When I was a kid, there was a guy going door-to-door selling vegetables. My mom opened the door and the guy stood there with the vegetables in his hand and said dubiously, “You don’t want to buy any vegetables, do you?” And of course, my mom said no. Why? Because the vegetable salesman framed the question with doubt and rejection already in mind. If you present yourself that way, without any confidence, then people are going to take you that way. It became clear to me that branding is all about how you present yourself and especially how you present yourself authentically.
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When I first got into real estate, I invested time in understanding personality profiles so that for any person I worked with, I could mould myself into the person they needed me to be. If you’re good at this, it can become very profitable, but it’s also overwhelming and exhausting to change who you are. At the start of your career, knowing the “love language” of your clients is valuable, but you also need to be able to recharge your batteries and understand who you work with most easily. Not everyone is going to be a natural fit for you and finding your niche is helpful.
Leveraging Social Media For Building Your Brand: Don’t Create, Document
I was at a party once and somebody was complaining about their negative real estate experience. It was a typical horror story of mistakes made, and I realized that the lack of accessible information was to blame. We as real estate agents often assume that the public knows industry terms, but what is common to us is not common for people outside of real estate. So I thought that maybe I could be the person to bridge the gap and make that information readily available to the public.
That was the genesis of “The Ask Jason Show” – a web series I host and produce where I answer questions people have about the real estate industry, covering everything from “How do I use my heat recovery ventilator” to “How much do I pay a real estate agent?”. The show got traction and local media started to reach out to me to consult on news-related topics. Rogers TV eventually asked me to host a community TV show called “Out of the Fog”, which I also produce now. By branding yourself as you, as the truest version of yourself, you’re allowing others to connect and be the truest versions of themselves too. It’s that authenticity that draws people in. That’s what I believe has helped me succeed in social media.
For building your brand on social media, you need to tell a story that people will find enticing and that they’ll pay attention to. Every good story has to have ups and downs, otherwise, it’s boring. The only way to tell that story is if you’re an honest, open person and if you’re being honest, then you don’t need to take the time to create any story, you can just document what you’re already doing.
Tell the story of who you are and what your goals are, and be transparent with your audience. Not only does this hold you accountable to them, but it also makes them interested in you. If you scroll through any top-producing real estate team or member on social media, then you’ll see that the content that gets the most engagement isn’t the celebration of a million-dollar house they just sold, but it’s the truth about something going on behind the curtain.
My Advice for Agents Struggling to Stand Out:
If you’re struggling to stand out, it’s likely because you haven’t found your place yet in the market. And if you haven’t found your place in the market, then you’re too concerned about what other people are thinking about you – which is the greatest thief of joy.
Go all in on who you are as a person: even if you are weird, then weird people are going to love you. If you love cats, then be the cat real estate agent. If you’re into Dungeons and Dragons, then host a Dungeons and Dragons-themed event for clients. If you’re the real estate agent who loves hockey, print your contact information on a set of jersey-shaped business cards and sponsor a team. Trying to sell to people you don’t relate to is uncomfortable for them, and exhausting for you.
If you’re afraid of going all in on who you are as a person to create your brand, then your real estate business is the least of the problems you have as a human being. If you don’t like yourself enough to double down on who you are, then why would anyone else invest in you? People have to trust you, and you need to trust yourself first for that to happen.
