How Realtors Can Use Instagram To Get Leads In 2025

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How Realtors Can Use Instagram To Get Leads In 2025

Discover proven Instagram lead generation strategies for realtors in 2025. Turn followers into clients with content tips, hashtags & conversion tactics.

In this show, we explore innovative strategies for realtors to leverage Instagram as a powerful lead generation tool in 2025. From crafting engaging content to utilizing advanced features like Reels and Stories, we offer actionable tips to elevate your online presence. Discover how to connect with potential clients effectively and build a thriving real estate business. Instagram potential.

#1 – Induction

#2 – Be The Local Digital Info Mayor of Your Area Videos

#3 – Property That’s Coming Soon Videos

#4 – Builder’s New Builds Videos

#5 – Just Sold Video: Explain Challenges and Successes

#5 – Who I’m I – Videos (The Hero Journey Videos)

#6- Google Is Now Indexing Instagram. What does this mean in 2025

Episode Full Show Notes

[00:00:07.680] – Robert Newman

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to episode number 488 of the Mailright Show. We’re so excited. We have such a great show for you today. We have conducted extensive research. We have some major updates. If all you do is listen to podcast, then we’re going to drop some new knowledge on you today. Today, we’re going to discuss one of my previously least favorite subjects, but I’m becoming increasingly excited about it in 2025. That is Instagram: how to generate leads from Instagram, and what’s changed with Instagram that affects you. Even if you’re a long-time follower of mine for SEO, this update actually includes SEO information that you will need to plan your strategy for 2026 effectively. With no further ado, we’re going to jump into it. But before we do, my magnificent, magnificent partner in crime for this podcast. He is, as usual, the one who found this subject, does the work. He is an experienced podcaster. He is a brilliant individual and an honest businessman. Without any further ado, John, take it away.

[00:01:18.140] – Jonathan Denwood

Yeah, thanks for that. A bit like you, you’ve got to be a bit tough in business, but I can look in the camera and say I’ve never ripped anybody off. I don’t like somebody trying to rip me off. I’ll be a hypocrite if I… I can honestly say to you, folks, I’ve always tried to treat people the way I would want to be treated. I haven’t always succeeded, but I make an honest attempt.

[00:01:45.220] – Robert Newman

Can confirm, everybody. Can confirm. John, I would quantify it as tough but fair.

[00:01:51.640] – Jonathan Denwood

Yeah, I can be a bit awkward. I can be a bit awkward when I want to be, but I don’t try to take advantage of people. So I’m the joint founder of Mail-Right.com. We’re CRM. We build really nice-looking websites on WordPress. We offer a range of starter websites that you can get up and running quickly. We also offer a number of other digital tools in one excellent value package. Go over to mel-right. Com. Have a look at what we’re offering. I think you’re going to be impressed. And book a chat with me, and we’ll see how we can move your business forward. Back over to you, Rob.

[00:02:32.680] – Robert Newman

I’m the founder of InboundREM. We’re an SEO company that specializes in inbound marketing for realtors, and we’ve been up to a lot of interesting things. However, we’re ending 2026 with a bang. John and anyone who’s a long-time listener will know that I don’t usually use our podcast to provide many updates. Today, I’m going to change that. We are launching two new huge products and services, one of which we’ve been working on for three years. It is a branded SEO site for brokers in large teams, competing with companies like Sierra Interactive and Real Estate Webmasters. We’re in the final stages of a three-year beta with a top-tier broker in the country. We are really excited to be able to release. It’s going to work as both a search site and an SEO site, which was previously something that was very difficult to achieve. Additionally, we’re introducing a new service. We’re going to establish another company called Video Shark. Video Shark is going to spin off our video editing and SEO optimization services. We’re going to compete with services like Go High Level and similar companies that offer all-inclusive, done-for-you video packages.

[00:03:39.490] – Robert Newman

We’ll edit, provide you with the script, and conduct keyword research. All I have to do is sit in front of the camera and talk. It’s super cool. My early beta has been widely well-received by agents. If you’d like to sign up for the beta or learn more, visit inboundrem. Com, and you can find more on our services pages or follow me on YouTube, which you can find using inbound R-E-M as a search term in YouTube. All right, without further ado, though, that’s not why most of you are likely here, to hear me and John talk about our respective companies. You’re probably here to see if we really do have some wisdom to share with you today. I’m going to do something that is different on this show. I’m going to say instead that John usually draws inspiration. He includes the inspiration in his show notes, which you can find on the mail-right. on his website when he posts to it. I think it’s essential that we acknowledge at least one of the guys this time, as they have been a constant source of inspiration for John and for us. That’s Jimmy Burgess.

