Start With A Win - Digital Marketing With Real Estate Agent Bri White

Episode Date: August 14, 2019

Over the past two years, Bri White, a RE/MAX agent in Southeast Florida has seen 95% of her business come in directly through social media. What began as an attempt to maximize a low budget quickly became the keystone to Bri’s success, and she wants other agents to learn how to effectively use social media to their advantage as well.When it comes to Facebook, the more you post, the more likely your followers are to see your posts. If your posts have energy, attitude, and authenticity, those posts could garner higher levels of engagement, causing them to continue circulating in people’s feeds for several days. Another thing that Bri has noticed is Facebook’s emphasis on Groups, and the ability to find your “tribe” or community to build connections and show your personality. Bri’s final pieces of advice for Facebook are: make sure that your profession has public visibility on your personal page and make all posts related to your business visible to the public, even when you are posting from your personal page.On Instagram, Bri emphasizes the importance of authenticity and consistency. If you have a handful of pages that post appealing content, learn from them and try to apply some of their ideas or concepts to your own posts or stories. Bri has found that Instagram is a good way to connect with local businesses, and some local businesses are using Instagram’s Direct Messages as a way to connect with potential clients just like they would on LinkedIn.Links:Website: https://www.breezetokeys.com/Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BreezeToKeysBusiness Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BriWhiteRealtor/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/BreezeToKeys/Pixaloop: https://apps.apple.com/al/app/enlight-pixaloop-move-photos/id1381206010Cinemagraph: https://flixel.com/products/ios/cinemagraph-pro/“The Slight Edge”: https://www.amazon.com/Slight-Edge-Turning-Disciplines-Happiness/dp/1626340463 “Compound Effect”: https://www.amazon.com/Compound-Effect-Darren-Hardy/dp/159315724X 

Atop of the 12th floor of the RE-MAX World Headquarters, you're listening to Start With a Win with CEO Adam Kantos. And top of the 12th floor of RE-MAX World Headquarters here in Denver, Colorado. It's Start With a Win, the podcast from RE-MAX Headquarters. How you doing? I got producer Mark with me here. How you doing, buddy? I am so good. So good. Yeah.

You know, you need to smile. You talk to this guy. He'll hand you one real quick. Boom. Just handing out smiles. Like it's my part-time job. You never run out either, do you? That's right.

You got smiles for days. That's it. So cool. Hey, we got a really fun guest on with us here today. A good friend of ours from Southeast Florida, Brie White with Remax House of Real Estate. Brie, how you doing? I'm good. Thanks for having me. We're glad to have you on. You and I have kind of been riffing on this whole social media thing for quite some time. We've been friends on Facebook, and I'm trying to catch the Instagram

vibe. I've got Kayla helping me with that. She's doing an amazing job, but I'm still struggling with it. So I'm glad to have you on today because maybe you can shed a little bit of social media insight upon us. Down with that? I'm totally down. Where should we start? So, hey, first of all, tell us a little bit about your business, where you're at, how do you build it? How do you communicate with your customers, things like that? So my business is pretty much on the go like every other realtor. And I've built everything from social media. I would say 95% of my business in 2018 and 19 has come from someone that saw me either on Instagram or Facebook and just kind of like recommended that way. I had a really low budget and I was trying to maximize the most that I could on that budget for spending money.

I love that because businesses just don't run out and just kind of like throw money everywhere. I mean, you've got to be smart about your marketing, about your targeting of potential clients, things like that. Let's talk about Facebook first. I heard a rumor a while ago, and I know the answer to this, but I think our listeners should. Somebody told me that millennials don't like Facebook, and that Facebook is dying, and it's just kind of coasting at this point. What do you think about that? I mean, you said you built a lot of your business on Facebook. How'd you do that? Okay. So Facebook is literally my scrapbook of my life. And so I got that concept and transferred, transferred it over into my business. And from that, it just kind of blossomed into this thing where I realized the more you post, the more

you're seen. Right. And only, what is it like 15 15 of our friends are going to see our stuff anyway any like on their feed so by the time i posted something one day three days later it was still gaining traction and people were sharing and it just kind of snowballed where it's still like aha this is free right for the most part right and if i make it public, then people who are Facebook stalking me will see it. And it kind of goes from there. With regards to Facebook kind of dying out, it's definitely a shift. I don't know if anyone's seen the Facebook commercials on TV. I mean, I don't have cable, but on Hulu and stuff, I've seen them where they're shifting more towards groups. So I'm a power admin for a Facebook group I have. And it's really just kind of becoming a hub of here we are.

