Instagram has been a huge driver of growth for our own business, so this year I'd like to start sharing some of my tips and observations to help Spokane real estate agents grow on Instagram as well! Social media really can be a powerful source of leads...but too often, I see real estate agents making the same mistakes. If you'd like to up your Instagram game this year, here are six mistakes to avoid.

1. Stop introducing yourself and telling viewers what you’re going to talk about. People have a short attention span on social media and you need to stop the scroll with a hook. 🪝 and a hook is definitely not “hi guys, it's So-and-So and today I just wanted to pop on here and talk about…” There’s no need to tell people who you are (they can find that in your bio) and there’s no need to tell them what you’re going to talk about. Just talk about it. Get to the meat of your topic right away.

2. Stop whipping your phone around when you're touring a house for a social media Reel. You’re making us all dizzy & nauseous! 🤣 Yes, you can totally create some good content with your phone!! But please, get a gimbal or cut together shorter clips.

3. Stop focusing so much on views & likes. Those are vanity metrics. Yes, for course creators and influencers, trying to go viral makes sense. But if your goal is to grow your Spokane real estate business, you need Spokane locals to connect with you. That means focusing more on quality content that will resonate & build genuine connections with people who live or want to move here…not trying to hack the algorithm to maximize views. If you got 500 views on a Reel, awesome! That’s 499 more than you need for one new client. And aren’t “new clients” the metric that truly matters?

4. Stop posting generic content. I follow a lot of Realtors, and I see the same market updates and generic graphics with stock photos over and over again. Do you know why those get pretty much zero engagement? Because they are boring!!! Sorry to say it, but those low-effort, generic posts will never make you stand out or attract buyers and sellers. If you're only posting on social media to check a box, you'll never get the results you want. Creating quality social media content is a high effort activity. Your content should be interesting, educational or entertaining, and most of all it should come from you. This is why I don't like those subscription services that provide generic posts with prewritten captions. The point of social media is to make connections and build trust. If someone sees the exact same thing you just posted on another real estate agent's account, it does the opposite. It makes you seem fake and breaks down trust. So stop being lazy! If you want to generate business on Instagram, you need to be putting out content that's unique and personal to you.

5. Stop focusing on trends. Ok this one might be controversial. But in my opinion, the trending audios where you point to text bubbles are cute and all, but they're not the best strategy for real estate agents. You need to establish yourself as an expert if you expect people to trust you with their most valuable asset. And the way to do that is by educating them: getting on camera and speaking directly to them from your own knowledge and experience. This will really build that "know, like and trust" factor and set you apart as a professional. It's not to say you can't be funny, show your personality, or do the trending audios here and there. But if you rely only on those, don't expect leads to come pouring in. Think about it - would you hire a lawyer or a financial advisor based on them dancing, pointing to text bubbles, or performing to a funny audio? Those type of posts may get you views, but are they getting you qualified leads?

6. Stop overthinking it. When it comes to social media, quality is important. But even more important? Quantity. If you post amazing videos, but you only post once every six months, you'll never get much traction. Alternatively, if you post "good enough" videos consistently (daily, or at least a few times a week), you'll have much better results. That doesn't mean post something crappy and low-res just to check the box. But it does mean, stop overthinking your content, and just start putting stuff out there! We'd recommend mixing in high quality Reels of you speaking directly to camera, along with quick iPhone Reels of things like behind the scenes.

7. Stop trying to do it all yourself! If Instagram content creation feels overwhelming, if you you haven't been able to stay consistent on your own, or if you know it's just not your best use of time, get an expert team around you to make it easy to stay consistent! We'd recommend setting up monthly sessions to film "talking head" branding Reels with us. This will give you fresh, quality content to put out on a regular basis, without you having to figure out filming and adding captions yourself. We'll coach you through best practices and can even help with content ideas and refining your scripts.

Send us an email if you're interested in setting these up, or book a branding session directly on our website.