You may be considering video marketing and wondering if it is even worth it if you already have other marketing tactics in place. Is it just flashy? Do people even care? Well, according to Cisco, by 2020, 82% of all web traffic will be video consumption. And according to a Hubspot study, the average internet user watches 1.5 hours of video per day. Video marketing is big and it is only projected to get bigger. To stay on top of this trend, you must be creating good video content and being strategic with your posting strategy.

Sharing Expertise

As an all-star Realtor, you have a lot of insight to offer potential clients. Informational videos giving tips to your followers are a great way to not only show off your expertise but also to generate leads. People want to hire reliable professionals who are knowledgeable about their field. Video allows you to position yourself as an expert while at the same time, letting your personality shine! Without looking like a know-it-all, you can present your expertise in a way that is framed as helpful to viewers.

These videos can be Q & A, where your followers pose questions they have about real estate or you can do a video series where you cover a certain topic over multiple videos over a period of time. The latter is especially effective as it allows you to generate excitement and build a loyal following.

Videos About Your Personal Brand

Think about the people around you who you trust the most - they are likely the people you know best! People who you have learned a lot about, whose motivations you know, and who have willingly shared about themselves. These key characteristics of trustworthiness in close relationships are the same that add great value to professional relationships as well, such as the one between Realtor and client.

In a personal brand video, you are essentially introducing yourself. Who are you? Do you have a family? Why did you decide to become a Realtor? What are your passions? WIllingly offering information about yourself to potential clients gives way to an appreciated degree of transparency. Use video to build up your personal brand in a way that makes you appealing to clients while maintaining a degree of personal flair.

Videos About Events You Have Hosted or Participated In

This kind of video is helpful for two different groups of people. First, there are those who actively follow you and your career in real estate. They come to a lot of the events that you promote in the community, and they even may have come to a few open houses. When they cannot attend an event, they are still interested in what it was like and how it went. It is important to update people who are invested in what you are invested in. This makes people feel actively involved in what you are doing and up-to-date on your career, which is essential to maintain interest and valuable relationships.

The second group of people that these videos are helpful for is people who are afraid of the unknown. This may sound dramatic, but you know you’ve been in the same boat like when your work friend has invited you to a party that was nothing like what you expected and scarred you from ever attending a work friend’s party again. It is just like that. People want to know what they are getting themselves into. So, if there is an organization that you actively participate in, such as a local charity or an intramural team, then you can post videos about it encouraging involvement any time you participate. You can also post videos before your open houses giving a mini-tour of the home and the set up of the open house. People will feel more comfortable attending something that they know a little bit about.

Testimonials

Much like the Personal Brand video, this type of video also promotes trust. Whenever you are looking to buy a new product, you likely make your way to the reviews before you purchase it. Testimonials are like your product reviews. You may feel awkward asking for your past clients to give a testimonial about their experience with you, but people love to talk about things and people that they love. Pick a few clients you have a good relationship with and ask them to give a testimonial.

It is important that you make it very easy for people to give a video testimonial. You can either have them send you a video of their experience and you can edit them all together, or you can set up a convenient time and place for them to come and give a quick blurb about their experience.

Best Platforms for Video Content

So you know some types of good video content, but where do you film and post these videos? We will discuss the best major platforms.

Facebook

Video content on Facebook is gaining popularity by the second. Video is currently the most engaging form of content on the platform according to a Social Media Today article. With Facebook is the social platform with widest demographic range, so it only makes sense to try and get the most engagement possible from your audience. Longer videos and or video series are great to post to your Facebook feed as people are engaging more and more with long-form content on Facebook. Facebook stories are better for shorter form content or for real-time content, such as a live Q & A session, or a tour of an open house.

Youtube

Repurpose your long-form content for Youtube. While your target audience is likely not in the demographic that spends hours scrolling on Youtube, they are likely on a number of social media platforms that can be posted to directly from Youtube.

After recording or uploading a video to Youtube, it is very easy to share it to any social media platform or embed the link in an email. Youtube is a great platform to add a series of videos about a certain real estate topic which you can then make into a “Playlist” so people can easily find the full series grouped together on your page.

Instagram

Instagram is best for short content videos. You can use stories, live videos, or just post a video to your profile. Other than the live video, the other video content forms have time limits on Instagram. When users log onto Instagram, they expect snippets of content that they can consume at a fast and convenient rate. Therefore, it will be harder to maintain the attention of users for long-form video content on Instagram.

Instagram is great for posting short testimonials from individual clients or much like Facebook stories, mini-tours of listings or a call-to-action to come out to a community event. Instagram is more for things happening in real-time and less for things that people want to come back to and watch weeks later, such as an educational video about a real estate topic.

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