Instagram stories and Facebook stories are becoming more and more popular, so much so that they're outpacing the traditional feed. We can see evidence of this with social platforms placing more emphasis on developing and showcasing stories in their apps and introducing new features like Instagram Reels.
You already know social media is necessary if you want to be successful as a small business—that's why you're here!—but you have the opportunity to step up your social media game with engaging Instagram story and Facebook story content.
Keep reading for different ways to use stories for your real estate business.
Share behind the scenes content on social media
Behind the scenes photos or videos can show your followers you're super hardworking and relatable while letting your unique personality shine through. Make behind the scenes (BTS) videos for open houses, tours, how-to's, and what you do on the day-to-day.
Encourage engagement with polls
One of the best ways to encourage engagement on Instagram or Facebook is by using the polls option in stories. One of the most simple ways to do this is by posting two photos and asking which your followers prefer. You can do yes or no polls, this or that, or sliding scale polls.
Here are a few basic poll example questions you can ask your followers:
White cabinets or green cabinets?
Which style is yours? Minimalist or maximalist?
Modern or bohemian?
Before or after?
Do you love this bathroom remodel? Yes or no.
Sliding heart scale to show how much your followers love an image on your story.
Use these or come up with your own polls to highlight different properties you have listed without being super salesy.
Learn how to make a poll for your next Instagram story!
Create story highlights on Instagram
Stories are only visible for 24 hours, but Instagram created a way for you to save and showcase your best content right at the top of your feed.
There are three main reasons we recommend using story highlights:
1. You can save and showcase your best Instagram stories
You created and posted an amazing Instagram story, but it's going to expire in 24 hours! Using highlights means you can save that story to a highlight reel on your page, effectively transitioning it into evergreen content. Viewers will be able to view it again and again, and it doesn't expire!
2. You can organize your story highlights into different categories
We love organization! Organize your highlights into different themes or topics like "new listings", "testimonials", and "BTS" (behind the scenes). This will help you stay organized and it will help your followers locate content really quickly and easily.
3. You can change the content out any time
You have full control over your highlights. Add stories from your archive, then remove them from your highlight a week later. This is super helpful for highlight categories you want to keep updated like "New!", "News", or "New listings". You have the ability to curate your Instagram story highlights in order to put your best social foot forward.
Start a new story series
Is there a topic you're an expert on, or perhaps something you'd love to highlight every week or each month? Start a content series in your stories! Whether it's weekly highlights of home renovations, monthly tutorials or tips, or daily check-ins, hosting a content series on stories is a great way to provide quality content to your followers.
Explore more story design options in Ripl
Some of the options on Instagram and Facebook in terms of fonts and layout can be a bit limited. With Ripl, you can create static images or videos for your stories and utilize an extensive font library to make your story even more unique. There are also tons of customizable templates to use when designing your stories, plus ways to re-share and re-download stories so you can use the same template every time or tons of different ones! Try creating your next Instagram or Facebook story in Ripl. For inspiration, you can view some examples from a recent post here.
