Boost Your Social Media Presence: Hashtags For Real Estate
With over 302 million social media users in the U.S. alone, real estate professionals have a massive pool of potential clients to target.
Whether advertising your listings on Facebook or taking users through a virtual tour on Instagram, social media is a useful tool for real estate agents.
One crucial part of marketing on social media effectively is using hashtags. The right hashtag strategy can help you reach more users, generate more leads, and outperform your competition.
In this article, we discuss the best hashtags you can use to effectively drive leads and engagement on social media.
What Is a Hashtag and Why Are They Useful for Real Estate Agents?
Hashtags are words or phrases that start with a hash (#) symbol. They are used on most social networks and are usually a number of words displayed as one word.
Hashtags help to add context to your social media posts. They can also help interested users find your posts.
For example, someone looking for a house in San Diego might search for #sandiegorealestate. On some social networks, they could even follow that real estate hashtag and get alerts when something new is posted.
If you’re a real estate agent in San Diego with a property listed with the right hashtags, you could attract these users as potential clients.
Each real estate hashtag has an audience interested in reading relevant content. This is a great opportunity for you to:
- Increase your sphere of influence.
- Grow your brand.
- Generate leads.
Top Real Estate Hashtags
Here are some of the best hashtags a real estate agent could use in their posts.
Why Agents Should Use Real Estate Hashtags
There are a few reasons to use real estate hashtags:
✅ Get better reach
Using hashtags puts your social media content in front of new audiences. This helps you grow beyond your current followers.
The right hashtags will help people find content within the property industry that is relevant to them. This is why it’s important to use a mix of hashtags that is specific to what you do.
✅ Attract the right clients
Hashtags allow you to hone in on your ideal client. Imagine you specialize in selling starter homes to young families. You’d use real estate hashtags like #firsttimehomebuyer or #familyhome to reflect this.
In this case, you’d want to avoid using #luxuryrealestate or #realestateinvestor, as these would draw two entirely different (and potentially irrelevant) types of clients.
If relevant, using several real estate hashtags together can help you target your post with greater precision.
✅ Stay ahead of the competition
A key part of any marketing activity is knowing what your competitors are doing so you can do better.
You can use hashtags to conduct competitor research on social media.
Here’s how:
✔️ Choose the hashtags you want to target and see how your competitors use them.
✔️ Assess which real estate hashtag strategies are working and the kind of content that gets engagement.
To understand what your competition is doing, focus on:
- The number of hashtags used.
- How often they post.
- Which posts get the most engagement.
- How they encourage engagement.
- How they generate leads.
✅ Make your brand discoverable
With social media algorithms constantly changing, it can be challenging to get your post in front of the right people—unless you spend money on paid advertising.
Hashtags help make your social media content discoverable, as users will often conduct searches based on hashtags that are relevant to what they’re looking for.
Using hashtags effectively will make your posts more visible and help interested prospective clients find you.
✅ Boost your engagement
The more social media users engage with your post, the more timelines it will land on. Hashtags help you generate engagement because you’ll attract audiences who are interested in what you’re posting.
How to Use Real Estate Hashtags in Social Media Posts
Each social media site treats hashtags slightly differently. However, there are some general rules that apply.
➡️ How many hashtags to use
Too many hashtags will make your post seem spammy. This means you’ll get less engagement and may damage the brand awareness you’re working so hard to achieve.
Ensure you only include relevant hashtags within your post and use ones your target audience is interested in.
So, how many hashtags should you use? Using up to five relevant hashtags is a good number for most social networks. The only exception is Instagram posts, where up to 15 is generally considered common practice.
➡️ Use quality content
If you want your social media efforts to drive results, you have to focus on posting high-quality content.
Posting a listing with poor-quality photos and an uninspiring description could make your brand less attractive to potential clients.
Ensure your posts are always professionally produced and deliver valuable content to your followers. We explain how in our real estate social media guide.
➡️ Use local real estate hashtags
Most buyers have a specific area in mind when hunting for property. Your knowledge of the local market and neighborhood will be vital in helping them find a home.
