KGCI: Real Estate on Air - SERHANT Social & Brand Strategist John Shaughnessy

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Summary:Ever wondered what's in the "secret sauce" of the world's most followed real estate brand? In this exclusive episode, SERHANT. Social & Brand Strategist John Shaughnessy unpacks the innovative approaches to social media and brand building that set them apart. Learn how to leverage cutting-edge content, strategic marketing, and a distinct brand identity to captivate audiences and revolutionize your real estate business.Bullet Point TakeawaysContent-First Brand Building: Discover how SERHANT. revolutionizes real estate through media and content creation, emphasizing a full-service in-house film studio and an amplification platform for unmatched reach.Strategic Social Media Engagement: Gain insights into how a brand strategist approaches social media to not just attract attention, but to build genuine connections and drive real estate success.Leveraging Diverse Marketing Channels: Learn from John's background in influencer, podcast, and affiliate campaigns, understanding how varied digital strategies contribute to comprehensive brand growth.The Power of a Distinct Brand Identity: Understand the importance of creating a unique and compelling brand persona that resonates with your target audience and sets you apart in a crowded market.Data-Driven Brand Strategy: Appreciate the role of business administration, marketing, and management information systems expertise in developing and executing high-impact brand strategies for measurable results.Topics:SERHANT Social MediaReal Estate Brand StrategyJohn Shaughnessy MarketingLuxury Real Estate BrandingReal Estate Content CreationCall-to-Action: Ready to infuse your real estate brand with SERHANT.'s "secret sauce"? Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform for John Shaughnessy's expert insights!

Awesome. All right, guys, welcome to another episode of Realtor Hacks Tips and Tricks. I am one of your host, Hallie McRory, Realtor and Team Lead in San Angelo, Texas, in Dallas, Texas, known for selling 100 homes a year in a small town, coach for the Tarak El Mousa Real Estate Group. And we also, you know, do a lot of stuff with Empower Real Estate Group. That's my team. And I've got my lovely co-host on. Casey Steyers, the downtown guru of Raleigh, North Carolina. North Carolina real estate agent. She not only works Raleigh, but the beach towns as well, pretty much whole state. Very, yeah, residential, commercial, investing.

She does it all. And then we have on our show today from Sir Hant Agency. It's John Shaughnessy. Is that how I pronounce it? You got it. Awesome. I just want to make sure. Yeah.

And so he helps a lot with their team. social media and branding for a lot of the Surhant pro members came on to help with a lot of their sales and stuff too. So we're super excited to have him on. Casey, it was actually the connection here for this as she's been mentored by the Surhant group for what, like three years now. Years and then I went pro and then they lined me up with this amazing person, John. Yes, love it. And I love it too because, well, I guess another little part of our intro. Casey and I are both doing American Dream TV, and she's, you know, had just so, like a lot of the best, well, I guess in spirit of our podcast. She's, you know, had a lot of hacks, tips and tricks from you, John.

So we're excited to have you on today. Where are you joining us from, New York? Yeah, I'm excited to be here. Correct. I'm over in New York. I'm in my, hidden in my apartment right now. It's a bit rainy outside. Oh, man.

Midtown Manhattan. What that went on to you. It was here Saturday. Yeah, we inherited it. Yeah, so John, if you don't mind, give us a little bit of your background. I mean, what got you into were you always in real estate and then, you know, dove into the marketing side or marketing and then real estate? Give us a little bit of your story.

Yeah, for sure. So it was more of the latter, right? So I came from a marketing background before pivoting over into the real estate and sales stage. So my first job, my first kind of like shot at career was on the marketing agency side of things. So he started off kind of just as a strategist like for an agency getting acquainted with bigger brands and really just learning the marketing landscape in general. I came from a startup background, which was great because I was learning, you know, not only social but digital, you know, out of home, print marketing, really like soup to nuts every single marketing channel for clients. And then I kind of began to have a specialization. So I focused in and working with influencer and social, you know,

develop my own roster of accounts and kind of was within that world for a few years up until, you know, before I made this switch over to join the Sarnant team, you know, I was running influencer campaigns and, you know, affiliate campaigns for massive brands. So Hugo Boss, Spanx, Blue Bottle Coffee, they were all clients of ours. And I was really their day to day on the. influencer and social side. And then I came over to twin Ryan now about three years ago in the, exactly what you'd said in our in our Salt Lake Surhan division. So felt like Sirhan, which is really, you know, one of my favorite books. Yeah, yeah. It started out as a book. And we, you know,

