Interview with Brittany Pace-Raley | Ep 026

John: What's going on everyone? How are you doing today? This is exciting. We're in the fourth series. Um, first episode actually. Yeah. And this is a series of interviews of local professionals crushing it. We have Britney here, an amazing, a lo Clarksville realtor. She's local to the Clarksville, middle Tennessee area, and she's crushing it on social media, so I'm excited to hear what she has to say.

She's got 

Kacie: lots of good things. So y'all stay tuned. We'll be right back. Let.

The Business Project podcast business can be complicated. We break it down to regular people like 

John: us can understand and find success. I'm John Crespo, accountant and consultant. I'm 

Kacie: Casey Bryant, marketer and event planner. If you run a business or want to run a business, welcome 

John: to the show.

Kacie: Hey guys. So excited to have you here with our first official in-person interview, our first one ever, and what a great person to be interviewing. Yes, I've had the privilege of knowing Brittany for. A long time. Two years, maybe two year, probably more than that, like three 15 years. We've been best friends.

We've been besties for 15 years. Wow. 

John: Were you like teenagers at that point? Or you know exactly. Your kids, 

Kacie: what's going on here? Yeah. But it's been really cool because I, I kind of got to know you at the beginning of this whole thing before TikTok and before, um, you, you know, got all these followers. Even before you got your real estate license, I think, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So it's been cool to see you just grow through this thing and we are honored to have the opportunity to share your knowledge with all of these amazing business owners that are listening to our podcast. Cuz I feel like you just have so many valuable things to offer. So why don't you just start by telling us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what.

Britt: Okay. Uh, hi everyone. My name is Brittany Pace Reley. Um, I moved to Clarksville in 2020. Um, I'm a realtor. I was born in a realtor family. Both of my parents are real estate agents in Boston. That's where I was born in the blood. Um, I'm a triplet and my triplet brother also has his real estate license. Oh, wow.

That's when I say, wow. It's in the fan, it's in the family. Um, I am a mom to a sweet 14 month old baby boy. I guess he is a toddler now. Oh my God. Um, and two huskies. So, and we are in the military community here at Fort Campbell. Um, yeah. And we have a decent following on TikTok and Instagram, and I love social media.

Um, prior to getting my real estate license, I owned a social media management company called The Social Pace. Uh, then Covid hit. So I used my education, everything I learned there and, um, Brought that over to use in the real estate industry. That's 

Kacie: amazing. So walk us through the journey on what it takes to get started on social media, because we kind of had a conversation about this before we got into this.

I think a lot of business owners are struggling, whether they, um, are like intimidated by the process cuz there's 5 million social media outlets. So which one do I pick? So they don't even pick one or they barely do it and then there's. That are spending hours and hours and hours on social media and getting absolutely no return.

So talk us through that process, how that process was for you. You know, figuring out 

Britt: that balance. Right. I would, first aside, where is my ideal audience? For me, it's TikTok and Instagram in Facebook. But that's where I'm not gonna touch LinkedIn right now because that's not where I need. If you try to do every single platform with the same energy, you are going to burn out.

And that's where you see, oh, I created a TikTok, but I never did anything with it. So my suggestion to you would be, pick a platform for me. I would say TikTok and Instagram are my two key platforms. Um, invest your time in those two platforms. So spend set 20 minutes a day to create social media. 20 minutes a day.

That's 

Kacie: doable. I 

Britt: feel like Very manageable. Very 

John: manageable. How do you come up with content though? So I'm, I'm looking at this as, um, I'm a novice, right? Yeah. I, I'm, I'm, I always record like a little video here and there. If I'm like, something pops into my head that I wanna share, I do that. But how do you like create the kind of content.

That you, you know, every day that you have that you know you can share and it'll reach people because I know I'm not the only one that's struggling with that. Probably a lot of other business owners are. What do you do? How do you do 

Britt: that? Yeah. So to start out, I kind of think, what, what would my ideal client be looking up?

So for me, they might go to Instagram and search Tennessee Real Estate, or Fort Campbell, Kentucky. So now I'm gonna go into that search and see everything that is there. I'm going. Create real estate content around that. So like an idea for me is comparing two different houses. You have your, the, the, these are two different houses, here's what you can get, which one would you pick?

Mm-hmm. So then I go to those two different houses, take videos and show them, Hey, house A or B, here's the. You're educating them. So I'm saying, here's your monthly payment. Here's how much you would need for closing costs. And they're like, wow, that's actually affordable. And so it's, you're really educating your client 

Kacie: as well and making it fun and interactive too, it sounds like.

