Last weekend at VidCon 2026 in Anaheim, California, real estate had a moment. Two real estate social media influencers took the stage at the Anaheim Convention Center, bringing our industry into a room typically dominated by creators, entertainers, brands and digital culture.
The conversation between Andrew Jevin and Glennda Baker was not about chasing follower count, jumping on trends or trying to become internet famous. It was about something far more important: how agents earn attention, build trust and turn online visibility into real-world business.
Stop asking what to post
For years, real estate agents have been told they need to “create more content.” That advice is no longer enough.
- More content doesn’t automatically create more trust.
- More views don’t automatically create more clients.
- More posts don’t automatically make an agent more valuable.
What Baker made clear from the VidCon stage is that agents need to stop asking, “What should I post?” and start asking, “Where am I actually valuable?”
Your reviews define your brand
She challenged agents to stop guessing at their value proposition and go find the answer in their own client feedback.
“Go through every single Google review that you have,” Baker said. “Put it into ChatGPT, and ask what are the five things that people say about you the most.”
That is a simple exercise, but it may be one of the most powerful branding strategies an agent can use. Your clients have already told you what makes you different. They have already identified the patterns.
They have already said whether you are calm, aggressive, educational, strategic, responsive, caring, direct or a problem solver. The question is whether your content reflects what your clients already know to be true.
Show the work behind the win
Too many agents are still creating content around the result instead of the value. They post “just listed” and “just sold” graphics, but they rarely explain the strategy.
They say a home sold in four days and $40,000 over asking, but they do not show the pricing conversation, the preparation, the objections, the negotiation, the inspection drama or the client decisions that got it there.
As Baker pointed out, when agents only show the polished outcome, the consumer thinks the agent didn’t really do anything. Often, the real story is not the sale. The real story is the work behind the sale.
Be real, relatable, reliable and relevant
That is where agents have the opportunity to become visible and valuable. Baker used four words that every real estate professional should write down:
- Real
- Relatable
- Reliable
- Relevant
That is the content strategy. Not perfect. Not overproduced. Not artificially polished to the point where people do not recognize you when you walk through the door, but real enough that people trust you. Relatable enough that people feel like they know you. Reliable enough that they believe you can guide them. Relevant enough that your content actually helps them make a better decision.
Your next client may be watching already
One of the myths that still holds agents back is the belief that social media is only for young people or first-time buyers. Baker gave a great reminder that this is simply not true.
She shared that she had a listing appointment with a 74-year-old woman in Atlanta who follows her on Instagram and owns a home worth about $1.25 million.
That is the part of social media that too many agents misunderstand. The best prospects may never like, comment or send a DM. They may just watch for months or even years, but when the time comes, they already know who they want to call.
Attention is the asset
That is why attention matters. Baker said, “You think your most valuable asset’s time. Your most valuable asset’s not time. Your most valuable asset’s attention.”
Jo Wong, GM of POP.STORE, who joined Jevin and Baker on the panel, added that attention only becomes a business asset once it’s turned into something an agent actually owns. A view or a follow lives on someone else’s platform, she said. A contact doesn’t.
The agents who build real businesses, in her view, are the ones turning every listing, video walkthrough, neighborhood guide and comment into a contact they own.
In a crowded market, attention is not just a marketing metric. It is a business asset. But attention alone is not enough. The real question is what an agent does with the attention once they have it.
- Did the viewer learn something?
- Did they feel more prepared?
- Did they understand the market better?
- Did they walk away more confident?
- Did the content make them more likely to trust the person behind it?
Views are not the same as impact
Baker also drew an important line between entertainment and impact. She joked that if she fell into a swimming pool without her underwear on, it would probably get five million views. But would that help someone buy, sell or invest in real estate?
That is the filter agents should be using before they hit publish.
- Is this useful?
- Is this honest?
- Is this connected to the work I want to be hired for?
Viral content may create visibility, but valuable content creates trust.
You do not need 300k followers to matter
The most powerful stories Baker shared were not about follower counts. They were about impact. A woman reached out to tell her that Baker’s content had inspired her to get her real estate license, which helped her financially move out of a very bad situation.
Another woman approached her at an Atlanta Braves game and said, “You helped me and my husband buy a house.” Those moments are bigger than views. They are the reason agents should take content seriously.
You do not need 300,000 followers to change one person’s life. You need to be useful to the person who is paying attention.
Don’t replace authenticity with artificial intelligence
The conversation also touched on the growing role of AI, and this may be where the real estate industry needs to be the most careful.
Baker is not anti-AI. Most of us are using it in some form, and there is real value in using AI to organize ideas, study reviews, identify patterns and sharpen messaging. But she gave the industry a warning: “Don’t ever substitute your intelligence for artificial intelligence. I want you to show your authentic intelligence. That is the real AI.”
That line should be a gut check for every agent using AI to create content.
- AI can help you write faster, but it cannot replace your judgment.
- It can help you structure a post, but it cannot replace your lived experience.
- It can polish a caption, but it cannot tell the real story of the seller who almost gave up, the buyer who needed courage, the inspection that nearly killed the deal or the strategy that protected your client.
The content that builds trust is not artificial intelligence. It is authentic intelligence.
Real estate is part of the creator economy now
That is the real takeaway from seeing real estate take the stage at VidCon. This was not just a cool crossover moment for the industry. It was a signal that real estate is now part of the creator economy, whether agents are ready for it or not.
“Seeing Glennda on the VidCon stage confirmed what I’ve known since we started working with her back in 2022 — she’s not just a force in real estate, she’s impacting people every day, way beyond our industry,” Griff O’Brien of Estate Media said. “It was full-circle to see that reach and influence on full display at Vidcon.”
Estate Media was founded by O’Brien and former Million Dollar Listing LA luxury agent Josh Flagg as a personality-driven media company; they’ve partnered with Baker since 2022. The company works with 30 of the industry’s biggest agents and real estate content creators, reaching 75 million-plus consumers across its network and 700,000-plus agents across social media, podcasts and newsletters.
It’s right there in the numbers: Consumers are watching before they call. They are forming opinions before the listing appointment. They are deciding who feels trustworthy long before they fill out a lead form.
So the call to action for agents is simple: Stop posting to be seen and start posting to be useful.
- Audit your reviews. Find the five things clients already say about you.
- Turn your real value into content. Show the work behind the win. Tell the story behind the sale.
- Be real, relatable, reliable and relevant.
- Use AI as a tool, but do not let it replace your voice, your experience or your point of view.
The goal is not to become famous. The goal is to become trusted.
Five million views might make people notice you. One person saying, “You helped me buy my first home,” is what makes the work matter.
Troy Palmquist is the founder and principal at HomeCode Advisors. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
