Middleton Elite Coaching’s Thought Leader Friday w/ Ken Pozek – Real Estate Agent, The Pozek Group
Debbie and I had the recent opportunity to welcome our friend Ken Pozek, an Orlando, FL Real Estate Agent and team lead for The Pozek Group, to MEC’s Thought Leader Friday.
Ken originally sold real estate in Detroit and relocated to Orlando, FL, about 5 years ago. If you’ve ever relocated a family and a business, you can understand that it means starting over. Completely.
Faced with the monumental task of growing a real estate business in a new market, Ken took to YouTube and other social channels not only to brand his business but to quickly generate leads.
In nearly 5 years, Ken has used YouTube and social media to build his $135M real estate company. In fact, 75% of his business is built through his use of video and engaging digital content across social platforms.
Ken has provided for us the tips and tactics he’s used to become wildly successful through his YouTube channel and with content creation as a whole.
We’re excited to introduce you to Ken in this article, and also at our upcoming live event, ‘Raising The Bar’, on October 6th & 7th, 2021 in Charleston, SC. More details here.
Before we dive in, it’s worth noting that Ken’s YouTube channel currently has over 13,000 subscribers and his videos have had 2 million views in the past three years. He receives 8 – 10 high-quality and converting leads every day from his YouTube channel alone. His Instagram following is around 4,600 and serves to cross-promote his entire brand
When asked how he started and how he’s grown to the level he is at today, Ken proudly touts his team as a media company that happens to sell real estate.
Here’s how:
—
1. STAYING CONSISTENT
His beginnings were humble and admittedly, not very good. Ken began creating videos for YouTube by grabbing his cell phone and conducting model home tours at first.
Ken’s early efforts with video taken from his cell phone began generating the occasional yet very high-quality lead. The name and face recognition brought on by his early videos was beginning to pay off; first as buyer leads and later as seller leads.
“We’ve been watching you for two years. We feel like we know you. We want to use you as an agent. We’re not interviewing anybody else.”
Ken eventually moved up from solo creation to hiring an editor. He recalls the importance of creating a solid content plan from the very beginning.
Ken began by putting out a video every week. He worked together with his editor to shoot video from his cell phone which he then sent to his editor for final effects and uploading to YouTube. Consistently.
—
2. PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION
“You’re probably not going to look great. Your editing is probably not going to be amazing. Your content will maybe be okay. And that’s okay. You’ll get better over time.”
Like the first time you called an expired or did an open house, you were likely not very good. As with anything, you’ll get better at video the more you do it.
Ken began producing his videos for little to no cost. With the use of his cell phone to shoot the video and iMovie on his Mac for basic editing, he was putting out consistent and authentic content that was grabbing the attention of his audience.
One of Ken’s early videos, Celebration, FL – 10 Things You May Not Know, was a simple video of Ken walking around Celebration, FL while explaining the ins and outs of the neighborhoods and attractions. This video has had over 145,000 views and Ken still receives leads from it today. To date, Ken mentions that he has likely closed hundreds of thousands of dollars GCI from that one video. The best part? It was completely free to create.
Since those early days, and in a constant effort to improve, Ken hired an in-house videographer to produce his scheduled content. He has increased his output of video content to 2 recorded videos per week and 1 live YouTube video every other week.
If you’re following the concepts but still don’t know how to get over the hurdle of creating videos, Ken has a solid piece of advice for you. Just commit to it.
Commit to the use of video, and YouTube, and it will work.
Ken’s YouTube following is growing and the leads are increasing every day.
That is progress Ken is proud of.
—-
3. BE THE TEACHER, NOT THE STAR
It’s not important to be an amazing speaker or to have a dynamic personality.
According to Ken, it’s actually not about you at all. He advises that the intent of your videos should be to provide information to your audience.
Ken recommends picking a topic that you know a lot about and commit to discussing it intelligently in front of the camera.
Creating a video where you discuss a topic you know a lot about will make you less nervous, and keep you creating more.
Putting yourself on camera naturally becomes easier because you are talking about yourself, without talking about yourself.
The more you create, the more powerful you’ll become. The more you consume, the more powerful others become. – James Clear
Looking back on his early videos and how they were less than perfect, Ken encourages you to create anyway; because even the early videos will continue working for you years later.
See one of Ken’s early videos – What Do Real Estate Agents Do All Day?
—
5. VIDEO IS WORTH THE TIME AND EFFORT
You’re a busy agent and you’re running a sales team. You may be wondering how you block out the time needed to get started; and, what happens after you start? How do you keep it going?
Ken cautions that when you’re starting, the creation process is going to be a little bit more time-intensive.
In the beginning, you’re likely going to commit an hour to research your topic, an hour to outline the video, an hour shooting the video, probably two hours editing the video, and then 30 minutes getting it up and out on social channels.
This process will take you approximately 5 to 6 hours to create a video each week. Ken recommends an output of one video per week as the minimum.
It will get faster and it will get easier.
Ken currently spends 4 hours per week creating 2 videos that drive roughly 45% of his leads.
The time invested in video creation is time invested in your pipeline.