We want to feel heard. We want to be connected. Where is my tribe? And that's what Facebook is becoming. So you've, you, you hit a pretty powerful word there and that's tribe, AKA a community. You look at how your, and I'm just, my job is just to observe things and say something. Sometimes it gets me in trouble. The, uh, you know, in all reality, what you're doing is your present, your, I mean, first of all, your personality. So thank you for that. Thank you. On a good day. I like that. Yeah.

Yeah. So, I mean, it's, you know, you're, you're Brie and people go, Hey, there's Brie. And you know, you got that look on your face, like, Hey, I'm about to say something that's really insightful or really funny, or, you know, just check this out. And so you're building a community and, and helping kind of gather those people. Is that a big part of your business? Because it seems like, you know, in communities, you know, which is what realtors are part of, people do business with people. Is that a fair statement? Yeah. So I learned early on when I transferred over to be a full-time realtor that I wanted to work with people that kind of vibed with me.

It was all about the energy and the attitude, and we just had to connect. Because I had two transactions where it just it wasn't that five and I was like you know what I would rather refer the business out than work with people like that so it just kind of became like I'm going to be authentically me unapologetic and I'm going to go for it and then I'll repel the people that don't want to work with me which is totally cool and I'll attract the people that do And it's just kind of morphed into this thing that I honestly never expected to in such a short period of time. Let me ask you a question about that. I mean, obviously you're present in these things. You're active on social media, meaning you actually have to type something in or record a video

or post something that generally is of value. And I hear from people go, Facebook doesn't work for building my business or whatever. It seems to be those people that are just like lurking in the background and don't do anything. Is that, I mean, have you seen that? You know, what advice do you have for them? Rule of thumb, and it's like legit my pet peeve. If you're a business owner, if you do something where you're trying to gain a following or something, make your profession public. Like I should be able to go onto your personal page and see that you work for a repack. I should be able to see that you're a realtor, brokerage, or, you know, you own an air conditioning company. It should be public information. And anything that has to do with my business, I post as public. I tend to use my personal page a little bit more than my business page because for me as a millennial, I want to see the person

behind the business versus just the business. So you're humanizing your business, right? A hundred percent. I'm not one who likes picturesque things. I like something that's raw and real, and it tells a story. And that's what I tend to gravitate to, and I think a lot of people are. So personal, tells a story, raw and real. I love this. I mean, you're totally transparent in your life with what you're putting on social media. Is that, is that a fair statement? Oh, totally. It's crazy because I've put some really personal things on there and I've kind

of cherry picked what I share when I share it. And what's the most beautiful thing has been is people will come up to me first and they'll be like, thank you. I'm like, for what? What I do? Like, am I in trouble? And they're like, no, no, no, your posts on Facebook. And I'm just like, oh my gosh, like, that's amazing. Because again, it goes back to that building a tribe and a community. What people don't understand is, so I have a teenager and he's 15. Him and his friends communicate more on their cell phones, through Google chats or Google Hangouts or anything in general, than they do in real life.

So those connections that you're making online and in social media, they're valuable. They're just as valuable, if not more valuable, than your in-life connections. That's cool. It's funny because, I mean, we met originally on social media, you and I, and we ran into each other at a Remax event and you're like, hey, what's up, friend? And I'm like,

hey, what's up, friend? And we're both kind of sitting there going, we've never really met in person, but we felt like we knew each other. It was hilarious. Totally. It's so cool because you know what? It takes away that barrier of like those first impressions when you meet someone in person. You kind of like judge someone or you have a notion of how a person is going to be within five seconds. When you're on social media, all you have is what they've decided to share with the world. Right. So it kind of takes away that, you know. Can you tell when somebody's fake on social media?

