If you’re marketing yourself on social media, you need to understand how to use hashtags for real estate. If you’re not marketing yourself on social media, you’re missing out on a treasure chest filled with quality leads.
Social media is one of the most dominant tools for real estate professionals today. By using the right hashtags on each platform, you can put a listed property in front of more eyes, promote a blog post to more interested website visitors, or get more people to follow you or become your friend on social media.
It doesn’t take much for a hashtag to become popular. Some take off in a matter of hours, while others are less popular. With Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest all using hashtags, you should know how to use the right hashtags for real estate.
The Basics of Hashtags for Real Estate
There are a few basic guidelines you can use to ensure you’re using the right hashtags for real estate. Let’s look at a few.
1. Popularity isn’t always a good thing
You might search a hashtag on Instagram and find out there are over a million posts already using that hashtag. It’s popular, but that doesn’t mean it should be a hashtag you decide to use.
Popular hashtags get flooded with posts. This means people following these hashtags or searching with them are less likely to see your post.
2. Your Location
Your city or neighborhood is always a good hashtag to use, especially with property listings. If the property is found in the Round Rock area near Austin, Texas, you can use all three of these locations as hashtags, like this:
- #RoundRock
- #Austin
- #Texas
This will give you an excellent chance to get a property listing out to the right people searching in these locations.
3. Don’t Overdo It
Too many hashtags look tacky. Even though you can use quite a few on Instagram or another social site doesn’t mean you should. Choose the most relevant hashtags and keep it limited to just a few. Follow these rules for each platform:
- Instagram – Up to 30, but better to use 10 or less
- LinkedIn – 3 to 5 is plenty
- Twitter – No limit, but 2 to 4 is plenty
- Pinterest – Up to 12, but 5 or 6 is better
- Facebook – A couple is fine, but they don’t have the same impact on Facebook
4. A Few More Starter Hashtags
Along with the location hashtags, here are a few more starter hashtags to consider:
- The school district
- The county location
- Nearby local attractions
- The home styles
- Your brokerage
- Your name
- #RealEstateListing + Your Location
How to Use Hashtags for Real Estate on Instagram
One of the most powerful sites to post listing pictures with hashtags is Instagram. Its very image-driven and they allow users to follow hashtags, which makes them even more powerful.
It’s a good idea to start using a hashtag to represent yourself or your brand. It might take some time to gain traction, but it can be very powerful when it does.
Instagram also makes it pretty easy to search hashtags to find out what’s popular and what’s not. It’s a good idea to use a mixture of popular hashtags and not so popular hashtags. Choose a few general options and a few more specific hashtags for your posts.
When you post to Instagram, it’s common to provide the hashtags for your post in the first comment. Many users do this to keep their initial message cleaner.
How to Use Hashtags for Real Estate on Twitter
Some uses will follow hashtags through a third-party app, such as TweetDeck. However, Twitter hashtags are more about searching and trending. Users will search for hashtags to find properties and real estate on Twitter.
Choosing two location hashtags, along with two other real estate hashtags will help you spread your message wider. This is a good strategy when sharing listings, blog posts, and other forms of content.
How to Use Real Estate Hashtags on Pinterest
Another platform driven by image; Pinterest is a bit of a visual search engine. Hashtags are used for searching, but they are not as powerful here as on Twitter.
Choose a few relevant hashtags to include in each post and you will cast a wider net.
LinkedIn and Facebook are the least popular options for hashtags. However, with LinkedIn, you can use hashtags that target other industry professionals to get the word out about property listings or other types of content. Facebook also allows hashtags, but they aren’t very powerful in comparison to the other sites listed above.
Top Hashtags to Consider Using
There are a ton of very popular hashtags to consider. Here are a few found in a few different categories.
General
- #realestate
- #realty
- #forsale
- #newhome
- #househunting
- #selling
- #housing
Listing Hashtags
- #listing
- #newlisting
- #homesale
- #homeforsale
- #justlisted
- #offmarketlisting
- #emptynest
- #starterhome
- #dreamhome
- #milliondollarlisting
Real Estate Style Hashtags
- #midcenturymodern
- #colonial
- #victorian
- #bungalow
- #townhouse
Home Improvements
- #renovated
- #marblecountertops
- #fixandflip
- #homeinspection
- #remodeled
Location Specific
- #walkableneighborhood
- #downtown
- #uptown
- #closetothebeach
- #[neighborhood]realestate
- #[neighborhood]homeforsale
- #[city]realestate
- #[city]homeforsale
All of these hashtags give you a good place to begin when posting to social media.
When you want to market yourself and your listings better on social media, hashtags are a part of the process. They are most powerful on Instagram and Twitter, but can also be powerful on Pinterest. Get used to using hashtags and you’ll gain more traction on social media as a real estate agent.
