What do you do before golf? Do you show up the second your tee time starts and take a cold turkey monster hack and hope your first shot lands in bounds?
Of course you don’t. You show up to the driving range an hour early. You stretch. You hit some balls. You suck down a couple of Bloody Marys. You eat a breakfast burrito. You crush a couple more Bloody Marys. You head to the box. You take a few practice swings.
And then you rip it right down the middle, where you snap-hook it into the cart girl’s face.
But let’s go back to real estate. What about sitting at an open house? Do you just show up at two without any food in your stomach, no sign-in sheet, and no clue when the house was built?
No, of course not. You prep. You warm up. You get the specs in your head. You drink a Gatorade.
And guess what, folks—it’s the same with posting on Instagram. If you just pick up your phone and throw out a post without doing anything on the app, it’s going to perform worse than if you were to do a little prep beforehand.
So, here are some things you can do on Instagram before you post to your Feed to help with the performance and engagement of that post.
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Let’s get into it.
Like all the comments
So, how do we warm up the IG engines? How do we prep and juice the algorithm for that horizontal, boring “Just listed” template you’re about to post?
First, go to your most recent post and like all the comments. If you have a bunch, this could be really effective because it interacts with your engaged followers, who’ve already commented on your content and who are therefore more likely to comment on your future content.
Also, it appears in the notifications of that commenter and lets the algorithm know that that account and your account are friends and that they’re interacting.
I got this tip from Instagram coach @brock11johnson, and it’s a really simple, effective way to get in the good graces of other people’s feeds.
So, really simple, go back to your last post—maybe your last couple of recent posts—and simply like all the comments. Boom.
Engage with people in DMs
Next, go into your DMs and start responding to people. Message people you’ve already had conversations with. And then go on people’s Stories and respond or interact with them.
DMing is Instagram’s number one, most powerful form of communication. So, the more you engage with people in DMs, the more your content will pop up in their Feeds.
You can do this before and after you post for the best results.
Stories first
Next, post an engaging Instagram Story. Maybe it’s a vote or a quiz or get people to DM you or interact with your content.
If you follow @thebrokeagent account, you’ve probably noticed that I almost always try to have a Story up before I post something to the Feed. It gets people engaging with my account and it gets more DMs to roll in before I post.
But just a warning: If the IG Story sucks, it could have the opposite effect. Don’t start the day with a re-share or a Story that nobody will interact with. If you do that, Instagram will actively show your feed content to fewer people. Because they already told the algorithm that you sucked that day.
If you want to get clever with your Instagram Story, you can even tease your Feed posts. I’ve seen agents like my good friend Dan Oneil say, “Crazy new real estate vlog. Should I post it tonight? Or is everyone asleep?” Then the Story gets votes, gets engagement, and prepares his audience for the disappointing post that he’s going to unleash.
Just kidding. He always has great vlogs and great posts.
You can even use a countdown feature if you’re posting an epic Reel—or something you really worked hard on. Just don’t overuse this. Nobody wants to see a countdown for a pic of you holding a giant key with your clients after you just closed the house.
Some other things you can do before you post:
- Scroll through your feed
- Double-tap some posts
- Leave some comments
You know, the classics I’ve talked about on my channel ad nauseam for months. In fact, now that I’ve said it, I feel like I’ve already said all this before.
Here’s some good news: I’ve got a new tip that I know I have never mentioned before in my life. So this is brand new. This is exclusive to you, if you’re reading this (or watching the video).
Instagram Notes
Instagram Notes is one of IG’s newest features. And hopefully, by the time you’re reading this, you have it. But if you don’t, don’t worry. Instagram rolls out these features randomly to different accounts in different locations at different times. So, you will get it eventually.
So, Instagram just came out with Instagram Notes, which are basically short posts of up to 60 characters using just text and emojis. To leave a note, go to the top of your DM inbox, select who you want to see the note—your followers or people on your close friends list—and then your note will appear at the top of their inbox for 24 hours.
Replies to Notes will arrive in DMs in your inbox. Basically, it’s right below the Stories when you go to your DMs.
Notes are like AIM away messages but on Instagram. Remember those? You’d wait for your crush to sign on and then be devastated when her away message said: “At dinner.” Then you had to sit there and talk crap to that AI bot SmarterChild. Anyone remember that?
Anyway, I’ve been using this Note feature, and I get a TON of DMs from it if I use it right. I’ll ask a question like, “What crazy thing happened to you today in real estate?” or “What was your AIM screen name?”
I’ve seen Realtors say, “Do you have any questions about the market?” This is super engaging. Or something simple like, “What are you reading right now,” as if people are reading books.
Try changing this every morning before you post because it’s fun, it encourages DMs, it uses one of Instagram’s newest features, which Instagram loves, and it juices your algorithm with organic engagement.
It’s all about the juice
Moral of the story, be like Steph Curry before a basketball game. Get in some shots, wow the crowd a little, and get your community hyped and engaged.
Before you post, like some comments, send some DMs, leave some comments, like some posts, go live, post a Story, do a poll, send an Instagram Note, and smash your phone to pieces with a bat. Get the engines going, get the algorithm juiced—and then post to your Feed.
You might see an increase in engagement, and you might not. If you don’t, who cares? Just go sell some houses. That’s a lot of work to get 50 extra views on your Reel.
I’m exhausted, frankly, so if you learned anything or you were at least entertained by this, give the video a like and subscribe to our channel because that juices the YouTube algorithm. And that’s all I care about right now. Give me the juice.
