block you. That’s just not how the platform works. But Instagram wants you to find and engage with new people. And when people post on Instagram it’s out there for the world to see!

This is a huge opportunity for your real estate marketing! How many transactions have you had that came from referrals or conversations that started at the grocery store? What if you pivoted your mindset to using Instagram as a place to meet new people and expand your sphere? You might not pinpoint your very next homebuyer right away, but you can definitely grow your sphere and brand presence. It’s never a bad thing for more people to know your name and that you’re a REALTOR® in their area. So, instead of them seeing an ad to find out that you’re an agent, this way they’re getting to know you as a person as well. It’s also a great way for you to expand your professional network and find other local business and related services. 

I bet many of you listening to this podcast right now found me on Instagram. Did I reach out and engage with you? That might be just what lead you to this episode today, and what I love about connecting through Instagram is that it comes from a genuine, more meaningful place. 

And it all starts with clearly identifying who you want to connect with on Instagram. Anybody and everybody is probably not your next customer. You need to get specific for this to work. So, if you haven’t already, I’d highly recommend that you download my marketing plan which outlines how to select your ideal customers. You’ll use this profile to help you find similar people on Instagram. So grab your free copy at ideasforrealestate.com/plan. 

Once you know the type of person you’re targeting, then comes the fun part - finding them on Instagram. 

Finding Your Ideal Real Estate Customer on Instagram

There are basically three main ways to find your ideal customer on Instagram. 

The first is through tagging locations, or as Instagram calls places. The second is through other people’s accounts. The third is, of course, through hashtags. 

Finding Connections through Tagging Locations

Let’s start with the first one - tagging locations. Traditional farming is all about selecting an area and marketing to those people who live in it. Instagram is the next generation of farming. And it’s so easy. 

Start with searching for a specific neighborhood on Instagram (I’d narrow it down from city), then choose “places.” This will show you photos/video where the user tagged that location. From here, scroll through and make sure you’re in the right place, and I’d select the “recent” photos vs. the “top” photos in the search results. 

What comes up? I went ahead and tried this for a large neighborhood and master development in Orlando called Lake Nona. So, there’s quite a variety of content that comes up, including REALTORS® advertising listings. You can skip those or scope out what your competition is doing. 

Look for photos that catch your eye and could come from your target audience. For example, I immediately came across a quote that caught my eye about healthy living. I clicked on over to the profile, and it’s a lady whose bio says she helps women over 40 with wellness. Does that sound like somebody who IS your ideal customer or might be a connection to your ideal customer in Lake Nona? If so, find something they’ve posted and comment! 

But I want you to comment back with actual sentences or questions that could engage conversations. If you say “love that quote” or “that’s cute heart emoji” how much conversation could you expect back from that? 

Comment with substance. That’s what will open conversations. So, maybe for this person, I comment about her inspirational quote with working out with something like, “I completely agree! One thing that keeps me sane is my daily runs around my neighborhood in Lake Nona. What’s your go-to activity?” Keep it honest and use those skills that you have as an agent in real life. Get people talking!

So I keep on scrolling and see a pretty photo of a pool and a sunset. And it’s not a REALTOR® photo. It’s from another lady whose bio says she’s an attorney who loves to travel. This might be another good person to strike up a convo with. 

And I keep on scrolling and see a home interior photo. And it’s a man who says he’s target obsessed and loves sharing target finds and Disney World tips. Does that sound like it could possibly be another good connection? 

You see where I’m going with this. Maybe they’re not out to buy or sell a house tomorrow, but their network very well could be. 

Finding Connections through Other Accounts

The next place you could find your ideal customer is through other people’s accounts. So, on Instagram, you have the ability to see who somebody follows and who their followers are. A good place to find customers that are similar to the type of customer you’re looking for are through similar businesses. 

So, let’s say that you know an awesome interior design firm in your area, home-related services, or even a new construction community. Look at their account and see who’s following them. Then, do that same thing you did earlier. Click on over to their profiles and see if it’s somebody you want to engage with. You don’t always have to comment on something. You could even engage with them on Instagram stories by replying to their content or participating in engagement opportunities, such as polls. 

If you’re not sure of accounts to look at, you can start by searching for new accounts. For example, I searched on Instagram for “orlando interior design,” and lots of accounts came up. 

I clicked on over to the first account that came up, and the first follower. No joke, their bio reads “future wifey” and a wedding date. Do you think this is somebody that might have a life event coming up? They’re getting married, maybe they’ll be buying a house or starting a family and need to upgrade soon. I chose interior design because these are local people interested in homes, but I found this person! And she has a ton of cute content because it looks like she’s working on her own lifestyle brand. This is a super, super easy person to engage with and even follow right away! 

I really can’t even believe I found this person on my first search, but it just goes to show you how easy it can be! 

Finding Connections through Hashtags

Now, the last way is the way we’re all very familiar with - through hashtags. I have a whole episode on how you can use hashtags if you want to check that out: Episode 8: How to Use Strategic Real Estate Hashtags for Instagram. 

But in this case, I don’t want you thinking like a REALTOR®. No, I want you to think like your ideal customer. What kind of hashtags would they be using on Instagram? I can guarantee you that it’s probably not something like #firsttimehomebuyerinflorida or #reallyneedanagent. Instead, you might really need to narrow down on that persona to see what type of hashtags they would be using. What’s important in their lives? What ties them to the local community?

You could search for hashtags that are popular in your local area. This might be a hashtag that a farmers market uses or even a location. Local businesses often use hashtags that become popular, and they might be a good place to start. Another idea to check out is if any of your chambers or tourism boards have campaigns with hashtags to encourage people to live and shop locally. You need to get into the head of who your local person is and what they’re sharing. And once you figure this out, these are also good hashtags for you to use in your own marketing! 

There are so many ways to use Instagram to form connections. So often, we use the platform and think about how people can find us. Well, how can we go out there and find them as well? And once we find them, take the time to engage with them. And I don’t mean liking a couple of photos. I want you to challenge yourself to post a comment that would get their interest. If you’re not sure if it’s a great comment or even DM, ask yourself this, if I got this message would I think it was spam or be intrigued to learn more?

If they have a story that catches your attention, send them a message, participate in their polls, even follow them if you want to. 

I really want you to think about this as getting out there and meeting new people. And this is way better than a networking event. You can do it right from your living room, in your PJs with a glass of wine, and there are no awkward pauses in conversation. 

And keep in mind, they’re probably going to come back over and look at your profile as well. Is it doing its best job to highlight you as an agent in the local area? If you haven’t already, I have two more recommended podcasts for you. The first is Episode 7: What to Post on Instagram for Real Estate Agents (this will completely map out your content so when they check your profile out, they want to get to know you too.). The second is Episode 13: How to Write an Instagram Bio, which is key. That’s the quickest way to figure out what somebody is all about, and I even have a fillable template to make it super easy. 

Keep in mind that with Instagram and all social media, it’s not all about what we’re posting. Earlier I mentioned the three buckets of engagement. If you spend 30 mins on Instagram every day, I want you to spend at least 10 minutes curating your own content. That can be posting and even responding to comments. Then, spend 10 minutes engaging with the people you’re already following - make sure you’re following people in your sphere. And then spend the last 10 minutes actively looking for new people to engage with. 

After all, social media was meant to be a platform for connections. So, let’s make it a point to get out there and start connecting with people. 

& If you’d like to learn more about Instagram Marketing for REALTORS®

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