To get real estate leads from Instagram, post local listings with a comment keyword, then send every commenter an automated DM that asks for their name and email before it sends the homes. The contact lands in RealScout with a tag, and the tag starts a saved search template, so listing alerts go out on your schedule. Crystal Ortiz and Michelle Crochet of Connected walked through that system on our webinar.
At the start of this webinar, I asked everyone one question: when someone comments on your Instagram post, what do you do next?
The chat moved so fast I could barely read it, and the most common answer was some version of “nothing.” That’s most of us. But a comment is someone raising their hand. They know you, and they cared enough to type something. Crystal Ortiz turned those comments into 189 new contacts in her first 60 days with the system she and Michelle Crochet built.
Missed it? Watch the full recording here ⬇️
How it works, start to finish
- You post on Instagram with a comment keyword. Michelle’s example: comment 30 to get every Burbank home that just passed 30 days on the market.
- Someone comments the keyword, and ManyChat sends them a DM.
- The DM asks for their email and first name, then sends your RealScout Search Link.
- They land in RealScout with a tag. The tag connects them to a template, so they start getting those listings on your schedule.
- RealScout keeps nurturing them, and you can see what they’re looking at.
Steps 2 and 3 are the part Connected automates. You can set up steps 1, 4, and 5 in RealScout today at no extra cost.
Step 1: Build a template from one prompt
Michelle and Crystal’s guide gives you four templates: weekend open houses, price drops, homes on the market over 30 days, and Coming Soon. Here’s the price-drop prompt:
give me a list of all Active single family home listings in [YOUR CITY, STATE] that have had price reductions in the past 7 days
- In RealScout, click Search, then AI Search, and paste the prompt.
- Check the results. Michelle’s rule: “It’s still AI, it’s not perfect.” If something looks off, click Review Search Criteria.
- Click Save Search, then Save as Template.
- Name it carefully. Your clients see this name.
- Choose an alert schedule and turn on the initial email with up to 25 matches.
- Add the tag that starts the alert.
- Click Create a Search Link. You’ll find it again later under Marketing → Shareable Links.
Step 2: Tags, explained like you’re five
A RealScout template is a saved search that isn’t tied to one person. A tag is how people get connected to it. Someone in the chat asked for this exact explanation, so here it is. Anyone tagged “openhouse123main” gets that search, whether they came from Instagram, an open house sign-in sheet, a CSV import or your CRM.
The rules that tripped people up:
- The keyword is what people comment, and it lives in ManyChat. The tag lives in RealScout. They don’t have to match.
- You can edit templates and tags anytime under Email Alerts → Templates.
- Andrea Gil, our Senior Director of Team Success & Community, recommends two or three emails a week for people who don’t know you yet. Daily is too much.
- A template pulls live listings, so a post from last month still works.
Step 3: Get the name before you send the link
If you paste a Search Link into a DM on its own, a lot of people browse, hit the sign-up screen and leave. You got the comment. You never got the name.
Crystal found people are much more willing to share an email in a quick DM with an agent they already follow. So the DM asks first, then sends the link.
Since Michelle and Crystal already have the contact, they set RealScout to allow unlimited viewing: profile photo → Settings → Lead registration requirements. Some MLSs lock this. Andrea suggests trying each option for a month.
The Tech Stack and Cost
| Piece | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Connected × RealScout guide | Free | Four RealScout templates with the AI Search prompt for each |
| RealScout templates, tags, and Search Links | Included in your RealScout account | Saved searches that send listing alerts to anyone you tag |
| ManyChat (shown) or pop.store | Paid plan (check manychat.com) | Sends the automated Instagram DMs |
| Connected’s Lead Automation System | $99 with code RealScout | Ready-made ManyChat flow that collects the name and email and sends the contact to RealScout |
The Connected × RealScout guide is free, with all four templates and prompts. Everything we showed inside RealScout is included in your RealScout account.
ManyChat is a separate app that sends the DMs. You need a paid plan for the automation, and the price came out three different ways on the call, so check manychat.com. None of us are affiliated with ManyChat.
Connected’s Lead Automation System is $99. It’s Michelle and Crystal’s ready-made ManyChat flow. It collects the name and email, sends the link, nudges anyone who goes quiet, and sends the contact to RealScout (plus Follow Up Boss, Flodesk, or a Google Sheet if you use them). Setup takes about 45 minutes and works for teams. If checkout shows $149, use the code RealScout. Connected is their business, separate from RealScout. Get it here.
