Ep: 144: How to Get Started, Build Your Brand and Get Business from Instagram

Michelle Berman breaks down how loan officers and real estate agents can build a brand, grow an audience, and generate leads entirely on Instagram without paid ads. She covers hashtag strategy, geotagging, content calendars, DM conversion, and IGTV. Best for LOs who know they should be on Instagram but don't know where to start or why their current effort isn't working.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Build a 30-post monthly content calendar using this exact split: 15 lifestyle/personal posts, 5 testimonials, 5 value/educational posts that ask for business, and 5 loan program or closed-deal posts — schedule them in batch on Sundays using Planoly.
• Stop posting rate flyers as single images. If your flyer has 10 tips, break it into 10 separate posts and turn it into a value series that brings followers back each time.
• Create a hashtag matrix targeting your ideal client, not other LOs. Ask: if I were a first-time buyer in my city, what would I type into Instagram search? Use hashtags with 10,000–1,000,000 posts; anything outside that range is too noisy or too small to matter.
• Add a geotag and at least one relevant hashtag to every story post. Test it yourself: post the same story two days in a row — one with no tags, one with a location tag and hashtag — and compare views.
• Do Michelle's '25 comment challenge' daily: strategically comment on 25 posts from accounts that fit your target demographic (buyers, move-up sellers, local community) to grow a targeted, convertible following rather than a vanity follower count.
• Use Canva to design story ad creative from listing photos or walkthrough videos, then run it as an Instagram story ad directly — no agency or graphic design degree required.

The playbook

1. Step 1: Convert to a business Instagram account (takes 30 seconds; search YouTube for how-to).
2. Step 2: Define your ideal client and build a hashtag matrix around what they would search — not what industry peers search.
3. Step 3: Use hashtags in the 10K–1M post range; include one branded hashtag for your team or personal brand.
4. Step 4: Add a geotag and hashtag to every story post to trigger the algorithm to show content to the right local audience.
5. Step 5: Build a 30-post monthly content calendar (15 lifestyle, 5 testimonials, 5 value/CTA, 5 loan/deal posts) and schedule in Planoly.
6. Step 6: Execute the 25 comment challenge daily — comment strategically on posts from target-demographic accounts.
7. Step 7: Move qualified followers into DMs using a tracked conversation system (KPI sheet from follower → conversation → conversion).
8. Step 8: Create 3–5 IGTV videos per month on a single topic (e.g., 'What out-of-state buyers never think about') as a mini-series to establish authority.

Worth quoting

“95% of my leads are already following me on Instagram before I have an initial conversation with them.”

“The video will grab them. The lifestyle image will grab them. The caption is what keeps them and converts them.”

Best for

LOs who have avoided Instagram or posted sporadically with no strategy and want a concrete, zero-ad-spend system to generate leads and referral relationships on the platform.