The Best Instagram Planning Tools for REALTORS®
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Posting quality content consistently on Instagram for Real Estate can be a struggle.
You want to make sure what you’re posting on social media is purposeful, engaging, and in line with your goals as a REALTOR. So, when potential customers see your post in their feeds, they stop and say awhile. On today’s quick tip, I’m covering my favorite tools and apps to not only plan out my social media but also to ensure that it looks good as well.
Instagram Planning for Real Estate
Most real estate agents post on the fly or in the moment when it comes to social. I think this is a fine approach to take with personal accounts. I get it, you want to share a delicious meal right after you enjoy it or the sunset from your beach vacation as it’s happening. After all, this is how social media was intended to be used. However, it’s more important to be showing up consistently and delivering quality content when it comes to social media marketing.
Use Instagram stories to share in the moment content! Stories is the perfect place for going behind the scenes and revealing what’s happening as it’s happening.
My Recommended Tool for Planning Your Social Media
*Before I get into my favorite, I want to point out this post is not sponsored or paid for in any way. This is from my personal experience of years of real estate marketing!*
I use an app called later which is available on your phone and on desktop. You can use it to easily schedule your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. There is a free version that lets you choose one social account, like your Instagram, and you can post up to 30 times per month. I use the plus plan which is $7.50 a month.
So, for about two coffees at Starbucks, you can leverage a really easy to use platform to get your social media in order!
Later for Instagram
I like that it is very visual, which is ideal for Instagram and planning out your feed.
To get started, you first upload your content into your media gallery. It’s kind of like a mini Dropbox or Google Drive for all the things that you want to share on social. From there, you can categorize your content by using labels.
If you upload 5 listing photos, you could use the label kitchen or bathroom to help you find photos later. You can also add multiple labels to one photo. I like this organizational system because if you’re using my Focused Four method (get the download here), this ties perfectly into the four main types of content I recommend you share. As a reminder, those are: community & lifestyle content, local real estate tips, homes, and self-branding. You can learn more about this technique on “Episode 7: What to Post on Instagram & Social for Real Estate Agents.”
Once you have all of your content, you can drag it over onto the calendar to schedule something for everyday. The feature, I love the most is the preview option, and I like to do this on my MacBook and not my phone.
Later pulls up a mockup of your Instagram with each post on a pretend phone and your past published posts as well. This allows you to visually see how everything looks together to ensure it matches your branding and Instagram aesthetic.
Here’s an example from my dashboard -
How I Plan
I first put my posts on my calendar to visually see how it flows, and I then go back and write the captions for each post. I like to alternate colors and bring in pops of yellow to my feed. I also want to make sure that the photos are representative of what I want to talk. I often have a theme for the week based on my podcast episodes and want the images to best reflect my content.
If you have an Instagram business profile, you can automatically publish your posts. If you don’t, it will send an alert to your phone reminding you to publish using the Later/Instagram connection. It’s super easy to do. Once I have a good amount planned out on my computer, I transition to the app version on my phone to manage everything during the week.
But before you can schedule your content, it needs to look good!
Editing Photos for Instagram
That’s why my next tool is all about photo editing. You want your photos to maintain a consistent look. Each photo or video you share should look like it belongs on your feed. Using a tool like Later will help you determine how everything looks together.
I like to use the desktop version of Lightroom to edit my photos.
Lightroom is an Adobe product. If you’re familiar with photoshop, it’s in the same family but much easier to use. You can download “presets” which are like filters. Once you find a preset you like, you can apply them to your images to achieve a cohesive look in your social media branding. You can download free filters online or check out Etsy. Etsy sells preset packs for just a couple of bucks.
I have the Adobe Photography plan which is 9.99/month and also includes Photoshop. However, you can download mobile Lightroom for free and most presets come with mobile versions.
If you work with a pro-photographer for branding images or listing photos, you won’t have to worry about editing them yourself. You’ll just have to be mindful of how they look on your feed with the photos that you took yourself. I have to do this on my Instagram because my photos are a mix. I have shots taken by pros and my husband (who is by no means a photographer or interested in being one!).
These tools are well and good if you have something to post, right?!
Planning Your Real Estate Content
My last tool to help you plan out your social media is my downloadable social media calendar.
I created this guide to make it easier for you to plan out content. It not only gives you an idea of what to post for the next 30 days, but it also goes over my Focused Four. These are the four best performing types of content for real estate. If you use the Focused Four method, I promise you will never run out of ideas of what to post! In fact, I’ve come up with dozens of ideas in the calendar itself.
Be sure to download your free copy here.
I like this approach because it can be tailored to your specific marketing strategy. If you’re farming a particular community or focused on a certain type of buyer or seller, keep that focus in mind as you’re doing your planning. Only sharing generic real estate content makes it hard to target your ideal customer in your market.
Get creative with it and have fun! And most importantly - be consistent!
P.S. I hope you found this episode useful in planning out your content. I was getting so many questions about what I use, that I wanted to share my own experience. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. Shoot me a DM on Instagram, and we can continue the conversation there.
I can’t wait to hear how you feel after planning out your social and the results you’re having!
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