Improving your feed doesn’t necessarily mean upgrading your camera. Instagram was built for snapping and sharing on the go, so you can get good results with an ordinary smartphone. Instead, here are three things you can do in front of—and behind—the camera to step up your game:

1. Plan. Plan. Plan.

Any professional photographer will tell you great shots take great planning, especially your lighting, staging and angles. Keep those factors in mind as you evaluate a property’s best features and how you plan to showcase them. For real estate photography tips, check out 4 Pro Tips for Better Real Estate Photography and Capturing Curb Appeal: 4 Real Estate Photography Tips on our homebuyer blog or, better yet, download our free guide.

If you’re going to be on camera too, here are some additional tips to consider:

• Look at the camera. Eye contact is engaging and helps to build trust.
• Relax and act natural. It’s important to bring energy and enthusiasm (especially on video) but overly bright smiles and stiff poses can be off-putting.
• Dress professionally and style your hair and makeup conservatively, so your appearance won’t distract from what you’re saying and showing.
• Be on the lookout for noises that could spoil your audio. Wind or traffic sounds outside, your footsteps on hard-surface floors, running appliances and even your own breathing too close to the phone’s mic can be avoided or minimized if you do a practice run on your video.
• Don’t chew gum, eat, drink or smoke.
• Turn off phone notifications and stop incoming calls so you won’t be interrupted.

2. Show more than just listings.

Listing photos and video walkthroughs are the bread and butter of a real estate account, but there’s value in adding other kinds of content to your mix. Photos of your happy clients (ask permission first!), posts about community amenities and local attractions, and tips on home buying, financing, packing and moving can help you start conversations with your followers and get them more engaged with you and your business. If you’re active in charitable or community organizations, share that and let others know how they can help, too.

3. Explore the fun features.

A large part of Instagram’s charm is in the fun ways you can personalize what you publish. Take some time to play with the various filters and effects, stickers and more. Not every bell and whistle will be a fit for your style and business needs, but you may find some new ways to add interactive elements to your posts.

Pay close attention to features that can improve the discoverability of your posts, such as hashtags and geo-tags. These may help draw in new followers that you haven’t encountered through other marketing channels.

It’s also important to investigate the ways you can use IGTV, Instagram Stories and highlights. You may find that video tours get move views when posted as highlights, for example, or that your followers really love responding to polls. See what works for your audience.  

For more info on Instagram’s capabilities, check Sprout Social’s article, The Complete List of Instagram Features for Marketing Experts.