It’s no secret that the popularity of real estate videos on the internet is increasing. If you’ve looked at Facebook or Instagram anytime in the last year you would notice that the news feed is dominated by video.
The reason behind this is simple.
People want to watch videos, and many prefer watching videos over reading text.
Video is a great way to drive brand awareness in the marketplace and generate interaction from your ideal clients.
When I say video, I’m not just talking about property videos and market updates. While these types of videos are great, there are a ton of other options you have to create exciting and engaging videos that will bring exposure to your brand as an agent.
In this article, we will break down the best ways to use video in your marketing.
1. Profile video – Introduction to you, video.
A profile video is an awesome brand-building piece of content that will help potential clients get to know you and how you do business before they meet you in person.
A well-created profile video will help you tell your story and differentiate yourself from other agents that your potential clients are looking at online.
Think about it from a vendor’s point of view. If they are looking for an agent online, most agents’ profiles are very similar.
They all have similar-style photos and bios. They can look at your testimonials and sales results, but there isn’t a way for them to connect with you on a personal level. A profile video gives them that opportunity and allows you to explain your strengths.
When creating your video, here are a couple of things to keep in mind:
Describe why you’re truly passionate about real estate or how you got your start in the business, and remember to be authentic.
Your profile video should also include some of the properties you represent to give your prospects an idea of the market you primarily work in.
It can also pay to use some location shots from iconic areas in your marketplace or with locals, e.g., with the owner of the best coffee shop in town.
This profile video from Shane Hicks is done well and highlights the importance of his community.
2. Create video area profiles
Area profiles show off the area that you operate in and highlight the lifestyle in which locals live.
Creating these types of videos shows that you are a local agent who knows what is happening in the area.
These videos usually get a lot of interaction from people living in the area, as they show off the best of their suburbs.
Justin Hicks from Hicks Real Estate at Everton Park is doing some cool things with his Instagram. This is one of his recent profiles of a local park in his area.
View this post on Instagram
This video also draws them in as they see the local shops and schools that they visit every day.
This video from Place Estate Agents has a presenter highlighting the suburbs, but there is no reason you, as an agent, couldn’t do the presenting and narration to use as a marketing piece.
Notice how this video has over 27,000 views. That’s the power of creating localised videos.
3. Repurpose written testimonials into videos with willing clients.
Testimonial videos are a great way to showcase the results that you have created for your clients and show social proof of your ability as an agent.
When creating these videos, you need to remember that not everyone is great in front of a camera. We find the best way to get a natural response from your clients is to ask them questions that they can respond to so that they don’t feel put on the spot.
Here are some good questions to ask:
- “What led to your decision to buy or sell your home?”
- “Why did you hire me to represent your home sale or purchase?”
- “What did I do best to help your home sale or search?”
- “How did you rate the overall experience selling with me?”
- “Would you recommend my business to others?”
- You can then crop the questions out of the video, and you will be left with natural content from your seller that talks about all of the areas that you cover.
Here is a great video from Matt Diesel where he has combined some testimonials from his sellers that work well.
4. Create a series of micro-advice videos (Quick Tips)
You have a lot of knowledge as an agent, and your ideal clients want to know it. Quick, 1-2 minute videos explaining some of the key areas of the real estate transaction and marketing a home are really valuable to your clients.
These real estate videos can be relatively casual, shot in your office or car, or whichever setting you’re most comfortable in. The goal of these videos is to inform and position yourself as a trusted expert in your area.
If a potential client has watched five different videos from you that explain the process of selling their house and how to get the most money from the sale you are clearly positioned head and shoulders above other agents that are in your area.
Here is a video from Zac Mchardy that highlights why you need to use professional photography when selling your home.
The guy going crazy with this stuff is the King of North Lakes David Kopelke from ReMax Now.
David has created a series of tips like this one.
View this post on Instagram
David provides tips about the buying and selling process in short, 30-second videos. His clients seem to appreciate them, as he sells so many houses each year.
5) Create nurture videos to send to your top prospects.
Film a compelling community video or a series of interviews with local business owners, and send it to your most qualified leads to replace a written message to your potential clients. The change of media over plain text will increase engagement over your normal communications.
This video from One Agency Launceston explains why they use videos in all of their listings to get the best results for their sellers.
6) Add your contact details and a call to action
Pretty self-explanatory, but your videos should highlight your name and possibly your agency name at the start of them to introduce yourself.
At the end of the video should be a call to action to get in touch, where you should then display your phone number and website address.
There’s no point in having an awesome video if, when people get to the end of it, they don’t know how to get in touch with you or, at the very least, find out more information about yourself.
People have short attention spans online, so if they have to go searching for your details, you run the risk of them bailing out early and not taking action.
Make it as easy as possible for your prospects by including your details in the key areas at the start and end of your videos.
Here is the ending that Peter May and Brad Robson are using in their videos. It provides their website and the best ways to get in touch with them.
7) Create a short video telling leads to call you now.
Using the power of Facebook retargeting, you can run an ad that only displays to people who have been looking at your website online.
This is extremely powerful, as the majority of people who look at your website won’t call you on their first visit.
They could have gotten distracted, or the time might not be right for them. Whatever the reason behind it, these people are clearly interested in you but, for some reason, didn’t get in touch with you.
You can create a short 30-second video that basically says, “Hey, house prices in the XYZ area are going up. Give me a call if you’d like to know the value of your place.”
8) Publish the videos to your personal website
Your website will become the home base for all of your content. It is a big benefit to be able to send a link to the video on your website where people can find out more information about you and get in touch with you rather than just sending a YouTube link where there are lots of other distractions to other videos etc.
Once somebody has watched a video on your website, they can then see your other videos and delve further into your content.
This is great as it gives you more opportunities to show that you are the expert agent in the area and cement yourself at the top of your potential client’s mind.
As you build your video library on your website people will start to come back to your site looking for more content and information that they can watch.
If you need help setting up a website that can embed videos get in touch, I’d be happy to help.
Conclusion
Understanding and implementing these real estate video marketing tips will help you not only improve your online reach but effectively attract, nurture, and capture your ideal prospects.
