Mount appealed to those in the crowd who might already be confident in their business, suggesting they were also vulnerable to things they weren’t willing to share. Mount concludes that everyone feels vulnerable to something, and accepting that can lead to marketing success.
“Did you know that 86% of consumers believe authenticity is a key factor when choosing a brand to support,” Mount said, citing a McKinsey study. “90% of Millennials cite authenticity as their No. 1 concern?”
Mount acted out two different social posts, one a high-end social media piece for a fashion brand, and the other an organic, hand-edited reel from a woman sharing how she altered and dyed a dress for her wedding. The audience statistics for the first show were impressive, but they pale in comparison to those for the second show. His point is that ad budget doesn’t always equate to campaign success. What matters is the person in front of the camera.
“If you appear in cyberspace as someone other than who you really are, you’ve already lost,” he said. “Ultimately, social is not a place to sell; it’s a place to sell.” It’s a place to communicate.
Mount reminds the crowd that no one is looking for your website; they are looking at you through the lens of Google. That means every instance of your online persona—your old real estate team page, previous agent biography, lagging social accounts, and bad-haired avatar—is available for consumers to judge.
“Google is the center of the ecosystem,” he said. “Instagram and LinkedIn are highly searchable and indexable. If your Instagram looks spammy, consumers will think your business is spammy. That’s a fact.
Mount does work for Ryan Serhant, who has his profile on his website, and Mount said, “I have no control over that.”
