If you’re posting videos consistently and it’s not working… let’s talk!
In particular, I want to explore TWO scenarios:
A. Your videos were performing but now they’re not. If you’ve noticed a steady decline in the reach, views, and engagement of your videos, it’s likely an indicator that it’s time to revise your approach – and/or devise a new one altogether.
B. Your videos have yet to perform. If you’ve been posting videos consistently and you know for certain you’re publishing quality content, my advice is to stay the course.
Obviously, ensure you’re optimizing your content properly: e.g. hashtags, caption text, location tags, cover images, working your comments thread, utilizing trending audio/sounds, and all the stops. Beyond that, however, keep in mind that it’s the algorithm’s job to assess your content and recommend it to users whose interests align. Granted, I’m oversimplifying here—but the point stands to reason.
Your ideal audience is out there. So just keep posting videos—keep feeding the machine—and eventually, that recommendation engine will ignite.
Instagram’s Newest Features: 90-Second Reels, Interactive Stickers, Reel Transitions, Grid Pins, and more!
Instagram has just released a bunch of new features and updates!—mostly related to Instagram Reels.
That’s unsurprising, considering more than 675-million of Instagram’s 2-billion users worldwide are actively utilizing Reels. The reach and performance of Reels is truly staggering. So—sidebar—if you’re not making ‘em, IMO, they’re a must in your content mix.
Here’s a breakdown of the newest IG updates:
Reels Runtime: in keeping pace with TikTok, which recently upped its video length limit to 10 minutes, Instagram has extended its 60-second limit to an ever-so generous 90-seconds. We’ll take what we can get, I suppose.
I’d expect that they’ll keep adding more-and-more time in order to keep up with TikTok. What’s more, it’s worth pointing out that the divide between short-form VS. long-form video is getting ever more blurred.Interactive Stickers (for Reels!): IG has long enabled users to embed “interactive” stickers in Story posts whereby viewers can input questions, respond to polls, take quizzes, swipe meters, etc. Welp, that features’s been activated within Instagram Reels.
This is a HUGE feature update because it marks the first time in IG history users can, quote-unquote, interact with actual media in the main feeds—beyond likes, comments, and so forth. Seeing as how IG’s algorithm is pretty much predicated on engagement/interaction, don’t miss out on this new feature!Grid Pinning: in an earlier video I said this feature was coming and now it’s here. Navigate to your profile, tap on the post you’d like to pin, hit the “•••” in the top right corner, and select to pin it! Presto!
My advice, though, is that you feature your absolute best, most welcoming content AND/OR posts that purposefully outline your product(s)/service(s).
3 Fundamental Ways to Generate Business in Real Estate
Tom Ferry said it best: “There’s not a wrong way to make an income”. In other words, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all, sales/marketing methodology for how to conduct your real estate business. On the contrary, it’s whatever YOU make of it.
That being said – broadly speaking – there are essentially THREE fundamental ways to go about generating business: marketing, networking, or prospecting. In my experience, I’ve found that most agents will naturally excel in a particular area, manage sufficiently in another, and they’ll deliberately avoid the one remaining.
Each approach has advantages and disadvantages—and, of course, developing self-confidence/competence in all three is a plus. After all, markets shift, circumstances change—and so, consequently, it pays to be diversified in your strategies and tactics.
But, keep in mind—there’s no wrong way to make an income! I say – whatever comes naturally – lean into it! Now, I’m certainly not suggesting you shouldn’t challenge yourself, expand your horizons, develop new skills, or push the boundaries.
I’m just saying to get objective about who you are, what you’re doing, and how to do it most optimally. Build and execute YOUR plan, not someone else’s.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” (Einstein)
Why Your Instagram Follower Growth and/or Engagement Rate Has Become Stagnant
If the growth of your Instagram followers is sluggish or stagnant OR if your posts are garnering LOW-TO-NO engagement (e.g. views, likes, comments, etc.) – then hear me out.
When it comes to social media… what you FOCUS on e-x-p-a-n-d-s.