again, it was like from startup to startup, we went from, you know, being exactly what that was, a book to a course now, a community of over 15,000 agents across the globe. And so, that's been a really fun journey, being a part of the team to help scale that, you know, from a marketing and social standpoint as well. And then, yeah, I mean, I've touched a lot of things in between all of that. You know, Sherhand, we're a relatively new company, despite how, you know, great our branding is. There's been a lot of opportunity within to just kind of, you know, touch everything. And so it's been a really great experience to work with the team and help scale from me that startup's now being this brokerage that's launching all across the east coast.

Yeah. And so that leads me to kind of where I am right now, right? Which is just working in brand strategy for the company. And then I also am now, you know, full time on on sales as well. So I'm a part of the sales team selling and doing all of that here in Manhattan. And that's great. But yeah, happy to chat more in it and dive into specifics. But awesome. Awesome. I'm a timeline for you. Okay. And let me put your, I'm going to put your information up. So as we talk. Get rid of that. So if you guys have any, you know, offline questions that you want to ask John, I've got his information at the bottom, email and also Instagram too. So yeah, let's dive in a little bit more. So I guess tell us more about like or any like hacks, tips and tricks

around like the social media. Like what are you, what are the like the trends that you're seeing going into end of 2023 and beginning of 2024 that agents should really be focused on. Yeah, great, great question. I think, you know, what I see is something that's not necessarily a new trend, but I think it's a trend that we really have been ignoring as a collective. You know, when we think about trends on social, we think, like, what are the easiest ways for me to grow my audience? And then we're hoping that there's going to be some new easy way to, like, do it

lot more quickly, right? Yes. But I think the biggest trend, if someone really wants to grow, is just consistency. And so consistency with short form video is probably the most important. And that's something that is what's really going to help you scale when it comes to leveraging TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. You know, all of these social platforms have that in common right now where they're just pushing short form video. But it doesn't stop with one video or two videos. every week. Like, you need to build up a cadence and a consistency to be on these platforms daily. Working on that. Yeah, I know we are. But it's everyone, right? You know, we like, we see creators or like, I want to be like them. Like we think of Ryan, for example, we're like, wow, he has been able to

sell, you know, and sell through social, get major clients through social. But when you look at his accounts, what's the one thing that you always see is consistency? It's, it's never like, four. four days ago or six days ago was his last interaction on the platform. It's six hours ago. You know, and so really just making sure that you're staying top of mind, that's what will really help you grow. And I think we also all just have to overcome that fear of that we're being annoying or cringy.

Like, you only live once. Like, this is your career. This is a tool that's proven to work for you. And so, you know, we have to just leave that at the door and understand that, like, if we want to make this work, we have to put in the work ourselves. and, you know, if they're not going to support us, then they'll mute us or they'll unfollow us. But the reward is so much greater than the risk. Yes.

So with the consistency and short form video, are you, is that going to be like specific to like the person? Let's say like Casey, for example, like does it always need to be like her, her, her, like her face even when it's, you know, like you're trying to promote a listing? Like I know with Ryan, a lot of times when he's promoting a listing, he's in there. It's not just like a video of the house. You know, he gets his personal kind of brand in there too. Is that what you guys, is that what you typically suggest or can you have kind of a mix of stuff where it's not just you? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I know. And I get it. And I think a mixture is important. But I would say, you know, when you're referencing Ryan as an example and he's always in the content. for his personal accounts, right? Think about it as like when you're building your personal brand,

you know, you don't want to always just be posting content that isn't very you centric because then I'm not getting a sense of what it's like to work with you, right? I don't really know who you are. And there's nothing that's differentiating you now from another broker or another client that could have came into this property and an open house and taking the same video.

