Real estate social media marketing is more than posting aesthetic pictures and enticing videos to show off your new listings. For realtors, social media helps build your personal brand so you can showcase the unique value and expertise you bring to the home-buying and -selling process.
Aside from brand building, social media contributes directly to business growth. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), social media is the top tech tool for connecting real estate agents with quality leads. On this front, social far outpaces brokerage and realtor websites, MLS, and listing portals.
In this post, we’ll show you how to get strategic with your real estate social media use to drive real business results like:
- More leads and referrals
- Stronger repeat client relationships
- And, yes, more activity on your listings, too
Key Takeaways
- Build your brand before your listings. Your face, voice, and personality are your biggest selling tools. People follow you first, then your listings — so show up consistently and authentically to build trust long before they’re ready to buy or sell.
- Short-form video is your secret weapon. From “guess the price” tours to quick market tips, Reels and TikToks keep you top of mind (and in the algorithm). Keep it real, keep it fun, and let your expertise shine through.
- Relationships > reach. DMs close deals. Comments build community. Don’t just post — engage. Every genuine conversation is a step closer to a new client or referral.
- Strategy makes all the difference. You don’t need to be everywhere — just where your audience hangs out. Create a simple plan, post with purpose, and track what’s working so your effort actually drives leads and sales.
Social media is no longer a nice-to-have as a real estate agent — it’s essential for success. And the benefits go far beyond having a channel to promote your listings (although, that’s important, too).
Here are the benefits of getting social media right for your real estate business, according to fellow real estate agents.
Reach clients wherever they are
Arguably, the biggest benefit of using social media for real estate is that it removes geographic barriers. You can connect with out-of-state clients interested in moving to your area just as easily as you can reach local buyers and sellers.
“Social media isn’t just a marketing tool anymore, it’s a direct line to the client,” says Jessica Chestler and Ben Jacobs of The Chestler Jacobs Team at Douglas Elliman. The duo is based out of New York and Florida and use social media to communicate with clients without any friction.
“It allows us to showcase properties, build trust, and communicate our expertise in real-time,” they say. “We can be flying from one market to another and not lose momentum when showcasing our recent listings.”
Increased visibility for your listings
Social media is a great place for clients to discover properties or find real estate agents to work with.
By using real estate hashtags, location tags, and relevant search terms in your posts, you can increase the chances of your listings being seen by the right people.
Austin-based real estate agent, Wade Giles, includes a handful of relevant hashtags to describe a listing and get in front of potential clients searching for similar houses.
Source: Wade Giles
Increase trust
Social media also helps you build your know, like, trust factor.
When a potential buyer sees your face on their feed or watches you give a house tour on their FYP, it makes you more relatable.
Once they’re ready to start the buying or selling process, you’ll be top of mind.
Showcase market expertise
You can also use social media to build your thought leadership. Use your social media posts to market trends and updates, dig into the numbers, and provide actionable takeaways for buyers and sellers.
By regularly showcasing your expertise, you’re letting potential clients know that they can trust you to get the best deal for them because you understand how to navigate the market.
Collaboration opportunities
Agents and brokers may make up the majority of the real estate industry, but there are many other professions involved in completing a real estate transaction. Think: staging companies, mortgage brokers, appraisers, photographers, and videographers.
Social media can help you discover these professionals that you can add to your network and recommend to clients.
Drive more leads
On a related note, social media is great for driving leads in real estate.
A majority of people use social media to research brands and products before making a purchase. So, it’s safe to assume that potential clients are checking out your pages as part of their evaluation process.
Use this opportunity to turn followers into leads. Encourage your audience to sign up for your newsletter or download a free resource so you can add them to your email list. Social media makes it easy to create consistent lead generation.
Make you more accessible
We’ve all been there: You’re scrolling Instagram and stumble upon a business or service provider you want to reach out to, but giving them a call or sending an email feels like too many steps.
Social media makes it easier than ever to reach out, and real estate agents can take advantage of that.
Adding a contact email in your bio, responding to comments, and setting up automatic DMs are all ways to make it easy for people to contact you and get the conversation started.
Plant seeds
Not everyone who browses real estate listings on social media is ready to buy. In fact, many are just browsing, gathering inspiration, or trying to learn about the process in preparation for the future.
Your job is to plant seeds. Post listings, show off your personal brand and expertise, and help educate them on the process.
Here are the strategies real estate agents are using to increase their visibility, bring in more leads, and close more deals in 2025.
1. Have a strategy
The right social media strategy depends on your market, your ideal client, and the type of property you help clients sell or buy.
“Brainstorm, map out your message, then create a plan that fits how you work and who you want to reach,” says Jessica Dudley, realtor at Millennial Properties.
She adds: visibility compounds. “Even if it feels quiet at first, your future clients are watching how you show up long before they ever reach out.”