Oh, yeah. You can completely tell because it's like a pattern. And I call it like an algorithm in a way because I'll post the same stuff. Like it's never anything that's genuine. It's like they're putting up a facade of who they want you to think they are versus who they actually are. All right. Key point here, folks. Listeners, don't be fake on social media. Brie will call you out and nobody will want to do business with it because they'll know you're

being fake about it. So that's awesome. Hey, let's shift gears a little bit here. Let's talk about Instagram for a second. You've been successful on both Facebook and Instagram. So you've got a personal Facebook page. You have a business Facebook page for your real estate business. Both of those kind of overlap. But tell me about Instagram. What should we be doing on that? What is the value there? Obviously, Facebook owns Instagram. How does this whole thing overlap? So Stories is huge right now. I'm sure you've heard that plenty of times. It's really just about connecting and sharing. What I found for me is it's been a great resource to find local businesses and local businesses have found me. I even had,

believe it or not, I just closed a listing that was a referral from Instagram. How crazy is that? Like people say, Oh, there's no business to be had, but there is, you just have to honestly, it takes time. There's programs and stuff out there to help you. And it's more of a visual aspect too. Like I feel like you can do whatever. You can be really creative with it. So you can go really picturesque or you can be raw and real. My Instagram is a little bit messier than others just because I'm an emotional poster, I guess is what I would say, versus a planner.

Yeah, it really, God's the one that's there. All right, what's the difference between an emotional poster and a planner? You got me asking here. For me, I have to be in the mood. I want to convey that moment, and I want to capture things that happened in my life in that moment, whether it's a listing, a beautiful picture or something that's just right then. Whereas some people will create a content calendar and they'll plan out, okay, on Wednesday is all post topics of, you know, Wednesday wisdom on Thursday, maybe whatever the holiday is for

that day, like national donut day, or, you know, I'll do my reviews on Fridays. They plan it out and sometimes they'll have it posted automatically for them or they'll choose what they're going to post per day. So I'm just kind of, I have no rhyme or rhythm. I just go with it.

Do you think there's one better than the other or is it just pick something and do it? It's preference. You have to pick something and do it and it's really, what I recommend is studying other Instagram pages that you admire and cherry picking what you want to do and how you want your persona to be perceived on there. I like that. So just pick something and stick with it. Consistency wins, right?

Yeah, 100%. Cool. So, hey, I have a question for you. You talk about followers and things like that. On these followers on Instagram, you have followers. And on Facebook, you have friends. I had somebody ask me the other day, hey, I want to build my Instagram account. Should I buy followers? I've heard that. What's your take on that? And what is it? Well, right now, you're not allowed to buy followers. Instagram has put a block on that. but there are companies and platforms that are trying to work around the algorithms. So I personally had a program that would like on my behalf, and that's how I met local businesses. So I put it in a bunch of hashtags, right, and geographical locations and things that I had interest in where I wanted to see, okay, well, who's here, who's there? Otherwise, it's a manual thing where you have to go through, spend time, find people.

And, you know, we're out running a business. We're selling homes. We're doing a client. One more thing to do. But now there's a block and all of that. So we have to do it organic right now. So you got to go in and just spend, you know, it's one of those things

you spend like 10 or 15 minutes three or four times a day just going in and searching local businesses and taking a look at what they got exactly providing them feedback interacting with them basically is what you're saying right yeah yeah and what i've seen too is there's a lot of companies now um at least in my area that will take more of a linkedin approach to instagram and they'll dm you which is direct message you and they'll share you, which is direct message you, and they'll share like, hey, this is my services. Thank you for liking my post. If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know. And that's a great way to start a conversation. So still just like interacting, like you're

walking up to somebody, shaking their hand, going, hey, if you ever need anything, let me know. Yep, exactly. That's cool. So I mean, basically it's, you know, must be present to win is what you're saying, right? A hundred percent. Yeah, I agree. It is. That's cool. What key tips? Give me a tip or two for each of these.

If somebody really wants to start building their business around Facebook, you know, give me a couple tips for that. A couple tips for Instagram. Consistency is key. Make yourself a goal. And this is for both platforms, this tip. Decide, am I going to post once a week or twice a week or three times a week whatever it is right and I always tell people between one and three times is a great start the more you post the more people will see Facebook for sure do not get

flustered if you post something and nobody sees it the reason why no one will see it right away is because you haven't posted in a while. So you have to give it time and it will show up and you'll start to see. It's a snowball effect, both platforms. The more you do it, the more attraction you see. And make sure people know you're a business is the number one thing.

First of all, people are going to Google you. They're going to check out your reviews. They're going to check out everything. Make sure that they know who you are and decide what you want to share and what you don't want to share. You can make stuff just for friends on Facebook, and you can make it public. I always recommend if it's for your business and it's a win, make it public.

Okay, so let's shift gears a little bit and talk about content itself. You and I ran into each other recently at the Remax video boot camp here at Remax headquarters. What's your take on video on social media? I mean, obviously you flew all the way here from Florida for a reason to go to this video boot camp, which I'm an attendee, an alumni of as well. I'm a big fan of it. What's your take on video for businesses, for individuals when it comes to social media?