Any and every social algorithm out there—Instagram or whatever—looks to establish patterns of interaction. So by commenting, liking, and messaging with others, it’s actually priming the algorithm to prioritize your posts in their feeds. Call it the law of reciprocity!
Show What You Know
Your expertise is dynamic and distinctive; it’s uniquely yours. My advice is to go public with it: blog it, film it, stream it, and/or post it EVERYWHERE. Be the knowledge-broker.
The fact is, real estate is a know-you, like-you, trust-you form of business -- that’s the winning combination with consumers.
What’s more – thanks to the web and social media – there’s never been a time like NOW whereby you can, to put it bluntly, “show what you know”—through videos, emails, blogs, social posts, and more.
Year-over-year, consumers conduct more research to inform their buying/hiring decisions ONLINE: search & social. That being the case, it’s mission-critical to position your agent-brand where the consumer is actively present. IMO: information is influence.
How to Manage Missing, Removed, and/or Filtered Google Reviews
#GoogleReviews gone missing or hidden⁉️ Turns out, Google reportedly—per a recent Uberall study—reigns supreme in terms of having the highest percentage of “unauthentic” reviews. Revel in your glory, Google 🫠
Here’s the breakdown:
Google: 10.7% of reviews are fake
Yelp: 7.1% of reviews are phony
TripAdvisor: 5.2% of reviews are artificial
Facebook: 4.9% of reviews are bogus
Consequently, Google’s intensified the, quote-unquote, “strictness” of its automated review filter.
So, of course, the natural solution is to punish the innocent by un-publishing perfectly legit reviews. Right!? Meanwhile, prank reviews or fake-account haters continue to operate seemingly unchecked.
Although, in fairness, Google appears to be aware of this issue and has offered assurance that they’re “working on it.”
Notwithstanding, here are a couple of checks to hopefully reduce the odds of your customers’ reviews getting removed:
Don’t designate that your business offers free Wi-Fi on your Google Business Profile. It seems Google is able to detect whether the IP address of the machine you access to manage your business listing matches-up with that of your customers’ devices when they submitted their reviews. The thought is that it could make any outside networks (i.e, IPs) looks spammy—or, more likely—that it appears as though you’ve basically setup a “review-collecting booth” on site at your business, which is a policy violation.
Be wary of soliciting for out-of-area reviews. If a reviewer’s recent locations, for instance, doesn’t reflect that they’ve visited anywhere proximate to your business address, it could raise a flag. Moreover, if their detected location at the time of leaving the review is WAY out of range of your business, that also looks rather suspect—so try to avoid it.
If a legitimate review fails to publish or get’s filtered from your Google Business Profile (formerly dubbed, Google My Business), your best recourse for the time being is to submit a claim ticket.
Google’s review policies
Google support contact
How to Define a Value Proposition that Consists of LOTS of Different Elements (for REALTORS)
From listing to close, search to sale — the differentiation of your services is in the details!
The question is, which details? My advice: make a list of the defining attributes, processes, and solutions that characteristically describe your services — and try doing so from a client’s POV.
For instance, according to research conducted by Bain & Co., consumers perceive value across a spectrum of precisely 30 different ways and means, divided into 4 categories: functional value, emotional value, life-changing value, and transformational value. (Google the “30 Elements of Value” to read up on it and review the different elements.)
My point here is – what’s your value proposition(s)? Define it and it’ll radiate into EVERYTHING you do: sales, marketing, ops, and beyond!
And remember… it probably isn’t one BIG thing you do especially well; it’s all the little things added up. So start making that list, friends 👊
The Most Important Question About Your Real Estate Business
What do you sell?
That may sound like an overly simplified question, but it’s foundational to EVERYTHING you do: sales activities, marketing efforts, and the total operating scope of your business.
I can tell you this: you don’t sell homes (per se)—or, at least, that’s not what consumers, quote-unquote, “buy from you.” Fundamentally, you’re hired on the grounds of your expertise-- and the means by which you impart your expertise.