2. Choose which platforms to use
You don’t have to be everywhere. In fact, you should only be posting where your clients spend time.
If you work in the luxury market, for instance, you may find more success on LinkedIn where you have a chance of getting in front of executives. Or maybe first-time homebuyers are your target market. In this case, you’d likely find success on TikTok and Instagram where the average users are part of a younger demographic.
“For me, LinkedIn generates more qualified leads than all other social platforms combined,” says Wesley Kang, Los Angeles-based real estate agent and founder of Realtor 1099Cafe. “Through building Realtor1099Cafe’s presence, I’ve found that LinkedIn connects you directly with decision makers who buy and sell properties.”
3. Lean into short-form video
It’s no secret that short-form video continues to be an effective content type on social media. For real estate agents and brokers, there are countless opportunities for video content.
Show off properties with video tours, give viewers a tour of local neighborhoods, produce travel guides, interview homebuyers, and lean into trending formats.
4. Tap into social listening to address client needs
Social media is more than just a platform to amplify your business. You can also use it to learn more about your potential clients on a much deeper level.
Use social listening strategies to better understand what clients are looking for, what questions they have, and what fears they have about the process, for instance.
Social listening tools can help you identify common topics and terms that clients mention, along with what types of brands or accounts they interact with, and help you understand their sentiment towards real estate.
5. Use paid ads to reach the right clients
One of the most significant benefits of having a digital marketing strategy for real estate is the ability to boost your efforts with paid social media. Not only can strategic investments get your content in front of more people, but you’ll be able to target your best customers directly.
Set targeting parameters by location, age, demographic, and interests to ensure everything you post is seen by the most qualified audience.
Hootsuite Ads lets you manage paid campaigns across networks with ease. Plus, build comprehensive reports that show you what’s working, what’s not, and where you should target next.
Not sure where to start when it comes to creating an effective social media strategy?
Get a free social media strategy template designed specifically for real estate agents, brokers, and marketers. Use it to easily plan your own strategy, track results, and keep your team in the loop.
1. Build a consistent brand
Brand awareness is important in any industry, but especially in real estate, where client–agent relationships are built on trust. But branding isn’t just about your logo, font, or colors. It’s about knowing your values and exuding them online.
Top Austin Realtor, Darsh Parikh of the Darsh Advisory Group, specializes in luxury new construction, and that’s evident when you scroll through his Instagram. Not only is his name splashed across most of his videos, but he regularly showcases new developments in the works.
It wouldn’t take long for a potential client to associate his name with new construction homes in the Austin area.
Source: @darsh_atx
2. Prioritize relationships and community
Relationships are the foundation of real estate. The primary goal of real estate social media should always be relationship building: engage with your followers and respond promptly and courteously to comments and messages.
“Don’t underestimate the power of DMs,” says the Chestler Jacobs team. “These conversations lead to closings.”
Tip 💡: Hootsuite Inbox can help you stay on top of all your social media comments and DMs, all in one place.
3. Lean into video
For the real estate industry, carousels get the highest engagement on Instagram with a 4.1% engagement rate. These should undoubtedly be a regular part of your social media posting strategy.
However, if you’re looking to extend your reach and visibility in 2025, short-form video — like TikToks and Instagram Reels — is also important to include. Reels, for example, get an average of 3.0% engagement rate on Instagram for real estate agents.
Short-form video ideas include listing tours, Q&A content, neighborhood tours, and trend content.
Tampa-based Realtor Breanna Banaciski takes a very unconventional approach to real estate social media, but it makes her 125,000 followers love her. Her videos regularly get hundreds of thousands to a million-plus views, and thousands of comments.
Breanna creates videos for many homes where she is not the listing agent. She’s developing a personal brand so she’s the first person her followers call (or, more realistically, DM) when they are ready to buy or sell.
4. Highlight your local area expertise
Home purchases often come with a move to a new neighborhood. They can even involve moving to a whole new city, state, or country! In this case, it’s particularly important for real estate agents to understand the areas they represent so they can make buyers feel quickly acquainted with their new neighborhood.
Consider posting about local events, neighborhood hangouts, new restaurant openings, festivals, museums, sporting events, and more. Your audience will appreciate social media content that has a personal touch and gives them insights into their new hometown.
Austin, TX, Real Estate Agent Cory Culpepper regularly shares her favorite things about different neighborhoods in the city, often highlighting local businesses.
Source: @cory_culpepper
5. Show your work behind the scenes
Not everyone knows exactly what real estate agents do — or why they’re such an important part of the home-buying and selling process. Letting followers in on some of the work you do behind the scenes helps show the value of hiring an agent.
Source: @mickeywright_
6. Celebrate your clients’ success
Buying or selling a home can feel like a major challenge for people who are already dealing with the stress of a move. Showing happy clients who have successfully navigated the process makes it all seem a little more manageable.
