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The Power of LinkedIn for Real Estate Professionals: Insights from Jesse Futia · Go Big with Gib Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Go Big With Gibb podcast, where we talk to professionals, business owners and entrepreneurs about their big wins.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome to this episode of Go Big With Gibb.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Today, I've got a very special guest here with me, Jesse Fuchsia.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Jesse, how are you today?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I'm good, gibb.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I want to tell you, brother, it is a privilege to be here with you on your podcast.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: You're a guy.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Obviously we've been working together for six months now, but even before we started working together you were a guy that I've always looked up to in the space and it's a privilege just to be here with your viewers and add value with the brand building process to you guys today.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Thanks, buddy.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Buddy, yeah, the the.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: We have mutual admiration for each other because I I had known about you for quite a long time before we started working together and everybody was talking about you and saying your name and different real estate circles, and I remember thinking like one of the things I took away from a real estate conference was that I needed to connect with you.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: But yeah, welcome to the show, let's dive right into it.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: First, I'd love it if you could just briefly introduce yourself to the audience.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let me just take a few minutes here and kind of give you the full rundown of where I got started where I am today.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: So I'm originally from upstate New York on the East Coast.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I'm actually active duty in the military.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Not a lot of people know this, but my background is actually in special operations.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: So I was a captain in the US Army Rangers for several years there, running all around the world serving with some of the best guys in the world and doing some crazy things and jumping out of airplanes and anything adrenaline thrilled that was.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: You know, serving this country and serving this nation was a huge passion of mine.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: So I'm military by trade.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: I'm also a real estate investor by trade.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: I got into real estate in college.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Basically, I was just sitting in a college dorm room one day reading a book and I was like, hey, it would be cool to buy a college house and rent it to my college buddies.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I was a broke college kid so obviously I've got no cash.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: But I went to my father.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: My father had no background in real estate investing whatsoever at all Neither of us did.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: But I pitched him an idea.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: I was like, hey, dad, I've got the buddies, I can live in it, I can operate it, I can help manage it.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: I don't have the cash no-transcript, a great edge within the industry.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: And while we were also scaling and building that real estate company, you know I started writing on LinkedIn every day and I was really just sharing general stories about real estate investing, about my journey, the entrepreneur's journey.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: You know telling stories, you know evicting, you know, my college friends and stuff like that Just crazy horror stories of real estate and obviously sharing lots of lessons learned and what it means to be a limited partner and whatnot and raise capital.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: And I found that building a brand on social media.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: You know, people started reaching out to me overnight, gib, and were like Jesse, I had no idea I could be a limited partner.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: I had no idea that I could invest in these deals.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: I had no idea you could invest in, you know, an RV park or self-storage or an apartment building.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: You know I'd love to learn more about this and I'd love to join your next opportunity or whatever.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: So that was all going on along the side of investing and buying real estate and kind of.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: The two companies have now really just built each other and helped each other thrive to what it is today.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: You know we work with highly successful real estate investors and syndicators just like yourself and other very successful people in the industry to help them build brands on social media to raise capital and drive revenue for their businesses today.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, thank you for that introduction, jesse.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, you have worked with some really big name clients over the years and your company, cre Digital.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: You do ghostwriting and you just understand the LinkedIn algorithm in a manner you know and I don't know if algorithm's the right word, but you know what will succeed on LinkedIn and you know how to help people to tell their story.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Is writing something that has always been a talent of yours, because you talked about being an army ranger and you know special operations and I can only imagine that that is a different side of your brain.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe there's some some Passover there, but or some commonality there.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: But talk to me about your background in writing.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're such a good writer.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Have you always had that talent?