So video is important. And I will say that I was quite insubordinate for it for a very long time. And I have finally thrown in my white flag and said, okay, I got to do it. It's time. But I think that there's different ways that you can utilize your video. You can go ahead and do, I actually really like motion art and I don't know if you've seen that and that's technically considered a video. And when I've run ads with my motion art graphics, hands down, way more interaction than I ever would have with just a post. Tell us what motion art is. So motion art is where you take a still image or you take a video and you freeze part of it, right?

And then only a select portion moves. So it could be you in the rain holding balloons. You freeze your body and you freeze the rain, but you make the movement of the balloons still go. And it's just kind of cool. It's really catching and I like it. I use it a lot. Is there a particular app you use for that?

I mean, how do you do that? Yeah, so I have two apps that I really like right now. One is InLight Pixel Loop. It's only on iOS. Sorry, Android users. I did some homework, and I was trying to find one for Android, and unfortunately there isn't one out there yet. And then my other one that I use is called Cinegraph and that's where you actually take a video and you turn it

into a motion art versus a photo and adding animation. So Pixel Loop is a photo and adding animation and Cine Art is taking video and making it into a photo that has movement. Yes but it's called Cinegraph. CineArt is taking video and making it into a photo that has movement. Yes, but it's called CineGraph. CineGraph, I'm sorry. Yeah, that's okay. Pixel Loop and CineGraph. That's like a huge tip on today's podcast. I mean, I'm going to go download those. It's a big thing. I'm just letting you know. I love it. This is awesome. I've taken a lot away here on the social media aspect of this. So I have a couple of questions for you. We typically get back into the start with the win portion. Any

favorite books right now? Any good books you're reading? Yeah. So I'm rereading The Slight Edge and that one is amazing. That's by Jeff Olson and I highly recommend that. That's a game changer by far. Why is it a game changer real quick that. That's a game changer by far. Why is it a game changer real quick? That would be a game changer because it's kind of like we all have to make decisions in life, right? And we can make a positive or negative decision as everything as little as, you know, drinking coffee versus not having it. And it teaches you the compound effect of how if you make little slight changes over time, it builds into something huge. And it's attainable. Yeah. I love it. And by the way, I have a cup of coffee in my hand right now. Me too. There you go.

There you go. Cheers. That's huge. And compound effect is massive. There's actually a book called The Compound Effect from Darren Hardy. So I love that one as well. I'm going to have to get The Slight Edge. I've not read that. Full disclosure here, I read a lot of these self-improvement and business books. What's by Jen. I'm going to not pronounce this right. Jenna Thero, I think. Sorry about that. I like that one because it is a motivational as to how to get rid of self-doubt and not having self-worth. But it's done in a tone that's not a motivational book, but it is. It's kind of like a girlfriend talking to you or a friend that's like, dude, you should just kind of snap out of it and like, let's go.

So it's refreshing. That's awesome. You are a badass. I got to say, Brie, you are a badass. Okay. Thanks. Have a good day, I think. I'm serious.

I mean, it's having human to human conversation with you as well as on the social media platforms. You're a great friend and so much appreciate that friendship that we have. One final question for you on our incredible podcast here, Start With A Win. How do you, Brie White, start with a win? This is going to be really cheesy and super simple, but for me, it's a game changer. I make my bed every morning. I have to make it. I don't let anyone else do it it has to be me that's how navy seals start with a win by the way yeah that's what i've heard i'm just trying to it's this sense of such a minor accomplishment that's just it means everything for the day in my opinion that's so

cool you know i and i totally agree with you i mean start you're making your bed is huge that is a massive win for everybody those of you that didn't make your bed today huge. That is a massive win for everybody. Those of you that didn't make your bed today, shame on you. Go make your bed. And you get to get into a maid bed at night, which, like, for me is a huge thing as well. So, anyhow, ladies and gentlemen, we have been honored to have with us here today and taken some huge social media tips away from Bree White, one of our incredible REMAX agents in Florida. So Brie, thank you so much for being with us. We greatly appreciate your time today.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Awesome. Ladies and gentlemen, we will catch you next time on Start With A Win. Thank you so much for listening to Start With A Win. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Don't forget to go onto iTunes and subscribe, write a review, or rate the show. It helps us get the word out and reach more people. You can follow Adam on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And remember, start with a win.