Real Estate Agent Instagram Bio Best Practices

Once considered the domain of angsty teenagers and artsy photographers, Instagram now has more than 1 billion monthly active users. That's about 1 in 3 people who use the internet across the entire world.

As its popularity has expanded, Instagram has become an important place for brands and businesses to increase their profile, engage existing customers, and win new clients.

Real estate agents are no exception. More and more agents are using Instagram, and many are asking how to create a strong Instagram profile.

The first step is clear: Your Instagram presence requires a compelling and informative real estate agent Instagram bio.

The Instagram bio appears at the top of your Instagram profile, and is how you introduce yourself to the masses. How can you make the most of this small but essential space?

Learn the best practices to consider as you create an Instagram bio, and see some of the strongest Instagram bios used by top agents across the country.

1. Register your Instagram as a business and register as a real estate agent

Having an Instagram account can help your business, but only if prospective clients and fellow agents can actually identify that you're a real estate agent. The first step to make that happen? Make sure you use Instagram for Business and register as a real estate professional.

When you register as a real estate-related business account, your profile will include the tag "Real Estate" beneath your name.

For example, Christy Robinson, a Keller Williams agent in Arkansas, has an Instagram for Business account. Note that Robinson's bio includes the "Real Estate" service tag and notes her position as a "Central Arkansas Realtor."

Robinson further identifies her real estate practice by including the line "Buy – Sell – Invest – Build" in her Instagram bio. This way, it's understood that Robinson represents buyers, sellers, investors, and those who want a newly built home.

People who visit Robinson's account won't be confused. She's a professional real estate agent who is ready to do business.

2. Showcase your location and local market

A home's value is often described with the phrase "location, location, location." The same is true for real estate agents. Your location determines your home market, your clients, and the new business you hope to earn.

In her real estate Instagram bio, Brittany Mikes makes clear her location in Savannah, Georgia.

The 912 area code in her phone number also reinforces her Savannah location and membership in the Teresa Cowart Team. A prospective client viewing Mikes's Instagram bio won't have questions about her home market.

3. Include your brokerage or agency information

Along with your location, your brokerage or agency information is something consumers want to know. After all, a client's experience can vary widely depending on whether their agent belongs to a brokerage or agency.

Whitney Korger, a real estate agent in Lincoln, Nebraska, clearly advertises her affiliation with RE/MAX Concepts in her Instagram bio.

She lists her status as an agent, and includes a link to her agent website, which prominently displays her RE/MAX membership. Potential clients now know Korger is a RE/MAX agent, and when Korger's colleagues view her Instagram, they can be assured that she is advertising her agency in addition to herself.

4. List contact information

In the past, you may have provided your contact information exclusively through yard signs or business cards or billboards on the side of the road. But nowadays, people will see your profile on social media, which makes listing contact information on your Instagram bio a must for real estate agents.

April Baker, a Maryland agent with Samson Properties, lists her contact information on her Instagram bio.

Notice how she lists her email address and phone number next to emojis of an envelope and a cell phone. Someone who comes across her Instagram will immediately be able to reach Baker, whether they prefer to email, call, or text.

5. Include your tagline or slogan

Patrice McKay of Kelly Realty in Montgomery, Alabama, has a strong real estate agent Instagram bio. The phone number, the email, the website, the clearly-listed position as an agent – McKay's professionalism is obvious.

But McKay also stands out from the crowd of agents with her tagline, "Call PM in the A.M. for all your real estate needs!"

McKay has positioned herself as a unique agent with a specific brand identity. Even better, McKay lists her tagline just before her phone number. She's suggesting that consumers call her and provides the phone number to do it.

6. If you have an agent hashtag, use it

The modern-day, digital version of taglines and slogans is a hashtag. Savvy agents include them in their Instagram bio.

For example, agent Hector Pardo of Miami leads his real estate agent Instagram bio with the hashtag #PardoSold.