[00:04:45.240] – Robert Newman

If you’re unfamiliar with him, visit his YouTube channel and subscribe. He’s a brilliant individual with extensive experience. He is a working real estate broker. He recruits, he trains. He really probably provides more value through his various media channels than anybody that I know of. I think you should follow him and investigate him. Today, though, we’re going to riff off an article that he did, or actually, he and a few other people did, talking about Instagram. We’re going to add our own thoughts to some of his notes, and I’ll also include a number of thoughts about the comments made regarding how Instagram has changed, particularly in relation to SEO. Our first subject up for today is Well, actually, you know what? One last thing on the introduction, because I actually want to introduce this idea. Instagram used to be not particularly relevant for SEO because it couldn’t read the website’s content. Well, in July of 2025, that changed. Instagram made the entire website readable by Google. Now, what you’re seeing is that in the search packs, the video search packs on hundreds of thousands of real estate-related searches, you’re seeing Instagram videos come up.

[00:05:58.060] – Robert Newman

So, all these people who previously did not have access to that traffic now do have access to it. The competition for video has grown, partly because Instagram is now in the mix. Some of you, and many of you as realtors, were already involved with Instagram before you got involved with YouTube. Some of you are not even involved with YouTube. As a result, your Instagram channel has the opportunity to be at least 2-3 times more valuable to you, making me change my recommendation from Instagram as a ‘can-do’ to a ‘must-do’. YouTube still offers numerous advantages. I would still start there and use Instagram as a secondary posting place if you’re listening to my advice. However, Instagram can no longer be considered a non-priority tool. If you have a strategy, it should be to post the video first on YouTube, as you can optimize and categorize it more effectively than on Instagram, then post the same video to Instagram. And let the people who use these platforms appreciate your work on whatever platform they’re comfortable using. Those are my comments as we do the intro.

[00:07:09.060] – Robert Newman

Why don’t you, if you have some comments, you can add them, and then you can intro into the first subject that you selected for us to talk about?

[00:07:18.460] – Jonathan Denwood

Yeah, sure. Thanks, Rob. Yeah, I totally agree with you. But the SEO experts that I regularly listen to when I’m walking and I consume a load of content, they’re all saying that video on all these social media platforms, Google’s indexing, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube. Obviously, YouTube is something you I would really aim at because it’s owned by Google, but they’re indexing all these platforms and they like video because video, especially a certain type of video that has you on it, or it can’t be duplicated that easily. So it’s becoming more and more important in search and in branding and putting you in front of the clientele that you need to get. I really think this is a really important episode, Robert.

[00:08:22.040] – Robert Newman

So do I. I want to add one thing. Every day, John, I get clients calling in to me and the amount of realtors that have basically said various things that to the effect of, I’m just not comfortable on video. It still happens every single day. I can’t say this to the client directly, but I’m going to say it to you guys and John. I’m going to tell you, if you’re a salesperson, how is the machinations of the mind leading you to say, I can get in front of a human and talk about the service that I provide, but I can’t do it in front of a camera? The leap of logic there is so minute. I don’t even understand.

[00:09:06.380] – Jonathan Denwood

If I can butt in for just a second, I totally agree what you’re saying, but looking in front of a camera and talking straight to it initially does come across a little bit odd. But I can assure you I wasn’t comfortable when I first done it. But you get over it. You really get over it. And after you’ve done about four or five videos, it starts to diminish quite a lot. And after that, you really just get used to it.