Or do it by hand and paste the Search Link into each DM yourself. It works until the comments pile up and, as Michelle put it, “you start waking up at 3 AM and freaking out.”
Get the guide
Crystal’s only marketing now is posting on Instagram. Someone comments and the system takes it from there. It’s what I mean by automate the predictable, personalize the meaningful. The DM and the listings run on their own. The call when someone’s ready is still yours.
- Download the free guide
- Get Connected’s automation ($99 with code RealScout)
- Not on RealScout yet? Book a demo
- Subscribe to The Heist, my newsletter, every Friday
FAQs
What’s the difference between the free guide and the $99 Lead Automation System?
The free Connected × RealScout guide gives you step-by-step setup for four RealScout templates and the AI Search prompt behind each one, and everything in it is included in your RealScout account. The $99 Lead Automation System is Michelle and Crystal’s ready-made set of ManyChat DM automations, and it sends each contact to RealScout, Follow Up Boss, Flodesk, and a Google Sheet.
Connected is Michelle and Crystal’s company, and the $99 system is sold separately from RealScout. You install it in your own ManyChat account, then swap in your keyword and search link. Setup takes about 45 minutes, and on a team using Follow Up Boss, it assigns each contact to the right agent.
Seeing $149 at checkout? Enter the promo code RealScout, and it drops to $99.
What is ManyChat, and do I need it?
ManyChat is a separate app that sends automatic replies in your Instagram DMs, and you need a paid ManyChat plan to run the Connected automation. It’s what answers when someone comments your keyword. RealScout and Connected aren’t affiliated with it.
The plans mentioned on the call ran about $15 to $29 a month. Check manychat.com for current pricing.
You can also do it by hand: copy your RealScout search link and paste it into each DM yourself. It works. It just gets hard to keep up with once the comments pile up.
How do the name and email get into RealScout? Do I need Follow Up Boss or Zapier?
With the Connected automation, ManyChat sends the contact straight to RealScout through RealScout’s API the moment someone shares their name and email, so you don’t need Follow Up Boss or Zapier. It tags them too, so they start getting the matching search right away. If you do use Follow Up Boss, the contact lands there as well.
Building it yourself? Collect contacts in a Google Sheet, then import the sheet into RealScout with the template’s tag.
How do templates and tags work?
A RealScout template is a saved search that isn’t tied to one person, and you give it a tag. Anyone you tag with it starts getting that search on the schedule you set, whether they come in by import, through an integration or through the Connected automation.
- The keyword lives in ManyChat. “SUB” only triggers the DM. In RealScout, the tag is what counts.
- Templates update on their own, so there’s no need to rebuild the link every week.
- Change a template or its tags anytime under Email Alerts → Templates.
- A search link and a shareable link are the same thing.
Why ask for the name and email in the DM instead of using RealScout’s sign-up form?
Michelle and Crystal found that people share their details more readily in a quick DM with an agent they already follow than at a sign-up wall. Since they have the contact before the link goes out, they set RealScout to allow unlimited viewing.
You can change this yourself: click your profile photo, then go to Settings → Lead registration requirements. Some MLSs lock this setting. Andrea suggests trying each option for a month and comparing.
Do I need a big following for this to work?
No, you don’t need a big following, because Instagram shows your posts to people likely to engage, so posting consistent local content matters more than your follower count.
Crystal had about 1,700 followers when she started, and her first solid lead came about three months in. This year, Instagram drove about 70% of her business. Michelle reached 190,000 people after posting once a day for two weeks in October.
A lot of you asked how to grow an account from scratch, so we’re planning a part 2.
Does this work on Facebook or TikTok, or with my CRM?
The RealScout side works wherever a lead comes from: Facebook, TikTok, your website, or an open house sign-in sheet. Once a contact is in RealScout with the right tag, they get the search. The Connected automation itself is built for Instagram.
If you use a CRM other than Follow Up Boss, check support.realscout.com for integrations, or use the Google Sheet import.
How often should listing alerts go out?
Andrea Gil, RealScout’s Senior Director of Team Success & Community, recommends two or three listing alert emails a week for people who don’t know you yet, not daily or “as soon as possible.”