Raleigh realtor Claire Guentz shared a carousel of recent client wins her and her team secured. The wins went beyond simply purchasing a home. She shared details about the transactions and processes that demonstrate her expertise as an agent.
Source: @clairegrealestate
7. Collect testimonials
While brands in other industries can share user-generated content to create social proof, that’s a little trickier for real estate agents. Once the transactions go through, you don’t have much to show off other than home photos. That makes testimonials a powerful asset for agents to build their reputation on social platforms.
Make it a habit to collect client testimonials as you wrap up a transaction. And be sure to ask your clients for permission before posting their testimonial. For more eye-catching visual appeal, give it a basic graphic design treatment rather than using simple text.
Source: @stefaniesellsbham
8. Tell great stories
We’re talking about telling stories, not posting Instagram Stories. That is, we’re suggesting you look for ways to incorporate storytelling principles into your social posts.
This won’t work for every listing. (A new-build condo, for example, may not have a compelling story to tell.) But when there is something interesting about a property, take the time to get that story out there.
For example, this small, pie-shaped house in Seattle might not immediately seem like a hot property. But the home’s history as a “spite house” gained plenty of attention on both social media and conventional news channels, and the home sold in just two weeks.
9. Provide market updates and context
For many people, real estate is a black box. It can be intimidating if you don’t really understand the process or the market.
Agents and brokers can use social media to demystify real estate with educational content. Talk about market trends, or offer advice on how to get ready for a home purchase or sale. This will help build trust, and can also be a useful way to set expectations when talking about pricing, listing, and bidding strategies.
Real Estate Agent Lisa Muñoz regularly shares short-form videos, like the one below, that provide context into the Austin real estate market, the home buying and selling process, and how to work with an agent.
Source: @findyouraustin
For Kang, he suggests the platform you choose is also important when creating educational content.
“Educational content performs better than property listings on LinkedIn,” says Kang.
“My weekly posts analyzing LA commercial real estate trends or explaining investment strategies get 10 times more engagement than house photos. Business professionals want market insights they can use in their own decision making.”
10. Highlight home decor and DIY trends
Home decor is a popular topic on many social media platforms, and it’s a logical trend for real estate professionals to hop on. From home staging ideas to DIY projects that improve the value of a home, there’s plenty of ground here to provide content that entertains and keeps your followers engaged.
Toronto-based Real Estate Sales Rep Miranda Caldwell has built a TikTok audience of more than 400,000 by combining her real estate expertise with her love of design.
11. Build a marketing funnel
Think in funnels, not just followers. This means considering that your audience is likely made up of people at different stages of the home buying process.
“Create content for people at every stage, whether they’re just browsing, casually curious, or ready to make a move,” says Joshua Franklin, Real Estate Agent and Founder of Franklin Florida Real Estate. “That means posting a mix of educational tips, market insights, and direct calls to action.”
You can also use this content to turn followers into leads. Try creating a resource like a checklist, guide, or detailed market report that you can send directly to them over DM or email.
Pro tip 💡: Automated DMs are a great way to put this into practice on Instagram!
12. Engage in the comments
No matter which platform you’re active on, be sure to respond to all of your comments — and comment thoughtfully on other people’s posts, too.
“My top LinkedIn strategy involves commenting thoughtfully on posts from local business leaders, attorneys, and executives rather than just posting content,” says Kang.
“I spend 30 minutes daily engaging with my target audience’s content, which builds relationships that turn into referrals — one executive I connected with through LinkedIn comments referred four clients worth $280,000 in commissions over 18 months.”
Need another example? Vancouver Realtor Tyler Burrows has built a full TikTok channel of high-quality video home tours that get thousands of views — and plenty of comments. He’s fully engaged with his audience, responding to every one.
Source: @thetylerburrows
13. Post on a consistent schedule
Consistent posting trains your followers to expect content from you on a specific schedule, and even to seek it out if the algorithm doesn’t deliver it to their feed. Open houses, for instance, are definitely a topic of interest for those thinking about buying a home, making them an easy topic to post about consistently.
“Consistency has been instrumental for us,” says the Chestler Jacobs team. “We combine property highlights with market insights, behind-the-scenes moments, and local lifestyle features, which helps our audience feel connected to both us and the areas we are selling.”
14. Collaborate with relevant professionals
You’ve already seen one form of collaboration in this post: Realtors creating video tours highlighting properties for which they are not the listing agent.
You can also collaborate with fellow real estate professionals by sharing their content, tagging them, or highlighting their services on your own page.
These connections can make life simpler for your clients. Showcasing them on social media shows your commitment to the whole process of moving homes, not just making the sale. Partnering on social media is also a good way to expand the audience for both you and your collaborators!
