HARNESSING THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

WELCOME

Not to Get Too Meta Here

I am Glennda Baker, a real estate agent in Atlanta, Georgia, and so many of y’all know me from my videos on TikTok.

Now, if it weren’t for social media, I could only say that I am… Glennda Baker, a real estate agent from Atlanta, Georgia. Social media hasn’t changed who I am or what I do, it’s just enhanced it. That’s why today, we’re talking about creating social media success through video content and what that should look like for you as an agent.

And that will be easy to accomplish, because I am Glennda Baker, a real estate agent from Atlanta, Georgia.

THE REALITY OF REAL ESTATE

No, This Won’t Be on the Test, But…

Listen, I get how busy everyone is, and maybe the last thing anyone has space in their brain to think about is a social media strategy.

Like all of us, I’m out here trying to make something happen, despite the lack of inventory because Bobby and Susie are keeping a death grip on the 2.5% they locked down during the pandemic, despite banks suddenly getting real fussy about jumbo loans for big-ass houses, despite current interest rates being at their highest level since Jesus was a baby, and despite my hair frizzing up like a Q-tip in this god-awful humidity.

So, I get that y’all may not be looking for one more thing to be piled on your already overflowing plates.

But what if it were a game-changer?

What if you pushed past saying, “But I wouldn’t know how to begin to film a video.” (BTW, if you have a teen or tween in your house, you already have access to the next Scorsese. If not, you have Google.)

What if you pushed past asking, “What would I even say?” (You’d say what you’ll tell your friends when they ask about your job and your day.)

What if you just dove in, like I did on October 7, 2020?

Tapping into social media sure was the secret sauce for me. Less than four years ago, I was just Glennda Baker, a real estate… anyway, you know the drill. Now I’m still that, only with hundreds and hundreds of millions of views to my name, an enhanced brand, cache and clout like I’d never before dreamed, and an unholy army of Glenndarattis, ready to do my bidding. (P.S., I love every single one of y’all.)

What you agents may not understand is that you don’t need flashy production or millions of views to make this medium effective for you. All you need is one simple thing that I’ll share in the next section.

Spoiler alert: it’s not a star sweater, but I feel like those can’t hurt.

@glenndabaker

Social media gives you a unique opportunity to exponentially expand your reach! #GlenndaBaker #RealEstate #AtlantaRealeEstate #NewAgent #R… See more

ONCE UPON A TIME WITH GLENNDA

It Was Never About Real Estate P*rn

Now sit down and grasp tightly because I have a story that could just maybe change your life.

My life began to change on Wednesday, although at the time, I had no idea how or why. Wednesday, October 7, 2020, is the day I uploaded my first video to TikTok. Now, this was not my first time trying to make a video. In fact, I’d been filming myself since 2016 when I started doing Glennda Lives on Facebook. Spoiler alert? These were kind of horrible, but in no way did that dampen my enthusiasm.

I grew up as sort of an only child, as my brother was twenty years older than me, so I spent a lot of time doing affirmations with myself in the bathroom mirror. It made me feel like I was talking to a friend. I quickly learned that if you prop an iPhone up in front of me, it feels no different than what I’d been used to doing my whole life. I had no intention (or inkling) of becoming TikTok-famous when we started to film, I just wanted to find an additional way to connect with buyers, sellers, and peers.

When I first started, my intention was to film eight TikToks for the month, and four longer-form videos in kind of a talk show format, like a Red Table Talk. So that’s what I did with Denver, my videographer, where we quickly discovered my talk show was… boring.

After that, we began to shift to filming more TikToks, largely because they were fun, and I quickly found myself with 122 followers. And guess what? I was thrilled because that’s 122 people I’d never before reached!

Because I am all about efficiency, I decided I’d be best off just banging out the filming of every video once a month, so I began to keep notes on my phone. Every time I’d have an idea, I’d jot it down, and my videos were nothing but me telling a little story about the piddly shit that happens to all of us in the course of our days and careers. Now, Denver and I might do fifty of them in a single sitting.

I didn’t realize that I was on the cusp of big change until February of 2021. I was at my grandson’s birthday party, showing his little friends my TikTok, and oh, my stars and stripes, I had 32,000 followers! I mean, I was impressed with 122!

As my numbers grew, I could not believe the doors that began to open for me and the rooms I found myself inside. What surprised me the most was that as I got bigger, the conversations I was invited into began to level up. I’d started off talking about leads and open houses and spheres of influence, and eventually that morphed into how to make your business bulletproof and the forensics of your numbers, less about working in the business and more about working on it. I never saw this coming, I truly didn’t and I feel so blessed.

I have people reach out to me now and say, “But Glennda, I tried and my video content isn’t working!” So, I look at why they’re posting and I can tell you why. They’re putting up listing videos. The world does not need more real estate p*rn and everyone can just go to Zillow for that.

What made me unique—and what can absolutely, positively make you unique, too—is giving the audience what they cannot get on Google. YOU are the best-suited person to give your potential buyers and sellers locationally accurate information and shame on you if you’re not doing this. For example, here’s something you can’t get from Google—in Cobb County, over 46% of homeowners are 62 years old or above, and many of their homes have the primary bedroom on the first floor because of the county’s senior tax exemption. That is very important information that no one else will find scrolling through a million Google entries.

My point is, none of y’all have to build the biggest, stickiest real estate presence on the web. You don’t need a billion views. To grow, you need one thing—simple, consistent community updates.

Use of social media will help you establish being that trusted advisor with more info on the local market than your competitors. And you’re gonna share it with your potential buyers and sellers when they watch you on their phones in their homes, which is their safe space. And you’re going to accomplish that by telling them a story and making them feel like they’re right there with your when your buyer falls out of escrow or a tree falls on your seller’s garage or you fall out of the trapdoor in the attic.

Remember, you don’t need everyone and their cousin Bubba following you. You just need to cultivate an audience who knows you, likes you, and trusts you because that will open doors you—and I—never imagined.

So, I encourage you to go out and be real in your social media, be open, be yourself, be informative.

And you’re gonna see the difference it makes.

This video was a game-changer, and it wasn’t even about real estate!

@glenndabaker

I’ve been told I’m intense… The intensity is not reserved only for business. I’m serious about tennis! #GlenndaBaker #GetToKnowGlennda #Te… See more

GLENNDA’S GURUS

Y’all Are in for a Treat!

Oh, my stars, I could not be more excited to bring back the guru section in a big way! Today, I am just thrilled to present Ricky Carruth.

Per his official bio, “Ricky Carruth lives on the Gulf Coast of Alabama, where he started selling real estate in 2002. By 2014, he was named the #1 RE/MAX agent in his state, selling over 100 properties each year since recovering from real estate disasters in his costal region (including two major hurricanes and the related insurance crisis, as well as the BP oil spill). Having grown up with parents who taught him the value of hard physical labor and strong ethics, he never takes his success for granted, and he lives each day to do his personal best with the ultimate goal of helping others.”

So buckle up, buttercups, we’re about to have some fun!

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Read All About It

I am so excited to share this with y’all! Do you ever wish that you had a go-to source for more real estate stories, market stats, and content inspiration? (I mean, I can’t do this every day—I have houses to sell.) The good news is, you can consider your wish granted because the Estate Weekly newsletter is now coming out every Friday at 8:00am PST, and I am moving to Wednesday.

Estate Media created this newsletter to give real estate enthusiasts, property professionals, investors, and agents at every level a quick shot of news and a roundup of can’t miss media—all digested in seven minutes or less! Because ours is a fast-paced industry, y’all know that information is fuel and expertise is essential, no matter what part you play.

So check out Estate Media’s new website… and you’re welcome!