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I get asked that like all the time I tell everybody I was a terrible writer growing up, like through high school, I was awful, I was awful.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I got to college awful Um, honestly, it was just a skill I never invested in.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: But I tell everybody out there that's listening, that's looking to build a brand on in a text-based platform like LinkedIn or Twitter, you know, if I, if I'm an example of anything, it is that, like, terrible writers can grow brands and it was just because I wrote every day.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Honestly, I just forced myself to do it.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I got in the weeds and I saw what worked and I tested several different things and again I, you know there was a point where I was writing.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: You know I do more operation side now, but there was a point where I was writing three, four, five hours a day, studying other content creators out there and what they were doing and what they were using.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: You know this journey has gone on for almost a decade of just writing online every single day, but to go out, no, I mean, I was a terrible, terrible writer in high school and college.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: It wasn't until I started building a brand and forcing myself to get out there, get uncomfortable and, you know, find a solution where I knew that this is going to help build my business, is going to help drive leads and raise capital and raise revenue.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: It wasn't until I made that decision that I really have that pivot point and really start to expand my writing capability, which helped me, you know, help other people do it too.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know I started to really focus on growing my personal brand about one year ago maybe one and a half years ago and it's really been a game changer for me.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Quite frankly, I don't think I realized just how important that is.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: You know we're recording this episode here in June of 2024.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: And I believe now you know growing your own personal brand is like one of the most important things to being successful in business.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I 100% agree and I would tell everybody I write posts about this all the time but your brand is the most valuable asset you own.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: A lot of people out there are like, hey, I own this whatever 100 unit apartment building, this 300 unit self storage facility, but I'll tell you right now, your brand, your name, is the most important asset that you own.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: And I really think, when you look at brand building today, especially in the commercial real estate industry, I truly believe we're still at base camp of what the true capability of what this industry can do.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: And there's a lot of people out there who are like you know, Jesse, there's LinkedIn it's so crowded or Twitter, it's so crowded.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: I think we think that because we're out there every day engaging in writing.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: But I think the people who are building brands right now we're still at base camp of what's truly capable, of where this is going to go in the next two, five, seven, 10 years.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: The people building brands today, when the economy turns around out of this high interest rate period that we're in right now, I think are going to be the ones who really excel here in the next two to three years, because they're digging that well right now and they're building that audience with a high level of trust that's going to monetize here in the next couple of years.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Totally agree with that.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Talk to me about how is it that you write from the perspective of your client.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: So you know, I know from working with you that you know a lot about me and some of the things that you have written you and your team have written are like intimate details of, like my relationship with my wife or my relationship with one of my children, and it almost shocks me when I first read you know a post that you've prepared, because it's like really deep inside how my brain works and that's an amazing skill to have.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think what it comes down to and what separates us at CRE Digital, you know, from other digital marketing companies out there is the level of in-depth understanding that we go into when we bring an onboard client that works with us, especially someone long term.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: You know we're going into interviews, podcasts, everything from A to Z that we can get our hands on.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Obviously, one-on-one interviews is a super important part of it as well, to help us understand you know someone's life story, but I think you know the level of depth that we go into.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: This isn't a system of like, hey, we're going to blast out 500 cold DMs and we're going to try to attract these leads.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: No, we understand our clients' lives from the day they were born until today, and understanding each intricate part is what enables us to create that authentic, original, high quality piece of viral content that's going to drive leads, and you don't see that really out there in the digital marketing world today.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: You've got a lot of people in your inbox that are like, hey, I'll drive you 100 leads here, 50 leads here, 20 leads here, whatever.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: We all get these like cold, scammy DMs.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: But when you're working with a team like us, you know we want people to feel like they're part of the family.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: They're.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: We understand everything about your brand from A to Z, and that level of customer service, that personal one-on-one attention, is really good.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: What I think creates the results and what creates that high level of viral content that we're able to drive for our clients, you know, like you and for many other successful people.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know it's shocking how well you know my tone of voice and you know my story and I think it really conveys with a level of authenticity that you wouldn't necessarily see if we didn't have that kind of a bond.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: And I know that you know you and I talk weekly, if not more frequently than that.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, we're texting and communicating often With my account.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: When I first started with you, I think I had about 1,200 followers.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I know we're getting ready to cross the 5,000 follower mark.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: We may have even.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think today's going to be the day.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I think we were like, uh, you know, five or six followers shy of that this morning when I checked LinkedIn, but but, um, we've had massive growth.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: You know we've more than four X my um follower base.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: I've got a ton of people reaching out to me and it's a.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: It's really a different conversation that I'm having with them because they already know so much about me.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: You know it's one thing when you're talking to people about real estate and you're trying to explain to them what your current offering looks like.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: You know and, and you don't know them at all.