—
6. GREAT VIDEO BEGINS WITH GREAT FRAMEWORK
The framework for a successful video can be simple to follow and will serve as a checklist to ensure you are including the necessary video components.
Ken has a checklist of key components that make up the framework for his videos.
- Topic
- Title
- Thumbnail
- Outline
- Description
Topic
Ken uses many programs designed to help him find buzz words, keywords, and trending topics on social channels. His current favorite is Morning Fa•Me.
Through the use of these programs, you can search the topics for videos currently being created on social channels in your industry. More specifically, you can search topics that are trending in your industry in a particular geographical location such as ‘Pros and Cons of living in (insert your town here)’ or ‘Top 15 Things You Need To Know Before Moving To (insert your town here)’.
Start by finding what is trending and what is being searched. If there is a trending topic that you happen to know a lot about, pick that one and plan to work through the rest of the framework checklist with your topic in mind.
Title
A catchy title is your hook. It will help set your video apart by engaging your audience before they ever click to watch your video.
Be sure to produce a title that will grab the attention of your audience and offer something of value such as a ‘How/What/Why”.
Remember you are the teacher of your topic. It’s important to show your audience that they can learn something by watching your video.
Thumbnail
Just as a great topic and title will grab attention, a great thumbnail image can stop a scroll.
Ken explains that he uses the programs such as the aforementioned Morning Fa•Me to search the thumbnails of other videos on similar topics.
He looks for patterns such as colors, text, images, and works to identify ways to set his thumbnail apart.
A good tip is to pick a contrasting color or the opposite text-to-image ratio of those with similar videos so that your thumbnail interrupts the pattern while scrolling through.
Ken creates visually appealing thumbnails through the time-saving image creation tool PicMonkey and is a big fan of their pre-sized templates. PicMonkey will resize your image based on the format in which you are sharing it, and video thumbnail is currently a resize option. Canva is another popular tool with similar features.
Outline
Creating an outline of your video before you start speaking will help keep you consistent and on track.
Ken believes that keeping a consistent outline for most of your videos will help streamline the creation process while keeping you poised and polished.
We recommend following an outline that begins with an introduction of yourself and the topic you are going to be discussing. Then move on to the number of key points you want to hit (and how long it should take to do so). Close with information about how to contact you, and where to go to see more of your videos.
Description
When posting your videos to YouTube, it is important to include a description of what you are going to talk about in your video. This should be included in the first two lines of text in your description so that it is optimized for viewing on many devices, and is clear to those browsing your channel.
—
7. KEEP THEM COMING BACK FOR MORE
Ken’s number 1 goal is to get subscribers to his YouTube Channel. His number 2 goal is keeping them subscribed.
Ken emphasizes how important it is to him that the subscribers of his channel remain engaged and tuned in.
So, how DO you keep people coming back?
For Ken and his YouTube Channel, he is coming up with videos that not only showcase his local area but engage those who may not necessarily be looking to buy or sell real estate right now.
He has created many videos that showcase the best taco in Orlando, the best coffee in Orlando, or the newest development. He appropriately refers to these as ‘Discovery Videos’, because they help others discover new things.
Ken says that adding the live videos every other Saturday has been amazing for his attrition rate. He can keep past clients and current subscribers coming back each week because they want to hear what else is going on, above and beyond his current listings.
Doing community tours and talking about what’s happening in town helps keeps his subscribers, well, subscribed.
Ken approaches his YouTube channel two ways –
- Making videos that will help him get found
- Making videos that entertain his audience.
Ken adds that inserting humor in his videos at every opportunity also helps him keep subscribers.
We found this one to be exceptionally funny – Hi. I’m Ken
—
8. THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT DEPENDS ON YOU
The majority of Ken’s YouTube videos are 5 to 10 minutes in length. The average watch time for his video is 7 minutes and 10 seconds, which is kind of long by industry standards.
You’ve likely heard that the shorter the better, but Ken says it is wise to discover how long viewers are currently staying engaged with your videos before determining the length of future videos.
How long can you keep someone engaged?
Ken has found that Google Analytics has been an amazing asset for determining how long his engagement rate is.
YouTube rewards you the longer you keep viewers on the platform.
If your video viewers are currently staying engaged for 30 minutes, then you should shoot videos that are 30 minutes long. If your engagement rate is three minutes, you should plan to be amazing in just three minutes.
Strive to meet and eventually exceed your current rate of engagement with your newest videos.
—
9. SHAMELESS CROSS-PROMOTION ACROSS SOCIAL CHANNELS
With so much of The Pozek Group’s business coming from social channels, it is important to touch on how to create content for multiple platforms, and how to cross-promote them.
Ken has grown his Instagram following from a thousand followers to over 4600 in the last year by cross-promoting from YouTube and Facebook, and vice versa.
His videos include information near the end asking the viewer to like and to subscribe, and then urges them to go follow him on Instagram where he is putting out insights and quick tips every single day about life in Orlando.
He makes sure to include for the viewer that it isn’t content you’re going to find on YouTube. He’s essentially cross-selling himself as uniquely as the content he is creating for each channel.
The Pozek Group has generated many leads from Instagram that say they found and have been following him on YouTube for a while, and are now ready to buy or sell.