And, the thing is, expertise is dynamic and undefined—it’s merely a label used to describe competence. So perhaps you’re the economics guru, the lifestyle guru, or the investment guru in your local marketplace. Whatever and/or whoever you are, one thing I know for sure: nobody does you better than Y-O-U.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – your AGENT-BRAND is:
your Voice
your Mind
your Heart
your Face
Top Instagram Profile Mistakes to Avoid in 2022
One of the top-weighted interactions Instagram looks for is when users TAP to visit your profile. The question is, however—once there—do they follow or flee?
Here’s a list of the Top Instagram Profile Mistakes to Avoid:
Using a, quote-unquote, “faraway-photo” as your profile image
Failing to include keywords in your profile display name
Deficient bio — make sure to include keywords, kudos, and calls-to-action
Unused or irrelevant story highlights
Your Everyday Email Signature Can Outperform the Clickthrough Performance of Your Mass Emails 😲
The average professional sends out 40+ emails per day with approximately a 100% open rate. Through the lens of email-marketing performance benchmarks, that’s epically impressive 🤯.
Don’t get me wrong—I’m all for mass/bulk email marketing. However, there’s a strong case to be made that we should all conduct an audit of our everyday email signatures to ensure they’re properly optimized.
And think about it this way: the clickthrough performance of calls-to-action (CTAs) in your email signature will likely be just as good or better than those included in your mass email campaigns. My point is, it’s low-hanging fruit.
Your email signature should incorporate the following CTAs:
Postscript: something like… “P.S. Should you hear of anyone looking to Buy, Sell or Invest in real estate, would you please connect us? It would be my great privilege to serve as their REALTOR®.”
Contact: include your cell phone, email address, social links, website, and more – every time! Don’t be the person whose signature is only included in the first email of a thread, whereby a recipient has to go digging to find your number.
Deliverables: perhaps you have a Home Valuation landing page, or an IDX-powered home search site, or downloadable PDFs like a buyer or seller guide). If you do, link to them!
Never Stop Marketing Regardless of the Circumstances
I’ve seen a fair share of doomsayer real estate headlines lately. My advice: make your decisions subject to the data and disregard scaremongering speculation.
It’s like Tom Ferry says: “The market is the market is the market is the market.” In other words, it is what it is — and, whatever it is, it’s surely no reason to stop executing your marketing plan.
Fact is, markets adjust — the “status quo” ALWAYS ebbs-and-flows.
In 2002, McKinsey published a long-term study of 1,000 U.S. companies in which it analyzed their operations during an economic recession, for instance, and how their actions during that period affected company performance post-recession. In brief, they found that the companies who maintained operations (e.g., marketing, sales, and so on) set themselves up for massive growth during expansionary periods.
The point is, don’t (ever) pull out of the race! And furthermore, the best time to pass your competitors is around a sharp curve — so lean in, friends!
Fast markets, slow markets; up markets📈, down markets📉; strong markets, weak markets – no matter the circumstances – NEVER. STOP. MARKETING.
The market—now and for always—belongs to those who market. 🤜⚡️🤛
7 Nonobvious Ways to Market a Listing (For Real Estate Agents)
Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way. Yes, you should market a listing via: email campaigns, listing videos, circle-prospecting, door-knocking, open houses, MLS syndication, social media posts (+ ads/boosts), and so forth.
But how else can/should you market a listing? Scan the images above for A BUNCH of detailed ideas.
As a listing agent, it’s on you to expose a property to the LARGEST pool of ready, willing, and able buyers... So get the word out. 📢
(P.S. Here’s a link to the training I promised on Dynamic Google Search Ads—just copy/paste the URL: https://bit.ly/DYN-ADS.)
Recommit to the Consumer
Social media, in general, has a few different methods and means of producing leads/inquiries:
Inbound Organic: prospective clients, quote-unquote, “discover” your content by way of the Explore Page, hashtags, search, or by some other mechanism. You’ll get DMs like: “We watch all your videos and are thinking about moving to the area — are you working with new buyer clients right now?
