When new clients come to real estate pro Glennda Baker, they often say, “I saw you on TikTok!” Baker, associate broker with Ansley Atlanta Real Estate in the Atlanta area, has quickly become a TikTok sensation (@glenndabaker). Her daily real estate videos regularly generate from 30,000 to 2 million likes.
Baker made her TikTok debut in October 2020, quickly picking up 122 followers. Just a year later, she’d topped 565,000. Over one two-day span in February, Baker sent out three agent referrals and received two inquiries from relocating buyers, all TikTok leads. All told, she says, her activity on TikTok generated $241,000 in gross commission income for her in 2021.
How has she done it? Consistent messaging, regular posts, and engaging with the audience. “If you do these three things, you will build your own following,” she says. “Be you—and just turn up the volume.”
Consistency. Before jumping all-in, Baker consumed TikTok content and modeled what she liked best. She wanted her videos to be interview style, as if a viewer was listening in on a conversation she was having with a friend. (Denver Bailey, the professional videographer who records her posts, is that friend.) Baker riffs on daily life and anecdotes from her 26 years in the business, such as the time she sold 27 houses on Match.com and that fleeting short-lived satisfaction after blowing a commission check. Her on-camera wardrobe always has stars, picking up on her common phrase “Oh, my stars!”, and it’s become a signature look that followers often comment on. Combined with her tell-it-like-it-is attitude and unfiltered Southern drawl, her voice and look have made her instantly recognizable in public.
Regular posts. At first, Baker posted two videos a week. As her audience grew, so did her video production. Now she posts every day. To make her schedule more manageable, once a month, she records 30 or more videos in a day. She’s so consistent with posting that if she happens to miss a day, her followers send direct messages to check on her.
Engagement. Baker’s TikTok videos almost always generate hundreds of comments. Questions from followers inspire future TikToks. A TikTok asking, “Why are you following me?” generated more than 8,000 comments. Baker has learned this about her followers: “They want to see everyday life. Your TikTok posts don’t have to be just showing off fancy house pictures. People want to see what they don’t know. That’s why they tune in to me. It’s like talking to a friend. They’re coming to me for the truth and the real life of real estate.”
