Your Guide to Optimizing LinkedIn for Real Estate Agents

by Ashley Harwood, Gina Baker

While many agents are all-in on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, there’s another social media platform that’s incredibly powerful: LinkedIn. Using LinkedIn for real estate is a hidden gem for connecting with local business professionals. It also allows you to target your prospecting in a more purposeful way, since you can search by job title and company. Keep reading to learn why LinkedIn for real estate agents is so important, plus tips to optimize your profile and how to get real estate leads on LinkedIn.

Why use LinkedIn for real estate

Let’s move past the misconception that LinkedIn is only for job-seekers and embrace it as an underutilized tool for real estate professionals. Believe it or not, there are over one billion users on LinkedIn. That’s a lot of opportunity for agents to find new LinkedIn real estate leads and grow their businesses. Here are some of the benefits of using LinkedIn for real estate agents:

Target specific people that align with your desired real estate audience
Build your brand and online presence to showcase your expertise
Network with other agents and real estate professionals like lenders, attorneys, property managers, etc.
Show off your listings and get more exposure for your sellers
Stay top of mind with your existing audience so they think of you when they have a real estate need

8 tips to use LinkedIn for real estate agents

Now that you understand why LinkedIn is an excellent outlet for real estate agents, let’s break down how to make the most of the platform to generate LinkedIn real estate leads.

1. Create your profile to make a great first impression

Your profile picture, cover photo and headline are the first parts of your profile people will see, so it’s important it gives a great first impression.

Example LinkedIn profile (Source: LinkedIn)

Use a professional headshot for your profile picture, one that’s close enough to allow others to see your face. Full body shots and lifestyle photos are great, but I would not recommend using them for your LinkedIn profile. Because the profile picture is thumbnail-sized, it would be too hard to see your face, and people won’t feel like they’re really connecting with you.

Your cover photo is larger, so you have more real estate (pun intended) to work with. I recommend creating a custom cover using Canva to make it easier to format. You can include your logo, a photo of your team or a skyline view of your city. Be sure whatever you choose is on brand for you – is your brand more quirky and fun or more high-end and modern?

For your headline, be clear and geographically specific. If you wear multiple hats in real estate, consider which ones you’d like to include in your headline so it’s the first thing people see. You’re allowed up to 220 characters; use as many as you can!

Double-check your contact information to make sure everything is correct, as well. You’d hate to miss out on a potential lead because you had an old email address listed on your profile.

2. Maximize the rest of your profile to showcase expertise

One unique aspect of LinkedIn for real estate agents is that there are places on your profile for much more than just where you work and your job title. Include your services, your skills, any charities you volunteer for, interests, plus your awards, designations and accomplishments. When completed, all of these sections combined provide a more well-rounded picture of you as a real estate agent.

There’s also a recommendations section. This is where past clients and colleagues can write reviews for you. I’d suggest asking all of your satisfied clients to write you a recommendation on LinkedIn, as it serves as social proof when a lead is checking out your profile.

Pro tip

Add as much detail to your profile as you can. The more complete it is, the more professional you seem.

3. Post a variety of content

Ah yes, the eternal social media conundrum: what do I post? On LinkedIn, like most other platforms in 2025, your best bet is video. According to one of LinkedIn’s own articles, video content receives five times more engagement than standard text posts and is 20 times more likely to be shared. Repurpose video from other platforms by sharing it to LinkedIn or create a video and upload it directly.

That same article tells us that “how-to” posts perform 31.5% better than other types of content. This statistic doesn’t surprise me at all. People enjoy being educated and educational content delivered in an easy-to-digest way is a wonderful form of entertainment. People will stick around for entertainment, so show off LinkedIn realtor expertise!

Here are some examples of “how-to” posts:

How to win a bidding war
How to interview and select the right real estate agent
How to prepare your home to sell
How to start the process of downsizing
How to decide when to buy your first home is

How to buy your first investment property
How to coordinate buying and selling at the same time
How to choose the right neighborhood
How to find off-market properties

4. Be consistent in your posts

Like all social media strategies, posting regularly is crucial. It not only helps your posts be seen more often, it boosts your credibility. Our industry is filled with agents who are in and out of business within a year. Consistently posting over time will help your audience feel secure in knowing you’re a professional real estate agent who’s here to stay.

