Real estate social media marketing is an indispensable tool for real estate agents to connect with clients, showcase properties, and build a strong online presence. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll share our proven social media strategies and techniques, which we use to help thousands of agents on our platform thrive in the dynamic landscape of online marketing and branding.
Whether you’re a seasoned agent looking to refine your online strategy or a newcomer eager to establish a digital footprint, we’ve got invaluable insights for your business.
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Why real estate social media marketing matters
According to a recent report from HubSpot, there are 4.88 billion social media profiles and the average social media user spends almost two and a half hours on social networks every day across an average of more than six different platforms every month. This underlines that people discover new brands through social media more often than other, previously successful marketing channels like word of mouth and review articles.
Real estate is one of the most social-media-friendly industries out there. In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, 87% of Realtors use Facebook, 62% use Instagram, 25% leverage YouTube and 15% market on TikTok. The association also found that Realtors believe that social media is the best source of leads.
Social media has tremendous power specifically for real estate. Leveraging social media provides:
- Increased visibility: Agents can reach potential buyers and sellers beyond their immediate network, expanding their discoverability and increasing the likelihood of attracting qualified leads.
- Targeted advertising: Sophisticated targeting options allow real estate agents to tailor advertising to specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. This ensures that messages reach individuals who are more likely to be interested, maximizing return on investment.
- Engagement and interaction: Agents can respond to inquiries, address concerns, and provide valuable information in real time, building trust with potential clients. Comments, likes, and shares enable agents to create a sense of community and encourage user-generated content.
- Visual storytelling: Real estate is inherently visual, and social media platforms excel at facilitating aesthetic storytelling. Compelling imagery and video capture attention and elicit emotional responses, driving interest and engagement among prospective clients.
- Establishing credibility: By sharing valuable insights, market updates, and educational content, agents can demonstrate their expertise, build authority, and attract a loyal following. Consistent, relevant content establishes agents as trusted advisors.
- Networking and referrals: Agents can expand their professional network, exchange referrals, and uncover new business opportunities by engaging with other industry professionals on social media.
The top real estate social media marketing platforms
Let’s dive into some of the best networks for real estate and look at a few examples of professionals who successfully use them to fuel the growth of their businesses.
Audience reach: With more than 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook offers unparalleled exposure for your real estate marketing efforts. It’s also a platform that reaches across generational divides.
Best for targeted advertising: Facebook’s robust ad platform allows real estate professionals to tailor ad campaigns based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and even specific locations, ensuring that marketing messages reach the right audience. Also, consider retargeting ads, which put your profile in front of those who’ve engaged in some way, such as by visiting your site, but haven’t taken action. We’ve seen serious ROI from retargeting ads on Facebook, which remind your audience why they were interested in a property or blog post in the first place.
Visual content: Facebook supports photos, videos, and virtual tours, enabling agents to showcase properties effectively. The ability to leverage visual collateral is why ads are particularly effective on the platform. You can drive your audience to specific landing pages, property searches, or single property sites, catching their attention mid-scroll.
Engagement: Facebook facilitates direct engagement with leads through comments, likes, and shares, fostering community building and relationship development. Facebook groups have the added bonus of organically segmenting your audience. Consider joining or creating local groups that focus on your community, what’s happening, local history, and events — and be an active participant.
Do’s: As a platform, Facebook straddles the professional and informal divide. Your business Facebook page should represent your brand and include helpful, easy-to-find information. When you post on Facebook, use plenty of visuals, a clear call to action, and hashtags to help others find your content.
Don’ts: The number one mistake marketers make when using Facebook is focusing too much on self-promotion and not enough on engagement. Successful Facebook marketing requires building relationships through meaningful content. Balancing promotional posts with value-driven content fosters better engagement and trust with your audience.
Favorite Facebook accounts:
Audience reach: Instagram boasts over two billion active users every month, with sixty percent of those being between the ages of 18 and 34.
Best for building awareness: Of all the platforms, Instagram is the most inherently visual, making it ideal for showcasing high-quality photos and videos of properties. While there is opportunity for lead generation, most agents focus their efforts on brand awareness, making sure the wider community knows who they are, what they offer, and what sets them apart.
Visual focus: Users are scrolling, looking for images and short videos, not long professional treatises on the current state of the market. Keep your images carefully curated and evergreen in the static grid and use Instagram Live, Stories, and Reels to offer more personal, spontaneous, behind-the-scenes content.
Engagement: Instagram promotes high engagement rates, with users actively interacting with content through likes, comments, and direct messages. Instagram makes it easy to save, share, and comment on posts, which gives users a chance to directly interact with content. It’s important for agents to like, comment, and post on other accounts as part of a larger engagement strategy. It shows your audience that you are an active member of the community who actually cares.
Do’s: Personal brand counts now more than ever. Use your Instagram account to share your personal as well as your professional life. Your audience wants to see all the glossy professional property images, but they also want to get to know you as the agent. Video makes it easy to communicate your personality as part of your brand. Use the Live feature when you’re hosting an open house. Shoot informal reels as you walk through new properties, and keep your stories active with current information, personal vignettes, and news.
