“People come to Instagram to be inspired and discover things they care about, and that includes content from brands and businesses.”
–business.instagram.com

For the real estate professional, Instagram can be a wonderful platform to genuinely connect with people and have a brand recognized by consumers. If you’re not currently marketing yourself on Instagram, here are some statistics that will change your mind.

1. Instagram is a young social platform. Generally, millennials and Gen Z’ers prefer Instagram highly over Facebook. You’ll get ahead of the curve by targeting these people, especially millennials, and turn that into ROI.
2. 60% of people say they discover new products on Instagram.
3. 200 Million+ Instagrammers visit at least one business profile daily.
4. 1/3 of the most viewed stories are from businesses. Don’t know what a “Story” is? Don’t stress! We’ll cover that.

Set up a Business Profile
It’s really as easy as 1-2-3. Follow these simple steps to set up your business profile on Instagram. A business page is a great resource to have as it allows you to run ads and boost posts to reach potential new clients, keep track of insights (who’s viewing the posts, at what time, and on what day), and to connect with customers in a whole new way. A personal Instagram page doesn’t have the same opportunities.

Bio = Elevator Pitch
The Instagram bio (the short area of text at the top of a page) is basically that person’s elevator pitch. Once a follower reads the bio one time, she gets a glimpse of who she’s following and then she’ll never read the bio again. This is the one opportunity to draw someone in. Keep it short to the point, use emoji’s to break up the block of text, and make sure it sticks.

Shoot for a 2:1 Ratio of Followers
Generally, a successful Instagram page has twice the amount of followers as pages it follows. For example, if you’re a real estate agent who follows 300 accounts, you should have 600 followers on your page. The goal is to have more people following YOU as a brand, leader, and influencer than people you follow. Start eliminating this problem by unfollowing anyone who does not follow you back. Get picky!

Hashtags
Hashtags are how people will find you and your posts. Did you know you can use up to 30 hashtags? Use hashtags on all of your posts and make sure that at least 1-2 of them are personally-branded. What does that mean? Have 1-2 hashtags that only you would use, no one else, unless they were posting about you. It can be a blend of your name and your niche. For example, ours is #firstintitle and then each rep has his or her own branded hashtag as well.

Use the Right Visuals & Unify Your Brand
Instagram is a highly visual platform. Unlike Facebook, it relies purely on captivating images to draw in users. Don’t settle for just any photo you find online (also watch out for copyright). Use the right ones that match your brand’s color. Every color has a color code. If you don’t know what yours is, you can upload your logo into this website and get the color code to make sure every post is unified with the same color.

Stories, stories, stories
As stated earlier, one-third of the most viewed stories on IG came from businesses. Instagram stories are, similar to Snapchat, a photo or video that you can feature for 24 hours and then it will disappear. You can use all sorts of filters, stickers, location, hashtags, tag others, etc. in your stories. The people that you tag in the story can, in turn, share that same post in their own story and voila! Your original post is now in front of that person’s followers too.  Another great thing about stories is that they are discoverable. Which means people who don’t follow your page can still see your stories! You can post as many as you want and they show up in the form of a slideshow for users to view.

Overall, there are so many thing you can do on Instagram to reach new audiences and be a part of your community. Try to think outside of the box and really hone in on the value that you, personally, bring to your community. Why should someone follow your page? Do you have anything interesting to say? Are your images fun to look at? Do you have anything valuable to provide? Ask yourself these questions before starting your account!

As always, we are here to help you. Reach out to your local rep for a one-on-one meeting and he or she can sit down with you and go over these tools with your accounts and make sure you succeed.

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are all the rage recently when it comes to social media marketing. It seems like CE classes offered are only for these platforms. But what about the countless others? Many other platforms draw millions of business people and yet, so many of us spend little-to-no time marketing on them. Well we’re here to blast right through that and give you tangible tips and statistics to get you started marketing on platforms other than Facebook and IG. A big one is LinkedIn.

First of all, let’s aim to understand why we should be marketing on LinkedIn to begin with. Who can we potentially reach?

Who’s on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn now has 500 million members on its site and that number continues to grow each month. About 260 million people actively use their LinkedIn pages monthly.  Even though that seems like a huge number already, LinkedIn’s CEO, Jeff Weiner, has a goal to hit 3 BILLION users.

Almost 90 million millennials are active LinkedIn users as well. As we all know, millennials (ages 23-38) are currently buying more houses than any other generation. Many millennials are in decision-making positions, especially when it comes to buying their first or second home.

A lot of people are using and responding well to LinkedIn’s SlideShare. This is the perfect opportunity to showcase a current listing or give a mini presentation on interest rates, market update, etc.

Only three million LinkedIn users are actively sharing content. In comparison to how many business people are on LinkedIn (500 mil total, 260 mil active), that’s very few people getting their brand out on the platform. Which means YOUR content will be seen!

Now, we ask: What kinds of content should we be putting out on LinkedIn? Thankfully, LinkedIn is seen by most marketing executives as the best platform to find higher quality content. Typically, how-to lists or list-style posts perform the best. This can easily be used by real estate professionals in terms of content curation! For example, “3 Things to do This Weekend in Frisco” or “5 Netflix Shows to Watch this Summer” or “10 Best Family-Friendly activities in your Area!” Catch our drift?!  

Why Use LinkedIn?
According to many other businesses, LinkedIn works! According to Neil Patel, 93% of B2B marketers feel that LinkedIn is the best place to win leads.

