March 18, 2019 3 min read

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As a young entrepreneur looking to help celebrities and influencers expand their reach online, Joe Laresca reached a breakthrough in 2017 by landing a job with Ryan Serhant, one of the most famous and successful realtors in the world.

Reaching Serhant, star of the hit Bravo TV show Million Dollar Listing New York, wasn’t easy, but Laresca was relentlessly persistent,emailing Serhant 56 times with pitch decks and ideas for growing his brand. Finally, Serhant invited Laresca to his office for a meeting, and the two almost instantly started working together to build Serhant Media Group, a media and entertainment company that creates content about real estate and building businesses.

This story offers a great example of how persistence combined with offering valuable advice can help anyone get the attention and eventually a working relationship with a celebrity or high-profile influencer.

On the latest episode of Real Talk, which you can see above or on Facebook Watch, I sat down with Laresca for a candid discussion about working with celebrities and brand building, particularly for real estate agents. During the interview, Laresca shares his experience propelling his career forward by teaming up with Serhant while building up his own agency, Noise.

In addition to being persistent about reaching out to Serhant, Laresca also reveals that he didn’t know much about social media before working with the famed real estate agent; yet Laresca solved this issue by also being persistent about learning. There are so many online resources and people willing to help, so don’t be afraid to seek answers and improve your skills.

Laresca also shares key tips on how real estate agents can build their own brands online, even if they’re not social media savvy. These tips include:

1. Find someone young and passionate about social media if you’re not into it yourself. Plenty of people want to gain experience in this field, so whether you bring on an intern or an entry-level marketing assistant, you can go further by hiring someone to help.
2. Curate your social media feed. You don’t have to post every day, says Laresca. Focus on posting quality content when it feels natural, as long as you’re not taking month-long hiatuses.
3. Develop a clear brand message. Figure out what makes your personal brand unique and communicate that message, whether it’s that you’re a child of an immigrant, former college athlete, or anything else about you that others might find interesting and relatable.

Most importantly, Laresca shares that real estate agents need to show their personality online, because people want to connect with real people. Only posting about houses you sold will get boring fast. Instead, he advises, try mixing in content about what you enjoy personally. Whether that’s a photo of Central Park or of the Chicago skyline, try not to make every post feel like an ad. 

For more insights, see the complete interview above or head over to Facebook Watch to follow and be notified when new episodes go live.

Watch more videos from Carlos Gil on his YouTube channel here. Follow Carlos Gil on Instagram @CarlosGil83.