Does a Broker’s Online Presence Really Matter?

For most of my 42 years in the real estate brokerage business, a broker’s online presence did not matter much because there was no such thing as an online presence.

Business was built the old-fashioned way. You made calls. You attended meetings. You built relationships. You cultivated referral sources. You completed transactions. If you did a good job, clients told other people. Your reputation spread through personal interactions and word-of-mouth recommendations. Success was largely determined by the quality of your relationships, the depth of your market knowledge and your ability to consistently deliver results.

That world has changed.

Today, if a property owner is considering hiring a broker, there is a very good chance that the owner will conduct extensive research long before scheduling a meeting. They may receive a referral from an attorney, accountant, lender, friend or business associate. Referrals remain one of the most powerful sources of new business. But increasingly, the referral is simply the starting point rather than the conclusion.

Before making a phone call, owners go online. They search. They read. They watch. They listen. They compare. And increasingly, they ask artificial intelligence (AI) platforms such as ChatGPT for information and recommendations. Questions such as, “Who is the best broker to sell my building?” “Who specializes in development sites?” “Who dominates multifamily sales?” or “Who should I interview before making a decision?” are becoming more common every day.

So, does a broker’s online presence really matter? The answer is yes, but probably not for the reason many people think.

A strong online presence does not make someone a great broker. It does not create expertise, experience, judgment or relationships. But it can help property owners determine whether someone possesses those qualities. That distinction is critically important. Too often, people confuse visibility with competence. The two are not the same. A broker can be highly visible and ineffective. Conversely, a broker can be highly effective and relatively invisible. The ideal situation, of course, is to possess both expertise and visibility. What has changed over the last several years is that visibility has become one of the primary ways expertise is discovered.

Imagine that a property owner receives recommendations for three brokers. Twenty years ago, the owner might simply have called all three and scheduled meetings. Today, before making any of those calls, the owner may spend an hour or more researching each individual. They may review websites, articles, videos, interviews, podcasts, social media profiles, market reports and transaction histories. They may search for additional evidence that supports the recommendation they received. In many respects, the interview process now begins before the interview itself.

Artificial intelligence is accelerating this trend. One of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that it is replacing referrals. In reality, AI is validating referrals.

Years ago, if a trusted attorney recommended a broker, that recommendation frequently led directly to a meeting. Today, the owner receives the recommendation and then often conducts independent research to determine whether it is supported by evidence.

AI systems help facilitate that process. They do not know who gives the best presentation or has the best personality. They evaluate information. They analyze transaction history, specialization, published content, interviews, podcasts, market studies, research and other publicly available evidence. In short, they look for proof.

This creates an interesting challenge for brokerage professionals. For decades, many brokers operated under the assumption that expertise alone was enough. If you knew more than your competitors and consistently produced superior results, clients would eventually find you. There is certainly truth in that philosophy. Results will always matter. Market knowledge will always matter. Relationships will always matter. But in today’s environment, expertise that is invisible can be difficult to discover. Owners can only evaluate information that is available to them.

This evolution also creates a fascinating challenge for many large brokerage firms. Historically, the largest firms built their brands by emphasizing the institution rather than the individual. Brokers were often encouraged to promote the company first and themselves second, if at all. The firm’s reputation was intended to overshadow the broker’s reputation. That model may become increasingly difficult to maintain. Artificial intelligence rewards demonstrated expertise, specialization, authorship and thought leadership. Those attributes are typically associated with individuals rather than institutions.

Owners do not ask AI systems which company has the most offices. They ask who the best broker for their situation is. The answer frequently points to a person rather than a platform.

This creates a significant tension for many large organizations. The larger and more diversified a company becomes, the harder it often becomes for individual professionals to establish visible personal brands. At the same time, younger generations entering the workforce have spent their entire lives building personal identities online. Social media, podcasts, videos, newsletters and digital content are normal forms of communication for them.

As a result, some of the industry’s largest firms may face one of the most important talent and branding challenges of the next decade: how do you attract entrepreneurial professionals who want to build visible personal brands while maintaining a corporate structure that historically emphasized institutional branding above individual recognition?

This does not mean brokers need to become influencers or spend their days chasing social media trends. It does not mean every broker should start recording videos or trying to go viral. What it does mean is that sharing knowledge has become increasingly important.

The brokers who consistently educate the marketplace create a body of evidence that demonstrates expertise. Articles, market reports, podcasts, interviews, research studies, speaking engagements, white papers and educational content all contribute to a broker’s digital reputation. Over time, these pieces accumulate and create a transparent record of how a broker thinks, what they know and where they specialize.

At BKREA, we have become increasingly aware of this dynamic. Over the past several years, we have invested heavily in proprietary market intelligence and educational content. We developed resources such as the Knakal Land Index, the Knakal Map Room and the Developer Ranking System. We publish white papers, market studies, articles, podcasts, videos, interviews and educational content designed to help property owners better understand the marketplace.

These initiatives were not created because we wanted a larger online presence. They were created because we believed they would help owners make better decisions. However, an interesting secondary benefit emerged. The same information that educates property owners also helps property owners understand who we are, how we think and what we know. The same content that informs the marketplace creates transparency.

This trend will continue to accelerate. The brokerage firms that thrive over the next decade will continue doing the things that have always mattered. They will build relationships. They will provide exceptional service. They will create trust. They will develop expertise. And they will deliver results.

But they will also recognize that reputation itself has evolved. For generations, reputation lived primarily in people’s heads. Today, reputation increasingly lives online. It lives in articles, videos, podcasts, interviews, research studies, market reports, speaking engagements, search results and increasingly, in AI systems that help property owners gather information and evaluate potential advisors.