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Then it is when they've already been following your content for several weeks or even months and they reach out to you and it's amazing, like they drop a little, they say things that let you know that they've been reading your content and then you realize, wow, this person like really follows what I've been doing and so we've already got a bond that transcends like any kind of.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: It's not it's no longer like trying to pitch them on a deal, it's trying to build a relationship with them.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: That's a really authentic relationship.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: If I can help them in their investment journey, great.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: But it definitely makes that that initial introduction so much more meaningful.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, and I think you hit on a couple things there that I just want to go back and talk about real quick.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of people out there who invest a lot of money in cold outreach or paid ads, and I think there's a good balance that has to go in within that, because I think paid ads, you know, have its positives too and can work in conjunction with, you know, organic content.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: But I think when you're going from a cold mentality of, hey, I'm going to shoot out a hundred cold DMS or I'm going to pay, you know whatever $10,000 a month to run Google ads or whatever, you know, it creates a really cold mentality.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: When you're reaching out to that lead where, just as you mentioned right there, when you're consistently creating organic and authentic content on a daily basis, it creates a warm type of following, a warm type of outreach where it doesn't come off salesy and when that person is ready to invest.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: It might not be, you know, right away in that first day or first week.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: It might take a month or two months or three months, but what you're going to find out there and you've already seen this is you're having meaningful conversations with investors who already know, like and trust you, as opposed to someone who just got another cold DM or was scrolling their feed and came across an ad on Instagram.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Or they were on Google and they Googled something and something came up in the sponsored section whatever.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Again, the organic content.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: It's the long road, but it's the prosperous road.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: When you look at the shorter road of like paid ads or cold outreach, it takes a longer amount of time to build that foundation of trust with an audience.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: But once you build it, again, I truly believe that people who are digging the well right now this year are going to be the ones who explode in the next 12 to 24 months.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Who explode in the next 12 to 24 months once we turn out of this high interest rate period and deal flow increases.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Again, it's those people right now who are building that audience.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: You know, by the end of this year you're going to be at easily over 10,000 followers.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Our goal for you, I think, is 15 to 20,000 is what we have in the company goal, but again, that is going to be a 15 to 20,000 person audience with that foundation that already trusts you.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Like paid ads can't do that.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: So something to think about.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think part of it is giving value for free, and I've heard Alex Hormozy talk about this.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: A lot content is we're giving a lot of high quality, high value.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: You know, posts that are educational, that people are digesting, and it's kind of like when somebody comes to the law office and we seat them in the conference room, we like to hand them a bottle of water.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: They may not need a bottle of water, but by giving them something, whether it be anything a bottle of water, a cup of coffee you know it gives them that feeling of camaraderie, comfort.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: You know that we want to take care of you while you're here, and I think the same thing goes for nurturing an audience on LinkedIn.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: You know we're giving you a ton of value and we don't expect anything back from you.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: If nothing else, we've given you value and maybe you'll be more inclined, you know, to interact with us in the future in some manner.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: But it is a.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: I think psychologically it totally changes the game to where people are now really wanting to get on the phone with me and and they're they're very excited that they got their 30 minute phone call with me too.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: It's meaningful to them.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: They're like, look, I've been following you for a long time.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: I love what you're doing, man.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: I just want to get some advice.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: You know, you know get.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: I want to get your perspective on what I'm doing.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: It's a different approach than it otherwise would be.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, I think that mentality of giving value is super important and the give, give, give mentality that Alex Hermosi talks about, that Gary Vaynerchuk also talks about it's huge.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: And I think showing up consistently and adding value on a daily basis is what builds that trust over time and makes that person want to reach out and invest with you.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: And then I think another aspect to it too that I just want to hit on, you know, is also the authority aspect.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: You know we write in a very authoritative style where we're making industry leaders.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: We're writing people to create industry leaders and I think that also helps add value and build trust.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: And it's funny I had a call last week with a gentleman who I think had a call with you a couple of weeks prior or a month or so, and he was like he was talking to me and he was like man, you know, I got on with Gibb and I was like whoa, you're the real Gibb Irons.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: And when we have people jumping on calls and saying that about clients like you, gibb, it tells us, hey, we're writing in a very authoritative style that's creating you as this industry leader and you know several of our other clients as industry leaders and you know several of our other clients as industry leaders, and it's not the first time where we've had somebody jump on a call and be like Whoa, you know it's the real give or the real mark or somebody else.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: So it's funny when we hear stories like that.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: But I agree with you to go back to your point there, you know giving value and also you know finding that balance of authority from a content perspective.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: I think really is what helps us excel and helps our clients be, you know, really successful.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, another thing I've noticed is not coming across too preachy.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: You know it's like, yes, we have a lot of knowledge that we can share with you.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: You know we've learned from our experience, right but we don't come across as being real preachy.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: It's like this was my experience of what worked and what didn't work.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: There's nothing preachy about that at all.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: It's just like this is my observation of what thing what's going on in the market and what's going to work and what's not going to work.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: This episode of go big with Gibb is brought to you by irons equity.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: At irons equity, we specialize in helping investors like you create long-term generational wealth and save money on taxes through recession-resistant real estate investments that create passive income for you and your family.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: If you want to secure your financial future, go to investwithgibcom to schedule a 30-minute introductory meeting with me, gib Irons.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Again, that's investwithgibcom.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: How do you tap into the mind of the audience like that in terms of knowing what they need to hear and where their mind is at in the investment process?
