She walks into a local boutique, and they already know her name.
Her DMs are full of people asking for pizza recommendations or sharing their favorite ice cream place.
And her content feels like hanging out with a friend, not watching a boring sales pitch.
We have a special Modern Agent guest on the podcast today — Emma Jordison (aka DSM Home Girl) to talk about what it looks like to build a real estate business on authenticity, local content, and the kind of consistency that compounds over time.
Emma shares how she went from throwing things together on social media to reaching over 65,000 accounts in her first 90 days in the membership, and why she believes social media is a long game worth playing.
How to Show Up on Social Media As Yourself
When someone meets Emma in real life after following her on Instagram for a while, they usually go, “Oh my gosh, you are exactly who you are on Instagram!”
Her whole approach to content is rooted in one simple question: “Who would I want to follow?” Not what a real estate agent “should” post and definitely not what’s trending. What would she genuinely love to see?
When you create from that place, the pressure drops and fun enters the picture.
Emma’s content isn’t a polished performance. Both the good and the chaos show up because all of it is her. This consistency is what builds trust!
So if you feel like you have to put on a different version of yourself to create content, try Emma’s approach and ask yourself: would I love this?
A Local Content Strategy Builds Relationships
Emma makes local content a non-negotiable — at least once a week, she’s highlighting something in her community: a shop in Uptown Ankeny, a coffee stop before a listing appointment, a park she and her boys love the second the weather hits 65 degrees.
What makes her local content different is the intention behind it. She’s not popping into businesses to get her name out there. Instead, she’s genuinely building relationships.
When she visited shops for a “spending under $25 in Uptown” piece of content, she chatted with shop owners, connected with residents, and created something those businesses could repurpose for themselves, which benefited everyone.
Kayla put it perfectly: when you’re genuinely sharing “this is where I like to go,” it doesn’t feel like a promo. It feels like a friend saying, “ooh, where are we going today?”
And the ripple effect is real. Shop owners start recommending her to customers. Locals start DMing her to ask where to get pizza when family visits. She’s become the go-to not just for real estate, but for living well in her community.
As Chelsea pointed out, that’s what genuine connection looks like, and genuine connection is what drives referrals.
Chelsea also referenced the book 7L: The Seven Levels of Communication, where a new agent starts visiting the same coffee shop every single day until the staff knows his name and clients start following.
Pair that kind of in-person presence with social media, and you’re not just a face on a brokerage website but a real person who supports local and actually loves where she lives.
How to Plan Your Content Without Losing the Spontaneity That Makes It Work
As a former teacher, Emma is a planner at heart. Every month, she lays out her content with intentionality. If she has a listing coming up in a certain neighborhood, she’ll visit nearby spots that week and weave that into her stories.
She plans because life is busy. Three boys, a full pipeline, and a growing business don’t leave a lot of room for figuring it out at five o’clock on a Thursday. Having a plan means she shows up with purpose instead of scrambling to post something half-hearted.
But within that plan, there’s always room for the spontaneous stop. The iced latte before a Waukee listing. The park on a sunny Friday. She checks her sellers’ intake forms and finds out they love coffee — so she stops at Coffee Smith on the way to their house and puts it on her stories.
The goal isn’t to post every day perfectly. It’s to show up in some way, every day, so that nobody ever wonders if she’s still in the game.
Why Your Brand Niche Is an Invitation, Not a Limitation
Emma didn’t set out to become the DSM Homegirl. The phrase just kind of happened, and people latched on. But once it did, she leaned in — and it’s become one of the most recognizable things about her brand.
She did wonder, at first, whether people would assume she only served Des Moines. So she’s intentional about weaving in the surrounding areas — Ankeny, Waukee, the East Village, Little Leaf, Uptown. She shows up hyper-locally in multiple places so people understand she’s not limited to one zip code, even if her brand has a name.
Chelsea made a perfect analogy here: she was at a restaurant that had revamped its menu around a very specific Midwest identity. Before, the menu felt random, and nothing stood out. After the change, she wanted everything on it — because it all felt cohesive.
