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Gisele Ugarte
Social media is the great mirror of accountability.
Jason
And yet without a framework to understand it, it can feel like you're just throwing darts and hoping for the best.
Gisele Ugarte
You might think that social media is a waste of time. Get used to seeing yourself on that screen and not see that screen as a measure of perfection, but as a method of connection when it comes to social media. Here's what I really think that we are faltering on. Ultimately, it is.
Jason
Jason. I want to be an influencer. Yeah, you and everybody. El gang, we live in a day and age when everybody wants to be an influencer. But guess what? Today we are gonna talk to someone who was an influencer before anyone knew what an influencer was. TikTok has said she is one of the hundred people to watch. She has been on E Entertainment tv. She has been all over the world speaking and teaching friends. I'm talking about Gisele Ugarde. Now, if you don't know her, she is a force on all things social. I found her on the insta and was absolutely blown away. I. I brought her in to speak at a recent event and she stopped the show. She is gonna tell us exactly how we need to show up and how we should think about social media. And trust me, you don't wanna miss it. Sit back and buckle up. This is Gisele Ugarte and I am joined by Gisele Ugarte. Gisele, how are you?
Gisele Ugarte
I am so good. It's so good to see you.
Jason
I'm thrilled that you're here. You're in studio. What do you think?
Gisele Ugarte
Let's go.
Jason
That's it.
Gisele Ugarte
It's beautiful.
Jason
I am so glad you. So I start every episode the same way. I ask everybody how they got into the greatest industry in the world, which, unfortunately for you, is the real estate industry. So I'm going to ask you something similar.
Gisele Ugarte
Yeah.
Jason
How did you become an influencer before that was even a word?
Gisele Ugarte
Well, okay, there's a couple different things here, which is the fact that I've never sold a house. So let's just make that very clear. And that's what gives me the most credibility to be here with you. Because I'm not here to teach you exactly how to sell a home. I'm here to teach you how to communicate with the average consumer, which is me. But when it comes to that word, influencer, I began to upload videos to YouTube almost 20 years ago. Wow. Like, 17, I think, is where we're at right now. And I truly uploaded these videos thinking that no One would see them. And by that I don't mean I had imposter syndrome or self doubt or who's gonna follow me? Who's gonna subscribe? No, no, no, no. Like, there were so few people that even knew what YouTube was, that I was looking forward to having this platform where no one would find them and I could practice getting comfortable in front of camera. And because it was my dream to be an entertainment news host and to work in television and in la, which is like the hardest market to do it, or at least it was when TV was the biggest, greatest thing. And so I uploaded videos there. And I learned something back then that is still true now, which is that I was not going on YouTube to be a YouTube influencer. That wasn't even a word. It definitely wasn't a job title. I used it as a vehicle to get to my destination. What do I mean by that? Well, I wanted to practice. And I knew that if I wanted to get comfortable in audition rooms, in live television settings, in scripted television settings, like in any of those areas of communication, that I had to practice. So here I was, uploading videos week after week after week after week. But something that I also discovered was this feature, maybe you've heard of it, called Copy and Paste.
Jason
This I've heard of.
Gisele Ugarte
Yeah. And back then I had to. If I wanted a casting director or a producer or even a friend to. To see my materials, I had to spend like $25 on this headshot and portfolio. I had to burn a DVD of my demo reel.
Jason
Do you remember the days?
Gisele Ugarte
Yeah, the DVDs and the VHS tapes and all that. And so it was like $25 a pop. And me, fresh out of college, broke as a joke. I didn't have $25 to spend on something that could maybe end up in the trash. So wait a minute. Oh, my gosh. I can film this video, put it up on the Internet, and I can copy and paste the URL and send it directly to the casting director, which is, wait a minute, I can film a video where I'm talking directly to the casting director about exactly what I want them to see me doing and send it to them for free. That's the beauty of the Internet right now. That is still true all of these years later, where you're so worried about how many views you have, how many followers you have. No, let's worry about how much time you have and where you might think that social media is a waste of time. When you have that Copy and Paste feature, it allows for you to multiply yourself, you can be in multiple places at once. It also makes it so much easier for someone to talk about you when it's a room that you're not in. We're going to be like, oh, my gosh, you have to work with my friend Jason. He is the absolute best real estate agent in Austin, Texas. Yes, right, he is. However, we got trust issues in 2026. Okay, like, that's cool. I'm so happy for you that you have this friend Jason. But what's Jason all about? So you could give me his phone number, but realistically, I don't want people to have my phone number. I don't want people to have my contact information. So what am I going to do? I could potentially Google Jason. Or even better, when you can send me his social media profile, copy and paste that URL into the text. Or better yet, copy and paste a house tour that Jason gave of a condo that looks just like the one that I want. Then all of a sudden, not only do I see Jason, but I see myself in the content. And that's where we make a mistake, too. Where ultimately, you think it's all about you. You, you look perfect. I have to sound so smart. I have to do this. Ultimately, it is, can the person who you want to see your content, can they see possibility in you? Can they see someone who they want to hang out with in you? Can they see other families, in the families that you have helped? Can they see their family in that? Because if they can't, if you make it so unrelatable, so polished, so perfect, so chatgpt, so impersonal, then that's where they're like, I'm out. But when you have the ability to just copy and paste, my goodness, that is where, okay, fine, it maybe took you 20 minutes or 30 minutes or maybe even 5 hours to edit that stupid video on Cap Cut or Instagram or whatever it is. However, if you can copy and paste that once, if one person can see that video, if 10 people can see that video, then all of a sudden, that's five hours of your time back.
