GaryVee's Videographer: THIS Is How To Grow On Social Media

If you really want to create content that converts into clients, you have to speak to like an individual person. If you call out that person and you talk specifically to their pain points, I think that's the type of content that's going to get the best results for people. Like, I feel like that's just a mistake most people make on social media is like they'll get likes, they'll get comments, they'll get follows and like they don't do anything with it.

Connor, welcome to the show, man.

Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm excited.

This is actually our first time meeting face to face like this, but we've been, we've been Instagram friends, I guess, for a little while now and sure. Something that I've seen come up in your content before is that you used to work for one of Gary Vee's companies. Talk to me a little bit about that. What, what company were you working with and what did that role look like?

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So I worked for VaynerMedia at their LA office. So not their like normal New York headquarters where you always see Gary, but I worked on the Vayner talent team there. So I had been doing video for, you know, maybe a year or two at this point and was looking for some sort of like full time job where I could do video and editing. And Gary Vee was like, like so many other people I'm sure, like my idol like in that time, like this is 2017, 2018. But I was like, man, there's no way I would ever like move to New York and like work for that company. And then I saw this job opening in la. I had a lot of friends in the LA area, so I was like, shoot, let me apply and like, see what happens. And I ended up getting the job moved down there. And yeah, I was basically on the Vayner talent team there at VaynerMedia LA, where we worked with different like artists, athletes, CEOs, people kind of of that status on helping them build their personal brands on social media. So traveled a lot, traveled around with these different people and personalities, filmed a whole bunch of different content for social and kind of started, you know, help helping them build their personal brand. So.

So in other words, you were the guy behind the camera for a lot of people that we'd probably recognize, right?

Yeah, it was kind of like if anyone still knows like drock, like I was kind of like the drock for other, you know, business owners and artists and stuff like that.

So are you allowed to name drop anybody?

Yeah, I think so. I mean, worked with like Tom Bilyeu, who's probably like the biggest name. Cy Wakeman, Mark Hyman. You probably know Mark Hyman. Yeah, those are just a few. Nick Gross, just like a skateboarder, new musician, stuff like that. So, yeah, a lot of fun, A lot of fun people. A lot of good connections. So it was a good time.

And so like, walk me through, like, what does it look like to be the guy behind the camera for these people? Are you just like kind of essentially like vlogging them? Are you giving them prompts and telling them what to say on camera? Like, how are you? How much direction were you given?

Yeah, so I got just like thrown into the fire because like I said, I had only been doing video for like a year or two at this point and moved down there. And the kid who had left the position before me, he had been there maybe a couple years and really started to kind of like hit his stride with the clients he was working with. And then I came in and was kind of like a fresh start, right? And I'd never really filmed a vlog before, and those were really big. Back in that day, like, if you think back like 2018, like, vlogs were kind of like the main way people were putting content out. And that was kind of our main strategy for a lot of our clients was like, whether they're traveling to an event or speaking engagement or, you know, just kind of running out around town doing different meetings, we would just document their day and then turn that into a YouTube video, chop up some short form content, create some like carousel graphics, stuff like that. And dude, I. I will tell you, like, if you're trying to build your skill set as like a videographer or editor, like, try to vlog for somebody else and like, you will develop a skill set that you did not think, like, even possible. Because, like, you got to take someone's just normal, boring day and find a way to make it interesting, right? Like going from meeting to meeting, trying to tie things together. And really the thing that I learned there more than anything else was like how to tell a story, like how to take this day that someone's having and how to build like a storyline out of it, you know, like, what's the purpose of it? Where are we starting? And kind of like make it flow and keep the viewer engaged the whole time. That was definitely like the biggest takeaway from my time there was, you know, learning how to tell a story through creating content.

So when you're, when you're trying to like package somebody's boring day into a, into like a watchable piece of content. Right. Like a lot of people look at especially short form content, but really like YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, like name the platform. People look at it and they go, okay, what's my hook? And then what's my next line? And then what's my script? Like it's become so popular, I think, especially with short form content, because like, it doesn't take that much effort to script, not as much as it would, you know, a 10, 20 minute YouTube video. But you're just doing this completely organically, right? You're taking what's happening and weaving the story. And so I mean, how do you think, how do you, how do you make that approach work where you can't like manufacture something interesting just out of thin air?

