I N T R O D U C T I O N

At the beginning of the year I came out with a list of 11 Instagram

Secrets to help with engagement and growth. You should read
that one too, but half of what I said in that list is irrelevant because
Instagram changes and updates every second. In fact, by the time
you read this sentence everything in this ebook will be irrelevant.
So, really there’s no point in even writing it. Would be pretty funny
if I actually stopped there and all you got was this paragraph.

BUT, I would never do that because that’s psychotic. I’ve

actually compiled an epic list of secrets and hacks that will help
you get more engagement on your posts, stories, links, and
messages. A lot of these have come from my own experience
growing a variety of different accounts: @thebrokeagent
@brokeagentmedia, @overaskpodcast, and @badrealestatepics
and from Instagram coaches like Brock Johnson and Jason
Pantana.

Let’s get into it.

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 H O W T O T R I P L E
Y O U R C O M M E N T S

At this point everyone knows to comment back to everyone who

comments on your feed posts right? If not, now you do. It doubles
your comments, shows appreciation for the people willing to take
the time to interact on your IG, and it encourages more comments
because people see that you, the creator, is responsive.

Want to triple your comments? Ask a question as your comment

back. If they respond, you’ve now turned one comment into
three. This keeps the conversation going on your post long after
its initial engagement period. If some idiot comments, “love this
one!” respond back to them with, “oh yeah!? What the hell do you
love about it!?!?!?!?” Jokes aside, try to hang around on IG for 15
minutes after you post to respond back to the early commenters to
get the algorithmic juices flowing.

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 H O W T O G E T
M O R E L I N K C L I C K S

Randomly throwing up a link in your story with the URL to your

property website or YouTube channel is pure insanity. Nobody will
click on that shit unless you do these three things:

1. RENAME YOUR LINK

When you add in your URL, you have the option to “Customize
Sticker Text.” Do it.

If you don’t, the link will appear as the URL which is unsightly,
boring and looks like a link. One of my favorite tricks is to rename
this link with something more appealing. Give a call to action like
“WATCH NOW” or “Click this or DIE!”

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 H O W T O G E T
M O R E L I N K C L I C K S

I also like answering a question with the link as the solution. For
example, you could say, “Do you want to see a new listing I have
coming on the market?” Then put your link as something cheeky
like, “YES, of course.”

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 H O W T O G E T
M O R E L I N K C L I C K S

Test out different calls to action and see what works best with
your audience.

BONUS HACK: Use an arrow sticker to point at your link to give it

more attention.

brokeagentmedia.com
 H O W T O G E T
M O R E L I N K C L I C K S

2. SET IT UP

Do not start a story with a link. Instagram probably doesn’t like it

when your first piece of content of the day is something driving
people off the app. Build up your story with something engaging
first, set it up, and then drop the link as you begin wracking up
views. I like to preview my links with an IG story in Create Mode
that explains what I’m about to plug. It’s like a cover slide for a
presentation.

brokeagentmedia.com
 H O W T O G E T
M O R E L I N K C L I C K S

BONUS HACK: Sandwich your link between two engaging pieces

of content. Try to make the story before the link and after super
engaging so your story continues to get views before, during, and
after your plug.

3. DON’T PUT MULTIPLE LINKS IN THE SAME STORY

On our BAM account, we have so much content to promote that

this is difficult to avoid. We have daily blog posts and shows that
need to be linked through Instagram. However, on The Broke
Agent account, I aim to have only one link per day. Links usually
hurt your overall story engagement, so if you litter your stories with
links it’s going to throttle the potency of the MAIN place you want
to drive traffic. Use links thoughtfully.

brokeagentmedia.com
 T H E G O L I V E
( K I N D A ) H A C K

This one is ridiculous but it gets your story to pop up immediately.

Tom Ferry’s social media consigliere, Courtney Gracia, taught us this
on an episode of the Over Ask Podcast. She said…if you want to get
your story to pop in in the top left of people’s feeds…go live for one
second and then just exit out like it never happened.

Now, we know that IG LOVES when

you go live and it notifies your
followers that you’re live. It makes
sense this hack would do the same
and push your story to the top.