Like there's nothing that's showing me. that, you know, there's a reason why I should be following you. Of course, like some of those, like, really great pieces of content that highlight listings and community really well don't always need to involve you. But for the most part, correct, your content should be very you-centric in terms of being present in it, whether it's in your photos or in your video tours, your walkthroughs. You know, even when it comes to, like, collateral, right? So marketing material for agents, when they're doing a property tour.

it's so much nicer to have like a face and a voice guiding you through that versus just a slideshow of clips of that property because maybe that property isn't for me. But now I'm getting a sense of what it's like to work with you if I wanted to work with you on something else. But I might have still come across that specific apartment or home in my search. And that also will prompt me to then reach out to that character. You know, when we think about people that we follow on social media or content creators, the thing that they all have in common is like we're following them because we love their personality and their style of content. And then you do have that like subset of like, you know, architectural digest like style accounts where maybe they're not specific to a specific person, but they're specific to a larger brand.

And so that's what's like great to mirror on the brokerage side, right? the Surnan accounts. We take that like architectural digistic, you know, approach and we're showcasing our different agents, different teams and different properties. But when it comes to building up you as an individual, you need to be consistently present in your content. Yeah. How do how do you, do you help people like kind of figure out that style of, of how they can

kind of show their personality too? Yeah. A hundred percent. I think that's almost the hardest part. Yeah. And so it's so funny. One thing I forgot to mention, too, is like outside of the real estate and sales world. So one of my other clients is Jess King.

I don't know if you're a Peloton user or a Peloton fan, but she's a Peloton instructor. Okay. And so I work with her on her personal brand development and, you know, brand partnerships as well. And so, like, you know, it's different for everyone. But what's funny is, like, one thing that I really learned from her, and I think is something that I've been able to apply to other clients is, like, when we're approaching social, like you don't want to kind of just like create this like brand that you think you need to give across.

If it doesn't come across authentic, then like it's going to come across fake or forced. And so what I always say is like when you're going to post something, there's three things that you have to check off. And there are going to be exceptions to this rule, right? But if you want to grow and you want to, you know, grow your accounts and also be like consistent, you need to make sure that your content is shareable. you're thinking like, I'm posting this, right? Is my target just the person that's following me?

Or is this something that, you know, one of my followers might be driven to share with someone else? So is this piece of content shareable? Is this piece of content valuable? Am I offering something of value where they're learning something, they're gaining some valuable insight, or they feel like this was a valuable use of their time, whether it's 15 seconds or 45 seconds,

when they're watching a piece of content? And we also can't forget that entertainment is value. So even if it is like a funny thing or a trend that maybe doesn't feel like it's, you know, offering someone educational value, like entertainment is still is still value, right? Is it shareable and is it valuable? And then is it authentic? So is this reflective of me? And that kind of goes into like a deeper understanding of just like what your core values are.

And you know, like who you are in terms of the brand that you want to convey on social. but like it's so easy to kind of just like rip off what someone else is doing. But if you're not putting your own authentic spin on it, like there's no differentiation. And I can like tell like you're uncomfortable doing this because you feel like you should do it versus letting it come naturally. Right, right. That's a people. People love a blue person. What?

He hosted behind the scenes, Lita and I did the other day after for American Dream. My friend that I interviewed and we had a blueprint as soon as we started and we posted it. And we had over 2 million views from her age on it. Or like when she did that funny video of you on your birthday that one time and it went viral. Like, but it was so new, though. It was so funny. And then I drowned her and she has hair extensions in.

And it was so funny because most people laugh. Some people are like, I'd never be her friend again. You need new friends. It was just funny watching everybody because they would watch parts. They would watch the first part, but not the second part. Or watch the second part. I'm not. And it just, the more people commented before it went out there.

Yeah. And another day, I just simply walked in and said, hey to her. And she screamed, Hey, girl, hey! Like that and then fell on the floor laughing. But it just, because I wasn't like speaking that. But yeah. Yeah. So I do, I guess just going back on like the branding stuff, though, I feel like it's, that's been a big part of my success personally is having that personal brand kind of weave into my business brand as well. I just, I feel like like you said, it really does give someone an idea of what it's like to work with you. And I like that you added that in because I feel like that's something that I haven't really posted about now that I think about it. Like it's, they get an

idea of what it's like to maybe what you're. life but not necessarily what it's like to work with you so maybe that's something that i need to well they'll be able they'll be able to extract that if they just you want them to feel like they can know you you want the person that they work with and meet in person offline to be the same person online right it's like um i don't know if you guys have ever had joselle ugarte on the show or have worked with her no i need to though she says a quote all the time that i think is so relevant where she talks about like the filters, right? Yeah.

