Brown Harris Stevens dives into TikTok

Brokerage launches account on short-form video platform

Matthew Leone, chief marketing officer, Brown Harris Stevens (Brown Harris Stevens, iStock)
Matthew Leone, chief marketing officer, Brown Harris Stevens (Brown Harris Stevens, iStock/Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal)

Apartment tours, real estate tips and tricks and brunch recommendations are coming to Brown Harris Stevens’ newly hatched TikTok channel.

The brokerage last month launched @brownharrisstevens on the popular social media platform as part of its “Mastery of the Craft” marketing campaign.

“We want to present that knowledge that helps our agents get to that highest of levels and achievement, and present information to the audience at large,” said Matthew Leone, its chief marketing officer. “There’s not a better, more intimate and emotionally engaging platform right now to do that than TikTok.”

Other brokerages have already launched their own TikTok accounts. Douglas Elliman’s, for example, boasts more than 26,000 followers.

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Individual agents from a variety of brokerages have used the platform to advertise their listings, at times growing large followings. The app has proven especially useful in targeting first-time homebuyers.

BHS, which posted its first video April 21, so far has just 198 followers. Leone said the coming months will be a time for experimentation on the account as the firm attempts to grow its following organically.

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​​”When you explore and engage on a platform for the first time, you’re going to have to do some lab tests,” he said.

While some individual BHS agents have their own accounts, the idea of the brokerage launching on the platform came from agents, some of whom wanted to participate in videos without making their own accounts.

Now, BHS has an in-house team of four short-form video creators who will film agents and edit and animate videos.

Brown Harris Stevens took a major step toward embracing the platform in January when real estate agent turned TikTok star Madison Sutton joined its flagship office with her five-person team. Sutton is developing training materials for agents to develop content and cultivate business on TikTok, where she posts under the name @thenycagent for almost 103,500 followers.

Sutton will now also create a weekly video series for the BHS account.

“Brands can’t ignore the relevance of TikTok, because you’re going to be left behind very soon if you don’t embrace it,” Leone said.