Britt: Yeah, it always, it doesn't always have to be business. I think some of the best posts are the short and sweet ones that, you know, you don't spend a lot of time 

Kacie: on. Yeah, I think that's one thing, one reason that people are very attracted to your page. Um, specifically on TikTok because you are very relatable.

It is not just business. It's like it's 90%, I would say about you and your dogs and your family, and then you throw in a post here or there about 

Britt: business. Yeah, exactly. Uh, so I kind of pride myself from being like the least salesy real estate agent in the whole world. Um, I don't, that's not my main goal.

Main goal. My main goal is educating you and. Showing you my family and showing you my life, the good and the bad. Um, so you can get to know me and my brand as a person. I 

John: know we were, we were talking, um, quick conversation before we started recording of the know, like, and trust factor, right? And how important it is when you're engaging the community, right?

To put, not necessarily sell, but get them to know. Get them to like you, and it builds that trust in you and then they start reaching out to you. Right. So it sounds like that's kind of like the focus that you have in the content that you create. 

Britt: Yeah. I actually just got a, a message from one of my followers saying, um, we're moving to Fort Campbell.

We're using you as a realtor. I just told my husband, I feel like I already know you. So that just warmed my heart. I was like, oh my gosh, all my efforts are paying off. And like they feel like they know me and they feel comfortable with me. Yeah. Like it's important. That's the biggest thing. Uh, they see my character, they see who I am as a person, and at the end of the day, if you're a good person, you do good business.

Like it'll come back to you. Yeah. I can 

Kacie: relate with that a lot with local Clarksville. So local Clarksville is another one of our businesses that we do. And we started by just sharing posts of sharing businesses and their stories. And I just happened to be in the videos because I'm interviewing the businesses, but providing value, value to the businesses and the community.

And then I walk in a bank and somebody like runs halfway across a bank and gives me a huge hug. And I have no idea who this person is. Yes. But they've just really loved, you know, what we've done and what we've offered. I wasn't selling anything. But you build that no. Like, and trust factor. Yeah. I

John: think between the two of you in, in, in that approach that you guys.

It gives us business owners who are looking at how can we do, uh, you know, get ourself out there, get our business out there. It's like a, a good guide. Yeah. Like if we watched your process, we can probably incorporate a lot of that into what we're doing for our stuff. And it'll help. 

Britt: Yeah. And another good tip, um, is collaborate with other businesses or local professionals.

So like this, we're getting two different audiences. We're getting my audience your au three different audiences. Um, so by that we're all sharing valuable in information to our followers. So if you have no idea where to start, You have a friend in a completely different industry, see how you can collaborate?

Mm-hmm. That's good. I love 

Kacie: that. Yeah. Yeah. That is good. So a lot of people I know they're listening to this and they're thinking, okay, but you're a cute girl. You're young, you're fun. I have nothing to offer to people. People don't wanna watch me. I'm sure you get that all the time. So what's your 

Britt: advice to them?

My favorite is, Ooh, I don't wanna dance on TikTok. Um, me neither, but TikTok, you don't have to dance at all, guys. I'm very serious. You can really go in and just provide valuable information or show your family or do a day in the life video. So what I've learned is batch content and take little video clips throughout the day.

You don't need to go in thinking, oh my God, TikTok, I need to take these long 10 minute videos. Nope. Short and sweet. You can have an effective video in five seconds, so start taking little videos throughout your day. Let us in. Show us the behind the scenes of your life, um, and give us a different perspective and just keep posting.

I would post once a day, spend that 20 minutes a day, um, on social media. That is not a lot of time at all. If I can do it with my baby, sleeping in the car and running through a house real quick, you can do it too. Yes. It can be intimidating if you make it intimidating, but it really does not have to be as difficult as everyone makes it seem.

Just start and commit. Yeah. 

John: Uh, commit. That's so good. Commit and consistency probably. Right? Absolutely. First off is you have to commit to even doing one. Yeah. Right. And then you have to say, all right, one is not enough. I have to be more consistent with 

Britt: it. Right? Yeah. And another tip would be, so I say my two biggest uh, platforms are TikTok and I.

I'm posting the same content I am taking my TikTok video, removing the watermark, and then posting it to Instagram as an Instagram reel. Mm-hmm. How do you do that? You go to snap.app. Mm-hmm. And then, so there's some tools and 

John: resources 

Britt: to use It takes the watermark off. Yeah, exactly. And ooh, that's a plug.