Jason
It's leverage.
Gisele Ugarte
It's leverage.
Jason
All right, so we're going to dig into this thing, by the way, getting your bio. We didn't even get there. We didn't get how you got into it. We just went right into changing the world. So let's stay with it. I'm in. I'm so in. So I want to give a framework, because we got real estate agents across the entire real estate multiverse. Listening. And they wake up in the morning and they're hearing every day at their companies. Social media is where it's at. This is what's important. And yet without a framework to understand it, it can feel like you're just throwing darts and hoping for the best.
Gisele Ugarte
Absolutely.
Jason
So, all right, gang, she's going to unpack it. I'm taking the notes. You don't have to take the notes. You can go to.
Gisele Ugarte
You should take notes, though. Take the notes.
Jason
But you don't have to, because I am. So if you don't get them, they come out every Thursday. We actually email our notes to everybody on Thursday. As a PD, head over to MrEanotes.com MrEanotes.com and sign up Gisele. Tell me exactly how do I need to think about social media to get the most out of it?
Gisele Ugarte
Here's what I really think that we are faltering on, and that is that you are treating it like a totally different beast. You are so focused on the content rather than the connection and the communication. And you follow accounts that tell you how to make the catchier hooks, how to trick someone into watching longer. And you follow those people and they have credibility because of how many followers you have. So, but by design, they're supposed to have more followers because they're the ones who are teaching you how to make more views. And in doing so, they're getting more views and they're actually hooking you in a way that you as a business owner. It's going to be a totally different game here. And so one of the things that we talked about at family reunion was I need you to remember who is the human who you want to consume your content. If you are asking, Giselle, what hashtags should I be using? What time should I be posting what? What videos are going to go viral? Give me the script. You are forgetting the plot entirely, babe. Like, you are completely forgetting it. You want to be thinking about who is the human who is watching your content. And so today it sounds like, do you want to review the human framework today? Jason, what's H? Okay, H stands for heartbeats and hang ups. Who are the heartbeats in your equation? Because right now it might be in your brain to call people buyers and sellers. I, as a coach, I challenge you to get rid of that entirely from your vocabulary, especially when it comes to your content. Because if I don't know who you are, and you just mentioned if you're a buyer at the beginning of your video. Buyer of what? Buyer of what Buyer of clothes, buyer of wine. If you're thinking about purchasing a home this year, if your family is relocating this year, that all of a sudden it creates more connection. Notice how I also use the word you. And I've been doing that throughout this conversation. Even with just you, I'm treating it as if it's just you and maybe one other person. It's not everybody. It's just really focusing on who that person is. So what I want you to think about is who do you want to work with in the next year or in the next 90 days? Let's just say the next 90 days. What humans do you want to work with? Who do you actually enjoy working with? Do you like working with families? Do you like working with empty nesters? Very different. Are you trying to grow your referral business? Again, very different. But write this question down. Who is your you and how many heartbeats do they have in that equation? Are they thinking about investors? Are they thinking about children? Are they thinking about their parents who passed? Are they thinking about their ex husband? But who are all the heartbeats? And let's start talking to them like actual humans.
Jason
Love that they're people.
Gisele Ugarte
The next one you is understanding your terms on their terms. What does that mean at family reunion. And I can give it to you again. I had a whole slide, a vocabulary that I invited you to consider never using again because it might make sense to you. You're using it all the time. Maybe you were tested on it to get your license, but the average consumer might not understand it. And the dumb moment that I had was when I purchased my first condo years and years and years ago at this point, I had a bunch of clients all over the country who were in real estate. I was working with real estate agents every day, all day. And yet there were terms that I didn't understand. And if I don't understand it and I'm with real estate agents all the time, the average person probably isn't clicking. So one of those things where I saw headlines all the time, all over the place, all over Minneapolis, that said there is no inventory. And in my mind I was like, great, that's perfect, because I'm not building a house. So good inventory was referring to building supplies.