Full disclosure, I haven’t tried it

because I find this trick slightly
shameful, but you bet your ass I’ll do it
if my story is flopping when I need it to
hit. Another hack is to just actually go
live and provide value or entertainment
to your followers. But, that’s scary AF.

brokeagentmedia.com
 R E P O S T
O L D C O N T E N T

This isn’t necessarily a “hack” but it’s definitely slept on. Repurpose
and restructure old content that performed well for you in the past.
Luckily, I have a fat bank of 4,000+ posts to pull from.

For years I avoided using the same photos, captions, or videos

because I wanted to be original with every new post. Thankfully I
realized the people following me today didn’t necessarily follow
me back in 2015, 2019, or even last week. I started reposting old
content a few years ago for “Throwback Thursdays” and noticed
they performed better than they did the first time. That’s because
my following had grown and most people never saw the original
posts. You must realize that less than 10% of your followers actually
see your posts and nobody thinks about your content like you do.

As Instagram continues to evolve, I have also changed my strategy.

I no longer just post the exact same thing from before and I no
longer do it on “Throwback Thursdays” because I’m not a 70-year-
old who just discovered Facebook. Today, Instagram PUNISHES
content that is not original, even if it’s yours. They have software
that recognizes photos, videos, and text to see if they have been
posted before.

brokeagentmedia.com
 R E P O S T
O L D C O N T E N T

An easy fix is to change it up a little. For me, I can change a meme

into a Tweet, a Tweet into a meme, a video into a meme, a meme
into a video, or tweak the concept a little with different wording
or style from the original. Some of
the most engaging posts that I’ve
done recently are from older videos
that I change into Reels. I will go
back to posts before summer 2020
(when Reels came out), find my
best-performing videos, download
them with the Repost App or screen
record them, and then format it for
Reels. The secret sauce is to add a
sick song to go with it that provides
more context.

This was one of my most successful

videos from a couple of years ago.
I recently posted it again as a Reel
and added the song “It’s Been a
While.” It absolutely bangs.

CLICK TO PLAY

brokeagentmedia.com
 U S E M O R E
O R I G I N A L A U D I O

Have you noticed that IG has been removing audio on Reels and
videos? They’ve also been flat out removing videos from years
ago for having audio that is unoriginal or all of a sudden becomes
a copyright violation. To avoid this,
create more original Reels with
original audio. Hopping on trends,
lip syncing, and adding popular
audio to your Reels is great, but
the post isn’t TRULY yours unless
everything is original. That shit can
get removed whenever someone
somewhere decides to change
something. I have Reels that have
NO SOUND at all because the audio
was removed years later. Also, IG is
favoring creators who post original
content.

ONE MORE THING: If you create

catchy, original audio it might
actually get used by other people
which is great for your account’s
discovery.

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 U S E I N ST R U M E N TA L S
O F T R E N D I N G AU D I O S
INSTEAD OF THE MAIN SONG

Is there anything more annoying than watching an agent try to

give a market update with, “My money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds”
in the background? Yes, trending audios are great to help boost
the performance of your Reel, but not when the lyrics of the
song interfere with what you’re actually saying. Search for the
instrumentals of these songs, and put the volume down to 2 or 3.
Follow Massive Agent, The Over Ask Podcast, or Neel Dhingra for
great instrumentals to save.

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 H O W T O G E T T H E
“ G O O D M U S I C ”

If you have a Business Account and don’t have access to the

“good” music from Spotify, simply change your account category
to Entrepreneur. Not sure why this works, but it does. Once you do
this you should have immediate access to Spotify’s library for your
stories and Reels. Also, make sure to hide your category from your
profile because “Entrepreneur” is cringe AF. You’re a realtor, not a
finance guru.

brokeagentmedia.com
 F O U R Q U I C K
S T O R Y H A C K S

You may have heard some of these from me before, but I want to
bunch them all together so you don’t miss them.

1. LET YOUR STORY EXPIRE

If your story isn’t getting great engagement or views, let it expire
completely before you post your next one. Wait 24 hours, and
start the next day’s story completely fresh so the algorithm forgets
about the dog shit you put up the day
before.

2. GO CREATE MODE
If you want to get people’s attention,
especially for link clicks, go create
mode and write it out. Throw up a
dark background and type out what
you want to convey. For some reason,
this always gets crazy engagement
for me.

brokeagentmedia.com
 F O U R Q U I C K
S T O R Y H A C K S

3. START THE DAY’S STORY WITH SOMETHING ENGAGING

DO NOT start it with a reshare. That kills the algorithm. Start your
story with something that you know will get engagement, DM’s,
and reactions. You can do this by asking a question, doing a poll,
a quiz, or by posting something funny or eye-catching that will get
people’s attention. The better your story starts, the better it will
perform throughout the day.

