As a real estate agent video should be a very important part of your overall marketing strategy. If you?re not already using video then you need to start. If you are using video then here are 4 tips to get more out of it.
Film these 3 Must-Have Types of Video (Plus One Bonus Type)
There are three main types of video that you absolutely must focus on (and a bonus).
Listing Videos
Most if not all of your marketing efforts are designed to bring people to your website where they will browse your property listings.
In general the listings on every company?s website look pretty much the same. You often don?t have too much control over how these pages look.
One of the best ways you can make your listings stand out is with video.
Listing videos are so important in fact that they?re no longer an option. At the very least you need to put together a video slideshow of your photos.
Adding videos to your listing pages is guaranteed to increase engagement, time on site and the number of leads you receive.
A Value Proposition Video
Your clients are looking for an agent they can trust just as much as they?re looking for a home to fall in love with.
One of the best ways to build trust with potential clients is through a value proposition video.
Think about what makes you special and what you can do differently than other agents. Then film a quick video explaining who you are and why you?re the best choice to do business with.
Video Testimonials
Video testimonials are one of the best way to increase trust with potential clients.
People trust other people. Seeing a testimonial from someone who?s had such a good experience that they?re willing to make it public in a video is huge!
Written testimonials are definitely great to have but video communicates so much more.
Visual queues and body language say way more than text ever can. Video is almost as good as seeing the person in front of them in real life.
Don?t forget that people are searching for reviews of you and your business before they contact you.
Videos on sites such as YouTube get sort of an unofficial SEO boost. Because if this it?s very easy to get your testimonials in front of people when they?re doing their research online.
Bonus: Lead Follow-Up Videos
When people submit leads through third party websites they usually get contacted by more than one agent.
Even if they contact you through your own website they?re probably also contacting several other agents as well.
Most email responses are obvious templates and automated replies that won?t impress anyone.
Sending a personalized video email however makes you stand out and creates a fantastic impression.
Furthermore video emails see a 200% to 300% higher click-through rate and get 80% more replies.
Instead of typing out a reply pull out your smartphone and film a quick video reply and send that instead.
Exposure is Important
If no one sees your videos then there isn?t much point making them is there?
It?s very important to get your videos out to as many different websites as possible.
When it comes to uploading videos to the Internet you?re going to have to decide how to host them.
If you host them on your own website it?s going to use up a lot of server space and bandwidth. It?s definitely easier to use a third party service, the best one probably being YouTube.
You can upload your videos in full HD resolution to YouTube and easily embed them on your website, social media sites and other real estate marketplace sites.
The more locations you can post your videos the more traffic you?ll receive.
Search engine optimization is also very important for your videos. Videos on sites like YouTube or Vimeo get a sort of unofficial preference in Google?s search results.
By properly optimizing your video?s title, description and tags it?s quite easy to get it to rank.
Think about what people are searching for and optimize around those keywords. You can also get creative and by titling your video something like ?happy customer has no complaints? you can easily have your testimonials show up when clients search for your business name and the keyword ?complaints?.
Keep the Length of Your Videos Short
None of your videos should be any longer than 2 to 2.5 minutes. 1 to 2 minutes is probably ideal for most kinds of video. Skip any sort of introduction and get straight to the point as fast as you can.
Studies have shown that if you break a longer video up into smaller segments and name the first segment ?Introduction?, 47% of viewers will skip that video.
Most people just assume intros are boring and useless.
Video can easily be skipped. If you don?t provide value within the first 20 seconds some people might skip ahead but a lot will stop watching completely.
The Quality Needs to Be There
People no longer tolerate amateur looking videos any more. You don?t need to be a video editing master but you definitely need to avoid mistakes like:
- Not filming in HD
- Filming with a smartphone and holding it vertically, not horizontally
- Shaky video
- Bad or difficult to hear audio
- Text overlays that are difficult to read
Pretty much every single camera now has the ability to film in 1080p HD. There?s no excuse to not film in HD, especially since sites like YouTube support HD and so many devices have large or retina screens now.
Filming a quick video with a smartphone is ok but make sure you hold the phone horizontally, not vertically.
If you hold your phone vertically to record a video and upload it to a site like YouTube giant black bars will be added to each side. This screams that you?re an amateur and no one will take you seriously.
It?s a good idea to invest in a simple tripod or even just rest the camera on some kind of stand. Shaky video is another thing that screams that you?re an amateur.
Also think about investing in a simple mic to record your audio. There are many mics that simply clip onto the top of a camera and are more than good enough.
Also avoid filming outdoors where it?s noisy or there?s a lot of wind.
Another rookie mistake is using text overlaid on top of your video that?s hard to read. There are tons of easy to use video editing apps out there and pretty much all of them will allow you to add text over your video.
Text can be used to highlight features, show your contact information, etc. Make sure it?s easy to read. It?s generally best to use white text no matter what?s going on in the background. If possible blur or darken the background a bit to make the text stand out even more.
Email Still Ranks as the #1 Digital Marketing Channel