A large social media following does not automatically create a successful real estate business.

A relevant audience, consistent content and genuine relationships can.

That is exactly what Chris Wannamaker, Co-Team Leader of The W Group at RE/MAX Connect, demonstrates in a recent feature with Christine George of Post & Beam Creative.

Chris, a Kathleen Black Coaching client, generates approximately 30% of his personal real estate business through Instagram, despite having an audience of only around 9,000 followers.

The lesson is simple: in real estate, engagement and trust matter far more than chasing the biggest possible audience.

A Smaller, Better Audience Can Be More Valuable

Real estate professionals are often encouraged to focus heavily on follower counts, reach and viral content.

Chris takes a different approach.

His Instagram audience is concentrated largely around Toronto and includes people who have met him, been referred to him or connected with his content over time. That makes the audience far more relevant to his actual business.

Instead of trying to reach everyone, he focuses on staying visible to the people who could realistically become clients or refer someone to his team.

For REALTORS®, that distinction is important.

Ten thousand people who know your market, recognize your name and trust your perspective can be significantly more valuable than a much larger audience with little connection to your business.

Professional Does Not Have to Mean Impersonal

Before entering real estate, Chris spent years working in public relations, advertising and management consulting, including time at Edelman.

That background helped shape the professional standards he now brings to The W Group, but his social media presence is not limited to polished listing content.

Chris deliberately mixes real estate with his actual life, including travel, fitness, friends and personal moments.

One of his most successful Instagram posts was not about real estate at all. A carousel celebrating his wedding anniversary generated more than 1,000 new followers.

It reinforces an important point for real estate leaders building a personal brand: people may initially notice your expertise, but they often connect with the person behind it.

The strongest brands can be professional without becoming distant.

Simple Systems Make Consistency Easier

Chris also avoids reinventing his marketing every time a new listing comes to market.

The W Group uses a repeatable content system for listings that includes photography, polished video and walkthrough content. Captions and messaging follow an established process, allowing the team to maintain quality without creating everything from scratch.

That is an important business lesson beyond Instagram.

Consistency becomes much easier when there is a system supporting it.

Instead of relying on inspiration every week, strong businesses create repeatable processes that make the right actions easier to execute.

The same principle applies to lead generation, recruiting, client follow-up, team communication and almost every other part of a growing real estate business.

Turning Attention Into Conversation

One of the smartest parts of Chris’s strategy happens after someone follows him.

The team occasionally puts a modest advertising budget behind listing videos to increase local awareness. When new people follow Chris, he personally messages them.

There is no complicated automation or aggressive sales pitch.

He simply starts a conversation.

When someone indicates they are considering buying, selling or learning more about a listing, Chris gives them a clear next step, whether that means scheduling a call or continuing the conversation outside Instagram.

That small habit has already turned social media followers into buyers, referrals and active opportunities.

The lesson is not simply to generate more attention.

It is to know what happens after someone gives you their attention.

Online Marketing Still Comes Back to Human Connection

Despite generating a significant portion of his business through Instagram, Chris is clear that relationships do not remain online.

The W Group continues investing in client events, personal outreach, database management and opportunities to stay connected with people long after a transaction is complete.

Technology helps support those relationships, but it does not replace them.

That may be one of the most important lessons for real estate businesses navigating social media and AI today.

People still want to feel known.

They want communication that feels personal. They want guidance when they are unsure what to do next. They want to work with someone they recognize and trust.

Social media can create the introduction.

Strong relationships create the business.

Build the Audience That Matters to Your Business

Chris Wannamaker and The W Group are a strong example of what happens when strategy, systems and authenticity work together.

You do not need tens of thousands of followers to build a meaningful real estate business through social media.

You need the right audience, content you can consistently maintain and a clear process for turning online connections into real relationships.

At Kathleen Black Coaching, we are proud to work alongside leaders like Chris who continue building businesses around strong systems, professionalism and genuine human connection.

Because the goal is not simply to become more visible.

It is to build trust with the right people and create a business capable of turning that trust into long-term relationships.