[T]echnology: The Best Part Pops Off
[E]ducation: Google Just Put Your Listing in the Window
[C]oaching: Prioritize Your Mental Health
[H]ow To: Stop Posting Into the Void
[T]echnology: The Best Part Pops Off
Insta360 just dropped its first gimbal camera, the Luna Ultra… and for the first time in a while, DJI has real competition in the pocket-vlogging world.
I don't own this one. But I've run a DJI Osmo Pocket 1 and a 3 for years, so I know exactly where a camera like this fits.
Quick honesty check: my phone still does 95% of what I shoot. It's always on me, the quality is stupid good, and for most posts that's the whole kit. But there's a specific lane where I grab the gimbal every time… walking-and-talking content, and home tour video. 🏠 The stabilization and that smooth, wide motion just look different than a phone.
So here's what caught my eye on the Luna Ultra...⬇️⬇️
The front screen detaches. On its own, that sounds like a gimmick… until you see what it does. It becomes a little wireless monitor you can control from up to 60 feet away. Pan, tilt, zoom, frame the shot, all from across the room. And there's a mic built in, so you can talk to the camera without clipping anything on. 🎙️
Read that again if you make content alone. That's the whole problem solved. You set the camera down, walk into your own shot, watch yourself framed from across the kitchen, and your audio is already handled. No second person holding your phone. No "wait, is this even recording?"
It's also got real optical zoom, 3x, which the Osmo Pockets never had… so you're not cropping in and bleeding quality, you're actually zooming.
Now the part that matters most for us. The newest DJI Pocket isn't officially sold in the US anymore. ❌ The Luna Ultra is. So if you've wanted a gimbal in this class and kept hitting walls trying to buy one… this is the door that's actually open.
Fair warning before you hit buy. It starts around $770, it's a touch bigger than the Pocket, and that built-in mic is good, not studio-great…that’s what auphonic is for.
This isn't a phone replacement. It's one more tool for the two or three things your phone can't quite nail. And for a lot of you shooting your own content, the screen that pops off and films you might be worth the price by itself.
[E]ducation: Google Just Put Your Listing in the Window
On June 11th, Google flipped the switch on something that's been quietly cooking since last year. Working with a company called HouseCanary, Google rolled its enhanced home listing results out to all 50 states.
Here's what that actually looks like. ⬇️⬇️
A buyer pulls out their phone, types an address or a neighborhood into Google, and the listing shows up right there in the search results. Photos. Price. Beds, baths, square footage. And the part that matters most for you…they can call, message, or book a showing with the listing agent without ever leaving Google.
No Zillow. No realtor.com. No portal in the middle taking the lead and selling it back to you.
The buyer searches, sees the home, and taps to reach the agent whose name is on it. The listing broker gets the attribution and the click straight to contact, at no extra cost.
Now before you go refreshing Google looking for your listings…pump the brakes. 🚗
"All 50 states" is the headline, but the inventory is thin right now. Only three MLSs are actually live so far…California Regional, San Diego, and My State MLS. Everybody else is on the waiting list while Google rolls it out market by market through the summer.
So here's what this means for your business.
The search bar your buyers already live in is turning into a listing portal. That's the whole story. For fifteen years we've paid the portals to put our own listings in front of our own buyers and then bought those leads back. This is the first real crack in that model…the listing showing up where the buyer already is, with your name on it instead of a stranger who paid for the zip code.
The move right now is simple. Find out where you stand. There are two layers here. Your MLS has to be in the program first, and right now only three are. Once it is, the participation call sits with the broker… you opt in, or you opt out. The wrinkle is that some MLS feeds are set up as opt-in and some as opt-out, so the default isn't the same everywhere.
So ask your broker two things. Is our MLS in the Google program yet, and if it is, are we opted in? Somebody at your shop should be making that call on purpose, not by accident. ❌
When it hits your market, the agents who already have clean, complete, photo loaded listings are the ones who'll look good in that little Google window. The ones with one dark photo and a blank description are going to look exactly like that…in front of every buyer in town.
Get your listings tight now. The window's about to open.
[C]oaching: Prioritize Your Mental Health
Last night I was scrolling Facebook and a post caught me off guard. My friends Dan and Michael were going live, talking about mental health.
It was incredible to see people I admire be so honest and vulnerable about something we simply don’t talk about enough.
Michael’s caption said it all: ⬇️⬇️
This is going to be messy, raw and very honest.
Daniel Bertelson, Valerie Garcia and I are having a conversation about mental health, the moments when we realized something was wrong, and the very different paths we took to become healthier.
We are not doctors. We are not here to give advice.
We are simply sharing our stories in the hope that someone watching recognizes a piece of their own story and realizes they are not alone.
Please join us. And if this conversation matters to you, please share it.
It may reach someone who needs it more than any of us will ever know.
Valerie reshared with the caption:
June is Men’s Mental Health Month. What better time to have a candid conversation about how we are *really* doing?
Mental health is not just a one month thing. It’s not a one gender thing. It’s an everyone, all the time thing. And I think we should talk about it more often.
Regardless of where you’re at, this is an incredible watch…please take some time this week to do so.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, know that you are not alone and help is available immediately.
Call or text 988 or visit https://988lifeline.org/
[H]ow To: Stop Posting Into the Void
I often see people asking, "Why do I have 5,000 followers, but my analytics show that only 300 people saw my post?" There are a lot of factors that affect content reach. Just because you have 5,000 followers doesn't mean all 5,000 will see your content. Why not?
Timing Matters: ⏰ If you're posting when people aren't actively engaged, your content won't be front and center in their feeds. Many social platforms analyze how well your content performs within the first few hours after it's posted. If no one is interacting with it or viewing it, Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram may determine that the content isn't worth pushing out organically to a larger audience. Think about when people are most likely to be on their phones: during lunch breaks, right after work, and right before bed. Try to post during those high-activity times to increase your chances of getting engagement early.
The Algorithm: 📱 The algorithm is a complex, and sometimes frustrating, thing to manage. It's constantly changing. But what does it actually do? A simple real-world analogy is a librarian recommending books. The librarian notices what you enjoy and suggests similar books. A social media algorithm works the same way, but with posts, videos, and accounts. This is why engagement is one of the most important metrics. If people are commenting, sharing, and interacting with your content, that signals to Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram that your post is keeping users engaged on their platform. As a result, they'll show it to more people. That's why content quality still matters. Even if you feel like you've figured out the algorithm, poor content won't perform organically over the long term.
Competition: 🧑🤝🧑 Our world is flooded with content. The market is incredibly saturated. If your followers are engaging more with other creators' content than yours, that's the content they'll continue to see. It doesn't matter whether they follow your page or not. Social platforms prioritize content that users are most likely to interact with.
Engagement: 🤐 As I mentioned above, engagement is one of the most important factors if you want more people, and new audiences, to see your content. When creating content, ask yourself two questions: How am I educating or providing value to my audience? How am I eliciting emotion? The best-performing content I've created has almost always sparked some type of discussion in the comments. It doesn't have to turn into a full-blown argument, but getting people to share their opinions, respond to one another, and continue the conversation is incredibly valuable. The more meaningful engagement your content generates, the more likely social platforms are to show it to a larger audience.
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-Ty Morton + Abby G