#181 Mail-Right Show With Special Guest Kyle Draper of EMPWR Media

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The Power of Story and Leveraging Social Media Connected To Getting Quality Seller or Buyer Leads in 2019!

We have a great guest on the show Kyle Draper of EMPWR Media and we going to be discussing the power of story and how to really leverage social media connected to getting great seller and buyer leads in 2019.

Kyle Draper is known as the “Connector of Dots.” He is passionate about helping those around him have light bulb moments.

As a former student pastor, Kyle has a unique and different approach from most people in the marketing and advertising field.

He is the CEO of KyleDraper.com and EMPWR Media, as well as the creator of Top of Mind Selling. He also hosts the Top of Mind Selling podcast and is a contributor for Inman News.

Kyle spends most of his time empowering and equipping Realtors across the country to grow their businesses through the power of their story and leveraging social media.

Kyle is born and raised in Dallas, TX and has been married to his wife Lana, for almost 10 years and has two has two kids, Harrison & Everly.

Jonathon: Welcome back folks to the Mail Right Show. This is episode 181. I’m excited. We got a great special guest. It’s Kyle Draper of EMPWR Media. Kyle would you like to give the audience and viewers a quick introduction?

Kyle: Sure. Yeah. I’m excited to be on with you guys. Like Jonathan said, I’m Kyle Draper. I’m in Dallas, Texas and I am a speaker, trainer, coach, a CEO. I guess. So I, I do a lot of teaching and coaching inside of the real estate space, mainly directed at social media marketing, storytelling. And then I own EMPWR Media. Where we offer a couple different services to the real estate space that actually complements what you guys do at Mail Right. Because I was looking and making sure that we weren’t competing on anything because that can be awkward and we’re not.

Jonathon: It`s a big market. It`s a big market. I have worked with people we do kind of similar things. I am okay with it. We got my great cohost. So Robert, would you like to introduce yourself to the new listeners and viewers?

Robert: Wow. I think a lot of them know who I am, but my name is Robert Newman. I am the founder of Inbound Rem. I want to give a shout out to John today. Because John informed me not so long ago offline that the show seven months or eight months, whatever it’s been, that we’ve been doing it as grown by 500 percent. This is a fancy way of saying that you guys, those people that are tuned in right now have been downloading our show. With an ever increasing amount of frequency. For which, by the way, Mr. Denwood and I promise you are both incredibly grateful and humbled that you guys have decided to tune in. So thank you all.

Jonathon: Yeah, we’re getting a lot of downloads lately, which I’m very happy with. And it’s just a sign that we’re content must be touching base with our audience. So we appreciate that folks. If you’ve got any questions or comments just either contact or just contact Robert.

Robert: Thank you for that.

Jonathon: I thought you would appreciate that. We’re going to go into the power of story.

Robert: Let’s go.

Jonathon: When it comes to building a brand for real estate agent or power team. And using social media to help with that story storytelling. Where should we start with this journey Kyle?

Kyle: Yeah. I think this may sound kind of weird. I think it starts with mindset because I think anyone that’s been in this industry for a decade; at least, they’re probably stuck in the way they’ve always done business. And it’s not all translating to 2019. And so what I really try to help people understand it first is from the aspect of storytelling. People actually care. And I just, I was teaching this yesterday and I asked everybody like who puts up every once in a while, like a picture of the food you’re eating? Like if you go on a date with your spouse, like who puts up a picture? And the majority of the room is like, no, that’s terrible.

Nobody can. And what I have to help them understand is we are surrounded by people that are nosy by nature. And that nosiness causes people that like me to wonder what my wife and I did on date night. And so do I want to post pictures all the time? No, I don’t. I don’t need the accolades. I don’t need the pat on the back. But I post about it because people actually want to know. And it’s a shift in mindset even though I don’t care what your steak look like for dinner last night. Some people do.

Kyle: And we’ve got to be careful that we don’t just fall victim to putting out what we like. But we are putting out what people want. And in that comes by way of story. And we’ve got to fix it up here. But before we can we can get it out there if that makes sense.

Robert: How did you address that yourself? So you just said right now on channel that you personally don’t really want to share with people what you eat on date night with your wife. Yet somehow you came to the decision that you had to do that. What was that little micro journey like for you? How did that happen?

