Housing policy is complicated—and talking about it on social media can get complicated, too. Zillow for Change was a new, nonpartisan Instagram account created to give Zillow’s Government Relations team a credible, approachable way to share the company’s housing advocacy work with policymakers, government agencies, journalists and other industry stakeholders.

I developed the visual identity from the ground up, treating Zillow for Change as a sub-brand of Zillow. The challenge was finding the right balance: it needed to feel distinct from Zillow’s consumer-facing content and more like an independent editorial publication, while still living comfortably within the broader brand. I built a black-and-white visual system with selective use of Zillow’s colors, paired with editorial typography, graphic devices and photography.

Working with our Social Media Manager, we established a storytelling framework for each carousel: introduce the issue, provide context, and explain what Zillow was doing to help. Together, we turned complex topics like housing discrimination, affordability, credit-building and renting into short, accessible stories.

With a very small promotional budget, Zillow for Change grew to 10K followers in less than a year, giving the Government Relations team a new channel for reaching and educating policymakers and other stakeholders.

The account also became a practical tool for the Government Relations team in their outreach. They regularly shared the content with people they interacted with in their advocacy work and praised the account as a helpful resource for explaining Zillow’s positions and initiatives.

Logan Rhoades, Sr. Social Media Manager