[00:09:41.320] – Robert Newman

And most importantly, it’s the medium, it’s the new door knock, it’s the new phone call. It’s the new everything in the world that we live in, ladies and gentlemen. It’s the new mechanism to sell yourself. It is more effective than anything else you can look at by miles. And I know you all have heard that before, but now it’s becoming It’s effective and necessary for all the reasons that John said, branding, awareness, recognition, and lead generation, which, God, I get so tired of people asking me about lead generation and then saying, No, I don’t want to do video. It’s like, Well, that’s the number one lead generation tool in the world right now for real estate. Why even call a lead generation provider if you’re not willing to take the steps on your end to tackle the discomfort? All right, without any further ado, John, number 2, be the local digital info mayor of your area. Now, again, Jimmy Burgess’s video that talks about this does some cool things where he showed some clips from realtors who do this thing. If you’re interested in actually seeing the videos, go to his channel, subscribe, and look for a four-month-old video where he’s talking about Instagram.

[00:10:56.140] – Robert Newman

It has 5,000 views when I looked at it this morning. What’s your take on that?

[00:11:03.780] – Jonathan Denwood

Well, we’ve also banned on about this for over three to four years, haven’t we? About being your digital mayor, being the information source. But is it Jimmy? But I think we can, with credibility, say that we’ve talked a load about it as well.

[00:11:22.460] – Robert Newman

Long before Jimmy did, technically.

[00:11:23.860] – Jonathan Denwood

Yeah, probably. I don’t know. But we both, you and me and him, have talked it a lot. You’ve got to be seen as the resource, the person that knows what’s going on in your town, in the part of the city that you’re doing business in, in the region. You’ve got to be seen as the information resource, somebody that knows what’s going on and knows a few people. You got to really show that it’s just a great content to do videos about and plug other people people, restaurants, other people, services, and then DM them and say, I’ve made this video. Those people are going to feel warmth towards you if you’re plugging them. Most people, I would have thought, Then I think they’re going to help to promote your videos, your content. I just think you got to try and become what I call the digital mayor of your area.

[00:12:31.710] – Robert Newman

The examples that were used, and they were good ones, was there was a new shopping mall opening or something of that nature, a new development. The young lady was there promoting it, and her video got shared 11,000 times. This is something that Jimmy pointed out. Now, when you’re present at community events, whether that’s the unveiling of a new stadium, a ribbon cutting ceremony, you do something that I think people forget. The core of the internet is efficiency and convenience. And just like all of you listening right now, most of you are not going to go check out Jimmy’s channel. You’re here listening already. You really don’t want to do the extra steps, and I don’t blame you, time is a premium. That convenience is what being a mayor does. You go out, you do the hard work, you get involved in the community so your customers don’t have to, but they will love the fact that you did it for them. They will feel connected by extension, which is what gets them to call you. They also might want to feel connected by extension. And so calling you, like if you’re at a… I love big community events like football games.

[00:13:41.700] – Robert Newman

That’s big in Texas, that’s big in California. You go to a high school football game, you record a little bit of it, and you say, By the way, the Tiger’s won. And what did you do, everybody? Well, you appealed to every single parent that has anybody, even the vicinity of high school age. That’s probably 20% of most of your audience right there. You make them feel involved. In some small cases, you might even tell somebody what the spirit of the school is like that they’re thinking of putting their kid in. This is why this is such an incredibly powerful tool for all of you to use. But as usual, John and I have spent a huge amount of time in drawing the subject, and we have six beautiful subjects to cover for you. We’re going to move on to the next one, which is, should be a no-brainer. But I’m going to intro this one because there are four or five conversion subjects that are universal across the country. There’s two that are really, really big. One of the two is this subject right here. Real estate still continues to be a premium in most markets.

[00:14:48.630] – Robert Newman

In other words, there’s not enough inventory. New inventory to any market is always something that most people get excited by, even if it’s just curiosity. Coming soon videos tends to be one of the best way to drum up inquiries because you can oftentimes say, This won’t be here for two years, but if you have any questions about the community, I’ve got some insider track stuff from the developer, some documents that I haven’t been able to post online. You can call me, and if you want to know what the real skinny is, I’ll give you timelines and what we think the pricing might be and everything else. But since the developer hasn’t committed that to writing yet, I can’t post it on my channel. This is a very clever reverse psychology way to get calls. It’s working for tons of my clients actually getting phone calls, actually getting people into their lead funnels and things like that. This property soon thing is brilliant, John. So good that you listed it. What were you thinking when you did?