Kyle: Man it. Okay. Yeah. Micro would probably not be a great word because I feel like it’s taken forever because it’s a constant evolution. I think it’s just as a social media expert, I guess I pay close attention to what I’m posting and how quickly it’s getting engagement. How many comments it’s getting. And when you pay attention, you very quickly go, holy cow. Like that gets 200 likes when I do it. And that gets four. And the hard part about tracking data right is that, number one, data doesn’t lie. And data, doesn’t always line up with my opinion. And so when I started seeing that a lot of the posts that maybe weren’t my favorite or the ones that were actually trending, I had to go, man.

Kyle: People don’t just care about what I think they should. They’re going to care about whatever they’re going to care about. And what we do on date night. The specifics of that like that matters to my audience. Does that make sense?

Robert: Yeah. So if I’m hearing you correctly, what part of your journey has been? It’s been a data driven evolution. You’ve done some multivariate testing where you’ve thrown on content online; you’ve looked at content piece, which maybe let’s just say it’s an informative article about branding. And then you’ve lived it and I’m just making that. And then content piece number B. It’s a pretty picture of you and your wife as you guys are getting ready to walk into whatever restaurant you’re visiting on your night out. And then noticed, wow, there’s a lot of likes on that. Those more casual personal posts.

Kyle: Yes.

Robert: Than this business post. Okay, John, I cut you off. What were you going to say?

Jonathon: I thought what you were contributing was fantastic. Kyle so when you are talking to real estate agents. We’ve just had this great example. What do you see a lot of agents doing when it comes to building story on social media?

Kyle: Well, so I think the first thing most of them do wrong is they don’t understand the concept of story. All they know how to do, which is most people is just share, highlight real moments. So it’s here’s a photo from closing, here’s maybe a video of an open house that I’m at or a new listing that I have. And then here’s a picture of me and several people at a networking event. And it’s just tippy toeing across the highlights of their week, of their month, of their business. And they’re never really giving people the opportunity to engage. Because what I find really interesting is when you asked the question, how many of you in this room have a referral based business?

Kyle: The majority of real estate agents raise their hands. And then when you follow that up with what are you doing to intentionally be in front of your sphere. Which is where you’re saying all of your business comes from, most of them have no idea. They’re just kind of haphazardly doing things and they know that’s where their business is coming from but they’re not able to quantify it in any way. And so to me that would be the biggest problem is that it’s all real estate all the time. Which most people don’t care about, and they’re unwilling to just be authentic and share their story. Even to some degree it share their pain.

And so that’s what I find is the biggest thing is them assuming like nobody cares that I like dogs. But that’s crazy because there’s millions and millions of people that are obsessed with their animals. And that’s a whole chunk of people that are also going to buy and sell houses.

Jonathon: So what I think you are trying to say is. Obviously they want to know that your efficient, your real estate agent, you get a result, your efficient. But they also want to know about you the person. What your likes and your dislikes. Am I correct? Is that what you are trying to point out?

Kyle: Yes sir. Yeah, absolutely. That’s exactly what I think.

Jonathon: Now a lot of people, and I’m one of them, fines a little bit of resistance because I’m not too sure that people. I don’t feel totally relaxed sharing everything. Because that could be political, that could be as a social element. It could be part of my lifestyle that might be somebody in a certain community would not do business if they knew too much about me. Are there boundaries? And how do you show them this? But with boundaries or is there no boundaries?

Kyle: So technically there are no boundaries. I can say whatever I want, whenever I want on social media and no one can stop me. That would obviously be not the greatest thing to do when we work in a position of sales to a lot of people. And so for me, there are really two hot button topics that I try to help people avoid and then if they don’t want to avoid it, approach it from a unique perspective. And to me those would be like politics and religion.

And when we talk about those two things right there, there is a way to post that is educational and truly conversational. And then there’s a way to post that would just be like, I hate the president or he’s a moron. Like that though that may be true to some people, probably not the greatest approach to take in that situation. So I try to help people understand that the moment I am divisive in a statement like that in a position of sales, I’ve split my audience in half. And I am now creating enemies. Because I’m choosing to be divisive in the way I’m expressing my opinion. I think we have to be smart in the way that we do it. For example, for me, I was a pastor for almost 10 years in my former life back in my twenties.

