Nothing flips a local market upside down faster than someone finally dialing in their content.
Most people start out posting whatever feels natural. A house tour here, a Story there, a random local moment that gets a couple of pity likes.
It feels like you’re doing the work, but nothing moves.
Kathy and Graham Tracey know that feeling better than most. They spent years posting to Instagram with a tiny cluster of loyal followers and almost no audience growth.
Then they followed Alyssa Curnutt’s playbook, and everything about their content strategy changed.
In this recent conversation with hosts Jason Cassity and The Broke Agent (Eric Simon), the Traceys broke down how they used Alyssa’s hyperlocal blueprint to turn Greater Reston Living into one of the most shared neighborhood pages in Northern Virginia.
And if you want to learn the same strategy they used, Alyssa’s full hyperlocal course just went live inside BAMx.
The Early Days: Pops of Color and a Small Circle
Before anything went viral, there was Kathy on Instagram trying to figure out how to add text to a Story.
Kathy told Jason and Eric that she started posting only because a younger agent warned her, “If you’re not doing social media, your business will be dead in five years.” She took it seriously, picked Instagram as her platform, and tried to be authentic in the way everyone advises.
As Kathy explained,
“I didn’t know what were stories, what were reels. I tried to be authentically me. I would share stories of my clients and I liked talking about pops of color in houses.”
It was relatable and fun, but not strategic. The audience stayed small, mostly friends and people who already knew her.
The Breakthrough: Alyssa’s Blueprint Makes It Click
Everything shifted when the Traceys learned about Alyssa Curnutt’s hyperlocal strategy. Graham joked that he absorbs content in the evenings and teaches it to Kathy through “osmosis.”
But this time, Kathy was the one who stopped the video. As she told the hosts,
“I said, slow down, rewind. That makes sense. I can do it.”
What clicked wasn’t just Alyssa’s confidence on camera. It was the structure.
Alyssa’s blueprint suddenly made the whole process feel doable. Jason summarized it during the episode as “the hook and the call to action filmed at the same time, then 15-25 two-second pan shots, and a voiceover done right on your phone.”
The Traceys started copying that formula immediately.
How They Applied the Formula to Their Market
Once they adopted Alyssa’s structure, everything changed.
They focused on Reston and Herndon. They built hooks around what locals cared about. They shot movement-heavy opens. They timed edits with music drops. And they handed their B-roll to an editor who could assemble everything consistently.
Graham explained their mindset shift.
“We talk about the news that’s happening. We go experience the news. If it’s a new restaurant or a development, we’re just copying Alyssa essentially.”
And it worked. Their engagement exploded. Topics that once got three or five shares now hit thousands.
Eric called it out during the episode, saying,
“Their engagement is through the roof. Thousands and thousands of shares. This is the blueprint of what to follow in your market.”
What Actually Went Viral
When you look at the Traceys’ page, a pattern jumps out. The content that hits has three things in common.
Here are the types of posts that performed best once they embraced the blueprint:
- New restaurant openings that people haven’t experienced yet
- New developments that spark conversation or debate
- Hyperlocal twists that only true residents understand
- Headlines and thumbnails styled like YouTube attention hooks
Graham pointed out that established restaurants or long-running events rarely perform.
“They die because everybody’s been there before. But the new place that just opened, then people are sharing the content.”
Inside jokes help, too. In one bakery review, Kathy joked about the headache of Reston Station parking. Locals knew exactly what she meant. Shares took off.
The Foliage Carousel That Reached 185,000 People
One post proved just how far they’d come. A simple fall foliage carousel with a Reston-specific angle reached roughly 185,000 people and added hundreds of subscribers to their newsletter.
The real unlock was combining something regionally popular with a twist only locals cared about. Then they added ManyChat to collect emails from viewers who commented “insider.”
That one carousel became a complete lead funnel.
The Newsletter That Makes Everything Stick
The Traceys now run a hyperlocal community newsletter with a nearly 70% open rate and a 4% to 6% click-through rate. It covers what’s happening in Reston, highlights their recent content, and closes with a “you know you’re from Reston when…” inside joke.
Graham explained why it works.
“The newsletter comes off like a community newsletter, not a real estate newsletter. But we’ll stick in ads for different things between articles.”
The Blueprint You Can Start Using Today
Kathy and Graham went from posting for friends to building a local audience that shared their content more than they ever expected. One post even reached a number bigger than the entire population of Reston and Herndon combined.
Their growth started with a simple realization. You don’t need to be flashy. You need to be specific. You need to be local. And you need a system that makes it repeatable.
Want to test the blueprint yourself? Alyssa’s full course is now live in BAMx. And if you’re not a member yet, you can access the full course today with a free 7-day trial.
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