She's like, don't go online and put all these crazy filters. And then when they meet you in person, they're like, is this the same person that I've been talking to? Yeah. She like, it's like self-deprecating humor sometimes, but she'll be like, you know, like, I put all this makeup on. Like, you know, I know sometimes like I look crazy, but like, this is me. So you meet me online.

You're meeting the same person offline. Like super transparent and always really authentic with it. And so that's something that always resonated with me. It was like, we can't just like go on. social and keep catfishing people, right? Like we need them, especially people that we want to work with. So you just kind of have to let your personality shine through. Yeah. The question I always get is like, should I create a separate account for like the real estate side of me and then have my own personal account? And some people are really adamant about still doing that, which which it's fine. I understand

sometimes you want to keep personal personal, right? Like family kids, like sometimes those are things where you really don't want it to be that public. But, you know, there has to be some solution that you can work out. Yeah. Because the answer is you want it to be the same because you're the same brand. You don't want to be constantly posting about real estate. You want to post about, you know, things that are authentic to you and what you love. And then remind your audience about, you know, real estate.

I can stay top of mind that way. And that's, you know, that's where you'll see, you'll see the most growth. So it's hard to figure out how to, like, really differentiate yourself. because it's like we're all sales people we all are you know there's a lot of us that are in real estate that want to leverage social um and so like the best way to just differentiate it is by being you there's only one of you maybe there's a thousand agents but like I want to if you're fun to work with like you know I'm going to be working with you for six months like I just want to I want to at least enjoy my time with you I don't want to feel like I'm just doing something that's transactional

right business of working with people throughout their lifetimes so yeah what it's like to work with you Well, and it's, I think in real estate, that's going to be true more than ever now that there's, there's all these like different ways and just different ways of leveraging like referral partners and stuff too. I guess and this made me think of when you said, you know, people wondering if they should do like, have a separate accounts and stuff. So I've been in the industry for four years now. I just hit my four year mark in July.

Congrats. And when I first got started out, I had. had, you know, my, my personal Instagram. And then I started a separate Instagram because I'm like, yeah, I'm originally from North Carolina, have a like ton of East Coast people on there. Then I moved to Texas. And then, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm like, thinking about it kind of small-mindedly. I'm like, only the people, I don't, like, I'm just looking to target San Angelo people. And like my, just total disconnect there in my head. And so, you know, I made separate. accounts. I grew my business one, personal one. I just, you know, did whatever. I would,

I really wasn't worried so much about like my personal brand on there, I guess. And I, so I grew my, my business one. Originally, I was Hallie's homes when I was just a single agent. Now, you know, then I grew a team. I converted that into my team accounts, made that empower real estate group. So you can see on my little like headers, how I have my two ones. But now I've kind of made my personal Instagram more into like my personal business. And especially now like with with so there's a guy through EXP that does like global global marketing where you can basically you can sell real estate wherever.

And now like now that I more in tune with like referrals and stuff, I actually can like figure out how I can co-list on stuff even if it's not in the same state that I'm licensed in. there's just all these different creative ways. So now I'm like really, it's just been such a evolvement. And this, maybe this is something I need to chat with you offline about it's been like so hard to think about the branding on both sides.

Like, you know, how do I have on Empower Real Estate Group? How do I have, you know, like this is kind of more of a company account now, but I try to make it more personal with like, you know, videos with me. But then, you know, also our. team members and then obviously with the personal you know how do i weave in real estate with my personal stuff too and like gradually transition it's very confusing and very tough and like i don't it's just it's crazy like uh i guess do you have any advice around that or like even if you're like a team leader like how you weave in personal stuff on more of like a corporate

account. Team-oriented account. Yeah. And so like approach I think is twofold here. So on your personal account, we always say it's like you have these three content buckets. You have your personal content. You have your real estate content. And then you have content that's related towards your and right. Something that you're passionate about that you would be doing. You know, if money didn't matter and money was no object, like what's that other brand that you want to develop? Right. Because real estate's a vehicle. So like what would we want to accomplish in life? Like we should be living that out now. But then in terms of like kind of like a company and a corporate page, I mean, I think what you're talking about is is 100% accurate. It's just making it a bit more

human. And so sometimes, you know, that's where consistency comes back into play, whereas like if you're going to have someone that's going to be a character on that account, right, like figure out who are my cast of characters on this team? Because maybe not everyone on the team is like willing to put themselves out there on social and create video content. But figure out who that is. And figure out who that in that group is. And then, you know, think of how you're going to split that up. I would say it's kind of really just like half is, you know, showcasing your listings and your wins and really just like everything that you're

doing is the team. And then, you know, the other half is like an area for you guys to just also have fun with it. Yeah. And so, you know, develop a few series. I think that's a great way to approach a team with the account. Like create a series on maybe, you know, know, like frequently asked questions that, you know, you're receiving from your clientele as a whole.

