Jacqueline Kyo Thomas
Real estate agents, are you regularly creating videos? If not, you are missing out on new leads, more money, and more opportunities to build name recognition in your local market. Video already killed the radio star in the 20th century, and now, in the 21st century, real estate video marketing is your secret weapon for achieving true market dominance. The majority of real estate agents aren’t using video to market their listings and connect with their current and potential clients. If you’re able to record your own videos, you’ll no doubt increase your visibility.
Let’s discuss why video is a non-negotiable marketing tool for real estate agents, and what videos you should be producing regularly.
Why Video? As we teased in the intro above, video can separate you from the other agents in your area. Here’s a closer look at why video is such an effective marketing tool.
Videos sell houses. We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words, but a video contains thousands of pictures. House hunters prefer video over static images because video provides a greater sense of spatial awareness (i.e. understanding where your body is in relation to other objects).
Video is a modern marketing technique. Sellers want to work with agents that use modern marketing tools. Why? Sellers know that video marketing will help get their houses sold quickly, because buyers are more attracted to video than any other marketing medium.
Videos are easier to consume than photos. Videos are also low effort. A viewer only needs to click play (and if the video auto-plays, they don’t have to put forth any effort).
Video is convenient. Use video to attract those who can’t or don’t want to physically tour a property. Whether they can’t view a property due to health concerns or physical distance, video can make it possible for potential buyers for them to be there virtually.
Video communicates high quality. Video marketing is impressive, and can quickly communicate that you’re on a different professional level than your competition.
Video demonstrates that you care about your client’s experience. It’s an extra step beyond photos.
Video captures your personality. As a real estate agent, your brand (i.e. your business’ personality) is what will differentiate you from others. Clients are drawn to personalities that they can relate to or trust. Whatever your personality is, whether it’s friendly, straightforward, or homespun, it can be quickly conveyed through video.
There are no downsides to using video to market your listings and your real estate business, only benefits. And fortunately, you’re not limited to just one type of video. Now, let’s discuss what types of real estate videos you should regularly create to attract new leads and grow your business.
1. Property Listings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhfPcgx8ILU
What to promote a property? This is an obvious first choice of video you can and should use in your marketing efforts. With a listing video, you market a property in the hopes of selling it. A listing video should show both the interior and the exterior of a property, giving the viewer a mini-tour. Emphasis on mini. A listing video doesn’t need to show every nook and cranny of a property. Its job is to intrigue the viewer enough that they want to book an appointment to see the property in person.
Keep a property listing video to five minutes or less.
2. Live Video Tour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m532Jg0eRok
A video tour is like an extended property listing video. With a video tour, you can explore the home in detail and linger on certain features that you want to highlight. While you could pre-record a video tour, it’s even better to go live using the power of a social media platform like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or TikTok. Choose a time when the majority of your followers are online. This way, your followers can ask you questions while you do the tour. Live engagement can increase your visibility, allowing you to reach those who don’t currently follow you.
3. 360° Tours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvLWniBQA2o
Offering 360° video tours has become a hot trend in real estate video marketing. A 360° camera is an omnidirectional camera that can take video from a 360-degree field (virtually every angle) at the same time. This means that you can position the camera in one spot, stand in front of the camera, and record the video. However, the viewer can rotate the camera to view different angles (including floor and ceiling) while you’re talking. It’s the next best thing to actually being there. It empowers the viewer to look wherever they want, instead of only viewing what you may want them to see.
4. Drone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHdyXbE_kik
Show the viewer a bird’s eye view (quite literally) of the property. Drone videos can provide amazing-quality aerial footage that can help the viewer understand the overall neighborhood. These days, drones are inexpensive and easy to use and can provide more value for your clients than Google Maps.
5. Virtually Staged Properties
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPpFrndlhS4
Are you attempting to sell empty houses? Staging has been proven to sell an empty house faster and for more money. However, not everyone has the budget to fully stage a home. In this scenario, you can create virtual staging videos to show potential buyers the possibility that exists within a property. Learn more about virtual staging here.