[00:15:47.220] – Jonathan Denwood

I think it’s a classic, isn’t it? Properties that are coming soon. You don’t want to give too much info. Really, you want to set up a landing page or something. So They’ve got to go and then you’ve got a chance to get their email because that’s the main thing, isn’t it? Try and get their name and email. Don’t give too much away. But you can do a video of the house and not say, Well, if you want more details, look in the comment, and there’s a link where you can get all the info. It’s just a great way. That’s the great thing of being in real estate, everybody’s interested in it.

[00:16:35.980] – Robert Newman

So true. Now we’re going to go to break. When we come back, John and I will do our best to cover the remaining four subjects, the four ideas, the four things that we pulled from these videos. For once, I can actually say the word we because I actually reviewed all the material he sent over. So really excited to get into it. I’m not going to do the same drum beat that I have been quite the same way. I’m just going to say, listen, if you’re listening on Spotify or iTunes, be really helpful to us if you liked or commented on the show or shared it with people so that we can continue to get our valuable, what we think is valuable insight into the hands of the people that need it. Without any further ado, we’ll be right back. Three, two, one. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. We’re coming back from break on episode number 488, which is how realtors can use Instagram to get leads in 2025. We’ve been really excited about this subject. Instagram has new relevance in the world of real estate because Google is indexing it as of July of this year, the end of July this year, so the last couple of months.

[00:17:49.960] – Robert Newman

That means a lot more exposure for videos, triple-purposing your videos now in terms of being able to use one video on YouTube, one video on Instagram, and have There’s two chances to rank the same video. It’s a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful opportunity. Really exciting for realtors because Instagram has always been relevant, but now it’s super relevant. We’re going to continue down our list of ideas for videos that you can make in case you happen to not be making them or an idea for those of you who already are. John, why don’t you take us away?

[00:18:24.460] – Jonathan Denwood

Yeah, well, it’s new builds, new homes. I think if you’re in the real estate business, you know the last couple of years, getting in with the national, regional builders, it’s been a sector that a lot of savvy real estate professionals, it’s really been a life boat for them because the regionals and the nationals, they’ve been discounting heavily, offering interest rates, inducements, cash inducements, all sorts of inducements. You see that in the big builders quarterly results, the packages they’ve been offering in certain markets, like Florida, Texas, especially, and other areas of the US, not in every area, but a lot of them. The agents that have linked up with these builders and particular developments, it’s been very beneficial. But if you even haven’t got a relationship, and a lot of these builders are open to being approached, doing videos is still a good idea. It will still get you in front of your audience, and then it probably will make it easier for you to get in the door with one of these builders. What do you reckon, Rob?

[00:20:06.900] – Robert Newman

This idea about builders works really well for SEO, because weirdly, while every real estate agent out there understands, especially those of you in Texas and places that have a lot of building going on, and there’s a few markets like Arizona, Texas, certain places in the Pacific Northwest are even seeing an explosion in new development. Guys, let me tell you, these builders are terrible at SEO. When you do a review on a video and you mention the builder by name, ranking these videos and oftentimes getting in front of searches that have hundreds or thousands of people is easy. You can adopt all of their customers because the one thing that, not all, but most builders don’t do is they don’t really have high caliber sales representation in their facility because they paid somebody a salary. That person sits in a model home at best, and most don’t even have that. Most model homes sit empty. There’s somebody that sits there and distributes literature, maybe at the front of a huge master plan community, and oftentimes not even that. Here you have all these brand new homes where the builder magically expects them to get sold. If you adopt them by video or something of that nature and get out in front of all the people making your inquiries, it’s very easy to then turn around and also build a relationship with the developer saying, I’ve already got the number one video for Green Meadows, and I’m already getting probably 30% of your inquiries.

[00:21:44.060] – Robert Newman

Why don’t you give me a deal or special access? You can figure out what the negotiation package is. But I have agents doing this, John. It’s insanely successful. For those of you who are curious, go to homesoffortbend. Com, and you’ll see where I have agent who’s 30% of his revenue, I think, is coming from these new developers in the middle of his best year ever. Because when everybody was going left, we weren’t right. We just stuck with new inventory in his area. We stuck with building relationships with developers. As everything else slowed down, that picked up, and his income has continued to grow. Having a little bit of a diversification in your business, if you don’t, is a good idea. All right, just sold video. My goodness, In terms of credibility establishment and understanding what psychology really is with your end users, there’s nothing better than this. This is a case study of somebody who’s already used you or done something with a home and experienced success. Success for them. It doesn’t matter. It should be a de facto thing that all realtors are competent. The reason that these videos are so important is the sad fact is that most aren’t.