And then put that into like useful video content that can go onto that platform in addition to now your listing focus content. So that it's like I'm still getting some value from this account. I'm not only seeing in contract, closed, et cetera. Like I'm still learning. So it just goes back to that framework, like shareable, valuable, authentic. So it was just instead of being authentic to one person. is it authentic to the mission and the vision of that company or that team? Yeah.

And so like if you don't have a mission statement, then that's where I would like revisit that part. But odds are you do, right? And it's on like, you know, giving the highest caliber of service to your clients. And so like what's the way that you can do that by offering them some value in the form of like a series on that social account? Yeah. So different ways.

But just like don't lose the human in the, in thinking that it's like more of a corporate account because you want engagement there. Yeah. And it's so funny because when you said, Giselle, she's doing kind of some series with Glenda Baker. And that's like the exact person I think about for, well, Ryan's probably number one. Number two is Glenda Baker. I mean, just look at her. Like, I guess you would never think like a 60 year old Southern woman from Atlanta, Georgia would be the number one real estate agent on TikTok.

But it's like you think about it. And she's very authentic to who she is. you know, she's got the branding with the stars, oh my stars, like her little sayings and stuff. And just, you know, consistency with her videos and hooks and stuff. You know, it's like it does make sense. It doesn't matter who you are. You don't have to be, you know, this like bombshell Instagram model to get famous on or like go viral or really at the end of the day to get business. Yeah.

So I don't know. I think she's a good one to follow. And that's a great example, right? It's like what set Glenda off was she was being really authentic. Like her initial videos were like talking about, you know, like her experiences of alcohol, like her divorce, her family. Like it was always so raw. And it was just like funny and humorous in the way that she delivered it. But it also was always valuable. I think the one video that put her on the map was about. how she got her first commission and then instead of investing it like bought a car instead of a house and then the house value now was like 1.2 million and then the car was worth nothing and that was the stories that she told that went viral. And so really what it came down to was she committed to it

and she was consistent and it was great because she leveraged the time like COVID where it was really slow. And so she was able to put that time towards it. And I know some agents are experiencing that right now because rates are so high and specific markets have really came to, not a pause, but it's harder to find business in comparison to the way that it was this time last year. And so looking at that downtime is just an opportunity to get consistent with something else. So maybe it's not going to be as lucrative off the bat, but like taking Glenn as an example, like she committed to the bit.

She was like, I'm going to do this until it works. And what wasn't working, she would take note. and then readjust. And she was super consistent with it. And it's funny, whenever I see her now, she still is like, I can't believe that this is happening with her, you know? She's so humble and down to earth.

But at the same time, she's really learned how to use it to her business, his benefit, just kind of goes to show the power of social. Yeah. So, like, I feel like one of the trends that I've been seeing lately is how,

I guess my question is just going to be, like, what are your thoughts on? this because I think it's pretty it's crazy kind of how it's exploded but I feel like I've been seeing everybody just do like basically where they it's just a video of them just doing like a monotonous activity like just driving in the car or just like sitting somewhere like working on their computer and then they have the captions like some sort of hook with captions yeah and then directs them to the comments um is there is there like a name for that technique at all

I thought about this in my thing the other day with me. I was thinking what it was kind of like, things are rolling. Yeah. I feel like that's kind of been like the trend. That's one of them. And you know, and how I would kind of describe that is like it tends to be like a seven to ten second clip with a hook call to action, driving you to the caption. And then it's really just like B roll, right? It's like you in your environment, like you're not really talking.