By searching #PardoSold on Instagram, consumers and fellow agents will find posts featuring Pardo's sold and leased listings. #PardoSold helps Pardo tell everyone in the real estate game that he's a successful, experienced seller agent who is also familiar with digital marketing best practices.

7. Highlight agent awards and recognition

Telling consumers that you're a good agent is fine. Being able to show consumers proof that you're a real estate whiz is what turns them into clients.

Randy Louis, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-area's The Premier Realty Group, understands that the best proof of agent accomplishment is agent awards and recognition.

That's why Louis includes his agent awards in his Instagram bio. Louis's "Top 15% in the world" line refers to his status as a Homesnap Top Agent Award winner in 2022.

Even more, Louis has a pinned story in his Instagram bio titled Homesnap that includes his Homesnap Excellence in Client Service Award. As a top-producing Homesnap Pro+ agent, Louis's awards represent the value he provides to clients – those in the past and present, and those who are just now viewing his Instagram for the first time.

8. Use a bio landing page such as Linktree

It drives real estate agents crazy, but it won't be changing anytime soon: You're only allowed one link in your Instagram bio.

This rule exists for good reason. Instagram doesn't want the platform to be cluttered with spammy links. But since Instagram also doesn't permit links in comments or post descriptions, you're limited to one link for your entire Instagram presence, except for Stories.

Not being able to share multiple links in an Instagram bio could curtail significant traffic to valuable channels for real estate agents. Agents such as Lisa Lejes Rosen of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in Coral Gables, FL approach this challenge by using a landing page – in this case, Linktree.

Rosen's Linktree is listed at the bottom of her bio. Visitors who click on it are redirected to a landing page that includes links to her other social media accounts, email, and agent website.

In addition to centrally hosting her links, Rosen's Linktree tracks the traffic each channel receives, informing her overall marketing strategy and demonstrates whether her clientele prefers viewing her YouTube or LinkedIn or simply sending an email.

Linktree certainly has Instagram's approval. The Instagram for Business homepage actually has a Linktree in the bio.

9. Take advantage of pinned Stories

Instagram Stories allow users to share all moments of their day, in live time and in a multiple photo and video slideshow format. Users can create "pinned" Instagram Stories that live at the bottom of an Instagram bio and contain thematic, archived content.

For agents, pinned Instagram Stories are especially useful. Shakyra Cortes Mendez, an agent at La Rosa Realty in suburban Orlando, has a strong and uncluttered collection of pinned Instagram Stories.

Mendez organizes her archived Stories into four categories:

1. "Reviews," which contains client testimonials on Instagram and Google about her service
2. "Sold," a collection of posts about recently sold properties
3. "For Sale," which features properties for which she is the listing agent
4. "Pending," for homes that are about to close

With her Stories, Mendez is able to communicate to people who visit her Instagram that she is an active agent with a portfolio of listings. Moreover, she can showcase a slideshow of positive reviews – solidifying her reputation as a top-tier seller's agent while earning trust and legitimacy from people who want to put their home on the market.

10. Link to TikTok, YouTube, and other social media accounts

Instagram is valuable, but it's not the only social media channel on which agents should develop a presence. And while your real estate agent Instagram bio should be built for Instagram, remember to work in your presence on other social media channels, which also contain valuable content.

One real estate agent who highlights cross-channel social media content in her Instagram bio is Rita Bogus, a Coldwell Banker agent in Chicago.

Bogus has her agent-branded TikTok content featured as the first of her pinned Instagram Stories. Those who scroll through her pinned Stories also find YouTube content.

Bogus's Instagram profile shows that for business providers like real estate agents, Google is a form of social media. Buyers and sellers go to Google to identify, check out, and interact with real estate agents, so Bogus's 5-stars on Google line in her Instagram bio lends her profile extra gravitas.

Bogus demonstrates that for real estate agents, social media profiles don't exist in isolation. Various social media channels should work in concert to promote an agent's experience, abilities, and digital wherewithal.