[00:22:55.260] – Robert Newman

That’s just it. Eighty % of the industry gets bad reviews. I’m not making that up. Eighty % of the industry does not get anything above a three-star review when they do a transaction. So if you are one of the few agents that’s doing four and five-star reviews every single time you work with a client, there’s one really great way to make sure that people see that. Get a client on a video talking about the process, not just, Oh, yeah, great realtor. Call Jane. No. How long did you work at this? What was it? Was there any hurdles? Did you have to redo financing? Did you have to step into other There are areas everybody knows, all of you know, that a realtor ends up doing nine people’s jobs when you do it well. You do the mortgage guy’s job sometimes. You do the other agent’s job because they don’t give you access when you need access. I can go on and on. The only way for you to not sound like a tool is to get your customer to share all the little things that you did in order to make the transaction go through.

[00:23:57.280] – Robert Newman

That’s my thought. I love this. I love it’s on the list? What’s your thoughts, John? Number 5.

[00:24:02.140] – Jonathan Denwood

I think combining it or having a separate little video where you have the person giving a great testimonial, but having other videos that explain some of the challenges. If you were helping somebody buy a house or you’re helping somebody sell their house, what were the challenges? How did you overcome them? It’s just a great opportunity to prove your competence, that you really help your clients. It’s just so powerful, isn’t it, Robert?

[00:24:34.740] – Robert Newman

It really is, which plays really well into, John, which I feel like you may have stuck this on the list for me, which is number six. It It’s number 5, actually, isn’t it?

[00:24:49.960] – Jonathan Denwood

Who am I?

[00:24:50.900] – Robert Newman

Number 5, yeah. No, you entered number 5 twice, so it’s number 6, technically. Who am I? Videos, The Hero’s Journey. Okay, so ladies and gentlemen, there has been one since the days of the early Greek storytellers, such as the Odyssey, by Homer, and similar works, which we’ve all been taught in school. There’s been one story type that has always captured the imagination of the audience and been wildly successful, including, by the way, the story of Jesus, for those of you who are religious. It’s called The Hero’s Hero’s Journey. Basically, it can be simplified this way. You go through hardships, work hard, struggle, and overcome challenges. Then, after you’ve overcome those challenges, they refine and define who you are as a person, and with that refinement in place, you go on to experience success. That’s the Hero’s Journey, wildly summarized, but it is the Hero’s journey, and it is an amazingly effective storytelling tool. I’ve used it many times. I connect with people all the time through My Hero’s Journey, which is relatable to the founder of a company, such as a high school dropout. John, I’ve always talked to him about using his Hero’s journey because he definitely has one, but it’s not mine to share on this video.

[00:26:16.840] – Robert Newman

However, for those of you who are curious, you should visit his website and check out his bio, as he has also had a remarkable Hero’s Journey to get to where he is. So that’s my What are your thoughts on number 5? What are your thoughts?

[00:26:32.400] – Jonathan Denwood

I think people are interested in why you got into real estate. Obviously, people are not foals. They know that you got into real estate to make a good, to make living, and hopefully a really good one. But they’re also interested. It’s not normally the sole reason. To be successful in real estate, you have to like I think. I think part of you has got to like it because here’s a tough game. It’s really strange hours, can be very emotional, very demanding. You’ve got to like the industry and you’ve got to like property, I think, to really sustain yourself with the tremendous ups and downs you’re going to have as a real estate professional. They’re going to. It’s going to be tremendous ups and downs, isn’t there, Robert?

[00:27:33.620] – Robert Newman

They really are. As with most professions, but to be fair, real estate is one of those… I do have to add this comment. It’s an industry of exceptional highs and exceptional lows. Every industry struggles. But real estate is cyclical. Agents, when you’re doing your job right, oftentimes go uncommented upon. Everybody wants to talk about how much money you’re making. When you’re doing your job wrong, everybody wants to scream from the top of the rooftops, including Zillow and every other company you do business with. It’s exceptional highs and exceptional lows, but it’s still one of the very few professions without a four or eight-year college degree, where at the very top of the scale, you can make millions upon millions of dollars. I do have clients who do that, so I say they are rare, but they are out there. All right. Now, this is probably… I love the fact you close with this, John. Thank you so much. I understand that we’ve mentioned it a couple of different times, and I’m going to take a little bit of largesse here with the subject, and I’m going to say to all of you that the relevance of Google indexing Instagram cannot be understated.

