Real Estate Instagram Hashtags

This article was originally published on the Home Value Leads blog.

What exactly is the goal with any Instagram hashtag you use? In a word, it's engagement. Hashtags help people discover the content you post. The more you use, the more engagement you will get. The rules have changed over the years in terms of best practices. When you use an Instagram hashtag for your real estate business' feed, you want to avoid appearing spammy or irrelevant to your audience.

Where Do Instagram Posts with Hashtags End Up?

You may wonder, where exactly do your posts show up when you include hashtags? Namely, they show up in three specific places:

• Hashtag search
• Explore tab
• Follower's main feeds

This is important to know so that you have a good understanding of what would attract a general audience and to gain new followers, likes and comments.

Basic Real Estate Hashtags to Use

Let's start with some of the basic real estate hashtags you can include with your Instagram posts and then we'll discuss how to use them properly. The more general your hashtags, the more people who will likely be searching that hashtag. However, these hashtags also have the most competition for attention, so they may not be the most effective. You can still start with a few that are relevant to your post. Why? Because they are still good for your posts. For example, you may always want to include #RealEstate, #NewHome, #Realtor, #JustListed and #ForSale for posts with listings.

More Advanced Hashtags

While using basic hashtags is important to help anchor your posts, being more specific will attract more of the target audience you are seeking. Some examples of advanced hashtags, depending on the particular focus of your real estate business, include #MidCenturyModern, #Northwood (or your farm's neighborhood name), #SanJose (or your hometown), #BrownRealtyGroup (or your specific brokerage/company). If you are posting something specific, then you should use additional hashtags such as #OpenHouse, #Seminar or #Mortage (or other topic that you may cover in a blog post or event). Finally, you can get creative. What hashtags do you see home sellers or home buyers using when they are in the midst of searching for a new home? Some ideas may be #BuyMyHouse, #SellingMyHome or others. These are those special hashtags that seem so specific and in the moment. The helpful thing about Instagram and hashtags is that when you start typing your hashtag, Instagram immediately generates the top ones for you to choose from.

Best Practices for Instagram Hashtags

Are you aware of the rules and best practices behind Instagram hashtags? Many people don't. Beyond using the most relevant ones on your posts, Instagram has some rules you should know about. First, you can only have 30 hashtags. Sounds like a lot to begin with, but think about the number of hashtags that are relevant to any given post, and you may be tempted to actually come up with more. You definitely don't have to use all 30 (in fact, only use 30 if they are all relevant instead of just sticking random ones in). Include your standard ones then change out the ones that you need to according to your post. Want to hide your hashtags in your post? You may want to do this to keep competitors from seeing your hashtags or to keep your feed clean. You can do this in two ways. First, you can include five dots, each on its own line, then add your hashtags in succession in the caption. You can add the dots by using Notes on your phone or some other editor then copying that into your caption. Second, you can include your hashtag in your comments. This won't affect the effectiveness of your hashtags at all. Adding your hashtags either way will collapse your hashtags so your feed is clean.