Stand Out on Social — With a Story
In a crowded social media video scene, personality wins. Sue Benson shows how sharing honest insights, consumer tips and quick videos create connection—and leads that last.
For Sue “Pinky” Benson, her past life as a broadcast journalist gave her a background in storytelling and on-camera confidence. “Social media is so saturated—the ‘just listed/just sold’ posts just suck,” says Benson, a Realtor® with RE/MAX Alliance Group in Marco Island. “You need to stand out with a story.”
While Benson embraced Facebook early on and was among the first to post videos there, she’s moved onto Instagram and TikTok because she feels she can reach better leads there. “They allow you to niche down and go beyond the algorithms,” Benson says. “If you can show you’re good at something there, that’s when you get a wider reach.”
Benson’s comfortable in front of a camera and finds it easy and quick to create videos, especially ones where she shares her opinion or information in a conversational tone.
“Viral videos may be fun, but they don’t bring in business,” she says. “Some of my best videos are when I’m out walking in the morning, and I’m in the moment. I just pull out my smartphone and start to talk.”
Whether you’re an expert at video or not, Benson says the important thing is to be authentic and talk about your area of expertise. “If you’re good at staging, go into a kitchen and talk about the do’s and don’ts of staging a kitchen—whatever you do, just make sure you’re comfortable,” she says.
Other marketing tips Benson shares include:
• Generate specific content. Benson creates a video for every listing, including topics like “5 things every buyer should know about this house” or other details, rather than just a pretty golf course view. “I ask the owners to tell me what they love about the house or something about a specific upgrade,” she says. “For example, they can say they put on a new roof and now qualify for lower insurance rates.”
• Be self-aware. Benson says she frequently reviews her last 10 posts to see what real estate content resonates with her audience the most. “Self-awareness is my superpower,” she says. “If something didn’t work, I just get rid of it and move on.”
• Don’t assume your audience knows everything. Anytime a buyer or seller asks a question, that could be the same question others want to know and would make a good social media post. “People always want to know whether a house is in a good school district, so I’ve posted videos explaining why I can’t answer that,” Benson says.
• Start a conversation. Benson enjoys posting a “décor of the day” question. “I go into a model home—not a homeowner’s place—and ask people what they think of a particular feature, such as the wallpaper,” Benson says. “It’s important that you’re not posting ‘I’ content.”
Several months ago, Benson shifted her content to a new Instagram page to focus more on consumer information. “I’ve got 4,500 followers and I get 500,000 hits a week right now, which is generating calls and messages from buyers and sellers,” Benson says. “The important thing is that I am homing in on what the viewers want to see.”