Yeah, it's kind of like, you know, you're a fly on the wall in a lot of these scenarios. So it's kind of like you're just documenting what's actually happening and then just being mindful and like taking notes and remembering, like when you go back to edit, like what were maybe the most interesting parts? What were, what were some of the most interesting things that were said? Because yeah, you're right, it's like you're not sitting down and just scripting out like a perfect script or like a perfect hook. Like you have to go find it or manufacture it. Right. So maybe that means taking different parts of the day. Maybe there wasn't like one specific conversation that was like really powerful. So maybe it's like, okay, let's take some pieces from here, take some pieces from the end, take some pieces from the middle and kind of like put together this little like 10 second like intro hook to kind of bring people in and get them engaged and then kind of build off of that. So it's really like kind of taking all this content after the fact and building it into something interesting. Interesting that may not be interesting in a typical, like chronological format.

Yeah, I think that's the mistake a lot of people make too is like because you can hire a video editor for, you know, five, ten bucks a video and all that video editor is going to do is they're going to take a clip of footage that's five minutes long, they're going to cut it down to 30 seconds, but it's just going to be everything in the same order because you don't have it. There's no creative talent kind of being put into the storytelling where there's a lot of people in the short form space that we would know in the content space in general who have gotten really good at just this intangible thing of knowing how to I guess reorder everything into a way more interesting piece of content. But talking about the, the, the methods that you kind of use with Gary Vee or working for Gary Vee's team, what do you think made their approach special?

Yeah, I mean first off, we were like a pretty big team. So I mean when you think normally, like on our scale, maybe the clients we work with when they're putting out content, like they might have a videographer or an editor or maybe a social media manager, like they might have like one or two, two people to kind of lean on to help them produce and put out content. And we had a team of like 8 to 10 people. So we had like that was like our team specifically. So like our, I'm blanking on the word but like department. Okay. So our department basically was like 10 people. So we had like a couple like creative directors, couple like designers or like art directors, like three or four videographers as well as editors, had like a couple social media managers who would like track analytics and everything like that. So we were like, we were putting together full like one example would be we filmed a health retreat for Dr. Hyman in LA and it was a full two or three day event and we built out like everything we were doing like full run of show. Like here's all the things that are happening each day, who's covering each thing, what cuts are we pulling from, like each speak speaking engagement or like session or like what are we turning around, like same day or next day. And like that whole thing. And we ran that with like a team of, I think we had three or four people like on site, like boots on the ground, like executing on this thing. So I think that's something that like differentiated us from a lot of other creatives or agencies was like we had the manpower to put out like a ton of content consistently, like at scale, you know, creating long form, cutting short form, creating animations titled, like we did everything. Like we built when a client would onboard with us, like we would build their entire creative direction. Like everything from branding to font to colors to strategy to ad spend. Like we're doing all of that. Yeah. So I mean it was really a full service deal that we were providing for our clients.

Yeah, well, and I'm sure that's what allowed you to work with like the level of people that you were working with too, because I know most of the like, content agency guys that I know, it's like one guy with a camera who like runs around and flies to Miami and Vegas and LA like filming these different clients. And then, you know, they got three, four, five, six editors, you know, pumping out the videos and, and then maybe like a social media manager on the team. But like having that level of like, creative direction and, and the pre production behind that. Dude, that's insane. That's insane.

Yeah. And I mean, that's really what you need too. And like, obviously we were at scale where we're working with like multiple clients, but to run something like that with just one individual person, like, if someone came to me and was like, hey, I'm putting on this event, like, I want, you know, a full like social media strategy and content strategy behind it. Like all the content we could produce, like struct timelines, everything. Like you're going to need like at least a team of three to execute on that. And typically people were just like, oh, I want to hire a videographer to film my event. It's like, okay, cool. But like, why? It's like, oh, well, I should have, I should have a video of it. It's like, yeah, you should. But like, what's your distribution strategy? Like, what are you trying to achieve with the video or multiple videos? Like, are you capturing each person's presentation, turning that into a long form? Like, are you doing little interviews off to the side? A short form, but like, people don't really think of that stuff. They just think like, oh, I just need a videographer to like film the event.

Yeah.

And there's a lot more that goes into it than just that.

Yeah. So as you're, as you're filming stuff and as you're kind of going through the footage afterwards, what are you looking for in a segment to say, okay, this is interesting enough to, to put in the final video?

