Kate Rumson is the social media influencer and founder behind @the_real_houses_of_ig. The popular instagram account highlights luxury home design across the world. Kate built a community of 2.7 million Instagram followers, hosts a television show and manages her own projects. Some of her projects include real estate development to remodeling her own townhouse. She is a force in the home and design industry. Because of this influence, she is a great example of how to use modern media to engage a niche community of professionals in luxury design.
Luxury Homes on @the_real_houses_of_ig
Kate is a thought leader who connects daily with her community of builders, designers, and architects. The professionals who follow Kate offer useful commentary on her posts across @the_real_houses_of_ig. Kate then uses the comment section to start a conversation with users. She also reads, responds and keeps her community well-informed with ideal luxury spaces. The care and attention to her community on a consistent basis is one of the reasons her community loves to follow her.
They also love to follow this account because of the projects highlighted on the account. The style and attention to detail in each post is strategically curated by Kate. She also is consistent at providing credit to the builder or designer who was involved in the project. As a result if Kate features a builder’s project, the builder can expect to see their Instagram following increase because of the exposure.
Many of the relationships built on @the_real_houses_of_ig evolve into friendships. Kate has found many professionals share the same passion and mindset for the industry. Because of this, Kate hosts invite-only private dinners and meet up with others at industry events.
@KateRumson
On her personal account @KateRumson, Kate shares her latest remodel projects, her guilty obsession with Trader Joe croissants, and an inside look at exclusive events. She pays close attention to those that comment, watch her stories and ask her questions, which often she answers within a few hours of the comment.
Kate Rumson of The Real Houses of Instagram designed her New Jersey townhouse by polling her social-media fans on chandelier choice and the right furniture. Read more here.
– Wall Street Journal
Kate recently completed remodeling her town house and used her followers to help her select the design finishes. She provided question and answer sessions throughout the remodeling process on her stories and engage with users on in-feed posts. Instagram has provided her a tool to create a community, crowd-source decision making and connect deeper with her engaged followers. It’s no secret this community is full of alike minded professionals that share a passion for home and design.
Life Before Instagram
Kate first fell in love with the home and design industry when her parents remodeled her childhood home. She was fascinated with the project details, going to meetings with her parents and seeing the entire process unfold. At a young age, she was into builder magazines as other girls were reading Teen magazine. Because of this childhood, in her early 20s, Kate wanted to be a project manager for a top luxury builder on the east coast. She didn’t get the job. This defeat motivated her to find other ways to make her dream career path come to life.
Kate was employed in the financial industry, which allowed her to gain a very different perspective than her personal passion. During this time at her financial job, she started gathering photos she found of gorgeous homes onto Instagram under the account name, @the_real_houses_of_ig. Little did Kate know, this was her starting point to making her career dream come to life 10 years later. Looking back, Kate’s experience in investment banking helps her analyze business partnerships, return of investment and manage the numbers.
Current Projects
Kate shares her exciting personal projects with the public. Remarkably, the first house she remodeled sold in record time. The latest project Kate’s been sharing with her community has been navigating a new build. As Kate’s last three projects were home remodels, this is the first time Kate is tackling a new build and shares every step of the way with her community. Kate has been working with her architect to build a French cottage style home in New Jersey.
In her new build project, Kate has experienced the challenges of finding the perfect lot. It’s fascinating to see the realistic amount of time it takes to search and select the perfect property. This is unique as often in network shows one doesn’t get a sense of timeline. TV networks select what will be on one hour of air time. With Kates project, her community will be able to follow along the entire journey from start to finish. This project could take up to a full year or longer. Kate doesn’t leave any details out and walks her community through every step of the way.
From a financial numbers gal to a social media influencer, Kate is on the right track to build her own destiny. She has built a brand and using it to capture readers through every next project. You can see more of her work on her website.