From Foot Locker to 100+ closed deals a year (*in under five years)

by Emile L'Eplattenier

In 2019, Chris A. Williams had a problem. He was working two jobs — selling shoes at Foot Locker and cleaning cars at Enterprise — but he wanted more out of life. He was 20 years old. He tried college, but like many young Americans today, he decided the math didn’t work — too much debt and too few opportunities. He considered the military but was tacitly rejected due to a heart murmur. He felt trapped.

One morning while cleaning out yet another rental car, he had an idea; “If I can sell shoes, I can sell real estate.” Two years in, Chris had a new problem; he was getting so many leads from social media he couldn’t handle them all by himself.

We sat down with Chris to learn the exact strategies he used to turn Instagram likes into leads, and leads into a 15-person team in Virginia Beach. He also shared his advice for new agents and his take on whether or not social media is still worth the effort in 2025.

Chris A. Williams: By the numbers

Farm area: Virginia Beach
Deals closed in year one: 2
Deals closed in year two: 24
Number of agents on his team: 15
Number of social media followers: 26,000
Favorite real estate software: kvCORE
Favorite script: LPMAMA

Embrace the cringe

Think you’re going to become an overnight sensation on Instagram? Think again. Creating light, fun content that resonates with your audience isn’t easy. Like almost all content creators, Chris struggled in the beginning:

“It’s funny. When I look at the videos I put out in 2020 now, I laugh, because I’m like, this was trash. But at the time, I didn’t know any better. I would go in a house and record every single detail of the house and post on my story.”

The trick to breaking through on social media is to embrace the cringe. If you’re not okay with looking awkward at first, you’ll never make it. Just keep creating, and you’ll eventually find your groove and produce great content. Sure, it takes time, but the only way out is through.

You can also learn from Chris’ early video mistakes. He shares his simple but clever posting strategies for agents below.

Find your ideal client and create content just for them

Even if you do manage to become a viral sensation overnight, turning those likes into leads is the real struggle. A video with a million views won’t help your bottom line if it doesn’t drive leads. Chris’ advice? Develop an avatar of your ideal client and create content just for them.

“For example, if you want military buyers, you want VA home loan buyers, make content specifically for them. Talk about VA loans and their many benefits, have people in uniform in the background, all things like that so you can really capture that audience — instead of trying to cast a super wide net, because you’re not going to catch everybody with a super wide net.”

Chris’ best video strategy: Diamonds in the rough

After two years of struggling, Chris eventually settled on a video strategy that boosted his content and made his phone ring. Instead of posting mansions, that almost no one can afford, Chris started posting nice homes with prices that seemed too good to be true. Each one had a catch — they were in less-than-desirable neighborhoods or had other issues.

But the “diamond in the rough” houses he toured in his videos piqued his audience’s curiosity and made them ask themselves a simple question that so much great marketing relies on: What if…?

“So a little trick that I did was I would take something controversial about a house and I would post it. In our area, we have cities that aren’t as desirable, you know, that have a bad reputation, and people are like, oh, I would never live in this city. So I purposely will go on my MLS, I will look for the nicest homes in that city, and I will go record it and post it, and I will say, “Hey, is this the nicest home in _________? Would you live here?”

His videos also stirred up controversy — the vast majority of the comments on his videos were negative. But for the Instagram algorithm, engagement is engagement. The more likes and comments your videos accumulate, the more people they’ll get shown to.

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Keep them guessing: Never answer questions in the comments

Since these videos purposefully pique curiosity (known as a curiosity gap in marketing) people will start to ask questions in the comments. What’s the address? What’s the neighborhood like? Why is this house so damn cheap?! Chris told us that answering those questions in the comments can tank your video’s performance on social media and kill your chances of getting leads. Here’s Chris on why this is a mistake:

“If I answer that question for one person in the comments, the next 1,000 people who watch the video will also get the answer, so they’ll have no reason to reach out to me. But if I tell them they need to DM me for the information, everyone else who has the same question will know they have to reach out to me to get the answer.”

Stay the course

Like most content creators, Chris found success gradually and then suddenly. He got zero leads and few likes for the first two years he was creating content. Then, one afternoon while he was playing Call of Duty, he got a DM from a lead. Then another. And another. By the end of the day, he had four new leads — all from social media.

If you want to get leads on Instagram or other platforms, stay the course. Post consistently and have faith that one day, your efforts will produce results. You might get lucky and get leads immediately, but this is rare. Just keep posting, and you’ll eventually get leads. Here’s why. The vast majority of agents will give up. We see this all the time. An agent reads our social media marketing article and starts posting, only to give up a few months later.

“If you’re consistent, you’re going to outlast everybody, and that’s the position you want to be in.”

Chris’ advice for new agents: Go all in, or go home

When we asked Chris if he thought part-time agents would make it, he didn’t mince words. He told us that even though he wasn’t making any money, he was still the first agent in the office and the last to leave. He put in 60+ hours each week, and just kept posting on social media even though he wouldn’t see results for a full two years.

Yes, but with caveats. Chris thinks the lead generation opportunities on social media aren’t what they used to be. There are way more agents trying to go after fewer leads, and most use the same strategies he did.

His advice for new agents (or, let’s face it, older agents) who are considering social media as a marketing strategy? Be creative and stay consistent. It might be harder to stand out with so many agents using the same strategies, but remember that almost all of them will drop out. Your mission is to outlast them.

He also warned that agents shouldn’t rely solely on social media. Instead, your marketing strategy should be a part of a healthy mix of approaches, including cold calling, print marketing, and online ads. Virginia Beach Realtors should take this advice with a grain of salt. There is a possibility Chris just wants to keep all the social media leads for himself.

Your turn

Know an agent who’s thriving despite the odds and has actionable insights to share? We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us here: [email protected].