It is estimated that users spend an average of 28 minutes on Instagram per day and 200 million users visit at least one business profile during that time, according to Hootsuite.
Last year, I personally used Instagram Ads a few times for my real estate photography account. However, this year I intend on using it much more regularly. My goal is to utilize Instagram as the marketing tool that it is to reach new realtors who do not currently follow me.
I strongly encourage you realtors to do the same as a new way to market your listings. In this article, I hope to make it as easy as possible to promote your first Instagram post.
As bizzare as it may sound, you need a FB Business Page in order to create Instagram Ads. Head over to facebook.com/business and select “Create a Page” in the top right hand corner (you will have to click the drop down menu). Follow the prompts and questions to create your FB Business Page. My FB business page doesn’t have much on it. I created it primarily to use IG Ads.
I’m assuming you guys have created an IG account that you will be using to advertise your business. If not, do so before reading on.
Now we need to convert your IG account from a Personal Account to a Business Account.
in the upper right corner.
Settings.
***Step 4 screen will look different because I converted my profile to business already***
Now that we have both IG and FB business profiles set up, we can jump into fun stuff and promote our first post.
If you haven’t already, go ahead and post your photo(s) or video on Instagram as you normally. You can promote any post that is already in your feed.
Expand, expand, expand! Always expand your photos. As photographer’s, we use a wide angle lens for a reason. We want to make the room look as big as possible and provide as much visual information to the buyer.
Yes, the trend on Instagram is the 4:5 ratio. However, majority of user’s aren’t trying to sell a home. By cropping your photos, you’re excluding almost a 1/3 of information in the room and often makes the room feel small.
2. Image Carousel
I always select multiple photos for my posts of a real estate shoot. This one is a no brainer. Especially, if you’re spending money to promote this post. I select my top 5’ish photo’s that display good composition, lighting, and editing.
The amount of photos you post can differ from my number as we have different goals for promoting. I want to share my top edited photos. You guys want to sell the property.
You can definitely post more than 5, but be sure to not make the person swipe forever.
Now, select the post from your feed. You will now see a blue “Promote” button below the photo/video. Click the button and it will take you first screen of the promotion process, “Destination”.
Destination is where you decide what action you would like the viewer take, if interested in the property that you are selling.
Each option will create a different call-to-action button that will be displayed at the bottom of your post. Based on my IG Ad’s motives, I select “Your Profile”. Reason being that I am hoping the realtor will visit my profile, see my consistent feed of shoots, and follow me. Then I would reach out to them with in a DM to see if they would be interested in the special I am running.
However, as a realtor promoting a single property listing, it might make more sense to use “Your Direct Messages”. If they are interested in the property it would be in the best interest for them to contact you, right then and there. There’s good chance you will lose this lead if you sent them to your profile or website. Scrolling through your profile for a bit and they might unconsciously go back to their home screen. While looking at your website it may be harder for them to contact you compared to the DM button.
Audience is where you can specify ideal characteristics to define your target audience. To do so, select the option on the bottom called “Create Your Own”.
“Audience Name”, name of target audience to use in future promotions. In my example, “Real Estate 2.0” and “Real Estate Agent” are target audiences that I’ve created in the past.
“Location”, search by city or use your current location and set Radius in miles.
“Interests”, search keywords/hashtags.
“Age & Gender”, specify age range. Male, female, or both.
There is also an Automatic option where Instagram uses algorithm’s to target your audience for you, based on your followers.
Being that you are creating a housing promotion, you have to enable the first option at the top labeled, “Special Requirements”. On the next screen you would select, “Housing”.
Basically, there is some kind of policy with Housing Advertisement that creates restrictions on targeting audience. You can click on the “Learn More” link to read more information about it.
Budget & Duration allows you set how much you want to spend on your promotion.
“Budget”, how much you want to spend per day
“Duration”, how many days you want to run promotion
Budget x Duration = Total Budget
Use the the sliders as you desire.
Instagram will preview your total budget and “Est. Reach” (estimated # of users who see post) above.
Verify all the information displayed is correct.
You should be prompted to provide a payment method at this time.
If you don’t, here are some instructions how to add a payment method manually:
in the top right corner.Settings at the bottom.Your promotion must first be reviewed before going live. You will receive a notification on IG when your promotion has been approved.
Instagram claims promotions are generally approved within an hour. From my experience, that is typically true. However, there was one or two times that it took a couple hours.
You can view analytics and stats of you promotion by clicking “View Insight” located below the post’s photo/video.
You can also pause, resume, or cancel the promotion at any time in the “View Insight” section. You will only be charged for the time that your promotion was live.