Yeah, man, it's really hard to say. I mean, some of that stuff just like kind of stands out to you. And maybe that's just like naturally over time you start to like, have an eye or like an ear for it, where it just like stands out to you. Because early on it's funny, like when I first started filming these vlogs for our clients, like, I kind of filmed like everything, like everything they were doing. Like, I would just have the camera running the whole time and then like, that's not a very efficient use of my time because then I got to go through all the footage and like find Something interesting. But after the first few times of filming and then editing, you start to see, like, okay, what did I use? What did I not use? And now the next time you go to film with them, you know, like, okay, this is probably not important. Like, don't need to film that. And then it's like, okay, this is, like, an important meeting or important conversation. Let me film that. Or if they're doing something else, then maybe it's like a meeting you can't be in or something like that. Make good use of your time to either, like, start in on the edit and building that video from the footage you have, or, like, going out and, like, capturing extra B roll to use and stuff like that. So, yeah, I think just being, like, efficient with your time and, like, just kind of gathering that information as you go, like, okay, I didn't use this video or this content in the last video. It's probably not worth capturing that again. Mm. And as you get to know your clients, too, you. You get to know, like, you can. You can almost build, like, the video as you're filming it. You're like, okay, yep, we'll put this here. We'll film that. Film this. That will go here. And you kind of, like, build the edit, like, while you're filming. And I. I guess that's just something that you kind of, like, get better with over time. You know, just the more reps you put in, the better you get at that stuff.

If I'm the. If I'm the person who's on camera and I've got somebody kind of following me around with a camera all day, what would your advice be? You know, as the guy who used to be the camera guy following these people around?

As far as, like, what would you. What would you tell the person who's being followed? Like, what should they do?

I'm an entrepreneur. I hired this videographer to follow me around with a camera all day. What would you tell me as the entrepreneur who's, like, trying to go about my day, but also allow it to be used for content? You know? What advice would you give me to get the best success out of that?

Well, I mean, I think definitely finding someone who has good, like, storytelling experience, like, not just hiring, like, any videographer, but someone who has, like, a track record doing the type of content that you're trying to do and then also maybe like, providing some examples. I feel like that's always super helpful when a creative can kind of see, like, okay, this is what you're trying to do, because a lot of the times, people who aren't creatives, they try to describe something to somebody who's a creative, and it's like, yo, you're not making sense. Like, I do not understand what you're trying to say. And then they, like, show you the video. You're like, oh, yeah, that's this type of video that you're talking about because they're just not using, like, the right words or whatever. So I think sharing examples would be helpful. Be like, hey, like, I'm trying to do something like this. And then a good creative can, you know, kind of take that example, be like, okay, I could see how this could kind of work in, like, with your lifestyle or your business or something like that. But, yeah, and then I guess just, like, one thing that was always super helpful between, like, me and my clients, I always had, like, a really easy time, like, getting along with my clients. And I think it's just because, like, I'm kind of a quiet guy most of the time. Like, I don't talk a lot. Like, I wasn't obnoxious. Like, I was just kind of like, fly in the wall, capture the stuff and, like, you know, go about my day, like, easy to work with. And I think that is super helpful, too, rather than having a creative who's trying to, like, force direct you to do things that, like, are out of your comfort level, like, just being, like, easy to work with and making whatever you're doing throughout the day, like, work with their content, you know, so, like, not trying to force, like, oh, like, go over here and, like, get this shot now. And then, like, oh, go over here and, like, get this shot. Like, just kind of, like, let them do your thing. You do your thing, and then just kind of like, figure out, you know, over time, you'll learn kind of each other's tendencies and you can kind of, like, anticipate what each person's trying to do.

Yeah. Yeah. So as you, you know, as you're. As you're putting together these edits that you're capturing with the entrepreneurs that you're following around, like, how are you. How are you kind of going back and looking at performance to. And how are you. How is that dictating, you know, where you go in the future? Do you ever look at the KPIs on videos that are being posted? And, you know, you know, okay, this. This type of content tends to do really well. Let's do more of that.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, we would track all that stuff pretty much weekly. We'd have Weekly meetings with all of our clients just to go over, like, previous content, performance of that, performance of ads, and then like, what we're doing in like the week or two upcoming. And we do. I mean, I didn't work on this side of things. Like, I didn't, I wasn't, you know, because we had a social media manager who basically tracked all the numbers and everything in this huge Excel sheet, had each post, the link to the post and views and likes and everything. So, yeah, we track that and look and see what was best performing. And then they would basically tell us, the creatives, like, hey, this is the type of content that's kind of doing best right now. Let's try to create some more of that the next time we go out to shoot.