[00:28:56.620] – Robert Newman

This is a massive thought shift by Zuckerberg, and it aligns with everything that everybody here cares about, such as AI, because in order for large language models to learn, they need something to learn from. Facebook and all its environments have been closed off, whereas Google’s indexes are readable by other search engines, tools, and search bots, whereas Facebook was not. Obviously, Zuck, looking into the future, said, Shoot, we’re going to get left behind in the AI race where nobody can access any social data because we control all of the social data. If we want to be included in large language model learning, we should add our websites to the index. That’s exactly what they did. It’s actually one of the very few sharp moves that I feel like I’ve seen Zuckerberg make. It’s a personal opinion. Don’t read too deeply into it. I’m going to say it was a really sharp move, though. It also means that, theoretically, these new social platforms can be used if Zuckerberg made any agreements with any of the other big tech companies that he’s going to maintain access for X amount of time, it would make sense that all of those other tools, like Google would then put their scientists on how to use that social data in a relevant way.

[00:30:28.640] – Robert Newman

They have already sidestepped Zuck, Instagram, and Facebook, which Zuck also knows, because they did it using a logarithm that referenced Chromium data, the browser. They stated that mentioning the name is a ranking factor, which can be seen in Chrome. If you do a search, now they can’t see anything after you arrive at the social platform. They can see how many entrances and exits there were. That data is not protected. Google controls it. Zuck started to realize that they already used a branding, a logarithm inside their ranking factors, without ever getting access to his websites. And thus he said, ‘Shoot, I’m probably doing myself more harm than good.’ I would be saying that, what’s the point? They’re already using the entrances and exits as a ranking factor. So now with an added database, I would be absolutely flummoxed if all of these data companies didn’t, which is all Google is, is data company. I would think that they would now figure out a way to leverage your branding information on those platforms more. If nothing else, how many followers you have, and they might even start to measure engagement and things of that nature.

[00:31:44.220] – Robert Newman

It’s really powerful that Instagram is now relevant and twice as powerful for you as a realtor, because it was always relevant for generating leads and maintaining a following. A great place for people to view listing information and educational resources related to real estate. I follow many channels solely to browse through their listings. It’s real estate porn. I’m so sorry. I know that word is a little contentious, but you know it really is because you just sit there and look at things you can never have. And go, God, that’s beautiful. Look at that castle in Idaho. Wow. You’re never going to go to Idaho. But what a castle, right? That’s my thoughts, John.

[00:32:27.260] – Jonathan Denwood

All right. I’ve got nothing much more to say. I think it is a really good roundup of that. I think it’s time to wrap it up, Rob.

[00:32:34.820] – Robert Newman

All right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, realtors of all ages and stages of your careers, we deeply appreciate you listening to the show. John and I can both be reached for consultative services. You might be able to convince one of the two of us to talk to your team of brokers and agents. It’s not something I mentioned much, but somebody did recently come through the door and asked me to do that, and they do follow the podcast. It was somebody who follows me on other channels as well. However, I found it an interesting concept. Now I’m going to give a talk in front of 150 agents. It’s always possible to get us to do that. So please keep that in mind. I am going to say if you’d like to reach out to me, you can do robert@inboundrem. Com. That is the word Inbound, RabbitEdwardMichael. Com. You can also check out the website and get tons and tons of good data on whatever you want to know about real estate marketing in general. Jon, over to you.

[00:33:31.220] – Jonathan Denwood

Yeah, go over to the mail-right.com website. Take a look at our features and see what websites we build. I think you’re going to be really impressed with the total package. Then you can book a demo with me, and we can discuss it further to see how Melright can assist you. Back over to you, Rob.

[00:33:55.480] – Robert Newman

All right, beautiful. We are done, ladies and gentlemen. Congratulations. You now know everything there is to know about Instagram. No, I’m just kidding. Thanks for tuning in. We appreciate it, John. When you’re ready, take us offline.