There are many reasons to add video to your marketing strategy. The National Association of Realtors shares that “about 85 percent of buyers and sellers prefer video.” Another statistic they publish is that “only about 15 percent of agents are using video marketing.” Wow! We are in a service business. If our clients want something, we should deliver, right? And, just by adding video to your strategy, you move into that 15 percent group that’s providing greater service than the rest.
Yet another important statistic comes from Domain.com: “Video increases real estate listing inquiries by 403 percent.” Who doesn’t want more inquiries on their listings? Again, just by adding video marketing into your strategy, you can benefit by increasing your business, your statistics and your influence. I could probably end this post here because these statistics alone answer the question of why we should all be using video marketing. But, I won’t because there are shortcuts and tips around creating videos for your real estate business that you might be interested to know.
First and foremost, while you do need some hardware to create video, you do not need all the bells and whistles before you begin. The objective is to produce. While hardware such as ring lights, high-end camera equipment, gimbels, stabilizers, tripods and specialty microphones enhance the quality of video, you can begin right now with just your smartphone. Focus on production over perfection. We just need a consistent plan.
Michael Hyatt, author of “Your Best Year Ever” says, “Consistency is better than perfection. We can all be consistent. Perfection is impossible.”
What do we do or say in these videos? First and foremost, we have to introduce ourselves to our audience. This can be as simple as facing the camera and saying, “Hello, I’m Jerome Lewis. I’m a professional real estate agent in Philadelphia and I love working with investors.” Simple, right? If you have a specific area you are farming, you could say, “Hey there neighbors in Park Estates. I’m Jerome Lewis–a real estate professional who knows neighborhood values. What are your real estate questions? I’ll get you answers!”
From this point on, record videos that answer the most common questions you get asked. Intersperse these informational videos with simple greetings, showing your personality and your daily life. Be authentic and try to keep your videos under a minute in length. When you keep them short, if you don’t like something, you only need a minute to re-record. There’s no editing required. And more people will watch them to the end.
Some of the important don’ts are:
- Don’t over complicate your messages. Stick to a single topic in each video.
- Don’t make every video about real estate.
- Don’t be pushy.
- Don’t be inconsistent.
If you feel like you’re running out of things to say, ask your audience. “What do you want to learn about today?” “What questions do you have about real estate in the Philadelphia market?” Because of the vast geographical area covered by eXp agents, you could even ask, “What do you want to know about real estate in Portugal or Australia? I have connections there and will get you answers.” How cool is that?
Remember when apps started getting popular? The catch phrase became “there’s an app for that.” With consistent production of videos, you’ll soon be answering questions with “I have a video for that” and send out links left and right.
Another key point about using video is this: Video increases retention. I’ve heard that video marketing reduces your subscriber opt-outs by 75 percent. Your followers stick with you for a longer time than with agents who only send out or post words.
Use free social media platforms such as YouTube to host your videos. Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn all let you post videos, too. Be prepared to send links to them in your email messages. With every posting or message that goes out, encourage viewers to comment or reply. Say, “Do me a favor if you’re watching the video and comment below.” You’ll be surprised at the level of interaction you can create.
When we show them what we’re doing and provide expert answers to their questions, we enhance our value in the marketplace.
With video marketing, you stand out. With video content, you appear more human. We are all humans and we all connect emotionally, socially. Video helps us magnify that connection. We’re in a business where agents aren’t necessarily well-respected. Some people assume we do very little work compared to the money we make on transactions. When we show them what we’re doing and provide expert answers to their questions, we enhance our value in the marketplace. So just by employing video marketing into your strategy, you can benefit and increase your business, increase your statistics, increase your influence. Get in that habit of actually producing and creating video content.
What if you mess up? I post my bloopers. And you know what? That is the content that people appreciate the most. You don’t have to come off as being perfect. Just get the message out there, and people are not concerned with you stuttering or messing up, or making a mistake once in a while. It’s okay to stutter; it’s okay to mess up. You’re human and that makes people identify with you a little bit better.
Your videos will get better over time. Imagine if you can improve by one percent with each video. That’s our objective here. The objective is not to be perfect from the first video. It’s to constantly improve. Mistakes are authentic and relatable.
The biggest thing that holds us back from success is ourselves.
Stop letting excuses hold you back from success. I like to tell those who come to my classes that we need to get off our assets. We are our biggest critics. The biggest thing that holds us back from success is ourselves. Let the statistics at the top of this post inspire you to take action and be consistent. Imperfect consistency beats perfect inconsistency every time.