🎙️ Episode 76: More Than Real Estate Podcast: How Home Tours on Instagram Are Replacing Open Houses for This Gen Z Agent Bianca Basilone is 29 years old, three years into real estate in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and she has never done an open house. She does not use her brokerage's colors, their templates, or their for sale signs. She has her own signs. She has her own brand. Four months after graduating Socially Sold she has six Instagram closings, two buyers under contract, seven active buyers with six million pre-approved, and a home tour reel that got 300,000 views and is still going. This episode is about home tours, personal brand over brokerage brand, and what it looks like when a zillenial goes all in on Instagram and never looks back. ✨ The Home Tour That Got 300K Views and Keeps Going — Bianca's formula is simple. She and her sister show up to a staged house, spend about 10 minutes filming, and post it. Her home tours consistently get between 30,000 and 300,000 views. The hook on screen, the caption, and the pace of the edit are what she credits. "I kind of speed things up but slow things down." Suzie Bot helps her nail the words when her brain is not feeling creative. Every tour she posts brings in comments asking for the listing link, new followers, and DMs from buyers who have been watching for months before they reach out. ✨ Six Million in Pre-Approved Buyers in Four Months — Bianca graduated Socially Sold in April. By the time this episode records she has six Instagram closings, two buyers under contract, and seven active buyers with six million pre-approved sitting in her pipeline. All from home tours and Instagram stories. All from strangers who found her, followed her, watched her care for her clients, and decided she was the one. "I literally love them. Like they'll give me a hug. Like I'll just meet them for the first time and they give me a hug." ✨ Personal Brand Over Brokerage Brand, Always — Bianca does not use her brokerage's colors. She does not use their templates. She made her own for sale signs. Her Instagram is white, creamy browns, and dark browns because that is her aesthetic, her vibe, her world. A brokerage employee told her recently that they can recognize her posts before they even see her name. "I made my own brand. People are gonna love you for you." She does not think brokerage brand is irrelevant but she is very clear: people are not choosing their agent because of the brokerage anymore. ✨ The Confetti Girl: How Closing Day Content Builds Lifetime Trust — Bianca decorates the closing room for every client. She pops confetti. She posts it every single time. Now people message her saying they are not even looking for a house but if they were they would use her, just because of how much she visibly cares. "Someone messaged me and said I just want to work with you because you care and you make it a good experience." That is the like know trust loop in action. A stranger finds her on a home tour, follows her, watches her take care of clients, and becomes a referral source before they ever transact. ✨ Niche Down and Get Everyone — Bianca switched her brand archetype three times before landing on relocation. Every time she switched it her algorithm kept performing. When she finally committed to relocation and started using the right keywords, people from West Virginia started finding her Pittsburgh content. Move up buyers, first time home buyers, relocators, sphere of influence contacts from high school she had not spoken to in years, all filling out her Google form because they see her every day. "Even though I dialed it down I am still getting people from all walks of life." ✨ Gen Z Does Not Door Knock. She Builds a Brand. — Bianca never did open houses. Never cold called. Never sent mailers. She watched older agents tell her she needed to do all of those things and thought they were all a waste of time and money. "If you want to find a nail tech you go on Instagram. If you want to find anything you go on Instagram." Her goal for next year is 20 million. After that, a boutique brokerage of her own where personal brand is actually taught and not just just-sold graphics from Canva. Bianca Basilone is a real estate agent based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, three years into her career and four months out of Socially Sold. She is the home tour queen of Pittsburgh, runs her own brand completely independent of her brokerage, and has six million in pre-approved buyers in her pipeline from Instagram alone. She is building a small team and has her sights set on 20 million next year. Ashley Walker is the host of the More Than Real Estate Podcast and the founder of Socially Sold, where she helps real estate agents build their personal brand on Instagram and generate qualified leads organically. She is a top-producing agent, mama of three, and wife to her best friend. 🎓 Ready to get your sphere actually working for you instead of hoping they remember you? Magnetic Messaging is where it starts. mm.socially-sold.com/podcast