Jason
Yeah.
Gisele Ugarte
Rather than homes on the market.
Jason
You're suggesting we're using industry jargon that makes sense to us, but no one else.
Gisele Ugarte
Exactly. Whether it's equity or it's. It's. It's letters that you're using to talk about loans or even hoa. Like talk about the homeowners association. And what does that even actually mean? Break it down into terms that they would really understand and just assume that they don't even necessarily know what it means. And that's where a really powerful word that you can use throughout social media is what does that mean? You can ask that question or more importantly, what does this mean for. For you? So what's also funny though, Jason, is that at that season, in that time, there really was no inventory on the market. There were no homes for sale. It was pretty crazy to try to get a house pretty much anywhere during. During that time, however, I was looking for a condo in a very specific neighborhood that everybody was leaving because everybody wanted to move to the suburbs. So in actuality, I was at an advantage.
Jason
There was a ton of inventory.
Gisele Ugarte
Yes, there was tons of inventory. And so you want to make sure that you are so hyper specific and you understand that, hey, you don't want to talk to everyone, talk to just a few people. And then you can always make another video if there's a nuance or another video if there's a nuance. But if you try to say everything to everyone and all at once in that one video, it's going to be too much. So try to say more with less and try to make your terms understandable for a seventh grader or a fifth grader. And maybe this person has purchased multiple homes, maybe they purchased multiple investment properties, but have they purchased one with you? Have they purchased one in your state, in your county? And those little nuances matter. And they want someone who you're never going to make them feel stupid for asking a dumb question. Even better when you can actually answer that question before they even ask it.
Jason
I actually think it's genius. You know, Gary Keller, who you wrote the book, the millionaire real estate agent. Jay Papazan and Dave Jenks may rest in peace. It's the namesake for our show. He wrote a book called the One Thing and this is sold 5 or 6 million copies. It's a whole thing.
Gisele Ugarte
I purchased it and I've gone to a workshop and I was two months ago, years old when I found out Gary wrote it. It's so good and it's one of my favorites. It's phenomenal.
Jason
That whole book is written at a 5th grade reading level and they use this app. Hemingway is a great tool for it where you can load in your writing. And what's shocking is most of us are writing at a significantly higher grade level than the average person can consume. And we're speaking the same way. And when we're overloading people with cognitive load, they forget who we are and they don't get our message.
Gisele Ugarte
And one of the things too, Donald Miller spoke at family reunion as well. Admire him so much and had even had him, he was speaking at a mastermind two weeks prior to that, to me. And so now when I go into my ChatGPT or any of my AI bots, if I'm a little confused or concerned about what I'm saying, and I want to make sure that people understand that what I'm saying, I'll actually say, put this at a seventh grade level, but also in a Donald Miller simplistic voice.
Jason
He's so good. And boom, he and I, we become buddies. And the other day he goes, I gotta call you back, there's a future presidential candidate on the other line. I just got to answer a quick question. And I was like, who is it? He's. I can't tell you.
Gisele Ugarte
I can't tell you.
Jason
But that's the kind of people that he's helping craft their message. Because it's one thing to understand your content, it's another thing to be able to say it in a way that other people do.
Gisele Ugarte
Absolutely. And that's why I have a whole letter M, which is about meaning and specifically the meaning of money. So we can go in two directions for this. Number one is, what is the meaning of this transaction, both for you, but also your client? We can get really caught up in. You want to hit your revenue target. You want to be ranked the top producer in your region. We know that you want to make money that month, that you want to feed your children. For you, oftentimes it's the check. You want to get the highest check possible. But you want to think about what does this mean to your client. Is this the best day of their lives or is this the worst? If we're looking at interest rates in the market and the market is poo poo, well, then chances are this is a situation where they don't want to have to leave, but they have to, because that's life. Whether it is divorce or death, or their family is changing, they have to. Or they're relocating, they're leaving somewhere, they're expanding, they have no other choice. So you want to be thinking about what is truly the meaning of this and what meaning am I bringing? What energy do I, I need to bring? We often hear as communicators that we have to mirror the energy. And I do believe that there is some truth to that. But I also Believe as a coach, that it is your responsibility, that you set the energy and you raise the bar. Because if it is a dark, sad situation, you don't want a mere dark, sad energy. You want to be the person who, when your phone number shows up on their phone, they go, oh, thank God it's Jason. Rather than, like, ugh, I don't want to deal with this stupid real estate agents.
Jason
I never said that.