Okay. Yeah. That's awesome. Do you, do you have any, any handle on, like, what kind of KPIs they're tracking or like, what, like what actually matters when you're, when you're looking at that data?

So this is a long time ago. So this is like 2018, when I was working there. So things are way different now. So I'll just give you like, what I think is important now with content specifically on Instagram. Cause I feel like that's what everyone's like, kind of worried about and focused on. Cause you can see everything so easily. And I would say, like, the two biggest KPIs for how a post performs are gonna be shares and saves. Cause that's getting people. It's funny. Even the comments. A lot of the time comments aren't a good tool to look at because a lot of comments are kind of outrage comments. You probably see this all the time. People just get pissed off and rage, comment on posts. But the people who are actual leads and want to buy from you are the people who are sharing and saving your content. Like, they're kind of like the quiet followers. Yeah, right. They're not going to comment, you know, and they're not going to do like direct engagement. But they'll save your videos and then they'll share them with other people and share them with friends. And I think if you can focus on creating content that's going to get shared and saved by your audience, then that's going to help your overall performance of your videos. And I know Instagram's like prioritizing shares and saves as well, so that helps kind of boost it in the algorithm. But I think a lot of people just look, look at views or look at comments when I think the most valuable metric to look at right now are shares and saves.

Yeah, it's something. Something we've actually been looking at because there's a. There's a few accounts that have come on my radar lately that I've kind of been wondering, like, is this legit? Like, I don't understand why this type of content is getting as much. As much exposure as it is. And so one of the things I'm checking is actually, like, how many shares is it getting? Like, as a ratio of how many likes. That's a really good. Because you can. You can very easily buy views, you can buy comments. It's really. I don't know if you even can buy shares if you can. It's very difficult.

Yeah, I don't know. I don't think so.

Yeah.

But I see a lot of the kind of the same content. I'll see a video that has, you know, let's say it was like a outlier where it's like, got a hundred thousand views. Most of their content only gets maybe like up to 10,000 views. And all of a sudden one video gets like a hundred thousand and it has a ton of likes, but it doesn't have a lot of, like, comments or shares or anything like that. I think sometimes those just, for whatever reason, just get like, pushed out like crazy in the algorithm. Like, it's almost like a glitch kind of. Like it just got pushed to so many people's feeds, but necessary. It wasn't necessarily a good video because it doesn't have a ton of comments, doesn't have a ton of shares. It just like, for whatever reason, kind of got like glitched out and like pushed out to so many people. And on that same topic, I think that's a piece a lot of people miss when looking at their content. Let's say someone who's, you know, kind of starting out building their brand normally gets like around a thousand views, and then all of a sudden one of their videos gets like 2,000 or 3,000 and they're like, oh, like, this video did so much better. It's like, okay, yeah, it did a little bit better. But like, there's so many people on Instagram, reaching the extra thousand is like. Like, it's like nothing, right? Like, it could have just got pushed, like to an extra thousand accounts, like on accident almost, or maybe just because there wasn't a lot of content, like, being pushed out at that time. So yours got like pushed out to more people. But, like, if it didn't increase in saves, if it didn't increase in shares. If there wasn't more engagement, then it probably wasn't actually the content. It was probably just, like, got pushed out randomly.

How do you make your content more shareable?

That's a great question. That's kind of a deep question. So a good example would be I had a video recently. It was a golf video. We had a bunch of our friends come out for a golf event over here, and we had one of our, like, videographer buddies film the event and put together kind of like a recap video or like a hype video, right? And it was dope. Like, video was fire. And, you know, but it just started out with kind of like a drone shot and, like, the logo for, like, the event that, like, popped up. And I was like, man, I really want to post this, but I also want to see if I can, like, get this to perform well. So all I did was take, like, an iPhone clip from the first day of the event of, like, the first group teeing off, and then, like, all the other guys behind them. And, like, kind of. It was like, three seconds, and I put a hook on there where it was like, when you hire a professional videographer to film your boy's golf trip or something like that. And, dude, it freaking.

I saw that.