Kyle: And so for me, I talk God a lot. I talk about the Bible a lot, but I don’t do it in a way that is trying to offend someone. I’m not doing it from like a pious place where I’ve got this figured out and you’re a moron if you disagree with me. I am just simply talking through a passion of mine in a way that is completely respectable and honorable to the people that are on the other side. And so I think that’s the fine line that we have to walk. And then Jonathan, do what you said. I think like if like what I heard you say was that you’re kind of a more private person.

Jonathon: Well I am English.

Kyle: So for a lot of people, like we just don’t want all of our stuff out there.

Jonathon: I know Robert is laughing here but it’s true. If you have been to Scandinavia or you have being to England. I lived in Scandinavia for a year and a half. They are more reserved, it doesn’t mean they are not friendly. But they’re not American. If you understand they’re not going to be loud or go up to a stranger. Engaging conversation as easily as a lot of Americans would do. Does that makes sense Kyle?

Kyle: Yeah, absolutely. And my wife is very, oh my wife is American, so she’s not just like you, but she’s very reserved. Very. She’s not completely introverted, but she’s just private. She doesn’t want people knowing what’s going on in her life all the time. And so what I have to help people do is pick and choose your battles that you’re willing to be slightly more open about. Because we all have heard the quote and it’s been said a million times over now. But we work with people we know, like, and trust. And in my opinion, in order to build that trust, we have to be willing to engage people. And for example, for me, so I have a son who has autism. And he’s six years old and we don’t talk about it very much because that’s a private family matter that I’m not trying to put that out on a poster. To like win people’s hearts and grow my, like that’s not what I want to do.

Jonathon: Well, it is a very difficult area because you come across as a decent man Kyle. That would be a bit yucky wouldn`t it?

Kyle: Yes. But the reason I’m saying this, as I was on the phone yesterday with a lender. And we were on a coaching call, he’d asked me to help him with some social media and he had mentioned that he and his wife had a few kids that had autism. And so I had that moment to be unprofessional to some people and go, man my son has autism. Oh my gosh.

The moment I said that he and I connected on a level. That went beyond anything sales and marketing could ever accomplish. Because he and I have lain on the floor in the same moment of the same day. Like we’ve been in the same foxhole together. And this is what I think our industry doesn’t get is when we take advantage of moments to truly connect to the hearts of people. They are ours for forever. They will take a bullet for our business, they will be our loudest voice box, and they will do anything in their power to help us be successful. If we’ve done a good job of aligning our lives with theirs. And that’s what storytelling is all about.

Jonathon: I think you have made some fantastic points. We’re going to go for break folks. Then we’re going to come back because I think Kyle is really onto something here. But I haven’t. Maybe a lot of you all audience I haven’t really understood fully. I’ve listened really quite intently Kyle and I think you’re really onto something. But how you do this. I’m still struggling a little bit. But we’ll be back in a few moments’ folks and we will continue the discussion.

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Jonathon: We are coming back folks. We’ve had a great chat with Kyle Draper. Robert has been listening and he’s going to jump in. I can feel it. Alright.

Robert: You see it on my face.

Jonathon: He is thinking folks. So Robert I think Kyle`s really onto something. And why a lot people in the real estate industry don’t really use social media that well. But I’m also struggling Robert. What are your feelings about this?

Robert: I mean I have stronger feelings because I’ve been. I’m not in your business Kyle, but I am in a different business. But I constantly as a value add, I’ve been talking about branding and positioning on social media and other platforms for real estate agents. Some of whom have a very big microphone. There’s so many people that I’ve dealt with. And so I’ve been talking to those people. So I’m curious, so here’s what’s easy. You take somebody that’s got a TV show and I’ve got a couple of clients that do. And then you tell them to. They understand the conversation of branding pretty well. And they the conversation of, because here’s how I’m interpreting your, what you just said, they understand the line between talking about things. They’re interested in that that relate indirectly to their profession, but not crossing the line too deeply interpersonal space.

Robert: They know that. Talk to somebody who is an amateur though. Somebody who is, let’s say a small broker in your part of the world such as Houston, Dallas, Texas, Delaney, Plano. The list goes on and on and on. So talk to people in that neck of the woods and the conversation is 100 percent different. In my experience, they have no idea that most of those people that I speak to have never been on social media. Very little, like very little exposure, let’s just put it that way. So it’s completely different conversation. So I’m curious, I’m wondering if you’d be willing to do a real quick little exercise. Let’s say I’m small broker from Plano, Texas. I have never used my Facebook profile. I have one and I’ve never really used it. I don’t have an instagram account and I don’t even know what Pinterest is. And this, by the way, is mirroring a conversation that I’ve had recently with a broker that does quite well.

