Instagram Stories are 15-second-long clips of pictures and videos that you can enhance with filters, music, stickers, text, and other special features. With over 500 million viewers daily, stories are a great way to build brand awareness and connect with the Instagram community.

Stand out with these six features:

  • Take a Vote. Polls are not only a great way to generate engagement, they also help gauge your audience’s interests. Want to know what your followers think of the curb appeal on a new listing or about an interior design trend? Use the poll feature on an image with choices like Yes or No, This or That, or Love it or Hate it.
  • Increase Your Reach. To gain more exposure, use up to 30 hashtags and tag up to 20 accounts on each story. Once people are tagged, they have the option to share the story with their followers.
  • Request Questions. Establish yourself as an expert and help your followers learn more about you and the local real estate market. By creating a story with a question sticker, your followers can submit questions and feedback. Keep the conversation going by responding in a separate story—don’t forget to tag the person that asked the question.
  • Show and Tell. Need more than 15 seconds? The reels feature extends stories up to 30 seconds. This is a perfect opportunity to let your followers in on the behind-the-scenes of your business. Be creative and authentic—show snippets of the action in your office, at team events, the staging process, or take the viewers on a tour of a new development or a local business.
  • Go Live. Engage with your audience in real-time. When you use the live feature, your followers receive a prompt to join you. Encourage them to ask you questions and leave comments.
  • Cross Promote. Get the most out of your content. While a story will disappear after 24 hours, you can save them permanently as a highlight on your Instagram bio. You can also share your stories on your Facebook page.

There are many other Instagram features to explore. Utilize the ones that make sense for your business. If you aren’t already on Instagram, set up your real estate business account here.