Mastering the Instagram Algorithm for Home Stagers

If you want to market your home staging business online, you need to learn the basics of mastering the Instagram algorithm so that you can attract your ideal audience and get more leads from social media. So, how do you leverage the power of the Instagram algorithm to create a strategy that will lead to more sales and leads?

Why is Instagram Marketing for Home Stagers Important?

First things first, why is Instagram marketing for home stagers so important? As I often tell my clients, Instagram is not just a spot for posting pretty portfolio photos but a powerful marketing tool that helps you build brand awareness and gain new clients and referrals. When I was running my home staging business, Instagram was the #1 platform – aside from my blog – that brought in a steady stream of new clients and referrals.

It’s an ideal visual platform because the home staging and real estate industries are all about aesthetics and visual appeal. 

Instagram is also one of the most powerful marketing tools in your arsenal. When leveraged correctly, it will help your home staging brand stand out and, better yet – help you create connections with prospective clients, nurture relationships, and get you leads – all through the app.

How Do I Create an Effective Instagram Marketing Strategy?

So, how do you create an effective Instagram marketing strategy that will help you do all that? 

As I discuss in the latest podcast episode of Home Stagers and Designers on Fire with Marianne Cherico, creating an effective Instagram marketing strategy for home stagers starts not with posting your favorite portfolio photos but following a few essential steps to create a solid marketing foundation before you post anything on social media.

Following these steps will help you simplify the marketing process, make content creation easier, and improve the results of your social media marketing. Your content will be much more likely to create content that resonates with your ideal client, set yourself apart as an industry expert, and ultimately get leads and referrals from the app.

I’m here to walk you through these steps so that you can leverage the power of Instagram marketing to grow your home staging or real estate business.

Step One: Get to Know Your Ideal Client

Knowing who you serve is one of the most critical steps to attracting your ideal clients on Instagram. And, being honest, if you don’t know who your perfect client is, you’re wasting your time creating content for Instagram. Every piece of content you share should have your ideal client in mind. This way, you can curate your Feed so that your dream client knows as soon as they land on your profile that you’re an expert and you’re the one who can help them.

When I work with social media clients, the first step we take is to create an ideal client persona. It’s the bedrock for any effective Instagram marketing strategy for home stagers or small businesses. Knowing your dream client’s needs, challenges, and desires will help you determine how to help them through your services. Additionally, creating an in-depth persona will help you craft a content strategy that is effective in reaching prospective clients and convincing them you’re the best professional to help them achieve their goals.

Step Two: Create Your Content Pillars

On Instagram, content is king. That’s why creating your Instagram content pillars is so essential. It makes it much easier to develop post ideas and will ensure that you stick to topics your ideal client will be most interested in.

Because at the end of the day, your Instagram feed isn’t for you – it’s for your ideal client. 

So, what types of content should you be posting about? For home stagers, some of that content will revolve around your projects, staging transformations, and styled spaces. Beyond that, you should have content that builds brand awareness, shares your expertise, and either inspires your audience, makes them laugh, or inspires them. Sharing a robust mix of content like this will help your audience fall in love with what you do and connect with you as a human. And at the end of the day, people buy from people, so adding this dimension to your Instagram content strategy is highly effective.

Step Three: Audit Your Current Social Content

Now that you’ve dug deeply into who your business serves and developed content pillars based on the content your ideal audience is interested in, it’s time to audit your current social media content.

Take the time to go through your posts to see what kind of content you’re already sharing that is resonating with your ideal audience. Take note of what content types perform best- are they reels or carousels? Does your audience prefer still images or graphics? Figuring that out will help you create content that is not only on topic but also the right content type that your audience is more likely to interact with.

Step Four: Set Your Instagram Goals

Before you start posting left and right, let’s talk about goals. A solid Instagram marketing strategy for home stagers is built on goals and not simply posting for posting’s sake. As I often tell clients, your goals will be different depending on where you’re at with marketing your home staging business.

A home stager just starting her business will have goals to build brand awareness first and foremost. She’ll do that by measuring her audience size, engagement on her posts, and the number of people messaging her through the app.

A more seasoned stager with an established brand will focus on goals like getting more website clicks, tracking new client conversations, and leads or referrals from Instagram.

Whatever your goals are, they should follow the SMART method. This means they should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

When I work with a social media client, we’ll set SMART goals for each month and each quarter. We’ll track our progress towards these goals using a social media content calendar and, from the results of those goals, refine our Instagram content strategy as we go.

Step Five: Build a Content Calendar

Now that you’ve done all the hard work to lay the foundation for your social media content, it’s time to go ahead and build out a content calendar that maps out exactly what kind and type of content you’re going to be sharing – and when you’re going to be sharing it.

A content calendar is essential for your home staging business to help you stay on track with your social media marketing goals, track the effectiveness of your content strategy, and measure your overall success.

Not only that, but a content calendar like the one in my Social Stager program will help make it easier (and faster) for you to create your content because you’ll have a plan that you – or your social media manager – can refer to. As I often tell my clients, Instagram marketing for home stagers is only as effective as their content plan.

Step Six: Create and Post Your Content

Creating social media content and posting it is your next task. My motto is working smarter, not harder, so I recommend using apps like Canva to make your content and Buffer or Planoly to schedule it. These social media apps will save you hours of time and enable you to market your business while freeing you up to actually run your home staging business.

If creating home staging content is outside your wheelhouse, invest in some social media templates to help you quickly make posts that are on-brand and beautifully designed so you stand out like a professional on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Instagram marketing for home stagers doesn’t have to be complicated – especially when you leverage all the available tools.

Step Seven: Measure Your Results

One of those critical steps that home stagers make is not analyzing their data or measuring the effectiveness of their posts consistently. I know this isn’t fun – for years, I avoided this task as well. Still, once I understood how to use that data to refine my Instagram marketing strategy, I saw a massive difference in my account’s growth and the number of leads I got.

I know this isn’t sexy or glamorous work. Still, it’s necessary if you want to grow on social media and continue to attract your ideal client. Paying attention to which posts performed well, what types of posts your audience loves the most, and noting which posts didn’t do as well as you hoped will help you refine your Instagram content strategy and pivot as needed to continue progressing toward your marketing goals.

When I work with clients, we meet monthly to review these stats. My clients find it informative, helpful, and reassuring that we don’t have to guess what kind of content to make to consistently grow online.

Feeling Stuck in Overwhelm with Your Content Strategy?

I know how overwhelming social media can be – especially if you’re new to Instagram or are so busy running your company that you need more time to create an Instagram content strategy. Instagram marketing for home stagers can feel daunting, and that’s why I’ve put together some resources to help you out.

If you’re new to marketing your business, I recommend taking my free 5-day Social Media Challenge. I’ll walk you through building a solid ideal client persona, identifying your unique selling proposition, and setting up your content pillars.

If you’ve done all that hard work, but you’re not sure what kind of content to post on social media, then consider my Social Stager program with a 60-day proven content strategy + engagement blueprint to help you know exactly what to say and do to stand out on social media.

Check out our shop full of marketing templates to make your life even easier!

Instagram Marketing for Home Stagers: Wrapping It Up

Instagram marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming. As I said in the podcast, marketing is an experiment; there is no failure, only growth, experimentation, and learning. With a clear strategy and the right tools, you can make Instagram work for you, not vice versa.

You can do this – I can help.