Source: @thenjreboss
1. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is an all-in-one social media tool for busy realtors. You can use the platform to schedule posts across all of your platforms, manage your DMs, and respond to all of your comments.
Plus, since you’re a real estate expert and not a social media analytics professional, you’ll appreciate the platform’s insights into the best times to post for increased engagement.
Pricing: Starting at $99/month.
SMM star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
My favorite features:
- Hootsuite Inbox: As a busy Real Estate Agent, it can be challenging to keep up with every potential client inquiry you get on social media. Hootsuite’s social media inbox management tool consolidates all of your messages, comments, and questions in one place — so you can make sure you never miss a lead.
Where there’s room for improvement:
- Learning curve for realtors: If you’re new to using social media marketing tools, there’s a chance you may find the sheer number of features a bit overwhelming. Luckily, the Hootsuite Help Center covers every topic you may need help with. The Hootsuite blog has regularly shares tips for getting the most out of the platform as a real estate agent. You can also take advantage of the free social media template made just for real estate agents!
Customer review:
Source: G2
#1 Social Media Tool for Real Estate
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2. Canva
Canva is a free graphic design tool that can be used to create real estate social media content. The platform offers millions of templates and design features so you can customize your content for every channel and format — whether that’s Instagram Reels, LinkedIn infographics, or Facebook carousels.
Pricing: Free; paid plans starting at $15/month.
SMM star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
My favorite features:
- Ready-to-publish templates: Canva offers over four million customizable social media templates for every channel — and over 20,000 designed specifically for real estate agents. They’re automatically sized with the right specs, so you don’t need to spend time resizing posts for different platforms.
Where there’s room for improvement:
- Too many options: The sheer number of templates is simultaneously good and bad. Having access to so many options can lead to decision paralysis. My recommendation is to start simple. Pick one template that best represents your brand, and go from there. You can always experiment and adjust the more comfortable you get with the design process.
Customer review:
Source: G2
3. InVideo
Whether you want to share an in-depth property tour on YouTube or you regularly post short-form video content on Instagram, you’ll need a video editing tool to succeed. InVideo is a video marketing tool that makes it easy to create and edit professionally-designed videos. Similar to Canva, InVideo offers thousands of templates and video effects you can use to create listing tours, explainer videos, and more.
Pricing: Free; paid plans starting at $15/month.
SMM star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
My favorite features:
- AI subtitle generator: InVideo includes several AI tools, such as a subtitle generator. This is especially useful if you want to reach a global audience — the tool can generate subtitles with AI in over 50 languages.
Where there’s room for improvement:
- Learning curve: The templates are extensive and accessible, but using video editing tools can take some getting used to if you don’t have prior experience.
Customer review:
Source: G2
1. Automated listing links
Instead of encouraging people to visit your link in bio to see a recent listing, leverage automated DMs.
Encourage people to comment if they want a link to your listing, like the real estate Instagram account, Charming Austin Texas does.
Source: @charmingaustintexas
This approach creates a feeling of exclusivity. If potential clients are enticed by the listing photos and details in the caption, it’s much easier to drop a comment than it is to search for the listing link themselves.
Plus, all of those comments help increase your post engagement — a win-win.
2. Creative twists on home tours
In 2025, real estate walkthroughs need to be creative to stand out on social media.
For example, this Detroit-based real estate agent created a home tour for YouTube and used the “guess the price” angle to hook viewers.
This angle works well because it keeps viewers engaged — they’re more likely to watch through to the end to see all of the home features and find out what the listing price is (and if their guess was correct!).
3. Behind-the-scenes content
As we’ve mentioned (and as you very well know), building relationships is everything in real estate. One of the best ways to build better relationships with your audience and potential clients on social media is to give them a glimpse into your daily life.
Day in the life videos are popular for a reason — people love learning more about the human behind the screen.
Source: @juliawang_htx
What is real estate social media marketing?
Real estate social media marketing refers to the strategies real estate agents and firms use to promote their business and home listings on social media. Anything from short-form videos to infographics to home listing tours counts as real estate social media marketing.
What tools do I use for real estate social media marketing?
You can use tools like Hootsuite to manage all of your social media content — including DMs and comments — from one place. Content creation tools like Canva and InVideo are also useful for real estate social media marketing.
How often should real estate agents post on social media?
Hootsuite research has found that:
- Real estate agents post on Facebook an average of 11.6 times a week
- Real estate agents post on X (Twitter) an average of 10.2 posts a week
- Real estate agents post on Instagram an average of 8.6 posts per week
- Real estate agents post on LinkedIn an average of 5.4 posts per week
- Real estate agents post on TikTok an average of 3.1 times per week
Save time managing your social media presence with Hootsuite. Publish and schedule posts, find relevant conversions, engage your audience, measure results, and more — all from one dashboard. Try it free today.