Yeah. And so that's working really well, especially on Instagram right now. Because, and I'll kind of break down some like things that are really, really working on that platform that maybe we can jump into TikTok in a second, too. Yeah. But Instagram's really been pushing lately seven to ten second videos. They're trending audios. So they've really been pushing trending audio and audios. And the reason why is like a lot of these people that are now creating these audios across all social platforms are also beginning to monetize all. off of that. So that's why audios are also sometimes important. And then, you know, having a longer

format caption. So really giving a being able to deliver value. And then when you have a seven to 10 second video with just a hook, you're going to get stuck reading that longer caption. The video is going to continue to play. The platform is going to read, you know, read that piece of content as something that people are watching all the way through multiple times. And then it's going to start to be pushed out to more people because it's being shown as something that, you know, the platform, at least, is detecting as valuable content because people are getting stuck on it. So, yeah, that is a trending piece of content. I wouldn't say that's the only type of content that I would say.

What's great about it is you can do it on the fly. You know what I mean? Yeah. I put a video on, and it's so funny, I told Casey about this not too long ago, well, like, we call it our end, but like my end is like, I love clubbing. Like, I want to be a club DJ. Yeah. And so I started to do those like really short videos, like just using old videos for my camera roll,

bringing it onto TikTok, like putting a hook, writing things in the caption. I was talking about like best clubs in the world. And then I woke up one day. I know too. You can mention. Yeah. I know. I'm going to need, I have to do a North Carolina series for you.

But I woke up one day and I had over four million views on a video and 20,000 new followers. And then now I just am consistent with it. And I have people reach out to me. And it's funny because I have DJs reaching out to me asking me to use their songs. And then we follow each other on Instagram. And I'm like, let me know when you're in New York. Like I'm happy to find you a short term rental or, you know, a Pietitare when you're here. And like, it's funny.

You can just kind of drive business out of posting the content that you, like, are really passionate about. Yeah. So, yeah. But back to where we were talking about is like short form video and just like using your camera roll. Totally. Just get organized. Like every time you're out. out and you shoot content, like that night, take like 10 minutes and like put things into albums

on your phone and you'll like be so much happier when you like be a trend on social that you want to jump on because you know where everything is. Yes. That's actually a good little hack. And I utilize this a lot. I'm very organized with my photo albums and or like with my photos and my phone. I organize stuff into everything and I go through every week and like delete, delete old stuff or like delete stuff that I can't use or whatever or like I have a whole like real state little folder that I can quickly get to or like even like important documents like I fortunately I got a speeding ticket the other day but I'm like you know I was able to pull up my insurance real quick and I don't know instead of like digging around for it but yeah I mean like you

said it's just easy to like save little things like that and then you know you could probably just pull it up, create a hook and a caption and find the trending audio. Actually, that's a question I have. I'm going to ask, what's the best way to find the trending audio? Yeah. Great question. And so the first, and this is what I can send over to you guys to, maybe we can include this and, like, they're like a copy of this or when it's posted, like, I subscribe

to a few things and not even paid subscribes, but like there are a ton of websites right now that are like just showing you weekly trends. Like later.com, they do a great trend roundup every week of like trending audios. TrendZip is another platform. They'll outline what are trending audios. But also just like be a user of the platform too. If you're not using the platform, then and you're just kind of trying to grab a trending audio post and throw it up and then log right off.

Like it's not going to reward you. So things that you can just start to notice. Like once you hear the same audio twice when you're on a scroll within the same like five, 10 minute period, like that's for you to realize, okay, multiple people are using this. And you click the sound and see how many videos are attached to that sound. If it's like a low number of videos still, like it's like under 10,000, but you already began to see it multiple times. That means that it's something that is probably going to continue to blow up. Whereas like if it's an audio that's at this point,

saturated with like hundreds of thousands of videos like it still is a trending audio you can use but you might seem more success by like trying to find those like newer trending audios yeah so to do that really you just need to be using the platforms um also follow creators like on tictock and instagram i follow like a bunch of just like um trend alert and like social media managers that would just dedicate their time day in and day out like yeah buying these um and all you have to do is like type in like trend alert or just like trending audios onto the platforms and then find a few creators that like you like the way that their style of content is and then just follow them and then you know use them as a free resource to you yeah I like that that's a good tip

what about like hashtag strategy I just I feel like I hear so many conflicting answers on that is there like really a good I mean obviously you want to give yourself like some you know relate related to whatever you're talking about, but like number of hashtags, that's where it kind of gets dicey. Yeah, what I've heard and what I've seen is like, not that hashtags are really dying, but they used to be the only way to kind of search for content in a specific like niche, where it's not the case anymore. And the reason is because these platforms have gotten so smart that when you're using captions on Instagram or TikTok and or when you're writing out your caption now, like the platform can pick up