Local hashtags are great for honing in on your area. If you live in a big city with iconic, desirable streets, use hashtags that refer to them.
For example, if you sell property in L.A., you might use #Hollywoodboulevard or #Sunsetboulevard.
If you sell in a less urban area, your hashtags would probably be broader. For example, if you sell property in the West Hills region of Spokane, W.A., you might use #Westhills #Spokanerealestate.
Avoid using local hashtags that describe too wide an area. For example, #californiarealestate may be too broad to attract any real interest—although you can pair it with other, more specific hashtags to have a good balance.
➡️ Get creative
Hashtags provide a good opportunity to show off your personality and creativity.
Mix in a few real estate hashtags reflecting your view on something. If you share a humorous anecdote, use a hashtag to highlight the punchline.
In this scenario, hashtags work best in personal posts like congratulating employees or celebrating a client’s moving-in day. But this may not be suitable for listings and other more formal posts.
Below is a good example from Maria Lawe on Facebook. Maria’s post is humorous as she discusses selling property developed by the Walt Disney Company. She includes several hashtags referring to the entertainment company that help drive home the joke:
➡️ Write hashtags into the post
While you shouldn’t write hashtags into the copy of every post, doing so can help to underline your post’s key message. It can also help minimize your word count, which is an issue on some social media platforms.
Here’s a good example from Nicki & Karen Southern California Luxury Real Estate on LinkedIn. The post encourages followers to read their guide to buying in their area. The words “luxury” and “privacy” are hashtagged to highlight that they are the area’s key selling points. The area’s nickname is also hashtagged, reflecting these selling points.
➡️ Focus on your property’s best features
Use hashtags to highlight what makes your property attractive to buyers. This helps buyers who are looking for those features find your listing.
The location is usually the first thing that comes to mind, but what if you are selling a great home in a less popular area? Other features you could hashtag include:
- Is the house built in a particular style or period (for example, colonial)?
- Does it have any standout features, like a fireplace?
- Does it have special views?
- Is it near any noteworthy amenities or attractions?
- Does it have a pool or gym?
- Does it have parking and a garage?
- Does it have a large garden?
- Is it the perfect home for a certain type of buyer?
The example below is from a U.K.-based company, The Cloister. The post isn’t a listing but could fulfill the same purpose. The hashtags highlight some of the property’s key features, like the outdoor space, pool, and fireplace.
➡️ Find popular real estate hashtags used by your audience
Some hashtags are more popular than others. Using popular real estate agent hashtags could lead to more people seeing your posts. As long as you are posting good quality content, this should translate into more engagement.
Some social networks like LinkedIn give you a helping hand by suggesting related hashtags based on the content of your posts.
There is a downside to using hashtags that are too popular, though. Sometimes a hashtag gets used in so many posts that yours may be drowned out.
Ensure your post includes some hashtags with less than 500,000 posts, as these are usually “quiet” enough for yours to stand out.
Here are some ways you can find popular hashtags:
👉 Engage
The best way to find the right hashtags for your local audience is to engage with them yourself.
By joining in local conversations about your area’s real estate market, you get a feel for the kind of hashtags your audience is drawn to.
You should make a note of them so that you can pick from among the best hashtags whenever you post.
👉 Monitor competitors
As mentioned earlier, you can also monitor where your competitors are seeing success. Follow their feeds and update your settings to get notifications whenever they post.
Pay close attention to how many people respond to each type of post. You can also review their feed to see which posts and hashtags have performed best.
👉 Use tools
There are plenty of apps developed specifically for hashtags. Here are a few examples:
For Display Purposes Only
For Display Purposes Only is a website that suggests relevant, detailed Instagram hashtags that ensure your content is found by the right people.
It does this by analyzing the keywords that you provide. It also gives you a map of the world showing the different hashtags trending in each location.
Top Tags
The Top Tags app suggests trending hashtags that are relevant to your niche. It’s aimed at Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. It also helps you mix and match the ones you use so that you don’t saturate a particular hashtag with posts.
Flick
Another Instagram app, Flick, lets you generate, schedule, and analyze your hashtags. This is generally considered one of the best hashtag apps available.
