How to make collaborator posts on Instagram: For real estate agents

What is a collaborator post:

A collaborator post is where an Instagram post is made from one profile, then up to 3 other profiles are added as “collaborators”. This means once they accept the collaborator request, the exact same post also shows on those other profiles that were added - with the likes and comments all shared across the “one” collaborated post.

This is highly beneficial to your audience as the “one” property post is shared to the audiences of all the profiles that were added as collaborators. Instead of different agent’s uploading the exact same property multiple times as individual posts on their own page which makes all the audiences that are often very similar see the same property post on repeat from different profiles - something that leads to terrible engagement and unfollows.

How to make a collaborator post:

1. Open Instagram

2. Make a new post just like normal

3. Click “tag people”

4. Now, here’s the important part! Click the button that says “Invite Collaborators”

5. Search for the profile you want to collaborate the post with and tap it

6. Now, it takes you back to the image, be really careful here! You need to repeat the process again if you want to add more collaborators.

7. So if you do; click the “Invite Collaborators” button again

8. Search for the next profile you want to add and tap it

9. Click done

10. Click share

Note: Collaborators cannot be added after a post is already live, you must add collaborators when you are uploading a new post.

What’s the point:

In real estate, agents, offices, and their head office’s often share the exact same property - all uploaded across different Instagram profiles as seperate posts.

This means their audiences, which are often the same, are being forced to see the exact same property multiple times - as all those posts were uploaded as totally seperate posts.

Instead, collaborator posts fix this issue by showing “one” collaborated post to the audience of all the profiles that were added just one time.

What is the benefit of using a collaborator post:

There are huge benefits to using the collaborator function on Instagram.

1. Your audience is not overwhelmed and annoyed at seeing the exact same property uploaded three seperate times from three different profiles, e.g. agent 1, agent 2, and your local office or head office Instagram page.

2. The collaborated post is shared with the followers of all three profiles.

3. You don’t have three seperate posts about the exact same property all competing for basically the same audience.

4. The “one” collaborated post looks much more exciting and impressive to future vendors who might check your page as it has lots of likes and comments on the “one” post instead just a few likes and comments across three seperate posts.

5. The collaborated post is shared with the followers of all three profiles.

Don’t make these mistakes:

1. Ensure your caption is professional and mentions the SOI - otherwise your real estate brand head office will likely not accept the collaborator request.

2. So many people accidentally add their first collaborator to the post and then when the screen goes back to showing an image - they just click on the image to tag someone - thinking that Instagram will remember they are adding collaborators… but it doesn’t:

3. You instead must click the “Invite Collaborators” button again to add new collaborators - otherwise you will just be tagging someone in the photo which doesn’t have the same outcome.

4. Make sure you only add collaborators on to one image - don’t spread them across multiple images within one post as we have found Instagram has a glitch where this seems to only allow the last collaborator added if you put them across multiple images.

Remember:

1. You can only currently add up to 3 other profiles as collaborators.

2. If you are in Victoria and your caption doesn’t mention the SOI (for posts about current listings) - your real estate head office Instagram will likely not accept the collaborator request.

3. Be very careful you are adding a collaborator - and not just tagging someone in the photo - the functions feel very similar but have very different outcomes.

4. You cannot add collaborators after a post is already live - it must be done before you send the post live.