Crazy. Yeah. Like, 300,000 views. Like, I think it's got over a thousand shares. And I think that's how you create shareable content is like, building a connection with the person watching it. Because if you look at the two videos side by side, it's like, if a video starts out, it's like a drone shot of, like, a golf course. A logo pops up. It's like, okay, this might be a cool video, but, like, there's no, like, connection there. Like, there's no kind of purpose. It doesn't make you, you know, like, think of your best, like, golfing buddy, who you want to share it with. But when you say, like, hey, we hired a professional videographer to film our boys golf trip, now all these golfers are like. Because every guy has, like, a golf trip like, every year, you know? So it's like, oh, I gotta send this with my golf group. And then they send it with their golf group, and then they send it with their golf group. So you kind of build that connection, like, build that, like, emotional investment into the video by either, like, writing or saying, like, good hooks in the beginning. So, yeah, Yeah, I think it all just comes down to, like, connection with the audience, you know, like, do they feel a connection with a piece of content? And when they watch it. Do they think, like, oh, I gotta send it to this person, you know, like this person has to see it.

We've all got our Instagram meme buddies that we just videos back and forth with. I'll tell you what tends to work with us really well is like outrage type of stuff. Stuff that we post where if we can get a fight going in the comments, that's also going to basically guarantee we get more shares and sends just like evoking an emotional response in somebody. So like, you're talking about like a positive emotional response. You could do a negative emotional response where they're outraged at it. And that tends to work really well. And I think, I mean, obviously a lot of people in like news and politics have figured this out way before us social media types. Right. Because I mean, we've known for years, like that's what gets attention in the news is the stuff that's the most outrage producing.

Yeah, it's like if you want to learn how to write good hooks, like, start reading news articles.

No kidding, man.

Like, bro, if you just take news articles and turn those headlines into content, like, it would crush.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So you used to work for Gary Vee's team. Now today you've got your own company, you work with real estate agents primarily. But, you know, let's say I'm an entrepreneur. I'm coming to you. I want to build my personal brand. I want to kind of get recognized by people and build that sense of brand, but I also want to make sure that that's converting into leads and sales and dollars in my business. Right. So like, what's your, what's your recommendation? Kind of in the current landscape that we're in, how do I build that brand and also like convert that into money in 2024 and 2025?

Yeah. I think the very first place you have to start is like, you have to understand who your client avatar is, because I think a lot of people just start making content kind of for anybody and everybody because, I mean, a lot of business owners do help, like a wide variety of people. But if you really want to create content that converts into clients, you have to speak to like an individual person because otherwise, like, you won't feel heard by the other person on the other side of the screen. Whereas if you're speaking to one person individually, like a person who is in their mid-20s who's trying to buy their first house and don't know how they're ever going to save up for a down payment and think they're going to rent for the next 10 years. Like if you call out that person and you talk specifically to their pain points and you are like, hey, if you're, you know, trying to build long term wealth and you want to buy a home, but you feel like you'll never be able to save up for a down payment or if it's so far away, like, here's what you can do and like give them a couple, you know, steps that they can take that will get them closer to their goal. And creating content like that, that speaks directly to your ideal client, to where they feel like you're talking directly to them, like almost on a call. I think that's the type of content that's going to get the best results for people rather than just like kind of, you know, spraying and praying, basically, like just, you know, putting whatever random advice out there.

And that's regardless of platform, right?

Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. That's whatever platform you want to create on. I mean that's like the platform really doesn't matter. Like you can build an audience on any platform you want. Like you can build on LinkedIn or Twitter or YouTube or Instagram or Facebook. Like it does not matter. There's plenty of visitors or what, what's the best word then?

Users.

Users on each platform. So yeah, the platform doesn't matter. It's more like understanding your client. Create content that calls out their pain points, gives them solutions and then also making it easy to work with you. I think, I think so many people make it so hard for people to work with them where they're like, you know, at the end of the video they're like, if you want to, you know, learn more about this, like, give me a call. It's like this person's scrolling Instagram. Like, like they're not gonna screenshot your phone number, go to their phone, type in your number while they're trying to like copy it over from the screen. Like, dude, make it easy.

Like, well also they're probably sitting on the toilet right now.

