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Community Is About to Matter More Than Content
Full breakdown on digital trust, local expertise, and building relationships while using AI to save time. Full episode here. Listen to the audio.
Producing more content is getting easier. Giving people a reason to trust you still takes work.
I sat down with Tom Bohn, CEO of Inman, to talk about where media and real estate are heading. We kept coming back to community. Tom believes people are getting tired of consuming content alone and want more opportunities to talk with peers, ask questions, and work through problems together.
That connects to something I've been telling agents: lean into in-person events. Community gatherings, past customer events, and opportunities to spend time with the people you serve.
AI can help you write a post or prepare a video. But the person reading or watching still has to decide whether they trust your judgment. Producing more material doesn't automatically answer that question.
Give people a reason to know you
Tom brought up the role that organizations like Rotary and Lions Clubs played in connecting people. They gave professionals a reason to get together regularly. People could ask each other questions, share what they were seeing, and build relationships over time.
There is a useful lesson there for an agent or business owner deciding where to spend the next hour.
If someone has had a useful conversation with you, your next post has context. They know how you think. They've heard you explain something. They may have watched you admit that you didn't have an answer and then follow up with one.
An event creates that opportunity, but the work continues afterward. Follow up on the question someone asked. Make the introduction you offered. Send the information you said you would send. Those are specific reasons for someone to trust you the next time they need help.
Make the information useful locally
During our conversation, Tom described his ambition to bring a thousand local storytellers into Inman's coverage. His reasoning was straightforward: even a large newsroom needs people who understand what is happening in individual communities.
That applies to the content an agent creates, too.
Say a national headline reports that housing inventory is rising. Before repeating it, look at your own market. Is inventory rising in the neighborhoods your clients care about? Is the change coming from new construction? Are certain price ranges moving differently?
The answers might support the national story, or they might require a different explanation. Either way, the useful work is checking the local facts and explaining what they mean for the person making a decision.
Tom described an AI tool his team was building to turn articles into localized video scripts based on an agent's market and profile. That could reduce the work involved in getting a useful explanation onto a screen. The agent still needs to check the information, add context, and be prepared to answer questions about it.
A finished script is a starting point for a conversation with someone who needs help understanding their options.
Decide where the saved time goes
If AI makes your content process faster, it's easy to fill the time with more content. Another post, another video, another email.
Before doing that, look at the conversations you haven't made time for. A past client you meant to call. A question that deserves a longer answer. A small gathering you've been putting off because preparing your marketing keeps consuming the week.
Use the tools to prepare efficiently, then put some of that time into the people behind the audience numbers. If you host an event, give people a useful reason to attend and enough room to talk. If you publish a local market explanation, make yourself available for the questions it raises.
The practical test is whether your work helps someone make a better decision and gives them a reason to come back to you. Build time for those conversations into the same calendar you use to plan your content.
Leo
Also in this episode: Tom's vision for Inman 2.0, the private listings debate, his plans for AI education, and what real estate might learn from a veterinary telehealth coalition.
Full breakdown on digital trust, local expertise, and building relationships while using AI to save time. Watch the full episode or listen to the audio.
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