Don’ts: Real estate marketers often fail to create a consistent, visually appealing brand presence. Instagram is a highly visual platform, so inconsistent branding, poor-quality photos, or a lack of cohesion between posts can confuse or turn away followers.
Favorite Instagram accounts:
View this profile on Instagram
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Click here for more of our favorite real estate Instagram accounts.
Audience reach: LinkedIn has over one billion active users, and almost 30% of American adults use it, with a majority being between 30 and 49 years old. Often overlooked for the flashier, dance-oriented platforms, LinkedIn has the potential for serious lead generation.
Best for networking and thought leadership: LinkedIn is a valuable platform for connecting with other real estate professionals, industry influencers, and potential clients. LinkedIn’s publishing platform enables you to share valuable insights, market updates, and industry trends, positioning yourself as a thought leader in the real estate industry. It’s the ideal platform for establishing yourself as a trusted, go-to advisor in all things real estate.
Visual focus: Of all the real estate social media marketing platforms, LinkedIn is the least visual. Images and infographics are certainly helpful, but this is really a place to share written content. Focus your efforts on shareable posts with compelling headlines that reveal your expertise.
Engagement: Much like other platforms, liking, commenting, and reposting are critical to long-term success. In terms of garnering engagement on your own content, always include a call to action asking readers to weigh in on your topic. And don’t be afraid to push the envelope and toss in something that is provocative (as long as you can handle the heat).
Do’s: LinkedIn Groups provide forums for networking, exchanging ideas, and building relationships within the real estate community. These can set you up for referral relationships with agents and business leaders online.
Don’ts: Failing to optimize your profiles, post industry-relevant content, and engage with potential clients and partners in a professional manner reduces effectiveness. You should focus on providing value through insights, expertise, and genuine networking to establish credibility in your field.
Favorite LinkedIn accounts:
YouTube
Audience reach: YouTube is the world’s largest video-sharing platform (we’re talking almost 2.5 billion users a month), making it an ideal platform for showcasing property tours, neighborhood highlights, and how-to content.
Best for setting yourself apart: Only 9% of small businesses use YouTube as an active marketing platform. Plus, an optimized YouTube channel can improve SEO efforts, as individual videos often appear in search results, and can drive traffic to your website and help you outrank your competition.
Visual focus: This is a platform for videos, long or short, highly produced or informal, on virtually any topic. Many agents fear being in front of the camera, but in today’s AI-forward world, even that isn’t necessary. Videos should be entertaining, informative, and most importantly, a reflection of you and your brand.
Engagement: Unlike other platforms, subscriptions are a key metric for YouTube engagement. You want the likes and comments, but subscribers will make your channel grow, increase views, and help others find your content. Include a call to action at the end of each video reminding viewers to subscribe.
Do’s: We talk a lot about ads for Facebook and Instagram, but YouTube ads are also powerful and effective. Some of our favorites include in-stream ads that take advantage of a captive audience, in-feed ads that recommend your videos, and pre-roll ads that put your content right at the beginning of every video.
Don’ts: Don’t make the mistake of failing to optimize videos for search. Using relevant keywords, titles, descriptions, and tags makes videos more likely to appear in search results, improving visibility and the potential for attracting new leads.
Favorite YouTube accounts:
TikTok
Audience reach: The popularity of TikTok among younger demographics, particularly Gen Z and millennials, makes it an ideal platform for targeting first-time homebuyers and renters. According to the data, 26% of the internet-using world is also on TikTok. We’re watching the news to see if the country-wide bans will actually go into effect, but in the meantime, embrace the platform and all it can do for you.
Best for authenticity and creativity: TikTok’s format encourages real-life, creative content, allowing real estate professionals to showcase properties in unique and entertaining ways. This makes the platform perfect for entertaining property walkthroughs, before-and-after transformations, and behind-the-scenes glimpses.
Visual focus: Create content that’s short, pithy, catchy — and above all — entertaining (especially in the first three seconds). Participating in trending TikTok challenges (might need to brush up on those dance moves) and using relevant hashtags can increase the visibility of real estate content on TikTok. Popular videos related to real estate include topics like homebuying, interior design, real estate investing, behind the scenes, and home walkthroughs. Just make sure the music is catchy.
Engagement: TikTok’s algorithm is part of its appeal — it knows the right content for the right people at the right time and its engagement metrics are off the chart. It’s not just liking and commenting — it’s using video to comment on duets, stitches, and more. Also consider collaborating with other creators and compound the impact of your engagement.
Do’s: While there are a lot of dance videos, TikTok can be a serious tool for conveying information. For agents, it’s often beneficial to focus on a specific niche. For example, you can educate viewers about various aspects of the homebuying process, market trends, or financial considerations, thereby establishing yourself as a knowledgeable and trustworthy advisor. The likes and views will increase as your content is found and liked by the multitudes.