4. TRY TO GET DM’S FROM YOUR STORIES

Why? IG values messaging as one of, if not THE most important
forms of interactions on the app. So, in your stories, you should try
to post content that generates reactions and messages. The more
“replies” a story gets, the more views it gets. You can do this by
giving a call to action or by asking a question. For agents, this can
be something as simple as, “What’s your dream neighborhood to
live in?” or, “How much do you think this house is listed for?” You
can even encourage DM’s by literally saying, “respond to this story
if you want to see the rest of the listing photos.” That way you can
get their email and send them a link to your property website. Lead
GENERATED.

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 T H E C O L L A B T R I C K

We all know that anytime Instagram comes out with a new feature,
you should use it. This means right now you should be pinning
three posts to your profile, using polls and stickers in your actual
Reels, and posting collabs. But, the jury is still out on Collabs.
I’ve done a ton of them and I’m not sure they perform better than
normal Reels or posts.

Anyway, this isn’t really a trick but something to be aware of. The
person who starts the collab is the account that will show up in the
caption. So, keep that in mind when posting or accepting. If you
accept the collab, the creator who initiated it will have their handle
show up in YOUR feed and vice versa. Still trying to figure out
what’s better: to initiate the collab with the larger account or the
smaller one.

But, I do know if you collab with an account that sucks and doesn’t
have a good “trust score” with IG, that it might actually hurt the
performance even though the video is being shared to both
audiences. So, keep that in mind.

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 T E S T Y O U R
C O N T E N T

IG is the mecca of content. It’s a more curated feed and less of a

dumping ground like stories or Twitter. So, a good way to make
sure your posts perform well is to test your content on other
platforms to see how it does with different audiences.

Now, I’m not trying to say to be overly precious with your posts.
Quantity is still the move on IG. The more you post the better.
But, if you have a decent Facebook or Twitter audience it might
be good to post your thought, post, or video there first to “test”
it before you launch on Instagram. I do this all the time with my
posts. If a meme gets no engagement on Facebook, it probably
won’t do well on IG either. Different platforms have different
audiences, but this can be a good hack.

brokeagentmedia.com
 T H E S E O H A C K

People are starting to use the

“search” feature way more on
Instagram. For discoverability
purposes, make sure you’re
using keywords in your profile
and captions so people can find
you. Treat your IG caption like a
blog and be cognizant of what
people are searching to find
realtors, houses, and locations.
ALSO, turn your Instagram into a
literal blog post. Jason Pantana
talks about his strategy and
it’s been crushing it for him on
Google. Your posts have a short
half-life, but the Google search
lives FOREVER!

He brilliantly titled it, “SEO is

social media afterlife.”

WATCH IT HERE

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 T H E H O O K H A C K

People want to mindlessly scroll on IG. In order to get people to

actually stop on your video and watch it, you NEED a powerful
hook. DO NOT introduce yourself and say your name because
nobody cares, and that’s an immediate scroll by. Start with
something engaging immediately. Watch Byron Lazine for good
hook ideas - he even finishes videos with a question to drive
engagement. Or, try one of these hook captions from Brock
Johnson:

“Did you know…”

“I need your help”
“Keep watching!”
“Stop!”
“Public service announcement!”
“Watch til the end!”
“Attention”
“Stay til the end!”
“Surprise at the end!”
“Have you ever…?”
“This post is only for____” (insert group of people)

brokeagentmedia.com
 F I N A L H A C K

Let your real estate license expire and delete your account so you
never have to worry about any of this ever again.

Seriously, Instagram is getting out of control with updates and

algorithmic changes. It’s nearly impossible to keep up with and
difficult to keep switching strategies. I find a lot of people are
getting sick of the platform and are taking their talents elsewhere
to the likes of TikTok and YouTube.

It’s extremely important to diversify your content strategy and build

followings on other platforms. IG is still, in my opinion, the best
place to host an audience, generate leads, and build a following,
but you are and always will be at the mercy of the platform.

Build that email list. You own it.

May the force be with you...

You want some deals? Look at the next page.

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 M E N U

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