Robert: But this is a real honest to God profile I’m giving you.

Kyle: Great.

Robert: So except for the city that’s made up. So what would you say to this person, like if you were moving into an introductory conversation, you’re trying to explain your services and what the impact of your services can have, how does that happen?

Kyle: Yeah, so I first, I love asking questions. Because I think what I hate about people like me in our industry is, well, like not like me in our profession of helping real estate agents. Is we can get so pious in thinking we’ve got it all figured out. That I just go in pitching my thing as opposed to truly identifying the pain points of the person I’m sitting across from. So I asked a ton of questions and so to this individual that I deal with a lot in Dallas, Fort Worth.

Robert: Just ask me a couple just to mock it up.

Kyle: So my first question would be like, Robert, I love what you’re doing with your brokerage. Tell me like, what does the person look like that you hope to attract to you?

Robert: Well, probably my local residents and the residents of the surrounding towns, which would be if I’m remembering here, it’s like I did give you one, it’s Delano. And I’d have to.

Kyle: Plano, McKinney, and Frisco.

Robert: So it’s Texans and small towns. They liked their football; they liked their ranch’s basically. Yeah, that’s what you get in this area and they’re mostly family, family oriented. So I’d love to speak to them.

Kyle: Okay. And looking back, let’s just say over your last six months of sales, if you were to try to pinpoint an average age of the people you’ve worked with up to now. What would that look like?

Robert: I would say they’re probably about 45.

Kyle: Okay.

Robert: So we’re just average.

Kyle: Okay. And so are you satisfied with like do you like that demographic? Would you rather they are older? Would you rather they are younger? What do you want to do moving forward?

Robert: Well I feel like the audience has been drifting towards the younger side though over the last few years I’ve noticed that the people that I seem to be dealing with are getting a little bit younger. So I think that I’d probably say younger though. I would like to appeal to everybody.

Kyle: Sure, sure. And that’s totally normal. We all naturally want to appeal to everybody because we assume that by appealing to everyone, we’re naturally going to make more money. But in a lot of cases that’s not true. And so you’re in a unique place because a 25 year old is kind of a teenier. Like they have a presence on instagram, but then they also have a large presence on Facebook. And so if we want to go younger we need to really have a presence on both. And so for you right now, I know you said you have a Facebook, what does that look like? Do you have a business page? How often do you post? What does that look like for you?

Robert: I think my assistant set up the business page and since the answer is I barely even know if I have one. I don’t think that we’re posting anything there. So we are not currently doing very much. I think one of our advertising platforms uses Facebook marketing but it doesn’t connect too deeply into our Facebook page. But we have one.

Kyle: Okay. Now that’s great. And then let me ask you this, Robert, how long have you lived in the North Texas area?

Robert: My whole life.

Kyle: Man your whole life. Okay. And I’m not going to ask you how old you are because that’s not really super relevant. But here’s.

Jonathon: He is 25.

Kyle: So here is Robert. Here is what’s kind of unique about what I try to do. Is you’ve literally been born and raised in this area. This means whether you realize it or not, you already have touched thousands of people that know who you are. But you’re currently not positioning yourself in front of them. So as weird as this might sound, I would love to dig in a little bit more to like. What do you do with your personal page on Facebook? Because that should be where you have currently the most captivated opportunity for your audience.

Kyle: And that’s a really easy way to create a shot in the arm for your business if we’re not being very active there.

Robert: I talk about Texas football.

Kyle: Texas football.

Robert: My boys are in grade school and they just got in football and we do a lot of sporting events.

Kyle: I love it. So here’s a number one that that’s a super easy outlet where we live. Because most of us believed footballs. And so this is an easy topic. And so what I think is unique for this moment is what’s not unique is the fact that you’re a real estate agent and you are [24:20 inaudible]. Everyone can throw a ball and hit the head of 10 to 12 real estate agents in Dallas Fort Worth. And so we’ve got to give you some differentiators.

