YOUNG PROFESSIONALS NETWORK
Finding Your “Why” & Branding with Instagram By: Brooke Mailloux, Realtor®, YPN Vice Chair
R
emember that commercial from “1-800Contacts” where they don’t believe they have their brand of contacts and then they yell out “THAT’S MY BRAND!” Well, that is exactly what runs through my head every time someone asks me what my brand is... silly, I know! Finding YOUR brand can be complicated. We run our own businesses but yet we are under the umbrella of our brokerage, which is also a business. So do you combine the two or separate them? Well, I am here to tell you, your brand isn’t a logo that you or your brokerage creates. Your brand is your “why.” What is it that you want to represent, not only for today but for the rest of your life?
FINDING YOUR “WHY” Some helpful steps to finding your “why” can be asking your peers that are closest to you, “When I am not around, what is that people say about me?”
These answers can range from anything pertaining to your personal life, to what comes to mind when they think about your business. Also, reflect on what you want to be known for both personally and in business. Using a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis can help you discover the different characteristics you have to offer and which ones you want to portray within your brand. For example, my brand within my business is as an investment or investor. When anyone thinks about me and my business, they think rentals and fixer-uppers. I am proud of my brand and working with investors. I use that to my advantage to educate others to learn how they can also invest in real estate. My brand is constantly evolving as I am trying to be an educator in investing in the Millennial generation and the next generations to come.
CREATE CONTENT Once your figure out your brand, you want to start creating content and value to share with the world and using Instagram to share it! Instagram is a constantly evolving app that has been around for some time now and it is not going away! Between posts, stories, reels, and selling points, Instagram is turning into a onestop-shop for many. If others can sell food, clothes, jewelry, and many other items on Instagram, why couldn’t we sell real estate? What you post and how you post it can be very important in creating traction to your Instagram account. Join the YPN on March 17 at RASM South to learn how to ShamROCK your Instagram! •
YPN COFFEE TALK: SHAMROCK YOUR INSTAGRAM Thursday, March 17
8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
[ South ]
Don’t leave your Instagram to luck. It’s time to build a strategy. Dan MacKinnon (@dan_the_realtor on Instagram) joins us for this month’s Coffee Talk about Instagram! Agents can develop an impactful personal brand and leverage a relationship-based Instagram strategy. This discussion is for those who have a basic understanding of the platform but are ready to take it to the next level. Free.
26 | ELEVATE [ MARCH 2022 ]