Yeah, exactly. Awkward phone call. Yeah, so it's like just get them to take that first simple step. And most of the time that's like, you know, that's why you see all these automations. It's like, yeah, comment the word, you know, growth. If you want to learn more about, you know, what this can do for you. Or like, I think giving away like free lead magnets and resources is like one of the best ways. But once you do that, like follow up with those people like after they download it and they're in your DMs, like, go DM them. Say, hey, were you able to get this? Like, was this helpful for you? Are you trying to buy a home in the next year or two? You know, how's that journey going for you? Like, they get. A lot of people think that they can just post good content and the leads will like, flow into them. And I see social media as almost just another alternative to door knocking or cold calling. And it's like you still have to engage the leads. All you're trying to do is is get people to basically raise their hand, say, hey, like, I'm kind of interested in this. You know, whether that's through a comment or them following you or even just liking your content. And then you go door knock them and say, hey, I saw you liked my stuff. Or hey, thanks for following me. Like, where are you at in your home buying journey? I think that's the piece that everyone misses, is they think that they can just post content and off to do anything else when posting content is just getting people to kind of become aware of you. And now you kind of have to go out and start those conversations 100%.

So there's kind of two things that you talked about there, and I want to attack each one individually. The first one was like coming up with your ideal client and speaking to that one specific person. So if I'm a business owner, you know, I provide a service for people. Maybe I have a bunch of different demographics or a bunch of different kind of niches or industries that I can work with. Like, how do I nail down, like, who that ideal client profile is so that I can make sure I'm clear in who I'm speaking to.

Yeah, I mean, I guess it kind of depends on each industry. But I would say one of two things. Either who do you primarily work with already? Just to make it easy. Because if you. If like half of your business already comes from one niche or one demographic, then just like focus on that. Or like, who are some of the easiest clients that you work with that you would like to get more of and then focus on those people. And like, one of those two things, you know, would be like the easiest place to start, you know, so just decide, like, who do you already like? Honestly, that's kind of how I fell into real estate. Cause I was like kind of against niching down for a long time because I can kind of work with anybody and everybody. But from a marketing perspective, that didn't serve my business because People were like, hmm, that, like, can he help me? Like, I don't know who he exactly works with, but most of my clients were real estate agents, and I started getting good results for them. So I was like, let me just niche into real estate and just, like, from a content and marketing perspective, like, just focus on that. So it's not that real estate agents are the easiest clients to work with, but they were already a majority, a majority of my clients. And I already had kind of a system dialed in for them, so that's why I niched into that.

Yeah. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. I'll tell you something we do with a lot of our clients. An exercise we'll walk through is we'll export just like an Excel spreadsheet of their entire client list from the past 12 months, and we'll have them go in and we'll just group it into, you know, we've got a bucket of 10%. And these are your top 10% clients, whether that's they're the most profitable, whether that's they're the most fun or enjoyable to work with, however you want to categorize that as best. And it could be different. You know, this client is really great because they're super profitable. This client's really great because we hardly have to even talk to them. It could be multiple factors that you're going into there, but at the end of the day, we're grouping out and segregating 10% against the other 90, and then we just go in and we go, okay, what are the similarities and the commonalities between these 10%? And you'll probably find, like, five, six, seven characteristics that all of them hold, a handful of problems that all of them hold, or outcomes that they're all pursuing. And so it's not that you. You don't necessarily have to. Although it can be helpful. You don't necessarily have to niche into a specific industry, but you niche into a specific problem that you solve and a specific outcome that you're able to provide. And that's a really powerful strategy because then you're able to work with those people in the different industries, and you're basically guaranteed you're going to get clients that are your favorite to work with.

Yeah, 100%. Like, if you're talking real estate, like, there's so many different niches that you could focus on as an agent. Like, you could focus on people who, like, fix and flip properties. You could, you know, work with, you know, people who are relocating to your area, like new People moving in. You could work with first time buyers, you know, you could work with veterans. Like there's so many different niches you could work with. But I think if you speak directly to like one of those types of people, like you'll start getting heard a lot more. Rather than just trying to talk to everybody, you kind of just become just another commoditized real estate agent, you know, who can just kind of work with, work with anybody and everybody.

Yeah, well, and that, that industry is such a perfect example too because it's like, it's more, at least it seems from the outside, it's more, I would say aggressive than others. Where like most industries maybe are 80, 20, where 20% of people in the industry are the, you know, get 80% of the money. With real estate, man, it's like, it's like 99, 1.

Yeah.

Okay, so that's the first thing is coming up with your ideal client profile and speaking to them. The other thing you were talking about is people, they make it too hard for people to work with them. And the example you gave, which I thought was perfect, I've seen this a million times. Like real estate posts where they put their phone number in the caption or they put their MLS ID in the caption because that's super important. So talk to me. What are the strategies that you need to follow in order to make it easy for someone to take that next step, raise their hand and say I'm kind of interested in this and, and you know, end up working with you?