Niching down doesn’t close doors. It makes people want to open them!
Kayla added that most people don’t know how real estate territories work. They’re not going to assume you can’t help them just because your brand is tied to a specific area. If anything, they’re more likely to reach out and ask, and you want to be having those conversations.
Emma’s also building out her referral network so that when someone does need an agent outside her area, she already knows exactly who to send them to.
Brand Photos That Look Like Instagram Pics
Emma’s brand photos stand out because they look like Instagram pics. They’re professional but lifestyle-driven, and they’ve been a consistent part of how she’s built her visual brand over the years.
She’s been working with the same photographer friend since the beginning, someone who knows her well and already gets her vibe. They started with a shoot at a friend’s home in the country, and from there, they’ve kept it up quarterly, rotating between cute staged studios, vacant new construction listings, and just walking around Prairie Trail in Ankeny with good lighting and a coffee in hand.
Each shoot produces about 20 to 30 photos that Emma rotates to keep things fresh. She always comes with a short list of inspo shots and a few props: AirPods, a MacBook, branded guides, her Hyper drink, something on-brand.
For agents who don’t have a go-to photographer yet, Emma’s advice is to tap into your community. A college student who loves content creation, a friend with a good eye, another agent who wants to trade — it doesn’t have to be a big production. Chelsea suggested even finding a younger person who’s great on social media and asking them to come shoot with an iPhone downtown for an afternoon.
Some of the best-performing content Emma has is just her, a cute shirt, a good cup of coffee, and a walk through a neighborhood that photographs well. It can really be that simple!
The 30-Day Content Series That Attracts the Right Clients
Emma’s most recent content project started with a question from a seller’s intake form. One of her clients said they were nervous about having to overhaul their house before listing and then keep it looking pristine while it was on the market. Emma started thinking: what if she could break that process down into something doable?
So she built a 30-day series showing up every single day with one tangible task sellers can do to get their home ready for the market.
Some days it’s quick — touch up paint, declutter a drawer. Other days it’s bigger — overhauling the basement, going through the toys. She’s been doing it herself in her own home alongside her audience, which has given her a lot more empathy for what her sellers actually experience.
The strategy behind it is smart on multiple levels. It speaks directly to people who are thinking about selling but are overwhelmed by where to start. It positions Emma as someone who’s with you for the long haul, not just showing up two days before the sign goes in the yard. And the subtle message underneath all of it is: yes, you can do this in 30 days, but if you reach out two or three months early, it’s so much less stressful.
Kayla made a great point about the energy behind this kind of content. When agents constantly post about how hard the market is or how frustrating interest rates are, they end up attracting people who are hesitant and unsure. But when you create content for the person who’s ready — the one who wants to move and just needs someone to help them take the first step — that’s who shows up in your DMs.
Chelsea had a genius idea on the spot: turn the 30 days into an email freebie. Sign up and get a daily email with the task and a link to that day’s reel. Emma loved it. So if you’re listening and you want to steal that format for your own niche — go ahead!
Social Media is a Long Game, But It’s Totally Worth It
Emma came into real estate in 2021, when the market was wild, and everyone was doing TikTok dances, and houses were selling in five seconds. She knew from the beginning that she wanted social media to be a foundational part of her business, not just a trend she tried for a few months.
That commitment has meant showing up even when it wasn’t working yet. It’s meant tracking her analytics — reach, follower growth, profile visits — not just waiting for someone to slide into her DMs and say they’re ready to buy. She understood early that those metrics were evidence that the strategy was working, even before a lead appeared.
She’s also made it through a stretch of the market where a lot of agents who started when she did have already left. Chelsea pointed that out, and it matters.
The way Emma talks about it is worth thinking about:
“Just know that what you’re building today, you might not see the fruits of labor for a little bit of time. But if you stay consistent and you hold on and you know going into it that this is a long game — that you are going to build your brand for life and attract clients that want to work with you for life — it is so worth it.”
Lean into the things you love. Do them well. Do them consistently. Everything else follows.
This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz.
