As a commercial real estate professional, you may have toyed with the idea of building a social media presence on popular platforms like Facebook and Twitter but overlooked the fast-growing world of Instagram. Or maybe you’ve already built an excellent social media strategy but never considered Instagram as a strategic addition to your marketing efforts. If you think about it, Instagram might be one of the best places for your CRE presence to be. After all, it’s largely focused on video and photos, as is your growing CRE business. Showcase your properties.One of the most obvious and important elements of using Instagram as a commercial real estate professional is the use of photo and video to showcase your properties. By adding professional photography and video that presents your available listings to a broad audience as opposed to them taking the time to visit your website, you’ll stay ahead of your competition. This also allows businesses that are shopping around for someone to work with to get an idea of the types of properties you specialize in. It’s just another way for potential clients to understand the focus of your firm and how you may be able to help them with their commercial real estate needs. Reach your target audience through hashtags.If you’ve ever fallen deep into a #hashtag hole you know it’s easy to find new and interesting accounts to follow without searching specifically for one company. As a commercial real estate organization, you can use hashtags to your advantage. Identify the popular hashtags in your local area, or ones used by businesses looking for commercial space. The beauty is, you can use as many or as few hashtags as they apply to the type of media you’re sharing. The introduction of hashtags makes it that much easier for people to “stumble upon” your business and stick around because of the quality content you’re sharing. Show off your personality.Part of building a well-recognized and memorable brand is to develop an identity around it. And that identity often starts with the personality and style of your business. Whether you’re a techy CRE firm that attracts chilled-out millennials searching for creatives spaces, or a more buttoned-up and sleek brand that brings high profile law firms to your business, that feeling should be showcased clearly through your Instagram. The colors in your photos, the types of images you share, the tone of your captions, the Insta-stories you share real time – it should all be in line with the type of brand you’re wanting to build in your commercial real estate business. And that brand will attract just the right type of client. So, go ahead and claim your company name on Instagram and start sharing all the really great aspects of your business and brand that will have just the right type of clients knocking down your door to work with you when it comes time to make their next commercial real estate decision.