Gisele Ugarte
No, just so you know, of course, never. Me neither.
Jason
Gary Keller never, never says that when he sees me calling. I promise.
Gisele Ugarte
So you want to think about what's the meaning that you're bringing? But also with that, go even deeper. What's the meaning of money? Because to you, you might be thinking, okay, $15,000 over 15 years, that's only $1,000 a couple hundreds a month. But to your client, $15,000, that might be tuition, that might be IVF, that might, like, think about all the different things that, for them, you're talking about it like, it's not that big of a deal because you want that check so bad. But what does money actually mean? When I was selling my condo, at one point, I sold it before it even went on the market. And over ask. And I let people know, like, how grateful I was that that happened. But I also had at least a dozen agents reach out to me going, wait a minute, hold on a second. You sold it before it even went on the market? Over ask. Why didn't you let it go on the market? You could have gotten so much more.
Jason
They're probably right, and they probably are
Gisele Ugarte
right, but I just wanted a seamless transition. I wanted to get rid of that place. And also, it was a situation where I found out that it was another single girl moving into that apartment, and she was going to turn that bachelorette condo into her bachelorette condo, and she didn't want to change a thing about it. I had wallpaper floor to ceiling. And so the thought of someone coming in there and just putting white paint everywhere just destroyed me. So to me, this felt like a very serendipitous thing. And the closing date that she requested was, for me, the deadline of when I needed to be out. So it just felt like a God thing to me. And it just felt like I didn't need to be greedy in that situation. It just worked. So you need to be clear, for your client, the assumption is, always let me get them the best deal, the most money. But also, for them, it might not be about the money. They might just want to let go of it and as quickly as possible. And also they you want to know what is the meaning of money in their eyes for what your commission stands for? Do they really think that you are worth it? Do they really understand the work that's going into it? And are you showing them that you are worthy of all of that time that you are putting into it? Which leads me to the A in the equation, which is attachments and associations. What does that mean? You want to know what are the things that are really important to your client? If they are only a number to you, then you have failed. Are they attached to a sports team? Do they have children who also might be attached to sports teams? Or dance? Are they attached to certain cities or states? Are there things that they love? Have you asked your client anything other than just transactionally, numerically what their goals are? Or are you thinking big? Because ultimately you want this to be a situation where it's not okay, we're closed the end. And then you're offended that if they don't reach out to you for next time you want to be thinking about when can I reach out to you next? When can I invite you to a basketball game? When can I wish you happy birthday? When can I wish you happy half birthday? When can I ask how your child's dance recital went? When can I? What are the excuses that you're creating to reach out to them? What are the commonalities and the connectors that are bringing you closer, but also how are you letting your connectors known to your client? And that's where I joke that for example, whether I'm eating a rotisserie chicken out of a bag with a fork or talking about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, I'm letting some of my values show through my content where all of a sudden I become top of mind. Not just when you see someone give an awesome speech, but when you go to the grocery store and you see the rotisserie chickens under the lamps at Whole Foods, when you see the Taylor Swift themed peloton ride or Taylor Swift themed workout class, you're thinking of vomiting. Vomiting. Sorry, yes, that was just mine.
Jason
That was my self talk.
Gisele Ugarte
I didn't mean to say that exactly, but also I really appreciate that you said that because when you also show your connectors, you're giving people reasons to repel from you as well. And I mean that for the best. Like you are giving people reasons to know why they are for you or why maybe you're not. If you're trying to get everyone to like you and you're not talking about, say, your faith or you're leaving things about parenting or your kids out of it. Well, then all of a sudden, you're giving me fewer reasons to want to remember you or connect with you.
Jason
So far, I understood how all these show up in social media.
Gisele Ugarte
Yes.
Jason
How do I bring this one, the A, into my social media?
Gisele Ugarte
It's in the way that, for example, it might be me wearing my USC hat because that's where I went to school, and that has a very strong Trojan family. And so when you can see me going to the games, all of a sudden you're like, oh, my gosh, I had no idea that she went to usc. That's crazy. And even people who don't fully understand the Trojan family, you're not in it. You can at least have respect for it.
Jason
Or I respect how much you paid to go.
Gisele Ugarte
Yes.
Jason
That's why those of us that didn't go know what you paid to go. We respect it.
Gisele Ugarte
Exactly. Yep. My parents and all the scholarships that I got, 1,000% the University of spoiled children. I wear that badge with so much pride. And you better believe I'm still making it worth it all of these years down the line. But when you can see such things, like years and years, I still go to my reunions. I was a cheerleader, a song girl is what they were referred to. But most people know this, know us as the pom poms. We dance. So when you can see that all these years later, I'm still going to the reunions.
Jason
Were you there for the Reggie Bush years? When were you there?
Gisele Ugarte
The year after. So the last victorious Pete Carroll year, I never cheered at a losing game.
Jason
Okay?
Gisele Ugarte
So the one game we lost, I didn't travel. It's one of my.
Jason
There you go. The cheating ended and you left.
Gisele Ugarte
Watch yourself.
Jason
Just saying. We all know what happened in those years. Okay? Happens everywhere. Don't worry. Happens everywhere.
Gisele Ugarte
I forget that I'm in Texas territory, but you see things like I'm still showing up to the reunions. And also I'm bringing my parents with me. Love that I call my parents my. I call them the kids because I don't have kids of my own yet. So I bring them everywhere like someone would their children. And so when you, for example, see me post pictures of me at a football game with my parents, you see my values, you see that I have family values, you see that I have discipline, you see that I love sports. So you're just seeing some of the different things that I am doing. And I See that there's personal and there's private. Private can be whatever you want. You don't want to show your kids on social media. Don't show your kids on social media. But you could still talk about being a mom. You can still show that you are a parent. Or again, you could keep whatever you want private. But personal is how we connect with people. Personal is how we remember people. Personal is how we show stories that are also more memorable and what it is that we're doing. So for example, maybe it's that I'm even taking a picture of us and showing that I'm working on a Saturday. There are some people who will never work on a Saturday. Great. And then there are some people who are willing to work on a Saturdays. I'm one of those people who I don't want work on a Saturday. However, I'm a real estate agent.
Jason
We work on the weekends.
Gisele Ugarte
Exactly. And also you'll see that I'm going to church later. So you get to see some of the different values that I have by showing these things either in my photos to add a little personability. Or it could be that you're giving a real estate video. Or I have a client who is a loan officer and one of his favorite places to create content is actually when he is in his car or walking around the field before his daughter's field hockey games.
Jason
Love that.
Gisele Ugarte
And for him it's because when he's in a studio like this, he gets really nervous. But when he's walking around and when he's outside, and also when there are other people kind of distracting him, it forces the left and right side of his brains to get his head out of his ego and to move and to be able to have a person ability on camera that he wouldn't otherwise if he was just sitting still or if he was in his office. But what happens is here you see this guy and he is working and from his daughter's games, but you also see that he's never going to miss a game and that as soon as he's finished, he will put his phone away for the rest of the game. And so you're getting his values by seeing him on the field. And even though his video had nothing to do with parenting or with field hockey and it was all about loans and interest rates and his version of the market update that was in the language that his clients understand, which is his agent partners, then that is able to have both of those things where you're giving value and also you're showing who you are, you're showing a casual side of yourself.
Jason
It makes perfect sense to me. What's the N stand for?
Gisele Ugarte
No filter is what the N stands for. And this is something where it can make people really uncomfortable, especially women. And also, though, it's not just women, because maybe the filter that you're hiding behind is the three different swipes that you put on your camera before you even take a picture of yourself or
Jason
before you film the picture. I don't know anything against what you're saying.
Gisele Ugarte
So when you open up. Must be nice to be a man, Jason. I don't know. Must be nice to be so. So when you're on social media, it used to be on Instagram that you could put really fun, fancy filters on it to look as if you were a professional photographer.
Jason
Get outta here. I'm logging in as we speak, gang. Go ahead.
Gisele Ugarte
But Instagram has since changed, because what Snapchat did was it created filters, but the filters could morph your face. And so Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat have filters on the camera, where, first of all, when you open up the camera, here's a fun fact. People think that if you open up the camera and you don't use a filter, that that means no filter. But in actuality, no filter doesn't really exist. Whether it is the quality of the camera in the app or the app by design, there is already a filter built in that kind of smooths out your face in a way that your regular camera wouldn't, which is why some of you might open up your camera app and you're like, I look like that today. So with women in particular, there are filters that can put makeup on, that can get rid of your pores, that can make your face look five or ten pounds skinnier, it can make your nose look skinnier, it can add eyelashes, it can add mascara, it can add eyebrows, it can do all it can. It can give you a spray tan, it can add freckles, it can do all of these things. And where it feels like it's something that's really subtle. So a lot of women who are listening to this, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Where it might just be, oh, but Giselle just giving me a little color on my face.
Jason
I can tell you that might be what the women are. The guys are thinking, holy shit, so what have I been looking at? No wonder they're saying, oh, my gosh, this is the craziest thing.
Gisele Ugarte
Yes, yes, your eyes are now open.
Jason
I'm blown away. By this?
Gisele Ugarte
Yes. So here's what's crazy though, is that a lot of the women think, well, this is giving me more self confidence. But what we've seen from research and what our team has seen from our own research and also giving people a no filter challenge for any of our distance of coaching is the difference that it makes. Where afterwards people aren't just saying, giselle, after giving up filters for 30 days or 60 days, you changed my mind. They say, giselle, you changed my life. Because I didn't realize how something so subtle like that was actually creating unrealistic expectations of perfection in other areas of my life. I didn't realize how much I was hiding behind perfection and what I was saying and how I was showing up. I also didn't realize that I was setting an example for the people around me. So nowadays, Jason, I'll have little girls who come up to me and say, oh my gosh, Giselle, will you take a selfie with me? And then they might say something. Well, hold on a second though. We have to put a filter on it because mommy doesn't take pictures without filters on.
Jason
You're kidding.
Gisele Ugarte
So then you have these 7 year olds or these 5 year olds who they're there with their moms and they are already being trained to not be in front of the camera or the pressure. The pressure. You might have all of the beautiful words that you tell your kids about how you are brilliant, you are smart, you are the most gorgeous human on the planet. You were made in God's image. However, if you tell your child that, but then you as the mom, you don't want to take a picture that day because you feel fat or you feel ugly, or you don't like your hair or you don't want to make the video because you sound stupid. What she's going to pick up on, it's not all the nice things that you said to her, it's all of the ugly ways that you treat yourself.
Jason
And big idea.
Gisele Ugarte
That's a huge idea that we don't even realize is is coming in the way of us actually connecting with other people and being seen ourselves. A lot of people are waiting to lose the weight. That's a big one. So, for example, moms or Covid or I had an autoimmune condition that I shared at family reunion that I put on £60 and I was hiding behind filters. And by hiding behind filters and trimming my face or my waist on these little filters, I didn't realize how sick I had actually become or how much I had been lying to myself. And so it really forces you to go, well, wait a minute. You're hiding behind this little screen, but we can see you in person.
Jason
I just had no idea this was.
Gisele Ugarte
I can't believe you had no idea. But I love that we're having this conversation new on social media.
Jason
Like, I just got there. And the Joy Powell, who's my partner, we do social media together.
Gisele Ugarte
Love, Joy. Shout out to Joy.
Jason
Joy doesn't use filters. She's just naturally beautiful.
Gisele Ugarte
Probably because she follows me.
Jason
Probably. Well, now I'm gonna ask her, is that why? Because if I would have known there was a button I could push to look even better than I do now, which would be difficult. That would be a stretch.
Gisele Ugarte
Exactly. Yes.
Jason
I may have pressed the button.
Gisele Ugarte
Yes.
Jason
And now I'm not gonna.
Gisele Ugarte
And now you can't. And with men, the thing that I say is, listen, you might not use filters, but ask yourself, are there things that you are hiding behind? Because men have body issues too. For them, it might mean that they only want to show up from the waist up. For you, it might mean that you're using your headshot from five or 10 years ago.
Jason
I got a new one. I just. Brand new headshot I'm working on right now. Yeah. Yeah.
Gisele Ugarte
Is it up?
Jason
It's up.
Gisele Ugarte
Great. Wonderful.
Jason
There you go.
Gisele Ugarte
So sometimes it's that where I'll see someone's headshot, and then they get on the zoom call, and they have hair that is whiter or that is no longer there.
Jason
I think this explains a lot of the flat bill hats that I'm seeing. With the bro culture and the hustle, only guys totally think that's a thing.
Gisele Ugarte
Absolutely. It could totally be a thing. So it's asking yourself, am I hiding behind a brand? Am I hiding behind a job title? Am I hiding behind an identity that I thought that I was five years ago? Or am I hiding behind an excuse that I made about the market five years ago? And it's really recognizing that when we start to take any kind of filters down, it allows for the real us to show up, and we see the real you when you walk into the office. We can see who. Who is showing up. And ultimately, I just want to get the person online who I'm gonna get offline and the person offline, who am I gonna get offline and where you think, okay, but, Giselle, can I script out this video? I mean, look, I'm fine if you outline it. But here's my question to you. If I had A millionaire million dollar referral on the table for you. And I said, jason, I have a million dollar referral. This is a done deal. But I need you to come to Starbucks and meet me in 20 minutes, because this guy's plane is gonna leave in an hour and a half, so he only has a few minutes. Can you come to Starbucks for me? Like, you would figure it out, right, Jason?
Jason
That I'd figure out.
Gisele Ugarte
You totally would. What you would not do, and especially the ladies in the room, what you would not do is say, I'm kind of having a fat day, Giselle, I don't really want to come. Or, you know, I kind of have this zit on my forehead. Giselle, I don't think I'm gonna come.
Podcast Disclaimer
Or.
Gisele Ugarte
Hold on a second. Giselle, if I come, just let make sure. Can I read from a script that ChatGPT gave me? And if that million dollar referral said, hey, can you answer this really simple question for me, Giselle, I would not say. Hang on, hold on. Let me just. Let me check my notes. Okay, so this is the answer to your question, and it is chatgpt that you wouldn't do that.
Jason
You're all about authenticity.
Gisele Ugarte
Exactly.
Jason
But you know what's weird, and I hear you, but maybe this is why it's so important, because we polled. And as you know, we polled the audience. We had 15,000 people at family reading. We polled them and said, you know, what do you want to learn about social media? And one of the questions we asked is, why aren't you doing more of it? The number one response we got was, I don't like how I look on camera. And I got it and didn't even. None of this occurred to me. And I just said, well, we can't solve that. That's their face.
Gisele Ugarte
Which is true.
Jason
We've been dealing with the way they look up to this point. We've been fine with it.
Gisele Ugarte
Absolutely.
Jason
But everybody is struggling with this idea.
Gisele Ugarte
And I say that social media is the great mirror of accountability. That is your face. That's why at the end of Family Reunion, we did that exercise where I had everybody pull out their phones, and it was so beautiful. And we looked at your face just like a mirror, and we said, this is what you look like. This is what you sound like, and thank goodness for that. You still gotta own. So maybe what you. Maybe what you do need where you think you need to help with social media, but maybe what you really need is a little tan. Maybe what you need is some makeup. Maybe what you need is to have a life check to go, babe, this is. This is what you look like. And. And how many more years are we going to be hiding? I just got off a call with 400 agents from Keller Williams, and there were so many women that related to this one beautiful, beautiful agent who she totally owned up. She's like, you know, Giselle, I just have to be honest with you. I just feel like here I am going into my. My 50s, and I don't look how I used to look, and my body isn't the same, and it is really hard for me to embrace that and to own it. Well, the way to embrace it and to own it isn't to avoid it. It's that you have to look at it and more. And that's where, during our bootcamp, we teach you how to use videos in really simple, everyday ways so that you can get used to seeing yourself on that screen and not see that screen as a measure of perfection, but as a method of connection. And how can we get more comfortable so that no matter what your hair is doing that day, you think of it like, okay, this isn't about all the people who I have in my mind who are judging me. This isn't about the people who I know are gonna go, who does she think she is? Because respectfully, not your audience. This is for the people who you wanna serve. This is for the people who you don't know yet. This is for the people who they would be so blessed to get to know you, or they would see you or hear you and you would feel like home, because they feel like they can see themselves in you. And that's what I want people to understand more than anything.
Jason
I love that it was Abraham Lincoln. He said, After 30 years old, you're responsible for how your face looks.
Gisele Ugarte
Did he say that?
Jason
He said that? That literally was something he said. And I think the deeper meaning behind that is by then, you have to know who you are, and you have to be comfortable enough to be it. I think he's spot on. All right, last question for me. How do the people get more of you in their life? Where do you want them to go?
Gisele Ugarte
Come on over to Instagram. It's where I play the hardest. And let's create some type of an automation where if you message me the word.
Jason
How about mrea podcast?
Gisele Ugarte
Okay. M. Well, that's. That's two words.
Jason
How about, Jason is fantastic and the best host out there in the entire world.
Gisele Ugarte
Go ahead and message me the word Jason.
Jason
We'll shorten it to just. Jason.
Gisele Ugarte
Jason. And we'll come up with something together of what we want to offer the listeners of this show so that you can continue to learn if you, if you liked this, how we can support you. Maybe it's a freebie, maybe it's another exclusive because we gave away a $2,000 program for $97 from that stage. So maybe it's something more along those lines. We'll think of something. It'll. And it'll have your stamp of approval on it.
Jason
Awesome. I just want to thank you on behalf of a very grateful industry because you're talking to people from every brand right now and they're all going to end up getting your wisdom. And when you show up for the industry like you are, the industry is going to show up for you. So thank you. Thank you.
Gisele Ugarte
I'm so grateful and I wholeheartedly believe in that. It's one of the things I love the most about real estate. It is a contagiously referral based collaborative business and that has been so inspiring for us across the the board. So thank you.
Jason
There it is, friends. Thanks so much, Giselle. Thank you. I'm exhausted. I don't know how else to say it. Usually I just so y' all know, I can clip through like a bunch of podcasts in a day. I'm stopping my day right now, so if you're next. I'm canceling because Giselle blew my mind. I mean, she gave so much information. You're going to have to listen to this episode two or three times. So instead of unpacking it all for you, I'm going to tell you what my. My biggest takeaway was. Human. I mean, Giselle literally has built an entire model around the word human. And that might be the thing that's missing the most. Sure. I can tell you what matters most in the algorithm.
Gisele Ugarte
Sure.
Jason
I can tell you that if you like something for less than 1.5 seconds, it's not really a like. Sure. I can tell you the more shares are today's likes. I can do all of these things. But in the end of the day, if you're not connecting with people, none of it matters. You see, people have forgotten why they're doing social media in the first place. Yeah. None of us are going to amass enough views to go viral and start selling our advertising space. Gang, you are not a Kardashian. You're doing this to build a relationship through the screen. And that's all it is. You see, we know now that people build relationships with the people they're watching. The casual observer becomes the connected content consumer. We're in the attention economy, and what that means is you're either giving your attention or you're having other people pay attention to you. The beauty of being a real estate agent is you're not trying to influence 300 million people. You're trying to connect with the people that live in your town, and those people then trust you enough to do business with you. So what does social media mean to all that? Quite simply, it's made it more scalable to have deeper connection than any other technology in the history of humankind. Giselle just unlocked for you the exact way to use it. Here's the question, now that you know, are you going to go change the way that you've been using it? Because here's what I believe based on the polling that I've seen, friends, you are spending an awful lot of time on social media. You are making a lot of posts. If you're not getting the response that you want from those posts, then you need to do it differently. Follow the framework that she just laid out. Go forth and do likewise. If you're enjoying this podcast, I want you to click the subscribe button anywhere that you get your podcasts. We want to be the voice in your head every single week and every week we're dropping new content. We also send out a newsletter end at the at the conclusion of every show to make sure that you get the highest points in the models and systems that were discussed. So if you want to sign up, I need your name and your email address. Head over to themillionaire agent podcast.com millionaireagentpodcast.com Enter your name and your email address and every week that newsletter will be in your box. Friends, you just went on a journey. I hope that what happens between now and the next time we meet is absolutely wonderful for you. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next week.
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Episode 134: The HUMAN Social Media Framework With Giselle Ugarte
Host: Jason Abrams (Keller Podcast Network)
Guest: Giselle Ugarte
Date: May 11, 2026
This episode dives deep into the reality of building authentic connections on social media, especially for real estate professionals. Social media strategist and early influencer Giselle Ugarte joins host Jason Abrams to break down her signature HUMAN framework—a people-first, connection-driven approach to social media that prioritizes meaningful communication over perfection or virality. The episode is packed with real-world examples, actionable advice, and empowering mindset shifts for agents aiming to grow their business online the right way.
“I was not going on YouTube to be a YouTube influencer… I used it as a vehicle to get to my destination.” – Giselle (03:02)
“It maybe took you 20 minutes or 30 minutes or maybe even 5 hours to edit that stupid video… but if you can copy and paste that once… that’s five hours of your time back.” – Giselle (05:21)
Giselle teaches a framework to re-humanize social media for agents:
“Who is your you and how many heartbeats do they have in that equation? …Let’s start talking to them like actual humans.” – Giselle (08:43)
“If I don’t understand it and I’m with real estate agents all the time, the average person probably isn’t clicking.” – Giselle (10:41)
“You’re talking about it like it’s not that big of a deal because you want that check so bad. But what does money actually mean?” – Giselle (15:37)
“Personal is how we connect with people. Personal is how we remember people. Personal is how we show stories that are also more memorable.” – Giselle (21:00)
“You might not use filters, but ask yourself, are there things that you are hiding behind?... When we start to take any kind of filters down, it allows for the real us to show up.” – Giselle (28:10)
“This is what you look like. This is what you sound like, and thank goodness for that. You still gotta own.” – Giselle (31:00)
On the real goal of social media:
“If you’re not connecting with people, none of it matters… You are not a Kardashian. You’re doing this to build a relationship through the screen. And that’s all it is.”
– Jason Abrams (34:16)
On perfection and self-acceptance:
“A lot of people are waiting to lose the weight… The way to embrace it isn’t to avoid it… not see that screen as a measure of perfection, but as a method of connection.”
– Giselle (31:00)
On being memorable and relatable:
“When you also show your connectors, you’re giving people reasons to repel from you as well. And I mean that for the best… you are giving people reasons to know why they are for you or why maybe you’re not.”
– Giselle (19:13)
On overcoming camera fear:
“The number one response we got was, I don’t like how I look on camera… and I just said, well, we can’t solve that. That’s their face. Which is true!”
– Jason (30:42)
Summary prepared for real estate professionals wanting to rethink and reinvigorate their social media strategy with a proven, human-focused approach.