It's interesting because TikTok is a, I meant Instagram is actually paying me more money to post Instagram reels to, but try to beat out the creator fun on, on. So it's like I just got, oh, I just got a hundred dollars from Instagram for posting three videos. Wow. That's awesome. Yeah. I'm like, ba, pay to play.

Like, I love this. There's, there's money to be made, but, um, at the end of the da, at the end of the day, provide value to your clients. Dumb down the process a little bit. It you, if you are intimidated and scared, you're not gonna be successful with it. You don't have to post dancing videos, you don't have to post, and some people don't even wanna post their face.

But I. You don't have to starting out, you can get away with it, but get comfortable in front of the camera. People do wanna see you, even if you don't. Yeah. 

John: So do you think that, um, I think what a lot of people get scared of is that they feel like they have to be, especially for business owners, I gotta be professional, right?

I have to make sure I portray it. Uh, you know, people aren't gonna take me serious if I'm not professional. Yes. But is is that really the case? Is it more just be natural? Like, are people, people gravitate more towards naturalness, right? 

Britt: Yeah, I think natural and real, um, real. I'm not gonna, I think there's a fine line.

I'm not gonna swear I'm not gonna post songs with bad words in it. You know, I think there's a fine line between there, but I'm also going to show you, hey, this is, this is real. This is me. This is 

Kacie: awesome stuff. One thing too, I think is uh, people think that their business is boring. So I only clean carpet or I provide business coaching or account account.

My business is boring. Boring is accounting 

John: so boring. Nobody likes numbers. My watches, my video, we do 

Britt: like numbers and we wanna breakdown of the numbers and we wanna, you know, no one likes taxes. Like break it down and teach us. Yeah, teach, you know, people do wanna learn. I think you definitely have a market there.

Yep. Cool. 

Kacie: Yeah, 

John: that's good to 

Kacie: know. So how do you recommend people that are, that are watching this, that have a business that are like, okay, now how do I get started? How would you, I know you said the 20 minutes. Mm-hmm. But like what type of equipment do they need? How do they pick which platform? How do you feel like they can get started 

Britt: today?

So, it's so funny cuz I feel like a lot of people are like, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna commit, I'm gonna spend a grand on all this fancy equipment. And then they fail because they get scared. They don't know where to start. And you guys, you just need your phone. You just need your phone. Like I make all these great videos just with this, like I should probably buy a stabilizer.

Like I'm at that point where I'm like, okay, I can spend a hundred dollars here to get better content, but. Yeah. iPhone 13. Great video. Um, 

John: what about Samsung? I'm a Samsung 

Kacie: guy. I'm not a iPhone guy. 

Britt: We have great cameras, but no, you can do so much with your phone. Like just starting is the, the key part. And start looking at what your competitors are doing or people in your industry.

You know, we're in Tennessee, but look at what a real estate agent in Texas is. You know, get ideas from them and then make it your own. We can all do things differently. Yeah. 

Kacie: Like that's great advice. Just get started. Yeah. That's the hardest 

John: part. I agree. Yeah. I'm like a kid in a candy store right now.

Committed. Just soaking it up. This is good 

Kacie: stuff. I forget, I feel like John's a lot better than me at just doing random videos. I, I wanna have like a specific time, a specific time, time block specific place that I'm doing something and I, I don't even think, like, My pig just peed all over the floor and it went to the bot to the bottom floor.

I probably should record this real thing. That would be hilarious. Yes. Um, so did that really happen though? It did in the office. Yeah. And I felt so bad cuz there's people underneath me and there're, there's, it's like wood floors 

Britt: dripping on their head. 

Kacie: Yeah, it's gross. Um, and those of you that don't know, I have a pig pet.

A pet pig joy. She's, oh my god, I did know that. Yeah. So sweet. Patten her up. Patten her up. But in the moment I. Oh, I just gotta get this done. I don't wanna pull out my camera and make a TikTok. Yeah, because it's not in my time. And so that's 

Britt: a big challenge, I think. Yeah. So I think you need to kind of change your mentality there.

Always just like it's so, so easy to do. Just so quickly. Um, just take those little clips and Okay. If you don't use it later on, you know, delete it. It's okay. Um, so I wouldn't take the video in the TikTok app. I would just take it from your camera. Um, so that definitely would help. Yeah, 

Kacie: that's great advice.

