From Followers to Clients: How REALTORS® Can Turn Trust Built Online into Real Business

For REALTORS®, building a following on social media platforms – whether on Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook or YouTube – might be the easy part. Converting those followers into appointments, clients and referrals is a whole other matter.

Tom Storey, a salesperson and REALTOR® with Royal LePage Signature Realty in Toronto, Ontario, knows a little bit about this topic. The Tom Storey Show (available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts) is a popular Canadian real estate podcast, with 23,000 YouTube subscribers and millions of views. Storey says his team just moved podcast clips to Instagram, as well, and now 20,000 people follow him there too.

So, how does that translate to business? 

Trust drives every lead

Helpful, informative chats with industry experts drive the show's popularity, Storey says. The only call to action is links to Storey’s real estate contact information for those who want to book a call to discuss Toronto real estate, and to co-host Steve Karrasch’s information, a salesperson and REALTOR® with Macdonald Realty in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Building trust and being consistent are what lead to success in this arena, not just offering entertaining videos or sporadic posts. People follow those who consistently demonstrate expertise, answer questions without sales pressure, and display authenticity for individuals buying or selling a home. It’s not at all about the chase for viral moments. It’s quality over quantity when it comes to social media strategy, Storey says.

Education beats entertainment

Storey says he now has daily conversations with new people who came to him through social media, with the YouTube channel accounting for 40% of his yearly sales.

“It’s become such a huge pillar of our business,” he says. “It’s how we meet new clients.”

It’s the educational content, not entertainment value, he adds, that resonates the most with people and leads them to reach out to him. That’s why he focuses more on longer-form videos. 

“The type of content that we put out that we know attracts people that want to work with us is usually market updates or informational guides, like a step-by-step through how to buy your first property,” he says. “Create a masterclass-style video, walking people through what the process is like. Or news headline breakdown videos responding to a headline that comes out, giving your POV [point of view] on what it actually means. Do you agree with it? Is there more behind the headline?”

Long-form content wins

Storey’s neighbourhood guides have also performed very well, since the company sells many condominiums in downtown Toronto.

“We’ll go through some of our favourite condo buildings in those neighbourhoods, and talk about what we like about them,” he adds. “We are giving the person watching us more information about things they’d want to know.”

“What I find is that, when people reach out to us, they’ve been watching for a minimum of three months. They’ve been consuming for a long time, thinking about what to do next. By the time they reach out, they’re usually ready to decide in the next 90 days.”

By the time they reach out, they’re usually ready to decide in the next 90 days.”

Tom Storey, REALTOR®

Consistency builds credibility

These leads from his social media content are the best quality leads he has seen in his career, he says, and as valuable as a referral from another client or a repeat client. Trust is built in with the YouTube leads, since followers been watching him for a while.

“It’s very rare where they reach out and say, we’ve been interviewing six people, tell us why we should work with you,” he says. “It’s, we’ve been watching your stuff, we like the way you do things, we know you’re a team that specializes in this, this is what we’re thinking, and then it’s usually off to the races.”

When followers become clients

Give people all the information for free and let them consume it, Storey says, because even if they don’t hire you, they’ll be better educated when making decisions in the market. That’s the way his team looks at it, Storey adds.

Last year alone, Storey and his team did 40 pieces of business from the YouTube channel.

“It’s the best type of business I’ve ever seen,” he says. “The videos that do the best views-wise are not necessarily the ones that get you the most opportunity in terms of business, but the niche-down, specific videos – like here's the nine things you need to know before you upsize in the city of Toronto. That will do way fewer views, but the people who are watching them are intentional about it. No one clicks on that video for fun.”

The client’s perspective

For REALTORS®, viewers with the most potential to become clients are those watching the educational material with lower viewership numbers.

Mike Black, from Cambridge, Ontario, has done three Toronto condo deals with Storey now, after becoming aware of his social media platform a year ago. The reason he signed on is that he found the content trustworthy. 

“With Tom’s content, I found it was not only relevant to what I was looking for, but it was the way he explains things,” says Black, who is a real estate investor who has bought five condos over the past two years. “Tom really breaks it down in layman’s terms, on slide decks, that’s easy to read and understand. He stays with the facts without using a lot of industry jargon.”

In other words, Storey appealed to Black because he was not trying to oversell with too much pizzazz, but instead focused on getting people relevant information without the pressure of a sale. Honesty and integrity, with relevant content, was how Black describes Storey’s social media approach, and that’s what resonated with him.

Tom really breaks it down in layman’s terms, on slide decks, that’s easy to read and understand. He stays with the facts without using a lot of industry jargon.”

Mike Black, Client 

The beginning of a relationship

“Some of these guys [on social media], they think it’s almost like a morning talk show on the radio and there’s a little bit of humour or comedy,” he says. “They’re trying to banter back and forth, and for me, I don’t need that. I am looking for professional, to-the-point [content]. I just want the facts, what’s going on in the industry.”

“Too many [REALTORS®] think the sale is the end of the transaction. They don’t want to build those long-term relationships. I look at it as the beginning. And, with Tom’s content, he keeps me engaged on his social media.”

Every REALTOR® is on social media, Black says. It’s how they differentiate themselves that sets them apart. He agrees with Storey that rich educational content for a smaller audience is often where the better business is.

“It’s because they’re engaged,” he says. “You’re targeting your market. You’ve got the people who are interested, right?”