Yeah, I think just number one, just like I said, like being mindful and aware of like who's following you, who's liking your content, like who's commenting and like reciprocate and engage back with them. Like I feel like that's just a mistake most people make on social media is like they'll get likes, they'll get comments, they'll get follows and like they don't do anything with it. Like they don't say like, thank you for following me, like thanks for the comment. They don't reply to comments. Like they're just like, it's just like a post and ghost type of, you know, strategy. So I think engaging back just to start is like a great place to go from. And then the next thing would be definitely like setting up, you know, like many chat automations to start those conversations or even just asking people to comment. Like, you know, hey, if you found this helpful, like comment, you know what you want to see next or you know, comment if you want My free. I think a great strategy for real estate agents would be like, putting together a like. Like a home budget. Like, people who are trying to buy a house, like, build out a home budget template and then start making content around how to budget to buy a house. Like, different things you have to take into consideration, like, how to save some money each month and then be like, hey, if you want this free budget template that I built, just comment this word and I'll send it to you for free. And like, that's a great way to get engagement and get people, again to raise their hand and start conversations. And then staying on the topic of Instagram, I think, like, story polls would be another great one, right? Like, just a quick, you know, you and I do this all the time. Just a quick, like, story poll of, like, four options. Like, where are you at? What are you trying to achieve? What are four? You know, what's one thing that's holding you back? Back most from, you know, maybe buying your first home. See who clicks, send them a message. Like, I think a lot of people post that stuff and then they think that they're just gonna like, DM them, like, hey, I'm ready to buy a house. Like, let's go look. It's like, no, that's just simple. Like, those are like, soft, like, hand raises of like, hey, I'm kind of interested in this. And then on YouTube to go back and then kind of strike up those conversations.

So tell me if I've got this right. Basically, you put stuff out there where people have the opportunity to basically just engage back, right? So using the example of that poll on the story, like, you put a poll up there, it's four different options. And then you're going to message the people who respond to that, and you're going to start a conversation with them that potentially leads to a sales appointment that potentially leads to a closed deal. Am I right?

Yep, 100% love it. Yeah.

And for those. For those who don't know the. The ManyChat strategy that Connor was referencing, do you want to kind of walk through that just very briefly?

Yeah, for sure. So many chat is just. It's a software that you could connect to your Facebook and Instagram account, and it basically allows you to make a post. This is another great one for, like, new listings. So if you do a listing video on, like, a new property that you brought to market, you could make a little video tour of the listing, some cool features, like what's unique about it. And then I personally do not like giving away like the address and all the information on the listing on Instagram, because people can take that and just go search whatever they want. Like you want them to connect with you on Instagram, so giving them a reason to do that. So you say, hey, if you want all the information to this listing, or if you want the link to this full listing, just comment the word link below and I'll DM it to you. And you can set up an automation where when people comment the word link on that post, it automatically sends a direct message to the person. And you can either send the link directly to them or you can ask for their email. So you can email it to them. And all that is done automatically. You just set it up. It's like a little kind of workflow type deal. And you can start those conversations that way and then, you know, those DMs basically auto populate, you can go back in and say, hey, like, what do you think of this listing? Like, were you able to check it out? Do you want to schedule a private showing? Like, something like that? So that's kind of how that works.

Yeah, it's really cool because manychat is like your first way of getting your leads off of the social media platform and like, into your own ecosystem. Right. I know, I know you're big on this, but something we talk about with, with our clients and with people we're talking about all the time is like building your email list.

Yeah.

Because that's how you get the person off of the social media platform and onto something you actually own. I think you actually dealt with this before where you had a social media account that you grew and then it got banned, right?

Yeah, yeah, maybe like two and a half years ago. Probably now. My Instagram got hacked and deleted. Like, poof, it was gone. Couldn't get it back. I was dead. And thankfully, I had built an email list of like, I think I had like six or seven hundred people at the time. But gosh, I can't remember exactly how I built that. I think a little bit, a little bit of it was like free resources. And yeah, I think I was doing free resources by then. So I had built, you know, a small email list through some lead magnets and thankfully was able to start sending out some emails to this list. Like, hey, you probably haven't seen me for a while. It's because my Instagram's gone. Like, I made a new one, you know, here, go follow. But yeah, I don't think people utilize their email list enough for building their business and getting Clients. I think email list is such a powerful thing and because you can reach people directly no matter what. Like, you know, if people open your emails or click on your emails, that's another story. You got to work on like improving your subject lines and stuff like that. But at least when you make a post on social media, you don't know if all your followers are going to see it. Actually, you know, most of your followers probably aren't going to see it, but when you send an email to every email in your database, like, you know, they're, they're going to see it. So it's a really good way to have direct, like one to one contact with, with your prospects.

