Michelle Berman-Mikel says ditch your old Instagram methods and do this instead

This week, we are bringing you a fantastic chat with Michelle Berman-Mikel, the owner and founder of Berman Media PD and the developer behind a program called Beyond the Method, which teaches real estate professionals how to use Instagram in a way that helps them grow their business.

She and Tracey do a deep dive into how to use and leverage Instagram and other social media to turn superficial follower engagement into a full-blown lead-generation tool. Michelle has what she calls the “Four Pillars of Engagement” and also gives some great insight into how to make and stick with meaningful Instagram content that will help you stand out.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• Instagram is a powerful platform for real estate marketing, but many agents don’t use it to its potential.
• The four pillars of success on Instagram include value series, testimonials, listing day, and lifestyle content.
• Outbound prospecting is about creating opportunities and building relationships within the community.
• The ‘black line approach’ is a strategy for success, inspired by Michelle’s swimming career, and emphasizes focus, discipline, and trust in the process.

Here’s a small preview of today’s interview. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

Tracey Velt: I want to speak to the audience who is on Instagram. They’re not really sure what to do with it, how to get engagement, or how to really get a following. You have four pillars that you talk about for success with Instagram. Let’s get into those four pillars first and then we talk about some strategies.

Michelle Berman-Mikel: I saw a massive hole in the game where there were a lot of mortgage and real estate professionals that were just talking heads on Instagram. They were literally posting what everyone else was posting because that’s what they thought they were supposed to do. 

When I developed the concept of value series, I wanted my agents to get away from being talking heads. Instead of trying to be for everyone, they had to focus on being for their people and really leaning into the community that they really wanted to build. We’re not talking about real estate mumbo jumbo right out of the gate, right? There’s obviously a ton of value in sharing data and metrics, but there is a way to tell the story that will again keep people coming back.

I have a client who loves, loves, loves houseplants, right? She’s just like, everything is houseplants, right? All of her clients at closing get houseplants. And so I said to my client, how do we create content for you about real estate in a way that’s going to help you build your community? We ended up developing a series about how to move with houseplants. Like, I would never have even thought to think that, right?

The RealTrending podcast features the brightest minds in real estate. Every week, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Elissa Branch.