Do, uh, I think that helps knowing that you don't have to do it right 

Britt: now. No. And another great tip would be, I don't know if you guys know the bookmark feature on Instagram where you can. A post or a reel. Um, and same with TikTok. You can bookmark it and save it to come back later. So if you're like, I need my 9:00 AM time block for social media content, go to your saved album.

Oh, and now there's all your ideas. And if you have no idea where to start, find a TikTok. You like, click on the sound, use a trending sound, and then follow whatever that trend is. Oh, I've heard about that one. Yeah. Yeah. So start with the sound. I feel like. Uh, finding a sound is the hardest part. It is, 

Kacie: yeah.

Yeah. And the most annoying part is when you're trying to get ideas and the same sound is over and over and over and over, and you're like, ok, 

Britt: I get it. You just need to turn it off for a second. Yeah. 

John: I mean, that's how some of these musicians got so famous because they made a sound and everybody started using it.

Next thing you know, they got records. They're doing shows and all that stuff. So it's, it's crazy how that stuff works and, and just blows people up all of a sudden. Absolutely. 

Kacie: Which is very cool. So how do you feel like, I just have a couple more questions. How do you feel like is a great way to convert your social media following to actual sales?

I didn't put this in the pre quick question, 

Britt: so it's okay. Ooh, she hit you with a, with a curve ball. I know. So I've been so blessed that it happens naturally. So just I post, you know, I try to post daily, um, and then posting to your Instagram story to show that you're still relevant and hey, you know, I, I create a safe space for people if they just wanna message me and be like, Hey, how much is my house worth?

We're not moving for two years, but can you run the numbers? Absolutely. I would love to help you. But what was the question again? Just how do they 

Kacie: convert? Um, okay. Their me, because it's like all fun, fun and games, right. To do TikTok. Mm-hmm. But then I think you also have to be intentionally Yes. Yes.

Intentional, right? About doing posts that will convert. Exactly. 

Britt: So I need to have, in my bio, I need to have a link, tree Link, link to my website. I, I send them to Instagram so then they can see the pretty houses I'm posting and, you know, that might be their feature house. And then they typically message me on there, Hey, I saw your TikTok.

Um, I would love to talk to you about real estate. Um, so a lot of my client's conversation is on social media, and then I'm like, all right guys, I need your phone number and email. I love it. Um, so to convert, I've been blessed that it just, In time. Um, but in your bio, have that link ready to go and have a few, I don't wanna say sales, these posts, but educational posts saying, here's my name, here's my, um, contact information.

So that is available for them. What I got 

Kacie: from you, that was a great nugget in that, is to meet them where, So if they're on TikTok, if they're on Instagram, meet them where they are. Yes. Don't automatically say, Hey, I wanna talk to you, but you gotta call me, or you gotta email me, you gotta go to my website.

Just go ahead and and meet them where they are. 

Britt: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's think about your client and how can you make it as easy as possible for them. That's what I've learned is the best for my clients. It's dumbing down the process, simplifying it. You know, this is an overwhelming world. We can be so caught up.

So if I can simplify this as best as possible, I'm gonna do that for them. 

John: Yeah, I love that because you've already, you know, you're, you're creating the no like, and trust factor by just putting yourself out there, creating, um, content that relates to the, you know, that makes you relatable and also providing educational information.

But at the same time, you're. Having a way where people can contact you. I didn't know about when it goes to your profile, you should have, and you mentioned that to me before Casey, the link tree thing. I gotta dig deep into that. Maybe you should too. Um, but that actually, can we talk about that a little bit?

I know we're not, they're not sponsoring this, but it's a tool, right? They, and we'll probably added in our, in our show notes. Right? So somebody can get access to it, but mm-hmm. Yeah. What is that? I have an 

Kacie: alternative. Ooh. 

Britt: Yeah, go dig 

John: deep into that. That kind of stuff. Yeah. 

Britt: For me, link Tree, so you get like one link allowed on TikTok.

So you post that and it basically is one link that brings you to here is my Instagram account, my Facebook account, my business website, my Amazon affiliate link where you can buy the dog harness that I just posted about that everyone wants. And I get a commission off that. So Nice. You know, so it just keeps on going.

Um, but basically, yeah, it's a great tool to use and it's free. It's like 

Kacie: one place that they could go come to. Yeah. We like free. Yes. So we've been, this is funny that this is coming up in this conversation cuz our whole team has been talking about link tree and they do have where you can pay two for upgraded things.