Hashtags by Social Media Platform
Hashtags mostly serve the same purpose on all social media sites. However, there are a few minor differences that affect the way you use them on the respective platforms.
The characteristics of social networking sites impact the way you use hashtags. For example, some have limitations on word count.
Let’s look at how to use hashtags on different social media platforms:
According to Pew Research, 70% of Americans use Facebook, while the National Association of Realtors (NAR) says that 52% of realtors generate more leads from Facebook than any other channel. This means it’s a must for real estate agents to use this social network.
Here are some tips for using hashtags on Facebook:
✔️ Hashtags aren’t used as much in Facebook posts compared with other social media platforms.
✔️ Try to use up to three hashtags at a maximum.
✔️ The ideal Facebook post is just 80 characters long—another reason to work sparingly with your hashtags, as these will take up some of these characters.
✔️ Facebook is saturated with social media posts. This is why using hashtags on this platform is best for discoverability.
Instagram doesn’t provide as many business profile options as other social networks. However, it is a great platform for sharing images of your properties and generating interest in your open houses.
It also has a younger audience than Facebook, which might make it more suitable for connecting with first-time buyers.
Instagram allows you to follow hashtags. This is useful because it allows you to deliver content to the right audience—one that is interested in buying or selling homes. You can then build a following among them.
Some tips for using Instagram include:
✔️ Use Instagram to generate interest in your properties and events.
✔️ You can use up to 30 hashtags per Instagram post.
✔️ However, you should only use ones that are relevant.
✔️ 15 is a good maximum number of hashtags to aim for per Instagram post.
✔️ Adding the best real estate hashtags to your Instagram bio connects you to relevant topics.
Twitter (X)
Twitter (now called X) is all about discussion and debate. It’s a good place to keep up to date with the latest trends that impact the real estate industry and your niche or market.
Real estate hashtags are key to this, allowing you to find posts related to those topics.
Our tips for Twitter include:
✔️ Hashtags count towards your 280 character count, so you’ll want to use them carefully.
✔️ You can only post up to four photos, so make sure they are high quality and communicate a clear message.
✔️ Using one to two real estate hashtags is advised due to the limited length of posts.
✔️ You can’t follow trending real estate hashtags unless you use an app like TweetDeck.
Pinterest is a collection of personally curated images known as pins. It works for real estate agents because it is a great place to host a broad image library of your properties which people can like, share, and add to their collections.
Some tips for Pinterest include:
✔️ Users can create 500-character descriptions called pin descriptions.
✔️ Hashtags count toward the character limit.
✔️ Up to five hashtags is a good number to use.
✔️ The first four hashtags appear beneath the pin in a search.
LinkedIn is more of a professional networking and development platform than a fun social media site.
However, it’s among the best social networks for generating real estate leads. The guidelines for using LinkedIn hashtags reflect the platform’s professional nature.
Here are some tips for LinkedIn:
✔️ Include hashtags for real estate in the post copy.
✔️ Keep hashtags short.
✔️ Use up to five hashtags.
✔️ Keep the tone of your post light but professional.
✔️ Following real estate hashtags means any posts that use them appear on your feed.
TikTok
As a video-sharing platform that attracts mostly younger users, you can use TikTok to speak to first-time home buyers. This is the perfect place to share any video footage you may have of listings.
Getting hashtags right on TikTok includes:
✔️ Not using more than four to six hashtags in one video.
✔️ Creating a mix of trending hashtags and those that are more relevant to your niche.
✔️ Using branded hashtags—like those shared above—to build awareness on this platform.
Start Growing Your Following on Social Networks
Hashtags are at the heart of most social networks. If you want to effectively market your real estate business on social media, you’ll need to learn how to use them properly.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with the hashtags discussed above and try new approaches. If one of your posts performs well, you know which hashtags are working, and you can then replicate this in your next post.
As with all social media strategies, the most important rule is to engage in discussions with others as much as possible. By doing this, you’ll gain more followers, enjoy more reach, and you’ll start to see which real estate hashtags are most effective.
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