The number of past clients that still follow Ken on Instagram is remarkable to him. He gets a lot of referrals from fans and followers of his Instagram account. The number of people that actively engage with him daily through social media is in the dozens.
—
The content Ken creates for Instagram is generally shorter due to the guidelines of the platform, as well as the attention span of its users.
Using Instagram for stories and reels is Ken’s primary objective.
With just 15-30 seconds to tell your story, the content for Instagram has to be different. It is important to understand that Instagram users aren’t necessarily there to search for the best places to live, but rather to laugh and be informed in under 30 seconds.
Ken and his team use Instagram stories as a way to document their day-to-day. He finds that creating content for his Instagram account is easiest when he turns his phone to selfie mode and shoots what he is actually doing at the moment.
He adds that if he’s showing a home, hosting an open house, or attending a closing, he’ll snap a picture or a short video and throw it up online.
If you’re a busy agent, there is no shortage of daily content to share.
—
Peer-to-peer engagement via Facebook is big for The Pozek Group. This is the source for many of their agent referrals.
According to The Pozek Group, being authentic on the social channel has played a big part in their success among agent peers.
Ken and his team share more via The Pozek Group’s Facebook page than just their newest listing or open house. They share their families and real lives, and strive to bring value to as many real estate agents across the country as possible.
—
10. PURPOSEFULLY BUILDING A REFERRAL NETWORK THROUGH DIGITAL CONTENT
The Pozek Group’s referral network is being built through the creation of engaging digital content, resulting in leads and referrals.
Bringing content of value to the forefront for his audience is a huge priority, and is done with purposeful intention.
In addition to weekly videos and bi-weekly YouTube live sessions, Ken’s team puts out a monthly E-newsletter.
The Pozek Team’s newsletter provides tips, winning tactics, and sometimes giveaways. Ken’s purpose is to provide value to his audience by helping them navigate life and business situations.
Ken has built a great network of referring agents through his YouTube channel, social platforms, and e-newsletter that he can leverage to add value for others.
He says that it comes back to him in return.
—
11. BUILDING YOUR DIGITAL PRESENCE CAN BE A TEAM EFFORT
If you’ve peeked at Ken’s YouTube channel even briefly, you’ll see that many of his videos spotlight locations outside of his immediate area.
He has been able to accomplish this by working with the talented agents that have become part of his team.
The Pozek Group began the year as a team of five that has grown to fifteen. The newest agents on Ken’s team are quickly groomed into producing agents thanks in large part to the high-quality leads received from his digital efforts.
Ken adds growth opportunities for his team members by highlighting them in many of his videos. If they work in an area that he doesn’t personally sell, he asks them to star in a video of their own.
Offering his team opportunities to shine gives Ken leverage in creating new content, and gives his team members the ability to grow their following through his already successful channel.
By bringing as many of his team members as possible to the spotlight, Ken has brought additional leads for his team and has given them social expert authority over the areas in which they sell.
This strategy has been a great win for Ken’s team.
—
12. QUALITY CONTENT CREATION IS FOR EVERYONE
As surprising as it may sound to you, Ken says the content creation game is for everyone.
He urges that building an asset of some type, whether it’s a blog, a YouTube channel, or some other medium that provides value to your ideal client, is paramount.
Standing out while staying relevant is as important as ever. Today’s real estate industry is marred by commission compression and cut-throat attempts to eat into the pockets of hard-working agents.
Commitment to creating a brand asset that is continually teaching and supplying others with content of great worth is key for longevity.
—
The future of The Pozek Group
When asked where he sees himself and The Pozek Group five years from now, Ken says his emphasis is on expansion.
Ken’s social content drives high-quality leads from areas all over the state of Florida. The presenting opportunity to expand into additional Florida markets excites him.
After years of referring these out-of-market leads to agents in other areas of the state, Ken’s team sees a great opportunity to model what they are doing very well in Orlando into other markets.
The Pozek Group sees this as a remarkable opportunity to add culture and value to their team. And for Ken, the chance to shoot amazing video content in the metro and coastal areas is just what his growing media company is looking to do.
The goals and vision of The Pozek Group team members are aligned and consist of creating something very special. It’s all happening at the pace Ken intended while staying true to the team culture he has built.
Ken’s team is on track to close $200M this year with a $500M+ goal in his five-year plan. He understands that it will take consistency, logistical growth planning, and a rocksteady team effort. If any team is poised to do it, it’s The Pozek Group.
—
Meet Ken Pozek in person this October!
We appreciate the valuable insight and best practices that Ken has shared with us during this edition of Thought Leader Friday. We’re beyond excited that he will be presenting at our live event ‘Raising The Bar’ this October 6th & 7th in Charleston, SC.
VIEW EVENT DETAILS & PURCHASE TICKETS HERE.
If you’ve enjoyed Ken’s 10,000 ft dive into quality content creation and would love to learn more, see the details of our event here. You can enjoy the full video version of Thought Leader Friday by following this link. We’ve also compiled the tips and highlights here.
Be Elite!
Bill, Debbie, & The MEC Team
Recent Comments