Whether you are a property seller, buyer, or real estate marketer, you already know the importance of establishing a reputable and attractive presence for your target audience. There is no shortage of techniques to market your real estate business in today’s fiercely competitive online platforms.
However, like any other marketing activity, getting in front of your target audience is becoming more challenging. This is the reason you should consider implementing a real estate video marketing strategy to stay ahead of your competitors.
If you have ever checked out a ‘spacious three-bedroom’ in Toronto and found it was a shoebox, you already know photographs are not always accurate. Your target audience knows it too.
Photos alone cannot convey light quality and neighborhood vibe. If your property has excellent features, you need to show them off. It’s time you consider real estate video marketing to showcase your properties.
Do you remember photography and the advent of internet supercharged MLS networks in the late 1990s? Real estate videography is transforming real estate businesses in the same way.
A recent study suggests that 44 percent of property buyers begin their search online, and 73 percent of sellers list their properties with a realtor who uses video.
Also, half of all real estate brokers say that real estate video marketing is an integral component of their marketing strategy.
Why Is Real Estate Video Marketing So Effective?
Most real estate marketers say that this strategy helps them to do the following:
- Explain various features of a property more clearly. For example, it is easy to show how spacious a house is, the property’s backyard, and other features.
- Video messages sent via social media or email are 40 percent are likely to be opened, 37 percent more likely to be clicked, and 3 times more likely to get a response.
- Real estate video marketing saves time. Once you have made your videos, they can be reshared. Also, you can add new introductions to each video to make old clips sound new.
- Videos allow you to showcase several properties, resolve various questions faster, and cement a personal connection with your target audience.
Who Can Use Real Estate Video Marketing?
Video marketing is also useful for experts in different real estate disciplines. These include:
- Real estate brokers
- Buy-side real estate agents
- Sell-side real estate agents
- Builders
- Architects
- Property inspectors
13 Real Estate Video Marketing Tips You Should Know
Video marketing is an effective way to get high-quality real estate leads and drive business growth. This is because potential property buyers are easily convinced and convert on visual mediums.
Whenever they see the property and get details about it via video content, buyers have fewer questions and doubts. Here are 13 video marketing tips you should know.
1. Send Cold Outreach Videos
Buying or selling a property is such a personal experience. Sending video illustrations and instructions to your target audience can make them trust you more. The videos can grab their attention, and this grants you a perfect opportunity to build a rapport.
Property sellers do less than 3 hours of research, and most of them hire the first real estate agent they meet. Focus on being that fresh face in their email inboxes.
2. Create and Share High Quality Social Media Videos
It is time to cast your net wide by posting high quality videos on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. This can help attract people who are just beginning their search or to advertise a property.
There have been speculations that organic social reach is declining. However, many social algorithms prioritize video content. For example, Instagram video posts get 38 percent more engagements compared to non-video posts. The advantage is about 135% for Facebook videos.
Your real estate marketing videos should:
- Highlight the homes on the market
- Feature properties that you just sold
- Have testimonial videos
- Share your personality and expertise
3. Create Client Testimonial Videos
This is a chance for your happy clients to do your bragging. Make it a habit of requesting them to film a few-minutes video about their property buying or selling journey. They can use their smartphones and simple cameras. Save all these video clips in a single folder. Later, you can compile them into a series of testimonials around themes like property buying and selling.
4. Follow-up Videos
You can send follow-up emails. But video follow-ups are hot and more likely to create further engagements. They don’t take long to record.
These videos can help cement relationships while highlighting the benefits of a specific property. The viewer can also revisit the video later and watch it again.
5. Videos About The Neighborhood
Most photographs of commercial properties are taken at noon on Sundays. That means they’re clear and can make the neighborhood look somehow empty.
Videos can capture a weekday or weekend bustle of the entire neighborhood. People are likely to get more excited about the food truck court, the sheer number of residents who stop to check the ‘coming soon’ sign, and the commuters streaming out of a nearby subway.
Residential property videos work in the same way—capture videos of the nearby school at lunchtime, the playground, and the amazing walkway. Your audience will want to know more.
6. Home Video Tours
Photography works well in advertising a property. Supplement your photos with a few minute video tours to offer your target audience the general feel and flow of the environment.
