Generating half of her business on Instagram, North Carolina-based agent Emily McAllister focuses on creating local content that provides value to her ideal client groups. Jimmy Burgess sits down with her to find out exactly how she does it.
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Success on social media isn’t just about the number of views. It’s about focusing on and providing content that specific viewers want and need. Emily McAllister, out of Greenville, North Carolina, is generating over 50 percent of her business by producing local content that focuses on purposefully providing value to her ideal client groups.
Over her 8-year career, McAllister has seen her business evolve from traditional business growth strategies to more modern social media-focused marketing. She accidentally found herself having success on TikTok, but even though she was receiving a lot of engagement and building brand awareness, she didn’t have control over the type of audience she was building, and it wasn’t translating to the growth in her business she desired.
This led her to shift from the get-as-many-eyes-on-the-content TikTok strategy to a more purposeful content strategy on Instagram, focusing geographically and demographically on purposeful content for her ideal clients.
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These changes have resulted in a thriving business that allows her to share her passion for the Greenville area in a way that is consistently attracting more and more business.
Her content mix includes roughly 35 percent local real estate content and 65 percent community-focused content. Her Instagram page is one that agents can utilize as a model to build a local audience for themselves. The following are a few specific examples of what is working for her right now.
Twist on a normal home tour video
Many agents do a video walk-through or short-form video highlighting their listing. McAllister added a twist to unlock a specific group of potential buyers for her listing. The change she made was not just to highlight the home but to get very specific in her targeting of move-up buyers.
“I started this video with a callout to a very specific audience. I started with a close-up view of me standing in front of a gorgeous ‘buy-up’ home, then as I spoke, I panned the camera back for a full view of the home,” McAllister said. She starts all of her videos with a few different taglines, and in this video, after the tagline, she said, “If you bought a starter home in Pitt County prior to the year 2020, this message is for you because you can buy a house like this with a mortgage payment of just under $2,000 with the equity you more than likely have in your current house.”
She utilizes ManyChat with the reel for a call to action to receive the full mortgage breakdown sent to their email address, courtesy of her lender. She has the lender calculate how much the down payment would be on the home to get the mortgage payment under $2,000. In the case of this home, it was $115,000, and she said she knows that anyone who bought a starter home in her market prior to 2020 more than likely has $115,000 worth of equity.
She said many of the local people will not comment in the comments section due to worry about other people “knowing their business,” but many direct message her for details. She also said converting the reel to an Instagram story with a link to the details has been the most productive way this type of content has generated leads for her.
“Although the public engagement may not appear as high on this type of reel, the specific targeting has elevated this to one of the best types of videos I’ve produced for speaking directly to a specific prospect. My early success on TikTok was both a blessing and a curse. It taught me to chase likes and engagement even if they weren’t growing a specific audience that would be beneficial. I’m now more focused on how specific posts capture the attention of specific people I can help,” McAllister said.
Local restaurant specials video
Another large part of building her personal brand on Instagram has been her hyperlocal content for Greenville. By sharing details about local businesses, she helps them gain exposure for their companies, but she also sets herself apart as a resource for all things Greenville. A recent reel that performed well was where she highlighted five local restaurant specials for each weekday night.
She started the video by saying, “Here’s five Greenville weekday specials in 30 seconds.” Then she shot quick clips of herself in each location enjoying the special. She said the businesses loved it, and she added them all as collaborators on the post, which expanded their audiences. This reel generated over 1,000 likes and over 500 shares.
Person-on-the-street videos (unique listing promotion strategy)
“Person on the Street” videos are a format that late-night hosts first made popular. This format performs at a high level on social media as well. It involves asking random people on the street a question with a prize often associated if the correct answer is given.
McAllister utilized this format recently and promoted her new listing by playing a game she called “The Listing Price is Right.” She offered a $100 gift card to the person who guessed the closest to the list price without going over the price. This format is engaging, and the idea of not knowing what might happen or what someone might say creates an engaging video and extra promotion for the listing.
Meet me at local events
McAllister said one of the biggest “aha” moments she had was realizing local success on social media isn’t just about social media presence, but it also involves community presence. One of the ways she has connected her social media with her community presence is through promoting local events.
She will highlight an upcoming event and let people know that she will be there. This creates conversations with people who attended the event and learned about it through her Instagram video. This has also led to event coordinators and local businesses asking her to attend and promote their events or grand openings. These videos continue to create engagement with her local community and prospective clients. She also shoots videos while attending the event to make her content more personal as well.
If you want to turn your Instagram page into a business-generating platform in 2025, focus on local, purposeful content. If you’re looking for an example of someone who is doing this well, check out Emily McAllister on her Instagram page.
Jimmy Burgess is a real estate agent and national team builder with Real Brokerage in northwest Florida, servicing the 30A, Destin, and Panama City Beach markets. Connect with him on Instagram and LinkedIn.