the keywords that you're either speaking about or writing about that hashtags are not really used just frequently. They're still important from like an SEO standpoint. So like I usually say like three to five hashtags make sure that they're relevant. Maybe three of them are very broad and then two of them are very specific. And then you're also consistently using the same or similar hashtags depending upon the type of content. And then really you're just placing these keywords in the video. So if you're talking about luxury real estate, like make sure you spell out luxury real estate in your caption copy

or you add your location in the caption copy or on the video. Like if you're using the same word in like three different places, then that's going to help you rank for that term. Think about it like search engine optimization on a website. If you have like North Carolina real estate agent in multiple locations as people start to search for that, then they're going to pick up your site more frequently than someone else's. So same thing on social content. Got it. Okay.

You're saying tag the picture and then put it in your description. Yeah, exactly. Like figure out like what your main keywords are here that, you know, people are going to be searching for on social. So if someone's searching luxury real estate, like let's make sure that like, you know, New York City. luxury real estate is somewhere in that video caption copy. It's somewhere in the physical, I can't say physical, but somewhere in the written, like copy when you post it. And then it's, you know, on screen, like as many places you can.

Just try and make sure that that keyword is there. Yeah. Okay. And then, gosh, I just had a question and I'm like blanking on it now. I have a question for you, but you go ahead, go ahead. Okay, I just thought of it. Well, before I forget. Okay.

And then my other, I guess, kind of related to social media, too, it seems like, you know how, I guess in the Instagram, specifically in the insights, it would tell you, like, when your users were, or audience was most active, like, best time of day to post. Does that, like, do they, does Instagram really even take that into account anymore of, like, best time of day to post? depending on the day? Like is that is that even a thing anymore?

Still important. Yeah. And the main reason is is because the like when you think of like an algorithm, the social algorithms like your initial engagement on a post doesn't always, but for the most of the time, it will dictate how much the platform

is going to continue to show that piece of content to people. So if you're posting at a time where more users are active on the platform, then you'll have a strong, level of initial engagement when that post goes live so that more people will start to see it. Whereas if you go on, you're posting at 4 a.m. or midnight on a Tuesday, less people are going to see that initial post and then it's not going to carry through strongly the next day. So I think that's still important.

What tools do you recommend for finding that since it's not in the Instagram app anymore? It still is. It's just kind of hidden. Yeah. You have to like navigate over to like your followers and then scroll down and then active times is there. Oh. Okay. Still there on all platform.

And like sometimes it's like instead of going somewhere else and like looking up the best times, like let the platforms tell you because they know. And so they go over to followers and it's over there or? Yeah. Like we can when we're in Instagram right now and you go to that professional dashboard. you should be able to just like hop right over to your you know your account or might have been changed now where it's like total followers yeah and then if you scroll down it'll tell you their most active time by day of the week okay it's still there um and you do like post an hour before that most active time yes oh post an hour before okay yeah because then people are going to start jumping on

And the most active times, like they're, sometimes you overcomplicate them. Like Mondays, it's Monday evening because the weekend ended, the first workday was rough. You're back online and you're just in that aimless scroll on a Monday. Whereas Friday, like, people are going out afterwards. So they're not on social as much as they might have been Friday morning when they're making plans for the weekend ahead. So it's intuitive. But definitely recommend checking that out. And it's so funny how much it differs that one on Instagram and TikTok.

Like Instagram, my own. audience is up early and then TikTok my audience is are night owls and they actually 3 p.m. Yeah, they want me to post later there. But yeah, so that's it's still important. Comments are important too. If people start commenting on your posts within that first hour, respond back to those comments. Like keep the conversation going because then it brings people back to your posts. Yeah. And so you just want to like get as many eyes and initial views on a piece of content so that it can be pushed out tomorrow. Nice. Love it. Okay, what question did you have for us? I was just going to ask you guys. What do you think is like the most challenging thing when it comes to social right now, but like you've either heard from like other guests or people on your team or people that you work with, like what tends to be a common theme of like a struggle. I'll let you go first, Casey. It's a mixture of I don't want to be in people's faces. I've heard that from people on my team. Like I don't want to be that person that's always on social media.

to just being at like figuring out what content they're going to post next. Gotcha. Figure out the contact and making it usable for everything. Yeah. Or something people want to look at. Yeah. Got it. How about you, Ellie?