More conversations are started on LinkedIn between business people than any other social media platform. See the below chart.

With that many people on LinkedIn and the stats to prove that gathering leads works on the site, all that’s left to do is start sharing content and getting your brand out there! 

How to use LinkedIn
First of all, set up a company profile on LinkedIn. Don’t worry – it’s free to set up! Fill in all of your information, your services in the About Us section, and include key words in this section, such as “D-FW real estate,” so that the page will come up in online searches.

Next, add a professional photo of a headshot or logo for the profile picture. You should aim to keep photos of families, dogs, or kids off the site. LinkedIn is slightly different from Facebook and people go to this site to find professionals. After that, start connecting with as many people as possible on LinkedIn.

Start adding your content as quickly as possible. Any videos, listing presentations, flyers and articles you already have is a great start.

“With more than two-thirds of LinkedIn’s users considering themselves ‘news junkies,’” Patel writes. “You’ll be hard-pressed to find an audience that is as ready and willing to consume your content.”

Incorporate LinkedIn into your daily or weekly posting habits. You can set aside 30-60 minutes at the beginning or end of the week to plan your social media posts for the upcoming week. Time blocking is crucial to being productive and your social media should be no different.

Similar to Facebook, you can create posts with just text, photos, or videos. And don’t forget hashtags! Similar to Instagram, hashtags can also be used on LinkedIn to help with Search Engine Optimization and to find followers that you normally wouldn’t without those hashtags.

Search for and join groups that are relevant to you! You can also start your own groups and be in charge of the content for that group. This is the easiest and quickest way to get in front of like-minded people and, hopefully, capture more leads. All that’s needed to start a group is to click on the “Create group” button under the “My Groups” tab. Be sure to include all the information needed to start the group and get creative with your niche.

Lastly, similar to Facebook and Instagram, ads can also be run on LinkedIn with company profiles. Here is a step-by-step article on how to run ads through LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager.

As always, First International Title is here to help! Reach out to your local rep for questions or assistance on setting up your LinkedIn page or help with any other social media platform. Need more tips? See our previous blog, “Top Seven Social Media Tips”.

REALTORS® should continuously be looking for ways to increase their real estate knowledge and become better at their craft. However, sometimes it can be overwhelming trying to find the right, credible content to work with. Here are our top 10 ideas for resources and tools agents can use to always be learning.

1. News Sites
For an agent, it’s crucial to stay on top of, not only what’s happening in the local market, but what’s happening with the country’s economy overall. Distinguished journaling sites like The Wall Street Journal and Inman provide the most recent and relevant news to keep REALTORS® up to date. A REALTOR’S® knowledge from these sites helps to differentiate him/her from the other competition. Most agents won’t take the time to read and truly understand real estate and the ever-changing economy. Take 10 minutes in the morning over coffee or breakfast and read up!

2. Texas A&M Real Estate Center
This is a free website to stay briefed on the Texas economy. It’s a credible news site to quote from or reference the data in a meeting or a presentation. Check out their most recent Outlook for the Texas Economy.

3. YouTube
Seriously! If an agent has a specific question on how to do something or simply want to learn a new topic, search YouTube for an answer from other agents or experts. Tech Savvy Agent is a great YouTube page to follow. They keep their readers informed on all things technology, to make lives and jobs just a little bit easier.

4. Pinterest
Pinterest is the perfect social media site to engage with for the more creative agents who love pop-bys, creating adorable closing gifts, hosting an outstanding open house, and simply staying inspired to give their clients a unique experience. Countless real estate boards can be found by simply searching for “Real Estate.” It’s also great for finding new flyers or guides to share with buyers and sellers in order to make their transactions as smooth as possible.

5. Real Estate Champions
Whether a brand new agent or an experience broker, this site has something for everyone. Coaching, live classes, training, and free resources are all available to agents on their website. You can also follow them on Facebook to stay up to date on cutting edge industry news, announcements, and insight from their president, Dirk Zeller.

6. National Association of Realtors
NAR is “America’s largest trade association” with 1.3 million members representing all sides of residential and commercial real estate. They aim to help all of their members become more profitable and successful. From education to events to politics and various resources, NAR has everything a REALTOR® may need for information. Find out how to join here.

7. Canva
For the agents who don’t have high marketing dollars or brokerages who provide all marketing materials, Canva.com is the perfect (FREE) graphic design website. Agents can create beautiful and clean flyers, post cards, logos, tags, business cards, and social media posts. This user-friendly website accommodates any person with any level of design experience, from beginner to professional designers!

8. Homes.com
This is a great website for free flyers and guides to download that help with client education. The site also has various tools for lead generation, management, and business growth. Similar to Canva, this can also be invaluable for the agent who has a limited marketing budget.

9. FirstInAgent ONE
This is the perfect real estate app to run buyer closing costs, net sheets, open house flyers, and find new infographics to share online or with clients. It takes seconds to run reports and share with clients via text, email, etc. Sell a house while standing in line at the grocery store! Find FirstInAgent ONE in the app store.

10. A Coach
Having a personal real estate coach may be worth the cost and time. A personal coach can teach agents how to be self-motivated, professional, a public speaker, and/or how to brand themselves. For REALTORS® just getting into the business, a professional coach can give them the push they need to put themselves out there, start prospecting, and build their book of business.

Your First International Title reps are dedicated to helping you reach your goals and build your business. Reach out to your office’s rep today and set an appointment to see how we can assist you!