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think where I would start with that question is the biggest mistake I see real estate content creators make or real estate professionals make on social media and LinkedIn is you hit the nail on the head there?
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: I would call it lack of strategy.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: They're just shooting random posts out into the void or to the abyss with no point of strategy.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: They're talking about real estate on Monday and then they're talking about I don't know avocados on Wednesday or something crazy, something stupid, but I just came up with something random there.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: But whatever, when I look at their content over a weekly basis and I'll look at an entire cross-section I would just say there's just no strategy to it.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: They're posting into the void, they're posting at random times.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: They're posting at nine o'clock at night.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: There's no synchronized, analyzed strategy to what they are doing and to regimenting what they are doing for a specific purpose.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: And that's really what you gain when we come on, when we bring you on the team, when you join the CRE digital team.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: We have a regimented process that we know works, because we've been on this platform for the last decade plus and I think implementing that strategy is really because we've been here.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: We've already built audiences, we have a background in commercial real estate.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I think that's really what helps, you know our clients excel.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: I tell everybody you know our unique value proposition is I am a commercial real estate owner, operator and syndicator, just like you.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: I started writing online every day and that's how I built this company.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: But really I've raised capital.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: I've had hundreds of conversations with limited partners.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: I've written content for that.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: You know you can hire another digital marketing company out there, but you might have some I don't know some college kid right in your content who doesn't even know what an interest rate is or couldn't even tell you what BTR stands for or anything like that.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Where we have that background in the industry.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: And that's a huge value proposition that we bring for our clients and that can really really help them excel as like, hey, we've got we've got the experience in the industry and we know what works.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you can go pay you know $50,000 for another marketing company out there, but they don't even have.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: You know they don't even own any real estate.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: They've never invested in any real estate at all.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: They don't.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: They don't really know what they're doing.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: So to kind of wrap that all up, I mean, I think having that strategy of a background in the industry is really what we bring to the table and what helps our clients excel the most.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Even if you have another digital marketing agency that is very sophisticated in terms of their writing ability, even if it's not like a college kid writing your content, even if it's a very experienced writer, it doesn't necessarily translate to you know understanding this audience, because this is a very specific niche.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: We're talking to real estate investors and people that understand investing and they understand the terminology, like you said, you know BTR interest rates.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: You know fluctuations in the market.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: That kind of specialized knowledge really does set you apart as well.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: The fact that you're actually raising money for your own deals.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: You've been involved in um.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: You know syndications of different types.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: You understand the difference between a limited partner, a general partner.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: There's this is a very.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: As an attorney, I love understanding terminology right, because when I'm making an argument to the judge, it's very important that I choose my words wisely.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: You know I have to be very careful about what I say, and I think real estate has a lot of very complex terminology too, and so you know, your experience in real estate makes it that much easier for you to write content that would resonate with the audience.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, and I think that's that is our unique value proposition that we bring, and I think understanding the audience and putting your you know yourself in the mind of the audience I think is something really powerful.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: You know there's several landlords out there who maybe own a couple of duplexes or quadplexes and they're like hey, you know, I don't want to own commercial real estate, but I want to become a passive investor in commercial real estate and I was a landlord.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: I mean, I am a landlord today.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: I know how they think.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: I know the obstacles that they have.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: I know the friction, the pain points, what they think about day to day.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I know the toilets they have to fix and they're like you know shit, I don't want to fix these toilets anymore.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: I want the benefits, the tax benefits that those huge apartment buildings and BTR communities give off, but you know I'm not in the place to own or operate.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: You know well, I am a landlord.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: I know how that person thinks.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I can help my clients and we can write content for my clients that's going to help spark that interest and make those people want to reach out and build that trust.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: So really, at the end of the day, I mean I think that's what the foundation of what we do and why you've been so successful and why so many of our other clients have seen such great success.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, jesse, talk to me a little bit about engagement.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: How important is it, first of all, to engage with other people's posts on LinkedIn?