Yeah, that's actually a really good point. There's no algorithm behind email marketing.

Mm.

Where depending on the quality, it's purely just user behavior whether the headline's good enough to get them to open.

Yep.

And so you can't, you can't make the excuse that you're being shadow banned or that Instagram doesn't like you anymore or whatever. Whatever you're gonna say.

Yeah.

You know how I actually started my email list and I wouldn't recommend this, but I exported all of my contacts from Gmail, which I probably had at that point. You know, I probably had like around 500 contacts already from Gmail and I dropped those into my email sending software and then I started sending emails and I immediately just got like hammered with unsubscribes.

That's funny. Yeah, I didn't even, I've never even thought of that. I don't even know if I wouldn't even know where to find my Gmail contacts.

Yeah, you go to like contacts.google.com and you can export them all as like a CSV file.

Interesting.

Upload it to whatever email sending software for mass emails. But the problem is none of those people have like opted in giving consent. And so you can, I mean, technically, if you did that on a huge scale, you could get into legal issues with it. Doing it with like 500 people, you're just going to get hammered with, you know, 300 of them unsubscribing immediately. And then, you know, a lot of times that's not good for, for your domain, but that's kind of a more technical thing, so. Dude, Connor, this was, this was awesome. This was an absolute masterclass in social media, especially for those business owners who are like, you're really just trying to like crack the game. Right. So I guess, final thing before we go, what is the one thing on social media that you would tell every entrepreneur to never do.

Ooh, one thing. I was thinking about this, or I thought you were going to ask this question. I'm like, what is the one thing? If I could pick one because there's so many, I have a guess as.

To what it's going to be, but I'm curious to see what this actually is.

Dude, honestly, what I would say is to not copy trends. I think that's the easiest thing for people to get caught up in is they see something, work for somebody else, or they see this trend, especially real estate agents. Like, there's this new kid you've probably seen. I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but he does these, like, speed tours of these homes.

Oh, I've seen these. Yeah, dude.

Freaking hilarious. Funniest. Yeah, funniest videos. But now you see these other agents, like, trying to do them as well. And, like, first off, they're not as good because it's a different person. Like, this dude's personality just matches that. He's just a weird, funny, quirky kid that, like, is really good at that content. And these other agents, it just feels like they're forcing it. And then this kid's built such a brand where he's like, the speed tour kid. And then when these other agents try to do these speed tours, it's like, okay, but, like, they think of this other person's brand. Like, it's not building your own brand. You're kind of building, like, the speed tour kids brand by copying his content. So I think just like, not copying trends, like, just like, trying to figure out, like, what's unique about you, what's unique about your story, your personality. One person who does this incredibly well as far as, like, teaching others is Chris do he, like, can help you build your online personality and find out, like, what is unique about you. Like, what is unique about you and your experience and your expertise and how can you exploit it in the service of others. Right. And I think that's where people need to start rather than just, like, seeing what's working for other people on social media and copying it. Figure out, like, what's unique about you and how you serve your clients, and then how can you create content and leverage that to help more people?

Yeah, well, I mean, that's the reason the speed tour kid did so well is because he figured out, like, what content style is best for his personality.

And yeah, he was like, let's try this. Let's do something different. Let's do something random. I want to do these crazy speed tours and like. Yeah, it popped off because like, he. It was original.

Yeah. Amazing.

I'm curious, what did you think I was gonna.

Yeah, I thought you were gonna say 7 second reels with text on top. Read the caption reels.

Read the caption Reels are probably my least favorite thing to ever exist, but they work. Which is like. I hate admitting it, but it's like they do work. But I don't think it's. I don't think it's going to build. I don't think it builds long term brand. I think it just gets like short term views.

Yeah, 100%. Well, Connor, this was awesome. Appreciate it so much. Where can people find you?

Yeah, at Connor Newell on Instagram. And if you're a real estate agent in, you know, the Pacific Northwest area, I'm having an event next month that you got to come to. It's going to be the best video marketing event that you've been to, so definitely check that out. All the info is on my gram, though.

Beautiful. Thanks, Connor.

Yeah, thanks, Peter.