6-Steps to Attract Tens of Thousands of Instagram Followers

In my conversation with Ryan Wallace, who is a social media enthusiast, he provided a 6-step process that allowed him to obtain 56,000 Facebook likes and 34,000 Instagram followers in just 12-months. While Ryan’s profile features local photographers, the same process can easily be applied to real estate as well.

After starting a successful solar company, Ryan decided that he wanted to create a local presence on social media. He has a passion for photography, but taking photos by himself was too time consuming and took away from his other business endeavors. Therefore, he decided that instead, he would feature other local photographers on his page. Luckily, he made the correct choice because his page started exploding. And lucky for us, Ryan shared the process that allowed him to grow quickly so that others can replicate and see similar success:

Step #1 – Start an Instagram page emphasizing your niche

The first step is to create an Instagram page and determine the niche you will pursue. For Ryan, his passion was photography. Therefore, his niche was “New Mexico photography.”

In regards to real estate, your niche could be the real estate strategy and the local or target market you are pursuing (i.e. Dallas Realtors, New York landlords, San Francisco Flippers, etc.)

Step #2 – Start searching Instagram’s hashtags based on your niche

Once you’ve selected your niche, the next step is to search hashtags for relevant content. However, instead of simply searching #Dallas or #realtors, search for things that bring pride to the target city or region. The goal is to find gorgeous pictures of things that both you and your followers are passionate about.

For example – in regards to photography – if Ryan was creating a new account in Los Angeles, he would search for terms like #disneyland or #lalife.

As a real estate professional, this is where you want to be creative and search based on your passions. If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, a quick tip is to search your niche (let’s use #NYrealestate), look at the most popular posts, and see what hashtags they are using. Another idea would to search for the style of home you find the most appealing followed by “house” (i.e. #victorianhouse, #modernhouse, etc.)

Step #3 – Reach out to top Instagram profiles

Based on your search criteria, whichever profile has the most likes (on Instagram, they will be featured in the “Top Posts” section), comment on their picture. When Ryan comments, he writes, “hey, awesome picture! If you would like to be featured on my page, please email <email address> with the picture, picture information, and your Instagram name and we will feature it!”

The exact same message can apply for real estate as well.

Ryan finds that the majority of the people will email you. Maybe 1 out of 10 won’t, but most are flattered and will welcome the free exposure, so they are more than willing to allow you to share their content.

Step #4 – Create amazing Instagram posts

Once you have their image in your inbox, it is time to create a post. Be sure to include all relevant hashtags, but more importantly, don’t forget to give credit to the photos original author. You do this by either mentioning their Instagram handle in the post, tagging them on the actual image, or both.

The majority of the time, photos original author will comment expressing their gratitude. ALWAYS respond back.

Step #5 – Interact on the comment section

As your following grows, you will begin to receive a ton of follower comments. In order to maintain a nice experience for everyone, Ryan makes the comment section as interactive as possible. Replying to comments and being very gracious is key towards an increasing follower base.

Step #6 – Leverage your large following

Once Ryan was able to get his large following, he was able to successfully launch an app that had over 5000 downloads in 4 days. Also, he has some of the biggest brands in the state advertising with him. He is contacted by real estate agents who want to place their listings on his app. All the major media outlets in New Mexico have interviewed him. Finally, he was able to be in two main newspapers in Albuquerque.

After you’ve created your large real estate following, the benefits are virtually limitless, from lead generation to selling your products and services!