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, engagement is one of the most important.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: You know critical things that I probably tell people out there to understand.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: You know, if you're just posting every day and you're not responding to comments or you're posting every day, you're not going out there and commenting on other you know posts not just within your inner circle of colleagues but also large creators.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: It's super important from an algorithm perspective of making sure you're showing up under those large accounts every day, and we have a list of about I think 12 or 15 accounts that get commented on every day that either you yourself do, a virtual assistant does, our clients, whoever.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: But building that trust through the comments is just as important as building trust through your content.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: You know, having engaging conversations in the comments helps get your profile viewed more and I think the amplification that our company, cre Digital, brings to that is also really powerful Because, like myself, I have, you know, 15,000 or so followers.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: I think Anthony has 30,000 or 35,000 followers.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Know 15,000 or so followers.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I think Anthony has 30 or 35,000 followers.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: You know, when we're commenting on your post, gibb, or anyone else's, your post is getting shown to our 15,000, 30,000, you know whatever 50,000 person audience and it's really important to build that trust and to really consistently show up in those comments, because the algorithm is going to catch up like, hey, you know Gibb is very active, he writes great content, but he also provides great value through the comments as well.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Let me continue to show this post to more people, let me continue to drive more leads and raise more capital, um, but it's really really an important part to the content strategy and, again, I think it's something that we do a really great job of and we help our clients, you know, succeed with.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I, I agree with that.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: You know, the comments that you make on other people's posts are so thoughtful, and so there is dynamic and it's thoughtful and it will create a situation where you really are building a relationship with that person.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: I've noticed that LinkedIn tends to reward people that are not only just takers but they're givers.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: You know you want to be a giver and a taker.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: When you do, that tends to come back around to you.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: So it really is more of like a LinkedIn community.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: And I don't think I mean, I think, a lot of the different platforms now if you talk about, you know Facebook, instagram, tiktok, youtube.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: A lot of the platforms are big on commenting and engagement and you know responding to comments, but it seems to me that of all of them, it probably makes the most difference on LinkedIn, and you may have a different opinion on that, but to me I never realized just how important that was before.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Like if I was writing the best post and posting on a daily basis and my posts were just insanely great.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: I still don't think they're going to get nearly as much traction if I'm not engaged in the LinkedIn community, and that takes a lot of time.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on that?
