Should Agents Use Instagram Photo Filtering with Their Listings?

Instagram represents a great opportunity for agents to market their listings, but should they only use the app to a certain extent?

 

Instagram is a wonderfully intuitive, wonderfully popular social network, and one that offers real estate agents a world of opportunity. From marketing listings, to communicating with fellow agents, to reaching out to prospective clients in a fun, spontaneous way, Instagram should be a serious consideration for any tech-savvy real estate agent.

But what of Instagram’s most famous feature, the various photo filters it allows users to access for their photos? Should real estate agents take advantage of those, or ignore that feature of the app? Here are some things to consider:
 
Yay for Filters!
 
Filters can be pretty cool, and they can add quite a bit of character to your photographs. From the vibrant colors of Lo-Fi to the cloudy, dreamy quality of Sierra, the strategic use of filters with listing photos could show a side of them that prospective buyers had not previously anticipated, from bringing out the color of the siding to better showing the detail in certain finishings. Also, we’ve found filters can be especially effective in brighting up dark photographs.

We already said that filters are cool, and by using filters, you too will be cool! In all seriousness, it’s always a great sign when we see agents taking part in new, hip forms of marketing. It shows that they are ahead of the 8-ball, and consumers respect that kind of initiative.

Nay for Filters!

At the same time, the perks of Instagram filters could become detriments, and for many of the same reasons. For instance, though you may be trying to look cool and hip with your use of filters, there’s some consumers who could view it as amateurish, or worse, unprofessional, something that a serious real estate professional would not do.

Also, though filters arguably bring out the best of an image, they also technically distort the image, as well, and the last thing you’d want to do is create a false impression of what your listing really looks like.

So, should you, or shouldn’t you? In the end, it’ll largely depend on your clientele. Just as hip professionals in the West Loop may appreciate your spontaneity, experienced professionals on the North Shore may find it tacky, so gauge what your clients will think before committing to anything.


Article courtesy of Chicago Agent Magazine

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