EPISODE · Aug 14, 2025 · 17 MIN
Reaching Agents with Your Content - 5 Creators Share What’s Working in 2025
from Real Estate Thought Leaders · host Matt Johnson
Welcome to Real Estate Thought Leaders!This started with my obsession with one question (more on that below).That obsession led to this platform of newsletter + podcast.Most of the newsletters will be short. 3 non-obvious insights, some analysis from me, and an action step.But every month I’ll write a longer “deep dive” into a specific topic.Today’s newsletter is a deep dive.The question I’ve been obsessed with is “How do we reach and engage agents…What’s making them lean forward and pay attention?”So I talked to a mix of veteran and newer creators. Some were podcasters, YouTubers and often both. Here’s what they had to say, along with my analysis…Authenticity Creates Speed→Speed Creates Relevance.“So I just started getting on a mic, speaking into Zoom or StreamYard or whatever and realized that nobody cared. There was no difference in analytics...In this space, nobody cares if it’s a fancy in-office, three camera set up podcast interview or if it’s via Zoom. They just cared about great content.”So then from there to that discovery, what it allowed me for is speed, right? So now I can create content at such a faster pace, get so much more out there, be much more consistent…”—Joshua Smith, host of GSD ModeLeaders and brands are going to struggle with the shift toward raw, authentic, even “messy” marketing. The hidden advantage of authenticity is that you can be really FAST. That makes tactics like newsjacking and trendjacking a lot more realistic.If we can get over the internal challenges to being messy, raw and authentic in our content, we have a first mover advantage when new trends and topics catch fire.Short-Form Hooks and Visuals Are Now Essential. Even for Podcasts.The expectation for immediacy and visual engagement has bled into long form content like podcasting. Here’s what Dustin Brohm had to say about his mentality while recording his podcast, Massive Agent.“I'm actually incorporating more of those short form attention grabbing tactics into my pod. Better hooks up front, getting right into it and start delivering the stuff.I've been podcasting for seven and a half years now. When I started, I wasn't even recording video. It was just the audio. Now it's slowly progressed to where now I'm almost recording the pod, thinking about what the clips will look like. Try Re-Creation vs Repurposing. “You can take a long-form conversation, pull out the top themes, and then re-create that as a new, tighter piece of content. This lets you restate the hook and deliver value quickly, rather than relying on editing to force a good short [clip] out of a long conversation.”—Matt Bonelli & Garrett Frey, co-founders of LifeAtTenTenthsAlgorithms will always favor content created 100% custom for their platform. That doesn’t mean you have to create everything from scratch. Take some AI shortcuts with instant, searchable transcripts and script-writing. Then create custom short-form content for social platforms that point people back to your long-form content.When We’re Isolated, Our Content Feels Out of TouchIt’s easy to assume we know what agents are thinking and feeling.But there are always new tweaks and nuances. New bits of language they’re using. New skills they’re scrambling to learn. Maybe even skills we assume they had.The more we’re talking to agents, the more we can tailor our hooks in the exact language and emotion needed to get their attention and engagement.“Agents coming into the business who started recently or in the COVID era, they don’t know anything about how to navigate this new market. So that’s what I see coming up…Even things like a home inspection…keeping sellers’ confidence in you for more than a week…They’ve never had to navigate that before…That’s how I built my original real estate muscle. So this feels natural to me.”” —Meredith Fogle, Host of So You Want to be a Real Estate Agent“I live in that world, man. So I'm having conversations with them every single day, always asking, What's your biggest current obstacle?... I don't guess…I go out there because I spend that time with my ideal client.”—Joshua SmithContent Builds Your Brand…Even With Agents Who Don’t Watch or Listen.“Everybody's listening even if they're not listening. What I mean by that is I go into a room [of agents]... and half of them will say ‘I've never heard your show but I've seen all the signs and I've seen the posts.’ And the other half will say ‘I've never been on it live but I listen to it every week.’”—Lance Billingsley, host of The 13% PodcastLance is the VP of Agent Development for Arizona’s fastest growing title company. So he’s talking to agents every day. He’s seeing what big brands have known for years: Likes and comments on social media don’t correlate to sales. This is partly due to “lurkers” … the folks who see posts but don’t engage, then pop up out of nowhere and buy.And there are way more lurkers than those who engage, comment and share.So while you’re working to make better and better content, take heart.There are agents who see you, know you, and respect what you’re doing, without showing up in your analytics. And there’s probably more of them than you think.Links to Full Articles Featuring These CreatorsTurn Overlooked Skills into Killer Content for Agents w/Meredith Moody FogleInside the Podcast Blowing Up in AZ with Lance BillingsleyYour Content Isn’t Fast Enough for Today’s Agents w/Matt Bonelli and Garrett FreyTalking Head Videos are Dead for Reaching Agents w/Dustin BrohmJoshua Smith Says Cut the Production Value of Your Content. Agents Don’t Care.Big THANK YOU to all these creators for pulling back the curtain on the strategy and tactics behind their content creation.If you don’t know one of these names, fix that! Reach out to connect with them.These are the leaders constantly evolving to better reach and engage agents.See you in the next edition,-Matt JohnsonCEO - MicroFamous | Author - MicroFamousPS Want a platform like this for your business?Click here to learn about our done-for-you services. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rethoughtleaders.substack.com
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Reaching Agents with Your Content - 5 Creators Share What’s Working in 2025
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