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, I 100% agree with you.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: It's extremely time consuming, but I think those who are able to hit it and able to do it the best are the ones that are going to see the most value and see the most change within their community.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: You said there LinkedIn it's kind of the most important.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: I want to kind of go back to why I think LinkedIn is really that platform that everyone has to be on.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: You know, when I started writing you know in 2017 or 2016,.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: You know people were posting resumes on LinkedIn when you got laid off or people were doing this it really was not like a content creation type platform.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: I think I got one like my freshman year of college because, like, I had to get one and it was just that.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: But you know, linkedin has really transitioned over the last four or five, six years into this content type creation platform, similar to a Twitter or to an Instagram or somewhere else.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: And what's unique about LinkedIn is the amount of high net worth individuals on the platform compared to other platforms.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: I don't know the exact statistic off my head, but it's a platform that just outperforms others from that perspective.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: And I wrote a post the other day and I said you know, there's a trillion dollars of equity sitting on LinkedIn right now, and that was the hook that I used.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: There's a trillion dollars of equity sitting on LinkedIn, and that was the hook that I use.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: There's a trillion dollars of equity sitting on LinkedIn.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: And really the gist of the post was like hey, there's all these high net worth people that live, operate, come here, you know, some post content, most don't.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: But really we have this just professional gathering of this high net worth community where you can post content.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: It's a free stadium to stand up with a microphone and a microphone, you know whatever, and speak to a stadium full of people.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: You know we've written posts for you, gibb, that have done 20, I think 20 or 25,000 impression posts.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: You know, imagine getting up with that much reach and getting in front of 25,000 sets of eyeballs, you know, on a weekly or monthly basis.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Hey, I'm going to write this post.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: I'm going to.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: You know I'm Gibb Irons, I'm in the microphone.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: I'm going to.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: You know I'm Gib Irons, I'm in the microphone.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I'm speaking to 25,000 people right now.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: I'm on the phones of scrolling of 25,000 people.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: That's extremely, extremely powerful.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: And it's not, you know, 25,000, you know high school kids or college kids or random kids who are scrolling some crazy videos.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: These are high net worth US based professionals that are on this platform, that are looking to grow their network, that are looking for other alternative investment opportunities and, um, it's what makes LinkedIn such a great, unique platform for everyone to be building on, whether you're real estate related or you're a CPA, or you're an attorney you know we have attorney colleagues who write online and meet leads like that Um, it's, it's crazy, crazy.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: So I just want to kind of take a minute there and just hit on why I thought LinkedIn was just such a powerful platform, and I'm sure you have some thoughts on it too, if you agree with that or not.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I totally agree with that.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: And, honestly, when I was first building out my social media strategy and started to build my personal brand, I really focused on the other platforms that I named earlier.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: You know, I was totally focused in on Facebook, instagram, tiktok and YouTube and I really kind of discounted LinkedIn.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: And that's when I was at a real estate conference and I overheard some guys.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: I wasn't even in their conversation.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: It was one of those times where you're kind of awkwardly standing off to the side and there's a group of people talking and you're eavesdropping because you're thinking like, do I want to get in this conversation or not?
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: And I heard them talking about you specifically and I heard them talking about some of your really high-profile clients and I heard them talking about how powerful LinkedIn was.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: And I interjected in the conversation and I told them a little bit about what I was doing on the other platforms and they said and this guy, really nice guy, but he cut me off at the knees.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: He said uh, he said well, gib, how's that working for you?
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: How many leads are you getting?
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: And, um, I remember being like you know, well, I just started doing you know this posting on the other platforms and I really haven't gotten any leads yet, but I'm sure it'll come.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: And you know, I've got this fancy studio and I've got high-quality production.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: And the guy really cut me off at the knees because he said you know how many leads are you getting and what's the ROI?
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: And I remember thinking like, honestly, honestly, I'm really not getting any leads.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: And that's been the biggest difference between you know what I was doing before and what I'm doing now with you all um, with your company.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: I have had weeks where I've gotten you know 15, uh, accredited investors that have scheduled calls with me in one week and that was almost an insanity because you know I was running the law office and doing everything over there but I had 15 calls with accredited investors in one week.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Now there's been other times where I had, you know, less than that, but I've been consistently getting leads and consistently getting return on investment and I just think a lot of marketing agencies that do social media are over promising and under delivering and I think one of the big things that sets CRE digital apart is that you guys were were very modest in what the expectations were.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: You were like ah yeah, I said, how many leads can I expect?