For me personally, it's just like time value. Like I have a social media manager that helps me with. graphics and then like just even just uploading stuff as well I would say probably for my team though it's it's the fear of putting yourself out there I think the same yeah and it's definitely a mindset shift I mean I did I did the same thing you know when I started doing this four years ago but I mean I came from an education background where I tried to hide everything I did in front social media. Yeah, it's definitely a mindset shit.

Hey, I have to be here every day. It's so worth it, though, because that's where most of my business has come from now is social media. I just good to say that, because that, like, shows the power of the platform. I'm happy so that. But, yeah, I think that, and I was kind of assuming that be the answer, that it's, like, overcoming that mindset tends to be the biggest problem. And so with teams, I think, like, something I always recommend for teams to do is, like,

like set up some time where you're doing it collectively as a group. And maybe that's the content that's going up on that team page for now. Right. So it's something that is like, you know, less people maybe, maybe are seeing it. It gives you that opportunity to practice. And like it's a team bonding activity to creating social content with each other. Because it's funny, right? Like we laugh at each other, but not in a bad way. Just like it's because we realize that we're all having the same struggles.

So usually having that like time block, I think to initially overcome it. And then once you start to see a piece of content work as a team, then I think sometimes that gives individuals more of the confidence to then at least take that practice and apply it individually to their own accounts. Because you finally can see something that's working, right? It takes one video to work and then you become addicted to it. Because you're like, wow, I was able to reach a lot of people with this. And now I just want to keep. keep doing this. Sometimes if you're having that issue where it's like team members aren't feeling

as confident with it, then, you know, combat it as a group and then leverage that team page where the risk is just so much lower because most of the people that are probably following that team page or past clients or other real estate agents, like people about like, you know, it's it's not your personal network, right? It's not your ex-boyfriend from college. Yeah. I want to see this video because you think, yeah, hours buy it. So try it there and then, you know, build up the confidence to start doing it more on your own socials.

But yeah, this is a way to kind of see it. But, you know, I know sometimes people say it's not for everyone, but then figure out a different channel. You know, LinkedIn is also a really, really, really, you know, beneficial outlet for finding new clientele. And that doesn't necessarily need to be a platform that you're constantly showing up on your face with. You can just learn how to leverage it from a connection and conversation.

standpoint. Yes. Yeah. With the time. Yeah. Definitely with you on that. Yes. Those are, that was a, yeah, those are great little gems in there.

Love it. I hope so. If there weren't, Ryan's going to kill me. So I guess how can we, you know, as we're wrapping up here, how, how can our audience, like, stay connected with you? I'll put your information back up. but like if they how can people work with you i guess we should say yeah 100 percent i mean always happy to kind of answer like case-like case questions and strategy questions over social or email

and you know also being a part of the cell like certain community so you know right now um you know anyone can really kind of sign up to join that community um and so that's something where we're constantly doing these workshops and webinars as it relates to social You know, I do one every month actually just on like tactical. Like here's how to create Instagram Reels. Here's how you should be using TikTok right now. Yeah. So being a part of the community too is something that everyone is always invited to.

But yeah, I mean, I'm always happy to kind of work with anyone and figure out what the best solution would be. But, you know, email, social, get in contact with me and we'll make it happen. But thanks for letting me. You guys are great. I love it. Yes. No, I appreciate you coming on. This was very great information and great hacks, tips and tricks from you.

Yes, thank you. Appreciate it. Anytime. Anything for you and Casey. Oh, thank you. You're awesome, John. Okay. Well, guys, don't be or don't forget to follow us on.

We're now on Apple and Spotify podcast. So follow us on there and, you know, hit that little alert button so you know when our podcast, you know, hit the market, I guess, kind of like a listing. And yeah, we'll be on next week. Any other announcements, Casey? No. John, I'll see you next week. See next week. I wish I was seeing you this weekend, but we'll get you at the next one. I know, I know. I wish the next one I would definitely be at. There you go. Awesome. Good. Well, thank you again, John. We appreciate your time. We know you're busy.

so thank you again. Good luck this weekend. Thanks, guys. Great to see you. Awesome.