When Dustin Brohm began his real estate career nine years ago, he was being mentored by a seasoned agent who enjoyed the thrill of the chase when it came to new client acquisition.

“He would approach people everywhere, but I hated every minute of that,” Brohm admits. “Out of necessity, I googled how to get leads, and I came across the concept of content marketing, which means creating content like video to build expertise and provide value to people.”

As a REALTOR®, the potential to reach clients through content marketing and social media is highly appealing but can also be overwhelming. What type of marketing should you engage in and on which platforms? And what exactly should you share?

Brohm, a Salt Lake City-based REALTOR®, is a national speaker and the host of the Massive Agent Podcast. His podcast offers real estate marketing and lead generation tips and spotlights emerging trends in the industry. Find the podcast at www.massiveagentpodcast.com.

Brohm answers five questions about the best practices in podcasting and videography to produce results for agents.

How can video/podcasts help agents connect with potential clients and enhance their personal brands?

Personal branding is imperative; it’s really the only thing that matters. You could be the best agent the world has ever seen, but it doesn’t matter if people don’t know who you are at a local level.

Podcasting, blogging, video, writing articles and other types of content marketing are just tools to build your personal brand and deliver helpful, entertaining and valuable information to people.

The end goal of utilizing content marketing is to be known and recognized, so that when people are looking for a REALTOR®, they already know you.

For agents overwhelmed by the technology, what would you recommend?

It’s so easy to think that you need to get all this expensive equipment before you can get started. But it’s absolutely possible to use your iPhone and earbuds to record a podcast episode. There are also free software programs for editing, such as Audacity for Windows and GarageBand for Mac.

You just need to have decent audio—not studio level, but good enough—and really great content to podcast. And iPhones and Androids are so high-tech now that you can do great cinematography as well.

There is an extremely low barrier to entry when it comes to starting a podcast or shooting video, and I recommend that agents start with the bare minimum.

How should agents consider their ROI when it comes to their efforts?

ROI is hard to measure with branding in general, especially when you consider the long-range clientele or processes involved with real estate. There are so many variables.

I recommend that agents let go of ROI and focus on building an audience and creating impact.

Who are you making a connection with? Who is reaching out to you? Who is talking about you? You know your ROI in your gut – are you growing, are you reaching people, are you making an impact? That’s what’s most important for your overall business.

What are some mistakes you see REALTORS® making when it comes to podcasting or video?

One of the biggest mistakes I see is REALTORS® talking about the wrong topics. They think because they’re an agent, they should be talking about real estate all the time. I’m convinced that if you never talk about real estate, you can still gain a big audience and grow your business.

What agents should be talking about is their community. Is there a new family fun center or a park opening, maybe a big high school sports rivalry game coming up, or maybe a new food truck has started? What is going on in your area that interests everyone?

As an example, I know an agent in Madison, Wis., who started a podcast and video show called “I Love Madison,” which highlights the city. He even hosts meetups where his listeners can try new restaurants together. This has grown his business exponentially.

People are wondering what’s going on around town. If you do the legwork and share about construction projects or community news, you’ll get their attention. Everyone will share it on social media and tag their friends. That probably won’t happen if you announce 10 tips for first-time homebuyers or brag about a listing that sold in under 48 hours.

What would you tell agents who are unsure how to start?

The only way to get better is doing it, so learn as you go.

The big hang-up many agents have is wanting to make sure they’re great at it first. You can’t be great at something until you do it. But that’s actually another piece of the power of content marketing: people relate to those who aren’t perfect. It’s hard to be likeable, relatable and approachable if you’re “perfect” and polished like an evening news anchor.

I also want to stress that you don’t have to do everything. It’s so easy for marketers and agents to want to take on all these new marketing activities, but we still have to be an agent and have a life.

Narrow in on what you like to do and what you’re good at. Whether it’s blogging, podcasts or social media, you have to do it long enough to be consistent and realize some success. So it’s important to like what you’re doing.

If you want to do more video or start a podcast, spend time watching and listening. Take the parts of other shows that you like and do them yourself. One great resource for finding high quality real estate podcasts is the Industry Syndicate app, which is a podcast network for the real estate industry. Borrow what other great podcasters are doing and put your own spin on it.

Whatever you want to do, there is a medium or platform for you. Figure out what’s congruent with your personality. Once you pick something, then you can start adding on other ways to distribute your content.