Database Nurturing: past clients and sphere of influence contacts see your content, and, in the same way, for instance, a weekly email newsletter confers value and positions you as the agent-of-choice, so it goes with your social media posts. The end result is more repeat/referral business.
Agent-to-Agent: real estate peers engage with and, sometimes, emulate your content—which builds your thought-leadership and influence w/in the industry. As those peers encounter clientele moving to-and-from your marketplace, they set you up with a referral.
Agent-to-agent referrals are certainly a big chunk of the deals arising out of social media. Thusly, I’ve noticed a tendency amongst many agents—because the lion’s share of their followers or engagement consists of agents, perhaps—to pivot their content from consumer-facing to agent-facing. Surely that’ll generate even more agent-to-agent referrals, right? To the contrary, I’m afraid.
IMO, agents and consumers alike are both naturally drawn to the influence of experts. So be the expert -- be the knowledge broker.
The Best Sales Technique
Customer experience isn’t one big thing you do especially well; it’s all the little things added up.
From listing to close, search to sale—the differentiation of your services is in details.
Who Brings Up Real Estate?
Here’s a marketing acid test to mull over… When you call, text, or chance upon your sphere-of-influence contacts, who brings up real estate? — is it you or them? Candidly, if your marketing activities are effectively positioning you as the agent-of-choice, the topic will typically arise on its own, w/o any prompting.
Many agents rely on clever scripts/dialogues to shift a conversation to real estate—but the thing is, if you’re regularly supplying your database contacts w/ valuable insights and information—you won’t have to. Every time you post on social, send an email, mail a postcard, or publish a video that delivers VALUE, in effect, you’re seeding your services.
Some is Better Than None: Operations, Sales, and Marketing
Operations, sales, and marketing — when it comes to running a business, there are a lot of moving parts to manage. But regardless of where you’re at in your business, don’t forget that what got you HERE—though it won’t necessarily get you THERE, so to speak—was nonetheless sufficient to get you this far… and that’s worth acknowledging.
Yes, innovate. Yes, evolve. Of course!—test, measure, and grow your business. But never forget that the results are in the repetition.
It’s like what Bob Dylan said (paraphrase): “Everything worth doing takes time. You have to write a hundred bad songs before you write one good one… you have to follow your own star.”
Technically speaking, things only ever get done after they get started -- so start something, execute relentlessly, and scale-up. 📈
Marketing Channels: Where the Leads Call You
You’ve got two choices: generate leads you’ve gotta call to convert OR conduct marketing strategies whereby the leads call you.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with either approach, of course—but in all seriousness—leads that call you sounds like a pretty sweet deal. 🤷
Top 5 Ranking Signals Instagram Measures to Prioritize Posts (2023)
This post was updated on January 9, 2023.
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, published a video in which he shared the 5 most important “interactions” IG measures to calculate whether or not a Post, Video, Reel, or Story is worth prioritizing in the feeds. I’ve outlined (and strategized) all five.
End of day, the performance of your next post on Instagram is tied to is ability to generate interactions. Interaction = Visibility. In other words, a post that fails to generate any sort of response/feedback, like views, hearts/likes, swipes, comments, and so forth, simply isn’t going to be circulated widely through the feeds. And, frankly, if your your post isn’t getting shown, it’s as if it was never even posted.
Additionally, Instagram is testing/releasing a couple new filters that’ll enable its users to rearrange what they see in their feeds. The first filter has been dubbed, “Following” which will simply sort the posts of whomever a user follows into a chronological feed. The second is called, “Favorites,” which will enable users to manually select their favorite accounts and prioritize only those accounts’ posts in their feed.
That said, these are additions, not replacements. By default, your Main Feed will continue rank and personalize what you see as it does presently.
So, going forward, there’s gonna be a Main Feed with sorting options (i.e., “Following” and “Favorites”), a Story Feed, an Explore Page, and a Reels Feed. That’s A LOT of feeds!
