If you’ve ever wondered how to build a community of fans around your real estate business, just take a look at the list of agents we’ve put together. Each of these BC-based agents has mastered the art of community building, creating strong brands for themselves that reach thousands of loyal fans every month. They’ve all taken different routes to build their fanbase, but all of them have used marketing channels to reach potential and existing clients on a regular basis.
Here’s a look at agents who are building strong communities around their brands.
1. Matt and Adam Scalena
As you may have guessed, Matt and Adam are brothers who specialize in buying and selling in the city of Vancouver. Together they run Scalena Real Estate, along with the successful (and rather directly titled) Vancouver Real Estate Podcast. Since 2016, the show has been releasing new episodes every week, focusing on the Vancouver real estate market in general. An episode could highlight a broad trend taking place in the market, investment opportunities, city planning, trending neighbourhoods, or a host of other topics. If you love Vancouver Real Estate, and you love hearing from a variety of voices in the city, this is the show for you.
With over 200 hours of audio and video content to listen to (including written summaries if you’d prefer to read than listen), the Vancouver Real Estate Podcast has become a favourite podcast option for many Vancouver residents. Matt and Adam have built a community of listeners that not only love them as hosts but think of them when it comes time to buy or sell. It’s a great example of an owned media channel being used to create connections with new potential clients.
2. Devon Owen
Born and raised in Vancouver, Devon Owen offers premium real estate marketing services to her clients, and her Instagram page is a testament to her marketing skills. Her account highlights listings, design tips, fun videos, and interviews with experts (watch for an upcoming interview with REW). With over 11,000 followers and counting, she’s growing a community of clients, potential clients, and real estate professionals that have a keen interest in her brand.
Devon’s marketing expertise can be seen on full display on Instagram, but it extends into TV and media coverage as well. She’s had her client’s homes featured in a number of TV shows, including Dream Homes, Love it or List It, Homes & Happiness, and Worst to First.
3. Tony Joe
Vancouver Island agent Tony Joe has created a fantastic community of listeners centred around his radio show, The Whole Home Show with Tony Joe. The show features expert guests and looks to help homebuyers navigate the process of finding and purchasing a home, touching on subjects such as mortgages, interest rates, home inspections, trends in the market, issues of the day like blind bidding and housing affordability, and so much more.
The Whole Home Show airs on CFAX 1070 at 12:00 PM, with listeners being able to drop in on important discussions with excellent guests. Tony Joe has been building the show for quite some time, producing 219 episodes and counting. New listeners to the show have the option to listen to past episodes on their favourite podcasting app, which makes the show available at all times for even more convenience. Try listening to episode 218 for insights from REW President Simon Bray.
4. Toni Sing & Jenny Wun
Toni Sing and Jenny Wun are the hosts of the In The House Podcast, which streams on all of the top podcasting apps while also offering a video experience on YouTube, which we love. Video is a great way to enjoy this podcast, as in many cases it adds to the context of the conversations.
The weekly show offers a combination of real estate business tips, actionable business-building strategies, and aspirational stories from the industry’s most interesting leaders. Jenny and Toni also offer sparks of inspiration on their Instagram page, which highlights some of the best clips of the show, usually in video format. With a large and growing audience of loyal listeners, Toni and Jenny are quickly becoming two of the most well-known names in the city amongst real estate professionals. You can check out our appearance on the show here.
5. Shawn Brown
While leading the West Haven Group, Shawn Brown has built an excellent reputation for himself in the Vancouver market. The West Haven Group’s YouTube channel has nearly 200,000 total views, not including some of the other videos featuring Shawn on YouTube. He’s a familiar face on UrbanYVR’s YouTube channel as well, where he sits down with some of the biggest names in the Vancouver real estate industry to conduct interviews and have engaging conversations.
Shawn has done an exceptional job of building a strong brand on social media, and video continues to be one of his most utilized channels.
6. Dan Wurtele & Ryan Dash
Dan Wurtele and Ryan Dash have built a large following for The Vancouver Life Real Estate Podcast, which exists to educate, inspire, entertain, add value, challenge and ultimately provide answers when it comes to the Vancouver market. Guests from past episodes include analytics experts, mortgage professionals, large developers, and many other guests offering interesting perspectives on Vancouver real estate.
Simon Bray recently visited with Dan and Ryan for a conversation on the show. You can listen to that episode here.
If you’re aiming to build a community around your real estate brand, take a look through the links listed above. The agents we’ve mentioned are using radio, podcasting, social media, and video in many unique ways to introduce themselves to potential buyers and sellers, and also to connect with their industry peers. What’s even better is that each of the communities built by the agents we’ve highlighted presents them opportunities to connect with their existing clients. Building a community that consistently delivers thoughtful content is a fantastic retention strategy for agents, so don’t miss out on an opportunity to stay in touch.
