Serve, don't sell, on social
Corey Perlman has fifteen years in social media and runs an agency. What people remember is not a tactic. It is two birds. That story goes first.
A few months ago a man ran up to him and said, "Hey man, I'm still trying not to be that squawking parrot." Perlman had no idea what he meant. Ten years earlier, on another stage, he had told a room about a squawking parrot and a wise owl. He had forgotten it. The man had carried it for a decade.
So the two birds frame the whole session. The parrot squawks the same message, sells first, chases likes, thinks short term. The owl asks whether this will help anyone, builds trust and plays the long game. Put both on your shoulder and ask, before every post, which one is talking. He had little owls in his pocket for anyone who promised to be one.
The nine stops ahead are his six principles, one live exercise, and the one thing he asked the room to commit to. The last stop asks which bird you posted as this week. Stop one is straight ahead.
"Are you all willing to be wise owls instead of squawking parrots from this point forward? I promise you, you'll see more results that way."
Corey Perlman · to the room, with owls in his pocket
Ten things he said about the two birds, mixed up. Put each one on the right shoulder. Most of them sound obvious on a page. The point is whether you can hear them in your own feed.
He is careful to say the platforms have changed and the priorities have not. Whether he is talking to you today or five years from now, this is the same test. The parrot is not evil. It is just loud, and everyone scrolls past it.
Principle one. You do not have to be on TikTok. He said it, waited for the laugh, and meant it: pick a few platforms and do them well, because every site you add thins out the ones you already have.
His acronym is LIFT, and he admits the letters are not in order because they did not spell the word he wanted. LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. Tap the ones you are actually on.
Remember Google Plus? Everyone got excited, and it died a few months later. His answer to the next new platform is to stay the course. Instagram and Facebook are priority one and two, brother and sister, because that is where your market is. LinkedIn is the one your industry badly underuses. TikTok has an audience, but it is a very young one, and you have to ask whether it is yours.
Principle two. You get a pass on being everywhere. In return, on each platform you are on, you use every feature it is pushing, because the algorithms favour the bold and reward the people who use what is new.
A couple of hundred hands went up when he asked who looks at Stories before the feed. If you are not posting Stories, that is an audience you are not reaching at all. The carousel line, save the best for first, he credits to his friend Rory Vaden, who has been on that stage before.
"You need to tell somebody why they should watch your video with writing, before they ever see the play button."
Corey Perlman · on Reel covers
Principle three is the one extra action he asked for. Everything else in the session was about doing what you already do better. This one is new: start a LinkedIn newsletter.
It is a long form article that LinkedIn is pushing hard and almost nobody uses. You probably already send an email to your list. Give that email to your AI tool, tell it to fit the content into LinkedIn's newsletter format, and publish it through the newsletter feature once a month.
His slide called it one publish, multiple touchpoints. His instruction was to do it monthly and then come and see him in a year, because he cannot count the number of people who have told him what it did for them.
"Go put it out on LinkedIn through the newsletter feature once a month, and then come see me in a year."
Corey Perlman · on the one thing he asked you to add
Principle four is know who you are talking to. The riches are in the niches. To prove it he asked the whole room to stand up, think of a recent client, and then sit down one round at a time.
Four thousand agents on their feet is a picture of your feed. If you post about real estate, you are competing with everybody in that room. Play his rounds with a client of your own and see who is still standing at the end.
In the room, about twenty five people were left standing out of four thousand. Less noise, more relevance. Talk to those two people and their cleaning-day worries and they will feel heard and seen. His prompt for finding your own room: "I am a real estate agent who wants to become known for serving one specific audience. Interview me one question at a time to uncover my ideal niche." If you have not had your AI tool interview you first, he says it cannot help you with your content.
Principle five. Leave them wanting more. Instead of one off posts, run a series people can follow: Market Update, Coffee and Conversations, Friday FAQs, Money Smart Monday, Behind the Closing Door, Hidden Gems.
Weekly, every other week, or monthly to start. The two rules are consistency and letting the episodes build on each other. Think about who you actually stop for when you scroll. It is the people whose episodes you have got used to. He pointed at Jason and Joy's content as the example in the room.
The secret he shared: Instagram is building a playlist feature, the way Netflix shows a season. Today, if someone likes one of your episodes they have to dig through your feed for the rest. Soon they click the playlist and every episode is there. Start the series now and, in his words, you will thank him later.
Principle six came from his homework. He had spent months researching the room, and what he saw was a company that does a lot of good and rarely shows it. Show it.
KW Cares is his example. When he talks to agents at Keller Williams or to the people they serve, they know the culture and the values, and it is part of why they choose to work with you. Two ways to put it on social: the nonprofit work and community service, and your own place in the community. His friend Bill, an agent in his town, posts restaurants and local spots. Bill's best performing post of 2025 was a Christmas lights tour.
A side note for market centers: this is also how you recruit. People want to work somewhere that shares their values, and a feed that shows yours attracts them.
"Show your humanity and build your community."
Corey Perlman · principle six
Other People's Posts. His last principle turns social media on its head: stop thinking about what to post and start thinking about who to talk to, so that you stay top of mind with the people who matter.
Past clients. Referral partners. Community influencers. Your VIPs. Connect with them on your platform and comment on their stuff. You read the comments on your own posts. You smile at them. Imagine doing that for the people who send you business.
His homework for the room: go and follow Jason and Joy, engage with what they post, and use their ten visual hooks as a guide. He said he could not give a better reinforcement of the whole session than their feed.
Back to the pre-show. He closed with a Reel. Four thousand agents went silent, he told his camera what it sounds like when Keller Williams agents hear three words, and then the room heard them: clear to close. He posted it, tagged the company, and asked them to make it go viral together.
Then the ask. One thing. Not six principles, one. The riches in the niches, the LinkedIn newsletter, a series. Pick it, do it, and he wants to see you again and know your business was better for it. That is the owl talking: one useful thing, done consistently, for a long time.
"What's one thing you're going to take from today? I want to see you again really soon, and I want to know that your business was better because of it."
Corey Perlman · the last thing he said
So look at your last ten posts. Squawking parrot, or wise owl? If a man can carry two birds around for ten years, you can carry them to your next post.
I am writing up the rest of Mega Camp. Each session becomes its own attraction. Leave your email and I will send you a ticket when the next one opens.
Your address goes nowhere except my list.
These are my notes from a live session at KW Mega Camp 2026 in San Antonio, Texas, checked against the recording and photographs of the slides. Frameworks and quotes are as Corey Perlman gave them. Platform features change, and the Instagram playlist feature was described as coming rather than live. None of this is legal or financial advice.
fycoa. Notes by James.