You don’t need a fancy camera to do this. Use your smartphone camera and walk around explaining various amenities that buyers are interested in. According to most experts, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on your real estate video marketing unless you need high-end videos.
Real estate video marketing pro tip: declutter, fluff the pillows, remove the property owners’ pictures, and shut all closets and doors.
7. Drone Video Tours
Generally, the cost of hiring a drone photographer has dropped over the past half a decade. For instance, footage that cost about $2000 in 2015 now costs $175 or less. Aerial photographs and videos of a property are impressive and add an air of glamor.
8. Real Estate Agent Profile Videos
People are more likely to buy from experts they like. You can successfully pack your value proposition and personality in a simple 30-second video clip. Embed this clip and its high-quality thumbnail image on your email signature.
Use a free video editing software to add your title name and contact details to your video.
9. Informative Real Estate Videos
Use educational videos to make buying and selling of properties easier. Teach your target audience how a deal should go down.
Create and share ‘property buying 101’ video clips. Help first-time property buyers figure out the homes they can afford, get several rate quotas, and related credit report issues. Also, whiteboard the financial advantages of commercial property investment.
10. Property Contract Guides
Nearly all salespeople share a common experience; a prospect gets the property contract and goes dark. If the realtor isn’t there to review the contract in person, you create room for misunderstanding and sticker shock.
Film yourself as you analyze the contract and explain every clause. Your prospects will thank you. After all, no one likes to read through contracts they don’t understand. This can boost your odds of getting a response.
11. AMAs and Live Videos
If you are a commercial broker with niche clients, hold live video sessions on Facebook and other social networks to promote properties or a real estate investment strategy. Platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram have live feature.
One benefit of this feature is that your fans will get a notification that you’re ‘live’ and can join the conversations. Higher engagements on social networks can boost the performance of your real estate video marketing campaigns.
12. Training Videos About Relevant Subjects
One of the best training sessions is an in-person session with an experienced real estate broker. If geography restrict in-person meetings, you can request the broker to record some videos and share them with you.
These short videos could be scripted ‘selling a property 101’ or something interesting along those lines. You can also request senior property sellers to record short video clips before and after meeting a client. They can talk about their selling strategy. This is a huge plus to your real estate video marketing strategy.
13. Recruitment Guides
Video content is also interesting to future real estate agents. Create high-quality videos to show off your corporate culture. Be sure to interview some of the top-performing real estate agents. Also, you can share day-in-the-life stories that are informative to your target audience.
Do You Need a Professional Videographer?
Well, do it yourself until you cannot. Scrappy phone videos are efficient and quick. They can be endearing in a world where nearly all brokerage websites are plastered with highly manicured real estate videos.
Depending on your audience, you can choose professional videography or simple DIY videography. For high-end luxury properties, your audience expects nothing less than excellent videos.
Create Real Estate Videos That Sell
Choose your equipment wisely
Did you know that you can achieve your real estate video marketing objectives using videos recorded using your smartphone? If you need high-end real estate videos, consult with a professional videographer.
A pro tip: Don’t use a fish-eye lens. These lenses can make rooms look bigger online. If the rooms are small, you are setting your prospect up to be disappointed. If your videos attract many visits but only a few close, it’s a waste of time, and real estate video marketing isn’t worth the effort. Just make sure you do it perfectly.
Create a script but don’t ditch your creativity
One of the reasons you should record real estate is to show off your skills and personality. Craft a compelling message that will attract your audience’s attention. When recording these videos, explain everything naturally. The success of your real estate video marketing depends on your creativity.
Dress for your audience
Choose clothing that will make you relatable to your audience. To fans who don’t wear suits often, dressing too nice can be a little alienating. To professionals who prefer suits only, a real estate agent in plaid shorts or flip flops might come across as somewhat unprofessional.
GIFs grab attention
You can add interest to your real estate marketing videos by adding thumbnails that feature an enticing play button. Make these thumbnails an animated GIF of you pointing to something or waving in the background. This can help you get more clicks on your videos.
Wrap Up
When implemented effectively, real estate video marketing can mean more responses, faster deals, more meetings, and more deals in both residential and commercial real estate.
It’s easier to get started with real estate video marketing. Just pick up your phone and start recording.