11. Link to your agent website

Google and social media are important, but real estate agents shouldn't underestimate the value of a strong website.

Agent websites are still crucial to an online presence, and are worth a mention in your real estate agent Instagram bio.

Jaime Cooper, a Realty Lyon agent in Alabama, includes her website – www.SouthAlabamaAgent.com – in her Instagram bio.

Cooper's website is a particularly strong addition to her Instagram bio because the URL mentions South Alabama, Cooper's market.

Between her website, phone number, and email address, Cooper has given consumers ample opportunities to contact her, and established a smooth, professional online presence.

12. Demonstrate connection to your local market

As a real estate agent, your reputation is effectively tied to what your neighbors think about you. You sell in the region and even the neighborhood in which you live – having a demonstrated, deep connection to your local market sets you above your competition.

For a real estate agent Instagram bio, establish local market bona fides with a strategy such as Jorge Martinez de Castro's.

De Castro, of Carmona Realty Group in Miami, includes a palm tree emoji and the hashtag #miamirealestate in his Instagram bio. There is no doubt that he's from Miami, but he takes it a step further by also including pinned stories that showcase his properties in specific neighborhoods such as Coral Gables, South Miami, and Palmetto Bay.

De Castro isn't just in Miami, he's of Miami, and can point to a book of business in specific, desirable neighborhoods.

Logically, de Castro's connection to Miami and its neighborhoods makes him more effective at helping his clients. And being able to show that substantial regional connection in an Instagram bio makes de Castro more likely to win new business.

13. Remember that emojis are your friend

Emojis sometimes get a bad reputation. After all, emojis can seem tacky and goofy and unprofessional – they certainly don't belong in the text of a client's closing contract, for instance.

But emojis are acceptable, even a must-have, for real estate agent Instagram bios.

Instagram is a mostly visual platform, so emojis don't appear out of place. Plus, emojis help break up the text in Instagram bios – using a pin denotes region, an envelope signals email, a phone pairs with a contact number.

Jeff Scott, a Berkshire Hathaway agent in eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware, uses emojis to form an eye-pleasing list in his Instagram bio.

Scott's list is similar to other agents, but adds even more personality by including his signature eyeglasses and the tagline "Not your average realtor."

Scott's eyeglasses emoji are a reminder not just of his brand identity, but also of the fact that Instagram is supposed to be fun. People browse Instagram casually, usually on their phone, always in competition with lively posts from friends and family and other brands.

Scott's emoji use isn't overblown or inappropriate. It makes his Instagram bio easier to digest and far more memorable.

14. Show you're a real person

So much of a real estate agent's online presence is about establishing professionalism and market expertise. That's essential, but remember that your Instagram bio is on a platform of cute pet videos, pictures of a friends' kids, and Reels of strangers teaching new dance moves.

Instagram is a chance to show that you're a real person, in addition to a competent real estate agent.

Arniece Dawson of Capital Structures Real Estate in Maryland has a real estate agent Instagram bio that captures her identity as an agent and person.

Notice that her bio includes "& MomBoss," which tells consumers that she's not just in charge at work. Her pinned stories include real estate listings, but also content about her recent engagement, vacations, and family life.

Many buyers and sellers want a personal connection with their agent. Does this person understand the stress of moving with kids? Buying in the right school district? Our family's quality of life? Moving in with a new partner? Dawson preemptively demonstrates that she understands considerations like these, and uses her Instagram bio to humanize her real estate practice.

Nail Your Real Estate Agent Instagram Bio and Win More Business

Your Instagram bio is an important component of your online success as a real estate agent.

By following real estate agent Instagram bio best practices, you're more likely to claim an Instagram account that accentuates your abilities, experiences, commitment to your clients, and connection to your local market.

With a well-designed Instagram bio, you will bolster your online presence, impress clients, and win more new business.

To view the original article, visit the Homesnap blog.