4 Ways to Stop Being the Most Boring Agent on Instagram

As someone who literally founded a company to create social media for real estate agents, you can imagine the colossal number of hours I spend on real estate Instagram every week. So I see a lot of you — yes, you reading this right now, I’ve probably seen your agent account. And for some of you I have some rough news. Some of those accounts and posts are boring. Like, really boring. I’m not going to call anyone out, but chances are that if you’re not gaining followers, not getting comments and likes, and you’re not having fun with what you post? I’m probably talking about you.

But I love this industry, and I want every agent to succeed. So I’m going to rip the Band-Aid off right now, and break down the top four ways to stop being just another boring Instagram agent and actually start growing your presence on social media in 2022.

1. Stop Posting Real Estate Content

Ok, that heading’s a bit of clickbait. It should be “Stop Posting Only Real Estate Content”. All business all the time just makes people think “We get it, you’re a real estate agent!” It makes you come across as an unrelatable robot whose only purpose in life is to sell sell sell. You’re more than that, right? Bring your authentic self to your agent profile. Hit a new PB on your run this morning? Post about it. Go to a cool concert last night? Post about it. Your kid graduated high school? Post about it. Have a serious opinion on the best biscuit in the Arnotts Family Assorted pack? Post about it.

Instagram stories and reels are great for this. They natively insert your small piece of off-the-cuff content into user’s feeds without you needing to heavily optimize the hashtags or worry about engagement. Instagram will mix your stories and reels in alongside all the users’ other friends and interests, which automatically helps them see you as relatable, friendly, and authentic.

Along the same lines, don’t only post your wins! Everybody struggles in their job sometimes, and talking about times when you got a bad review or lost out on a deal can really show you as open, friendly, and relatable.

2. Stop Posting ‘Just Solds’ & ‘Just Listeds’

No clickbait this time. If you want to be just another average agent on Instagram, go ahead and flood your profile with repetitive announcement graphics every time you sell, list, or put a house under contract. You might get a few likes and comments here and there, and yeah, having social proof is a really good thing, but they don’t do much to build your brand or showcase your talents as an agent.

Of course, I’m not saying to never upload these kinds of posts. Like I said, social proof of your success is really important, and after all: if it’s not on Instagram, it didn’t happen. But think about your followers and what they come onto Instagram to see. Is it more of the same content they’d be seeing in their in-feed sponsored ads anyway? No! They want something interesting to keep them engaged. One great way I’ve seen some agents do this is to condense all their ‘Just Solds’ into one monthly round-up — and the same for ‘Listed’ and ‘Contracted’. This way you’re still advertising your properties, you’re still letting people know that you’re an active and successful real estate agent, and you’re still building that social proof of your work. But you’re no longer clogging your followers’ feeds, and you’re not annoying anybody anymore.

Another great thing to do in these posts is to tell a story. The property, its history, the sellers, their renovations, the buyers, the area, something funny that happened in an open house — there are so many stories that happen alongside each listing that you just saying “Sold $X,000 over asking!” doesn’t cut it anymore. Talking about the unique story that accompanies each property is a great way to show that you really do care about the people behind the transaction and that you’ll take care of me when I come to you to sell my home.

3. Stop Flaunting The Luxury Lifestyle

This one bugs me so much that I had to write an entire post about it. So many agents think that their social media feed needs to look like a highlight reel from ‘Luxe Listings Sydney’ and don’t realize that doing so is actually losing them business! The fancy cars and sweeping skyline drone shots might show success, but if you’re not thinking properly about your content then it won’t be hitting the demographics you want.

Of course, if luxury is your brand and that’s truly what you sell, then you do you. Show it off, make that bank. But if you’re just getting started, or you’re comfortable selling the rest of the huge range of properties out there, then you’re sending the wrong message to the world. If your clientele is looking at $250,000 studio apartments, they’re not going to see you as their best choice because you haven’t presented yourself as such. You’ll be showing those followers the same pristine, unaffordable mansions over and over, and they’ll quickly get sick of it and unfollow.

Instead, show the variety that you work with. Every agent has a specialty, sure, but in your day-to-day you’ll be dealing with all kinds of properties across your city. Show the varieties of architecture, local history, and lifestyle that buyers can find if they buy in your market. You could even show off the bad sides of some properties: shoddy reno jobs, weird staging, and strange floors plans can be funny content for some and maybe even enticing for those in the market for a real fixer-upper.

4. Stop Using the Same Old Styles

An Instagram feed full of the same old posts over and over again gets real boring, real fast. Mix it up! Your Instagram audience wants to be entertained. Hit them with static image posts, text posts, slideshows, videos, reels, stories, lives, cross-posts from other platforms, memes, anything you can think of. People like to consume in different ways, and presenting a smorgasbord means that as many people as possible are able to get what they want.

It’s also great for your Instagram algorithm. IG likes it when you use more of its features and will boost your content to more and more users the broader you go. I know reels are huge right now, but doing only reels is not only exhausting to create, it’s also not fully engaging with the platform or taking advantage of every opportunity it offers. Variety will keep your audience AND your algorithm happy, and make your page way more interesting. Plus, you’re showing off your skill set!

If keeping on top of your social media marketing is too much on top of everything else, we get it. That’s why we founded properti. We use cutting-edge automation AI to create, schedule, and post all the social media content you need, straight out of your CRM of choice. Check out https://www.properti.ai/ to learn more.