6. Neighborhood Tour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTvWcaWnODY
In addition to sticking to the property, you can give potential buyers an overview of the entire neighborhood. This isn’t a drone-type video, although you can use drone footage as B-roll to spice up this type of informative video. A neighborhood tour should highlight key spots in the area, including tourist attractions, parks, shopping, restaurants, and the area’s proximity to other nearby points of interest. You can also interview local business owners to get a flavor of the people of the neighborhood.
7. Client Testimonial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaRYt009uQk
Word of mouth is the absolute best way to generate new leads. The second best way is through testimonials. There’s nothing more powerful than the endorsement from a client who’s happy with your services. Use these testimonial videos to show potential clients what you can do.
When creating a testimonial video, your goal is to prompt the former client so that they speak in full sentences about how you’ve helped them reach their goal, whether it was to buy or sell a property. So be sure to ask leading questions that prompt more than a yes/ no answer.
8. Just Sold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qftQHOW6yYY
Create a video to show your results. A just sold video highlights a property (or a group of properties) that you’ve recently sold. But don’t just show a parade of homes. Also give a backstory on the unique challenge for each home, so that you create a narrative to accompany each success. It gives the viewer a chance to see how you approach challenges and how you uniquely solve those dilemmas.
9. About You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cOKg6-EWO8
Create a video to introduce yourself to your prospective clients. In this video, answer the following questions:
- Who are you?
- What’s your real estate story? Why did you become a real estate agent?
- What sets you apart from the competition?
- What is your unique approach to or philosophy about real estate?
- Why should a client choose you?
When answering these questions, allow your unique personality to shine through. Remember that clients connect with personality first. Don’t come across as too scripted and formal. Focus on authentically connecting with your viewer.
10. Tips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIxftL56AZI
Create bite-sized tips videos. These tips shouldn’t be longer than five minutes (and may perform better when only 60 seconds). Use these tips videos to provide advice for sellers, buyers, and property investors on all things real estate. The goal behind these videos is to position yourself as a real estate expert. The more value you offer to your clients (current or prospective), the more they’ll view you as a real estate authority.
11. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGWU-p7VxiQ
You’re probably asked the same questions over and over again. Instead of wasting your time and patience answering those commonly-asked questions, create a video where you answer everything at once. Then, share the video with potential clients via email before they even think about asking these questions.
You can also share FAQs on various channels (such as your website, social media platforms, and YouTube). Doing so will increase your visibility because you’re answering the questions that potential clients are asking in search engines. If they search for this question, and you have a video answering that very question, it’s possible that your video will show up in the search results if you’ve optimized your video. (We’ll discuss how to do that at the end of this article.)
12. Explainers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBrwX6ebl3E
Some frequently asked questions require a little more explanation, specifically in the form of visual aid. You can use an explainer video to illustrate how to perform a task, such as staging a home to sell. Be sure to focus on the viewer’s pain points (like not understanding the mortgage process), and only focus on solving one pain point per video. Don’t use explainer videos to sell, but rather to inform. The selling is implied. But if you focus on selling, the prospective client is less likely to trust you.
Video Marketing Best Practices
Here are a few practices to keep in mind when you’re recording your real estate marketing videos:
- Keep it short. The best performing videos are 10 minutes or less. Get to the point quickly and cut the throat clearing.
- Use B-roll. B-roll is supplemental footage that can be used to add context and keep your videos interesting.
- Use graphics to break up the monotony if you don’t have B-roll.
- End with a call to action. Tell the viewer what they should do next when they make it to the end of your video.
- Optimize your videos for search. Title your video with the words and phrases that your prospective clients would use when searching Google, YouTube, or social media. This increases your chances of getting in front of the right audience.
- Use your videos on multiple platforms. Record one video and add them to many places, including your Google Business Profile.
- Keep your viewer in mind when touring a property. Walk through the property in a natural way, hold the camera steady and avoid making quick movements that can make the video difficult for the viewer to watch. Also, include floor plans in your video so the visitor understands where you are in relation to the rest of the space.
- Add captions for those who watch on mute, including but not limited to the hearing-impaired.
- Respond to any and all comments.
Final Thoughts
Video is a great way to market your listings and promote your business. Use the above tips to grow your video library and start attracting new leads.