In
2021,
Frankie
Barone
had
a
problem.
Freshly
laid
off
from
a
job
in
fashion
—
a
dream
job
no
less 
—
he
found
himself
sitting
alone
in
his
New
York
City
apartment,
bored
and
broke.
The
sourdough
starters
and
Netflix
binges
wearing
thin,
he
decided
to
take
a
friend’s
advice
and
enroll
in
real
estate
classes.
It
was
another
universe
from
the
glamorous
fashion
industry
life
he
was
pursuing,
but
the
classes
were
only
$200.
What
did
he
have
to
lose?

His
first
deal
came
quickly:
a
$1,300
rental
with
the
Corcoran
Group.
A
paltry
sum
in
a
city
where
the
average
one-bedroom
rents
for
an
eye-watering
$4,037,
but
Barone
was
hooked.
He
quickly
decided
to
turn
his
pandemic
side
hustle
into
his
full-time
career.

He
did
well
enough
on
leads
from
his
network,
primarily
through
SoulCycle
classes.
Still,
it
wasn’t
until
he
started
a
“collab”
(collaboration)
with
an
Instagram
influencer
that
his
career
took
off.
We
recently
sat
down
with
Barone
to
find
out
how
he
did
it.
He
revealed
the
strategy
he
used
to
woo
influencers,
and
how
you
can
too
—
even
if
you
only
have
a
few
dozen
followers.

Why
influencer
collabs
are
the
ideal
social
media
lead
strategy
for
2025

Generating
leads
from
social
media
has
never
been
easy,
but
most
agents
who
have
tried
will
admit
that
the
days
of
scaling
accounts
fast
enough
to
make
your
phone
ring
are
long
gone.
There’s
just
too
much
competition
in
most
markets.
Sure,
new
accounts
occasionally
break
out
and
rack
up
followers
quickly,
but
for
the
most
part,
Instagram
is
a
dead
end
for
many
Realtors.

Influencer
collabs
give
you
an
instant
exposure
boost,
even
if
the
only
people
following
you
are
your
Uncle
Jimmy
and
your
college
roommate.
Like
a
sphere
of
influence
(SOI)
referral,
influencers
give
you
a
shortcut
to
building
your
know,
like
and
trust
factor.

Here’s
Barone
on
why
influencer
collabs
are
even
better
for
lead
generation
than
amassing
thousands
of
followers:

Frankie
Barone’s
influencer
workflow

Working
with
influencers
is
not
a
silver
bullet
for
generating
online
leads.
Building
relationships
with
influencers
takes
time,
skill
and
more
than
a
bit
of
luck.
But
for
Gen
Z
agents
like
Barone,
networking
on
social
media
comes
naturally.
Here’s
how
he
does
it:

Step
1:
Start
with
your
SOI

Barone’s
first
contact
with
an
influencer
came
through
a
friend.
Scan
your
sphere
on
social
media
to
find
connections
to
local
influencers.
It’s
okay
to
start
small.
You
don’t
need
a
celebrity
influencer
with
millions
of
followers
for
your
collaboration
to
generate
leads.

Step
2:
Network
with
influencers
outside
your
SOI

If
you’re
struggling
to
find
connections
to
local
influencers
in
your
SOI,
pound
the
digital
pavement
to
find
them
outside
your
sphere.

Start
by
searching
for
influencers
by
location
on
Instagram
and
follow
every
one
you
find
in
your
city.
This
trains
your
algorithm
to
show
you
more
in
relevant
results.
Next,
start
a
spreadsheet
where
you
rank
them
by
engagement.
You
can
manually
find
out
how
many
likes
and
comments
they
have,
or
use
a
tool
such
as

Collabstr
for
a
more
efficient
approach.

If
your
pockets
are
a
bit
deeper,
skip
the
line
and
join
an
influencer
marketing
platform
such
as

Shopmy.
It
offers
influencer
collabs
at
flat
rates
for
brands. 

Step
3:
Make
influencers
an
offer
to
collab

While
personal
connections
work
best,
almost
all
influencers
will
be
willing
to
work
with
you
if
you
offer
them
something
of
value.
It
might
be
a
good
idea
for
a
video;
you
can
help
them
create
one
in
exchange
for
promoting
your
brand,
or
offer
your
services
at
a
discount
to
appear
in
the
video.

Barone’s
collab
arose
organically.
The
influencer
he
worked
with
wanted
to
do
a
Q&A
with
a
local
agent,
and
eventually
decided
to
document
her
apartment
hunt,
million-dollar
listing
style,
with
Barone
as
her
co-star.
He
waived
his
commission
for
the
deal
and
ended
up
with
over
40
warm
leads.
Your
results
may
vary
outside
of
major
cities,
but
the
strategy
remains
effective. 

Step
4:
Work
your
leads

Barone
advises
agents
to
treat
their
influencer
leads
as
if
they
were
direct
referrals.
As
a
result,
his
closing
ratio
was
far
higher
than
it
was
with
other
online
leads.
As
former
clients,
they
are
also
far
more
likely
to
refer
him
to
even
more
people.

Here
are
the
results
from
Barone’s
first
influencer
collaboration.
This
single
post
garnered
over
20,000
likes
and
generated
40
new
leads
for
Barone.

Influencer
collaboration
ideas

The
key
to
getting
your
collaboration
offer
accepted
is
to
pitch
video
ideas
to
influencers
that
resonate
with
their
followers.
As
an
agent,
you
can
offer
valuable,
actionable
advice
to
anyone
considering
a
move.
Here
are
a
few
ideas
to
get
you
started:

• Offer
  to
  help
  a
  lifestyle
  influencer
  find
  a
  new
  home
• Offer
  behind-the-scenes
  access
  to
  hot
  local
  properties 
• Offer
  behind-the-scenes
  access
  to
  unusual
  properties
  (these
  perform
  even
  better
  than
  mansion
  tours!)
• Offer
  real
  estate
  investing
  influencers
  your
  hyperlocal
  market
  hot
  takes 
• Offer
  home
  staging
  advice
  and
  use
  your
  listing
  as
  a
  case
  study
• Offer
  advice
  on
  renovations
  that
  increase
  home
  value

Frankie
Barone’s
best
script

Since
he
doesn’t
cold
call
and
the
majority
of
his
leads
already
know,
like
and
trust
him,
Barone
rarely
needs
scripts.
Instead,
he
gave
us
a
clever
way
to
help
buyers
make
decisions
that
are
in
their
best
interest:

The
full
picture

Know
an
agent
who
is
thriving
despite
the
odds
and
has
actionable
insights
to
share?
We’d
love
to
hear
from
you.
Reach
out
to
us
here:


[email protected].