Selene Hanna’s BAM Fest presentation was a point-by-point masterclass on educational real estate content. Because too many agents are either failing at this or not even trying.
Selene focused on how she turns educational content into something people actually watch. And she admits she didn’t get there right off the bat. She tried humor. She tried talking head videos that didn’t perform. She kept pivoting until she found something that worked. Extremely well.
And she broke down her genius approach step-by-step for BAM Fest viewers. If you missed it, the full replay is now in BAMx.
During the wrap-up, The Broke Agent shared his three takeaways, each one a wake-up call for agents who’ve been struggling to get more eyes on their content.
Read on for a quick breakdown of all three.
#1: People Aren’t on Instagram to Learn
Few people, if any, go on Instagram to learn things. Even if they hope to pick up some useful info, the nitty-gritty of real estate is probably not on their list of topics to stick around for.
Which is why The Broke Agent led with this takeaway:
“When people scroll Instagram, they’re not scrolling to be educated. They’re not scrolling to learn. When have you ever opened up Instagram after a long day, and said, ‘Hey, I want a real estate agent yapping at me about what an appraisal gap is’?”
People open Instagram to check out for a few minutes or to see what grabs their attention next.
That’s the environment every agent is competing in. You can share useful information and still get ignored if it feels like homework.
When one of Selene’s talking head videos didn’t perform, she pivoted, focusing on earning attention first. Then, once people were hooked, she could share her expertise in a way that felt more entertaining than educational.
This is where a lot of agents lose people. They jump straight into explaining things before giving their audience a reason to listen.
If you want people to stick around, you have to start where they are. And that means being honest about why most people are on IG in the first place.
#2: Skits Work Because They Interrupt the Scroll
Once you accept how people actually use Instagram, the next question becomes how do you get them to stop scrolling?
For Selene, the answer was skits, or as she calls it, “skitting.” Not comedy or polished productions. Just simple, back-and-forth conversations that pull people in.
That’s what caught The Broke Agent’s attention:
“It’s a pattern interrupt because when you do those skits, and when people hear the word skits, they think, ‘Oh, I got to be hilarious.’ But you just talk to yourself, you present the problem, and it interrupts people’s scroll because now they’re invested in the conversation. And it makes it easier because it puts the consumer in the position that you are doing in your actual video. So I thought that was great.”
The pattern interrupt is the whole thing. A standard talking head blends right into the feed. A skit creates movement and curiosity. It gives people a reason to pause and figure out what’s happening.
Selene keeps the format simple. One version of her, who she calls “Silly Selene,” presents a problem. The other, “Smart Selene,” responds with the answer. The viewer follows the exchange and absorbs the information without it ever feeling like a lecture.
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And you don’t have to be funny to pull it off (which is a relief for most of us). You just have to make the situation feel familiar. When someone recognizes the problem you’re describing, they’ll stick around long enough to hear how you’d solve it.
That’s the hack. Make it feel like a real human interaction instead of a lesson, and people will actually watch the whole thing.
#3: If a Post Doesn’t Work, Repackage It
One of the most useful takeaways was about what to do when a good content idea flops on IG.
“You posted a video that was a talking head style. And then it didn’t perform that well (even though people in the comments said they actually love that video also). But you reposted that as a skit, (and) that’s really good advice for everybody here. If the content doesn’t work the first time, sometimes it’s the actual packaging.”
Selene took the same video, changed the format from talking-head to script, and it performed better the second time around.
And that confirmed what The Broke Agent took as his third major takeaway. Much of the time when a post doesn’t perform, the delivery, not the idea, is what’s holding it back.
So, if a video post you created flopped, maybe try creating a carousel version. Or vice-versa. Take a look at some of your favorite real estate content creators and the posts that are getting the most engagement.
Theoni Rapo noticed a huge difference in engagement between her polished, dressed-to-the-nines talking head videos and her more informal Facetime-style TikToks.
Right now, with so much glossy AI content on social, less polished feels more real.
Educational content gives people a reason to trust you, and Selene’s approach shows exactly how to deliver it without losing anyone along the way.
More speaker highlights from BAM Fest are coming, and the full replay is now in BAMx.
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