Mm-hmm. But um, we are andree's probably not gonna like me for this g It is a great thing. They're not sponsoring. What what we're doing is we're creating a web, a page on our website that is going to have all those links. So instead of people, instead of sending people to Link Tree and getting, building their traffic and their analytics, we're gonna be sending them to a page on our website that has Absolutely.

Yeah. So if you have access that's very smart to, um, edit pages on your website and create something like that, you do, um, exactly what's on Link Tree. You just do it in your 

Britt: own thing. That's a great idea. 

John: Mm. Maybe reach out to Casey and her team and let them 

Britt: do for you. I like that you have my head spinner now.

Yeah. Awesome. 

John: Yeah, look at that. See you guys get some nuggets when we have these meetings. This is amazing. Mm-hmm. Um, like honestly, I look at you guys when it comes to this space as the professionals, right. And, um, I've. What the, this stuff that you're spilling out is like amazing because now I can go back and look at my stuff cause I do have profiles and all these different social media things and make sure that that's set up properly to really, if I'm putting information out there and people wanna learn more, make it easy for them to contact me and learn more about me and 

Britt: my business.

Yeah, absolutely. Try to make it as easy as possible for them. Yeah. And they'll love you for it. That is 

Kacie: good. That is good stuff. Well, we hope that you guys really got some stuff out of this. This was amazing, Brit. I couldn't think of any better first guest to have. 

Britt: Thank you so much. I'm so, I'm flattered.

Thank you. This is a 

John: great, great 

Kacie: conversation. Yeah. I think a lot of people can. Can benefit from your knowledge. So if people are looking to follow you or find you, how can they contact you 

Britt: or get find you? Yeah, so our TikTok is the Rail Fam and my Instagram is Brit Pace Rail and Facebook, Brit Pace Rail, and I work for the Clarksville home team at Benchmark Realty.

John: Cool. If you can give one nugget, sorry, I had to, I had to ask this, I had to have you ask this, right? If you can give one nugget like some. Little gem that you can give these people who are interested in getting into the social media side? Mm-hmm. Or just what, what would you, what's one thing they should do today?

Britt: Start now. Give, commit 30 days to posting one post a day and designate 20 minutes a day for creating content. And just do it. Just do it there. You don't, it doesn't have to be long videos that keep it simple that, and set that time and it's 30 days, you can do anything for 30 days. Yep. Um, and how I look at it is I have all these, you know, older realtors who are paying 20, 30, $40,000 for leads.

The fact that I. Get them for free on social media. I'm so blessed that I'm saving all that money on marketing. Now I can set, put that money aside for community events to give my clients one year anniversary cookies on their home anniversary to give back. You know? So it's like, would I rather make 200 cold calls or one little video?

One video? Yep. 

John: Yeah. So start today, one video a day for 30 days and see. 

Britt: Do it again. Yeah. Social media's free. Utilize it. Yeah. 

Kacie: Awesome. That was great. Yeah, that was, I'm glad you asked that cause that was very good. That kind of like took off everything and just put it 

Britt: into one. Yeah. One little box here.

Absolutely. Here's your box. Here's your present. 

Kacie: Well, thank you so much. We are going to make sure that all of her information is linked in the show notes of this audio or video, wherever you're watching and we. Very much appreciate it. If you guys go in, download the episodes, give us a follow and a like and a share and all of the things, cuz it really does make such a big difference.

Yes. You know, 

Britt: right? Yes, I know firsthand. 

John: Yeah. Follow Bri. If you wanna learn more about the real estate industry, especially you realtors out there, because we're in a low market right now. Right. So you have to do something that makes you stand. In, in getting clients. And that's a great way to do it. So follow Brit.

I recommend following Brit. Thank you. Because you will, you will find out how to make yourself stand out. 

Kacie: Yeah. Yep. And maybe get some really good 

Britt: ideas, cuz she's, and one more thing is, whatever industry you're in, don't feel like you have to post just based on your industry. I'm not just gonna pay post real estate content.

I'm thinking about my clients moving here. What do they wanna. Oh, the kids' Little indoor play cafe. I'm gonna take videos of that. Oh, local businesses, local boutiques, local restaurants. I'm gonna start posting that in my Instagram story to get them excited about moving here. So don't just post. Don't just be, um, you know, narrow sighted and think I just, I need to stay within my lane.

So. 

John: Awesome. Yeah. Great stuff. Thank you guys. And thank you. Woo. We're we're excited of this interview series. This one started with a bang, so just 

Kacie: wait. Yeah. It's gonna be hard to top this one. It is. Thanks. 

John: See y'all on the next one. See ya.