My thinking is… it’s all the more important to understand the ranking signals IG prioritizes no matter the feed in question. Hence, the top 5 interactions to get your posts to rank:
Top 5 Instagram Interactions
Time-Spent: Just like money is the currency of economies, attention is the currency of algorithms. Literally every algorithm out there—Google, Facebook, etc.—prioritizes content that holds viewers attention. Attention signifies relevance. So, obviously, make content that captivates. But beyond that, utilize post formats that innately hold attention: e.g. subtitled videos, swipe-through carousels, “meatier” captions, and/or talkative comment threads.
Hearts/Likes: Attention speaks volumes, but action, arguably, speaks louder. For example, a user watching a video start-to-finish is definitely a HUGE algorithmic consideration... but a user willing to go, quote-unquote, “on the record” with a "Like"—now that’s next-level. Here’s a simple (or not so simple) question: are you publish-ing content that’s “Likeable?” If you don't know for certain, visit your IG Insights to calculate your Reach-to-Likes ratio.
Comments: Comments put the “social” in social media.” So if a post doesn’t spark much of any dialogue in the comments thread, then chances are, its reach will be comparatively underwhelming. For that reason, when a user comments on your post, always reply! In fact, reply with a question or tag other Instagram users in an effort to stir up a bigger discussion. Conversation cultivates Community.
Saves: People Save (i.e., “bookmark”) posts they want/plan to revisit. Instagram is continuously observing and inferring the presumed interests of its users so that it can prioritize what they see in their feeds respectively—and the Save button is a dead giveaway. People save posts that are useful or offer a lasting value, worth coming back to over-and-again. My advice: if the post warrants it, write-in a recommendation to Save it in your post caption.
Profile-Taps: If a user taps to visit your profile, odds are, it’s someone who doesn’t follow you. Of course, it could be somebody who does, looking to peruse your posts. But regardless, does your profile deliver? As a non-follower scans your page, for instance, do they opt to follow you? That's why it’s critical to dial-in Profile Name, Bio, Link, and Highlights to help convey your story! And, arguably more important than that... it’s ALL about your content—does it compel or repel?
Realtor Marketing Strategies that GAIN VALUE Over Time ⏳
Candidly, one of the major annoyances about marketing, in general, is that it’s seemingly “here today, gone tomorrow.”
Gotta keep posting on social, keep running ads, keep mailing postcards, keep sending emails, and on-and-on it goes -- the never-ending hamster wheel 🐹 of marketing.
To some degree, that’s just in the nature of marketing -- but not ALL marketing. For example, some marketing avenues and channels gain “marketing value” as time passes⏳. I’ve gotta be honest, I like the sound of that!—let’s do more of that kind of marketing. For example:
Reviews, photos, and videos published on your 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞 (GBP). As would-be customers discover your GBP by way of Google Search and Maps, by extension, they’ll peruse the contents of your profile—including (but not limited to) its reviews, photos, and videos.
Keyword-rich videos hosted on your 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 that rank top-of-page in customer searches. High-quality YouTube videos have a wayyyy longer shelf-life than videos posted on other, scroll-based social platforms.
In a way, your 𝐓𝐢𝐤𝐓𝐨𝐤 videos. When a new viewer discovers one of your videos, for instance, TikTok will start to show ‘em more of your videos. What’s more, with TikTok, you have an option to “pin” key videos at the top of your profile grid.
Your 𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗚! Every post on social should ALSO be published as a blog on your website, living on in the afterlife 😇 of SEO. A post (photo, video, or whatever) on Facebook or Instagram, for instance, burns through the feeds w/in a day or so, and then—poof!—it’s over. It’s like the life expectancy of a fruit fly 🪰. A blog, on the other hand, is more like a turtle 🐢— it can rank in Google searches for a good-long while!
What Realtors REALLY Sell (and It ISN'T Houses 🏡)
“If you’re called a great salesperson, you’ve lost.” (Phil Jones, Exactly What to Say)
I just love that quote – because it’s true! Your best sales experiences, no doubt, occurred when you didn’t realize you were being sold. It just felt natural and intuitive.
So if you’re coming off as salesy or pushy, candidly, it’s because you aren’t clear on what you’re selling.
I’d love your feedback to this question: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂?