Local Agent’s unique approach on social media to leverage more business

GUYANA is developing its landscape through infrastructural developments such as international hotels, franchised centres, and modern housing. Real estate is one of the many rapidly growing fields, with professionals such as Selena Bacchus, working to raise the standards in the industry. Selena currently leverages real estate sales and investments through innovative social networking techniques. Using her know-how, Selena has merged content creation, marketing, and real estate on her social media platforms.

Selena explained that her strategy varies based on the social media platform she uses. “For instance, my TikTok account sees more humour related to real estate, whereas my LinkedIn posts are a lot more professional and informative. For Facebook and Instagram, I’m more relaxed with my content surrounding real estate,” she said. Her winning strategy is finding a way to incorporate humour into real estate content.

As a child, Selena and her family frequently moved, allowing her to experience both rural and urban life. She was exposed to people from all cultures and walks of life, further enhancing her ability to relate to others. Her family owned a business that allowed frequent trips to Guyana’s interior. As a result, she alternated schools in Georgetown and Mahdia. She attended private schools for most of her educational years. She credits the School of the Nation’s programme for helping her during those years. Selena was a student there from Grade Three and is now completing her Master Degree at the same institution.

Selena is fortunate to have found a team and company at Keller Williams Guyana, an international real estate agency that supports her in being her authentic self and allows her to project her own brand into her work. Selena described real estate as a natural progression from her love for marketing and earlier work experience in both sales and marketing. She has created an immense network over the last four years, and these connections have proven valuable in her transition to the real estate market. “In my mind, I simply moved from selling business services and consumer products to selling houses and land,” stressed Selena. The strategies and platforms used to reach clients remained the same. She believes her main purpose is to connect people with other people or organisations.

Pepperpot Magazine questioned Selena on the challenges of the real estate industry, to which she replied, “The challenge is definitely the pace of the trade. It’s almost a rat race where clients will quickly move on to the next agent if you aren’t engaging them almost immediately. That being said, personal time can quickly be eaten up with customer engagement if you aren’t strict with working times and boundaries.” Selena employs simple tactics like instant messages or automatic responses, along with much of the technology provided by Keller Williams Guyana, to help her with this dilemma.

She highlighted the realities of the real estate industry in Guyana, explaining that there is no secret that real estate prices are “jacked up.” However, increased pricing is simply a consequence of the low supply of housing in the market, and as the basic law of economics states, “If demand outweighs supply, price will rise,” and that’s what Guyana has been experiencing, said this top emerging real estate agent. As developers continue to build homes, apartments, and commercial and industrial buildings, prices will reduce. According to Selena, this is already evident on the East Bank of Demerara. There has been a massive increase in the number of real estate developments concentrated in the Providence area in less than five years. Now, demand has migrated to the East Coast, following developments like ExxonMobil’s office relocating to Ogle.

Selena looks forward to creating more content, and combating misinformation about real estate agents while expanding her clientele and network through humour and authenticity. “I love how versatile my practice currently is as I handle residential, commercial, and industrial deals,” said Selena. She looks forward to specialising in a niche that will make her more prominent in the industry. For more on her content and career, you can visit her TikTok account: @yourrealestatebestiegy.