I like to refresh these every few months to keep agents on their toes!
Social media strategies are constantly changing, and it’s always good to check in with what’s working and what’s not. So, here are five things you SHOULDN’T be doing on Instagram (at least for now).
#1—DO NOT Post Reels To Stories
First, this kills your story views. Nobody wants to see a Reel from your feed on stories because that is not their intended purpose.
Stories are for spontaneous thoughts, behind-the-scenes content, and unfiltered moments that spark conversations. People don’t want to click on a post they already saw in the feed.
#2—DO NOT Post Too Many Stories In One Day
The fewer stories you post, the more engagement you will get. Not that it really matters that much because nobody else sees those stats… but if you want to draw attention to something, don’t post anything else after it. People always want to click what’s next, so if you are sharing a link to a listing or YouTube video and have another story after it, most people will skip your call to action and go to the next story.
Also, try to avoid posting stories that have no relation to each other. For example, if your story is about what you’re doing to prepare for your open house, don’t share a football score in the middle of it. Try to make sure your stories follow a linear STORY.
#3—DO NOT Give Multiple Call To Actions
I see a lot of agents telling their audience to do a bunch of different things in their post and copy. Instead, you should focus on one CTA. Don’t tell people to click a link in a bio, like it, share it, or comment all in the same post. Pick one and stick with it.
For example, if your call to action is for someone to comment a specific word, that should be the only thing you say at the end of your video (and the first thing you say in your caption). You don’t want to say something like, “Let me know your thoughts in the comments and hit the link in the bio to learn more about this listing and tag a friend who might like this house!” This will give people analysis paralysis and they will do NOTHING.
#4—DO NOT Post Reels Without Captions
The majority of people scroll Instagram without the sound on. If you don’t have captions a lot of people will scroll right by because they can’t hear what you’re saying. Gone are the days where you need to pay a video editor an exorbitant amount of money to add animated captions for your videos. Just use the native captions on Instagram.
#5—DO NOT Be Discouraged By Your Lack Of Views
It’s not just you. Everyone’s engagement on Instagram is down significantly right now. The fact is there are just too many posts and we have reached oversaturation with agent content and consumption.
Also, the AI algorithm is getting more in tune with showing people exactly what they want to see as opposed to seeing posts mostly from the people you follow. This is a good thing because that means your content is being seen by the right people. So, don’t be discouraged if your views and likes have dropped. The agents who make a difference with their marketing are the ones who never stop posting and power through peaks and valleys of audience feedback.
Now, here are five more rapid-fire tips from Instagram coach Brock Johnson.
Have a great weekend!