Don’ts: TikTok thrives on short, engaging, and authentic videos. Marketers often try to repurpose content from other platforms without considering TikTok’s emphasis on creativity, trends, and entertainment. To succeed, focus on making videos fun, relatable, and aligned with TikTok’s culture while showcasing properties in a creative and visually appealing way.
Favorite TikTok accounts:
@glenndabaker
@allenkrealtor
@casacollectiongroup
@steeviesoucie
@heider_realestate
Best practices for real estate social media marketing
“Be yourself.”
Agents often feel pressure to portray themselves in a certain light on social media, but being your authentic self is a much more effective way to resonate with current and potential clients.
“Educate your audience.”
By sharing information and helping potential clients and leads learn about the real estate process, you position yourself as an expert and build relationships that lead to sales.
“Post regularly.”
Regularly sharing valuable content that educates prospective clients about the industry and showcases your expertise will quickly build trust among your followers. Not only does it help you meet your audience’s expectations, but it feeds the algorithm and keeps the social media gods happy.
“Respond to comments.”
By responding to comments quickly and kindly, you show prospects and clients that you are engaged, timely, and on top of your game.
“Promote landing pages.”
Sharing your landing pages on social media is a proven way to drive more traffic to your website. This will not only increase visibility but can also generate leads and sales.
“Build your brand.”
Having a consistent presence across online channels gives you credibility, visibility, and reliability, which builds trust with potential clients.
“Don’t forget video.”
With the right strategy, real estate agents can use videos to engage with prospects, highlight properties, and showcase their expertise — all of which help you stand out from the competition.
“Shine a light on others.”
Excessively focusing on yourself limits your reach. Highlight those in your community who help make your work a success, partners in the industry, or even your favorite coffee shop.
“Promote your accounts.”
As simple as it may sound, agents often forget to include their real estate social media accounts on their website, marketing collateral, Google Business Profile, and other client-facing assets.
When is it time to hire a real estate social media expert?
With so many social media platforms and ever-changing algorithms, it’s easy to fall behind on your real estate social media strategy. That’s why hiring professionals to handle your social media is one of the best ways to ensure you get results without having to spend countless hours learning, testing, and managing campaigns yourself.
If this sounds like a good route for your brand, get started by connecting with our expert real estate social media team. They’re here to fast-track your progress and save you time so you can focus on other important aspects of your business.
What to post in your real estate social media marketing
Social media isn’t just about posting updates and hoping for the best. To get real results, you need to have a plan and be intentional in your approach. Here are some proven strategies used by industry leaders who’ve built impressive real estate businesses fueled by social media.
High-quality photos
Professional photography is more than just beautiful pictures; it can help build trust with clients, increase engagement, and ultimately drive more sales. David Hatef’s Instagram account is a great example of the value of photography.
Best to post on: Facebook, Instagram
Success stories and client testimonials
One of the best ways to make your presence known on social media is by posting testimonials and success stories from past clients like the one below from Brad Kappel. This not only shows potential buyers that you’re an experienced and successful agent, but it also humanizes you and provides social proof.
Best to post on: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn (YouTube and TikTok if video testimonials)
Company milestones
Posting major moments in your business on social media can be a useful way to build authority and trust. If you’re savvy, you can even turn this into a promotion. Here’s an impressive example from Ryan Serhant.
Best to post on: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
Industry and market news
Posting about the latest housing numbers on social media shows that you’re informed, establishes you as an authority in your space, and helps build trust with your followers.
Best to post on: Facebook, LinkedIn
New listings and properties
Real estate social media provides the perfect platform to showcase your properties in an engaging way that will draw people’s attention. Ginger Martin does exactly that in her Instagram Stories — and it has paid off.
Best to post on: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok
Home tips and renovation ideas
Sharing DIY projects and decor trends on your real estate social media account is another time-tested strategy to establish yourself as a reliable, helpful, and creative expert.
Best to post on: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok
Real estate event coverage
Leveraging your involvement in industry events is also a smart social media practice. Not only does it demonstrate your commitment and expertise, but it leaves a positive impression on prospects, too.
Best to post on: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok
Key Takeaways
- Social media is the top source of leads for Realtors, with 87% using Facebook and 62% on Instagram. If you’re not active on these platforms, you’re leaving business on the table.
- Each platform serves a different purpose: Facebook for targeted ads and community groups, Instagram for visual branding, LinkedIn for networking and thought leadership, YouTube for long-form video and SEO, and TikTok for reaching younger buyers with creative, authentic content.
- Authenticity wins over polish. Show your personality, share behind-the-scenes moments, and engage genuinely with your community rather than focusing solely on self-promotion.
- Consistency is critical. Post regularly, respond to comments quickly, and maintain a cohesive brand presence across all platforms.
- Diversify your content: mix property photos, client testimonials, market updates, local spotlights, and educational posts to keep your audience engaged.
- If managing multiple platforms becomes overwhelming, hiring a social media professional is a worthwhile investment that frees you to focus on closing deals.
Social media success in real estate isn’t about being everywhere; it’s about showing up consistently where your audience is, with content that builds trust and keeps you top of mind.
