Real to Reel: How Realtors Leverage Social Media Marketing Into Sales
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Every industry, from cosmetics to cleaning products, has social media influencer accounts with thousands, if not millions of followers. Real estate is no different, where many Realtors use these marketing opportunities for buyers who are browsing and sellers who expect to see their homes marketed this way.
But a Realtor’s social media game varies widely. It’s as if some people are playing T-ball while others are major league, and some are still hanging out on the bench. And not to overextend our metaphor, but there are plenty of successful Realtors who don’t even have time to play ball because they’re too busy winning with word of mouth marketing. But this article isn’t for them.
For this CandysDirt.com series, we’re taking a look at what North Texas Realtors are doing in social media, how it impacts their business, and what some of the biggest players’ keys to success are. As a marketing professional myself, I admit I’m very intrigued by this bunch. To start us off, I spoke with Bray Real Estate Group super agent Leston Eustache, whose social media presence is practically legendary.
Leston Eustache, aka @iamlestacks
Originally from New York, Eustache got his Business Marketing degree from UTA and started his real estate career at Keller Williams. When his team eventually moved to Rogers Healy and Associates Real Estate, his priority on social media marketing was born.
“There was definitely a strong emphasis on marketing. And I had friends in other industries that were into social media that taught me to run it like its own business,” said Eustache.
Rather than the standard posts of pictures of houses or “Just Solds,” Eustace learned about creating interactive posts that had some kind of call to action for the viewer. He learned how to generate leads through social media instead of just Likes.
Meanwhile, he set about building an online brand, again taking advice from friends in the business on both coasts. He positioned himself as an educator — an approachable expert on North Texas real estate — and gave his audience an experience of what doing business with him is like, all through video.
“I started doing videos ‘Million Dollar Listing’-style, from the back of my car, like ‘this is what I’m up to today.'”
And it worked. To date, Eustache has 253,000 followers on Instagram, almost 31,000 on TikTok, and significant followings on Facebook and X. What sets his content apart is that it’s relatable, informative, and he doesn’t waste time trying to be anything he’s not.
“I’m not here to post funny memes or talk about politics, I’m selling houses,” Eustache said.
A common concern — or complaint — about social media marketing is that it takes a lot of time for very little payoff. So I had to ask, Do you get any actual leads? Isn’t it just posting stuff and getting likes? Do you ever get any actual business from it? Eustache says yes — 80% of his business comes from social media. What does that mean? Well, he currently has 45 listings.
The Content
Eustache has a marketing team that consists of himself, a photogapher, and a videographer, and they work on the content together. He likes to do posts featuring his clients so people can hear real testimonials from people saying what it’s like to work with his team. When he’s worked with celebrities, he tries to get that on camera, because that makes great content. He relies on the home walk-thru as a go-to, and people seem to respond to that.
(As a person who has seen about a million walk-thrus on social media, watch his. They’re good.)
“I learned that from Covid — walk thrus. I was the only one doing that then. I was selling houses to people in New York and LA on Instagram,” said Eustache.
He also works with a lot of builders, which has been the source of much of his success as a Realtor. Now that he has an extensive following on social media, builders will approach him to feature their homes on his pages, for which he charges a fee.
4 Social Media Tips For Realtors
I asked Eustache for his advice for people who are struggling with their social media marketing.
“Your social media profile is a business card. It didn’t used to be that, but it is now.”
1. Tighten up your profiles and make them searchable
If you have cutesy URLs like “Tanya Sells” or if you tried to get a good search term like “Dallas luxury” as your URL, change that to your name. More than anything else, people are searching your social profile when they look you up — and if they can’t find you, they may move on.
2. Use hashtags strategically — not in place of your identity.
Get your hashtags right so people can find you. That’s where “Dallas luxury” belongs (as #dallasluxury), not in your handle.
Your profile should define who you are as a Realtor, not a person, said Eustache. If you specialize in first-time home buyers or divorce clients, say that — not your politics, and funny memes about troublesome buyers.
3. Don’t overthink production quality
A lot of people get hung up here.
“People are paying these big firms a ton of money to run their social media and what they get is a really pretty video,” Eustache said. “I may not have the curly-qs and flames in the beginning of the video, but people are watching and engaging with it.”
It’s OK to DIY your content — keep it simple and straightforward.
4. Make clients feel appreciated
“No matter how big you get, you’re never too big for your client. I’m the one my client meets. It’s one thing to become popular, but you got to keep the business flowing.”
You can follow Bray Real Estate Group agent Leston Eustache at Instagram, Facebook, X, and Tiktok.