Kyle: And so I think the easiest way, based on what you’re saying is what could we talk about through our Facebook platform to help people see and then engage with Texas high school football. Or like what could that look like for you?

Robert: Sure. What could we talk about to help them engage with Texas football? I don’t really know. I mean, when I talk about the games, what I’m usually showing these, we’re just taking pictures at the tailgate party. Or we’re taking pictures right before we walk in. Once we’re there, we’re watching the game. We’re not taking pictures anymore.

Kyle: So let me, I have ideas, right? I would never ask you a question that I didn’t already have some ideas for in my head. And so think about something like this, like let’s say that your kids go to Plano West High School. What if you could reach out to the head football coach before the season starts and let them know you’re a local business owner and you would love to do a 10 minute interview with them on Facebook live. With a preview of the season with your anticipation for how the team’s going to do you know. How do you think that would resonate with, with your audience that you have in Plano?

Robert: Right now? Probably pretty well. Probably pretty well. Got a lot of people that tune in and, and talk about the games.

Kyle: And so here’s the beauty of this, Robert, I think we overthink marketing so much. And we don’t realize that. Do think that you could maybe wear a polo in that video that has the Plano West logo and your logo on the shirt? So that while you’re creating value to your Texas high school football audience, you’re also putting a billboard in there. So that every time it gets shared, your logo is going out across Facebook. Numerous times over. Could that potentially benefit your business?

Robert: Well it’s tough to say, but I think I see what you’re saying. I think I see what you’re saying. So guys, I don’t want to. This has been a great exercise and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you projecting. Because I learned a lot from it. I hope our audience did too. It’s a great opening into a consultation trying to get down to somebody. What I would phrase is their unique selling proposition.

Kyle: Absolutely.

Robert: You’re using it in a more social spin. But I do agree 100 percent about the concept of either having a dialogue with yourself for having a dialogue with the professional about trying to understand how to take the things that you’re passionate about. And then leverage those into. There’s nothing ever wrong about letting everybody know what it is that you do for a living. I certainly do in terms of SEO and being an online marketer and I’m not necessarily pitching them. That’s the beauty of social media though. The people that have an interest in what you do that resonate with you as a person might very well reach out to you. And that’s kind of how I perceive your comments. If you spread that message far enough and wide enough, using social platforms, somebody that knows you or know somebody that knows you. Reach out and touch base with you through very careful implanting of a dual message. One, this is what I’m passionate about and two, this is what I do. Or maybe they’re the same thing.

Robert: Yeah, we’re going to close up the podcast part of the show. Kyle as agreed to stay on which you be able to see on the Mail Right YouTube channel and on the Mail Right website. We have a full set of show notes and links. Or you can watch this live at 9:00 AM Pacific standard time every Tuesday. And all you have to do is go to the Mail Right Facebook page. It’s actually Mail Right USA. Or just do a search in Facebook Mail Right. And you can watch us live and you can ask us questions. You got any questions? I keep a view on the Facebook page and we can put that through as a question to our guests. It’s a laugh, isn’t it Robert? Kyle how can people find out more about you, your services and what you’re up to?

Kyle: Sure, you can go follow me. I’m coach Kyle Draper on Facebook and Instagram. You can email me directly at kyledraper.com. And that’ll get it covered. I don’t have a massive team, so if you come to me through any of those outlets, it will be directly to me and I’ll get back to you.

Jonathon: And we totally lost the audience about the football stuff. Obviously I am English so its soccer. I didn`t even understand the conversation folks. There we go. Robert, how can people find out more about you and what you’re up to?

Robert: They can always find out about me on my website, which is inboundrem.com. And we are doing lots of really cool, exciting things. And unlike everybody else, I don’t mind marketing myself. I’m going to shamelessly plug this feed spot, voted us the number five inbound marketing general in the world. I’m super excited about that, about that right beneath social media examiner and Neil Patel, who is a hero of mine. So there you go. You can learn all about that on my website. Where I will scream from the rafters, that`s how excited I am about it

Jonathon: That`s great. And folks if you want to find out more about our exciting platform that will get you quality leads, you can book a slot with me. And I’ll show you how Mail Right works personally. And you can do that through the website. We’ll be back next week where we have another great guest or another great topic which we’ll be discussing. This hopefully will get you the results that you’re looking for yourself and your family through real estate in 2019. We’ll be back next week. Bye