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: And I think you told me something like, yeah, but I think we can get you, you know, 10 to 15 new leads per month.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: But as a team we were really able to create that big, a lot of excitement about the offerings that I've had and and and get just a lot of interest and traction, and that is really different than what I see with most marketing agencies.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and one quick thing I just want to hit on.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: And what I think makes you unique as a client is, you know, the clients who are willing to go two feet in the boat and all in, are willing to share.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: You know, sometimes personal life stories obviously not too personal, but some personal life stories obviously not too personal, but some personal life stories I mean that stuff is important and it really really builds that deeper level of trust with their audience.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: And I think the clients who are able to do that, it really sets them apart from clients that maybe aren't there yet or like hey, you know, jesse, I I'm.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: I'm not a hundred percent there, but I'm 50% there.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: I know I want to build a brand, I'm just not all the way there.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: That's why working with guys like you and several of our other clients, it's so much fun because that is where we know we can drive the best results and where we know we can drive the results that are going to help monetize leads for you guys.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: And again, when you're working with a client who's two feet in the boat he's 100 to going to the moon it just makes it so much more fun to get up and write every day and go to work and get on the calls that we get on every week and, hey, this is working, this isn't working.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: Let's optimize, let's go in this direction.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, that's, that's why it's just fun working with you and with you know several other people we've had the privilege to work with, so yeah it.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: I've definitely had, uh, reservations about some of the posts that we've done.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: You know where we've talked about it.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I'm like gosh, that's really personal.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: You know that's a very personal story.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Maybe that's better left unsaid, you know, and some of those posts have performed the best.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: But you know I'm not going to lie.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: I, like anybody else, you know I don't really want to talk about a tough time.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: You know that I had, like anybody else, you know I don't really want to talk about a tough time.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: You know that I had.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: You know it's it's difficult to talk about um.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: You know things that you know you've been through that, that um, you know were tough or an embarrassing moment that you had, um, but sometimes those posts make you the most relatable and actually um perform the best.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I 100% agree with that.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: And, uh, you know, I think it's important for anybody out there to have like a line of what you're comfortable with sharing and what you're not comfortable with sharing, and there's only one person that can decide that and that's you.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: And I fully respect that and I think it's important to understand that line.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: But I think it's important also, on your brand building journey, to ask yourself you know how far?
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: You know, what am I willing to do to build this brand?
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: You know, you look at creators out there like Alex Hermosi or Gary Vaynerchuk or Simon Sinek or other people who have dominated the social media world and I mean you could probably tell some of the darkest days of their lives they've shared on social media and it has built an incredible level of trust with their audience.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: Because, guess what, there's millions of other people who have been in that exact situation before, who thought that they were alone in that situation, but when they heard you know somebody that they look up to on a social media platform shared as well, again, it just builds that deep level of trust, you know, with the client or with the audience.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, jesse, look, it's been fantastic having you on the podcast.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: You guys are phenomenal at what you do.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: For anybody that's listening to the show, I highly recommend.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: If you want to build your personal brand, reach out to Jesse.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Reach out to CRE Digital.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: Know what they're doing.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: They are unbelievably powerful in this LinkedIn space and you know I can't say enough good things about you, jesse.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: For people that have heard the podcast and want to know how to reach out to you and to get in touch, what's the best way for them to contact you?
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: I mean I, you know, manage my own LinkedIn on a daily basis.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: So definitely, reach out and shoot me a direct message on there.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: It's it's not a virtual assistant, it's me hitting you back.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: So definitely, uh, let's engage in a conversation and, uh, you know we love adding value, you know, to everyone.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: Give from somebody who's doing their first deal to someone like you who's been doing it for a couple of years, to even, you know, industry influencers that we've worked with.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Um, so anybody that's out there that's looking for a strategy, who's maybe been working for years and hasn't gotten great traction, like I'd love to get on a call with you and see if there's a way for my team and I to add some value to you.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: So, shoot me a note on LinkedIn.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Go on our website.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: We've got a ton of testimonials and case studies on there as well.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: And uh, yeah, shoot me a note and I'd love to connect.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Awesome, Jesse.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Look, keep doing what you're doing.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: You guys are absolutely crushing it over there and I love seeing your business grow.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: Thanks for coming on the podcast today.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, gibb.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: Like I said, brother, every day is a privilege working with you and you're a guy I always looked up to, so thanks for having me on and looking forward to this going live.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Jesse.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this episode of Go Big with Gibb.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: If you haven't already, go follow us on social media at Gibb Irons.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.