When posting on LinkedIn, be sure to stay true to your brand and remain consistent with your branding. Think about your word choice, tone plus any images or video you post. Is your brand funny or sophisticated? Filled with emojis and exclamation points or streamlined and direct to the point? This consistency in the branding of your posts will help you better connect with your audience.

5. Engage with your audience

Posting is just one piece of the puzzle of using LinkedIn for real estate. The other is liking, commenting, and sharing other people’s content. This serves several purposes: it makes you top of mind with each person you engage with (they’ll get a notification that you liked their post), it helps your algorithm and it strengthens the relationship, which is important, especially if you’ve never met the person face-to-face.

Screenshot of Ashley Harwood responding to LinkedIn connections. — Example of LinkedIn engagement

Think about how you feel when you receive a flurry of likes and positive comments – it’s the best, right? People feel supported when others like and comment on their posts. You can create that yummy feeling for others by engaging with their content. Be sure to keep your praise genuine, of course.

Sending private messages is a higher level of engagement. It’s more personal and more direct. Use this tool when you have something specific and valuable to say or when you want to start a two-way conversation. I’d recommend leading with a compliment, rather than an ask. This will allow you to start a real conversation instead of coming off as an annoying salesperson.

Interacting and building relationships on LinkedIn is a fabulous tool for us introverts, as well. We can do it from the comfort of our couches, without having to expend our precious energy going to a crowded and loud in-person networking event. Win-win!

6. Build your network

Another benefit of LinkedIn for real estate agents is how easy it is to connect with people based on their job title, company or their name. Yet when you reach out to a cold contact, always have a purpose in mind. Ask yourself: Why do I want to connect with this person? What value can I bring them? Here are some examples of people you may want to connect with:

HR managers: These individuals will know if there’s a C-level exec moving to town to take a position at their company. If you build a great relationship with enough HR managers locally, they can be a great source of real estate leads.
Other agents: Other agents can be an excellent place to find referrals, find listings for your buyers that aren’t on the market yet and simply build working relationships with your fellow agents, which makes it easier when doing a deal together.
Investors: If you specialize in working with real estate investors, use LinkedIn to find more investors to help. Offer to find them off-market properties, help them find new tenants, or provide a CMA for any properties they’re considering selling.
Expired sellers and FSBOs: This is for the bravest of agents out there! Look up expired sellers and FSBO sellers on LinkedIn and send them a message. Offer to help and ask if they’d like you to come over and see the property. It’s a similar concept to cold calling, but it’s another way to reach out and attempt to connect.

7. Join (or start) a Linkedin group

Like Facebook, LinkedIn has many options for groups, ranging from The Social Media Marketing Group (with 2.8M members) to the Real Estate Professionals Referral Group. Getting involved in a group allows you to gain more exposure, but it’s up to you to put in the work. Show off your expertise by posting in groups, then like and comment on other posts to connect with group members.

Be sure anything you post is relevant to the group’s purpose and be careful not to be at all salesy. Focus on helping, providing value and answering questions. When you’re the person with the answers, you’ll be seen as an expert. New agents, that’s an invaluable tool for you! You’ll build your credibility without having dozens of sales under your belt.

If you’d like to really utilize groups or you simply notice there’s an opportunity for a new type of group in your local area, consider starting your own. When you’re the creator and owner of a group, it gives you even more visibility, in addition to having complete control of the group.

8. Advertise to generate LinkedIn real estate leads

Building relationships and establishing a presence on any social media platform takes time. If you have the budget to spend on ads and find leads faster, there are several types of advertising available on LinkedIn:

Sponsored content: Ads that appear on members’ feeds as they’re scrolling
Sponsored messaging: Targeted direct messages
Dynamic ads: Personalized ads based on members’ profile data, so you can target specific companies or job titles
Text ads: Pay-per-click ads

You may also consider upgrading to a LinkedIn Premium account. The options range from $29.99 to $139.99 per month, so it’s definitely an investment but could be worth it if you commit to using it regularly. One of the perks is being able to send InMail. InMail allows you to message people you aren’t connected with already, without sending them a connection request.

The full picture

LinkedIn is a wonderful platform and tool for real estate agents to expand their networks and find new leads. Implement the tips you learned to maximize your potential and improve your real estate business this year!