The Growing Importance of Video in Real Estate Marketing
The indispensability of videos in real estate marketing needs no emphasis.
Videos are engaging, results-oriented, and highly customizable to a specific property or region. They are an effective marketing tool to capture and hold the attention of property buyers. A short video enables a prospective buyer to see the neighborhood, the property landscape, the interior design, and every unique feature.
A compelling property video can get a prospect to trust and believe what they see, persuading them to make a decision.
The Benefits of Using Video to Showcase Homes in the Kansas City Market
Videos are an easy way to win buyers’ trust. Across platforms, video has become the most favored medium for consuming information. Hence, a property presented with a visually impressive video can attract more potential buyers.
Printed brochures and static images can only work to a limited extent. But real estate marketing videos can answer all the questions in the minds of prospects in a simple and straightforward manner.
According to the National Association of Realtors’ Broker Information Package, an enormous 73 percent of homeowners prefer to list with a real estate agent offering to do a video. The sad truth is that, however, only 10 percent of agents create listing videos.
Therefore, the best way to promote your brand is to do real estate photography.
This in-depth blog post will provide practical tips for realtors using videos in their listings.
Types of Real Estate Videos
A. Overview of the Different Types of Real Estate Videos
Creating the right type of videos can help your brand stand out in the crowded real estate market. Also, videos can drive a 200 to 250 percent increase in website traffic, attracting more leads and buyers.
Videos that get the highest engagement and business inquiries include property tours, neighborhood highlights, and agent introductions. Focus on creating a variety of real estate videos for marketing that will enhance your brand.
B. The Purpose and Advantages of Each Type
1. Property Tours
These are possibly the most common types of real estate marketing videos. They enable interested prospects to virtually walk through a property, feeling its layout and features. Their experience is similar to being physically present in the space, creating an emotional connection.
A property tour video is an effective filtering process for prospects. They can avoid disappointment and save valuable time and money by not traveling to a property that’s not to their liking.
The time-saving principle works in the favor of realtors, as well. They don’t need to show a property multiple times to uninterested prospects. Realtors can instead focus their efforts on prospects who have seen the property, virtually liked it, and intend to move forward with the purchase.
Property tour videos can be especially useful for properties occupied by tenants and the ones located in remote areas.
2. Neighborhood Highlights
Creating a neighborhood highlights video presents you with the perfect opportunity to beat the competition, demonstrate your expertise, and enhance your brand’s credibility.
The advantage of this type of video is it presents the neighborhood surrounding the property in the best light, focusing on amenities, recreational options, local attractions, parks, schools, restaurants, and other community favorites.
A neighborhood highlights video gives a prospect a virtual tour of the community. It provides instant value and is truly worth their time, as they don’t need to step out of their home. In this filtering process, prospects who are fussy about the neighborhood can avoid disappointment and save valuable time.
3. Agent Introductions
An Agent Introduction or About Me video puts a face to the brand that a realtor has strived to build. Both homeowners and home buyers love agent introduction videos because they create a personal connection with a real person
Realtors can use agent introduction videos on all their internet platforms. These videos also enable them to demonstrate their expertise, strengths, and prior accomplishments—all crucial factors in building a lasting business relationship.
About Me videos can save prospects a lot of time, as they can help them understand whether the realtor’s services are the best fit for their specific needs.
Tips for Creating Compelling Property Tour Videos
A. The Key Elements of a Successful Property Tour Video
In marketing videos for real estate, crisp and clear visuals are vital, as they can make a property stand apart from the others.
An engaging property tour video will highlight its unique features, such as a spanking new swimming pool, a spectacular view, a welcoming living room with lots of natural light, or a remodeled family bathroom.
A property tour video is successful only when it can create an emotional connection with a prospective buyer. In other words, the intimate storytelling element of the video must compel prospects to visualize their life in that space.
B. Tips on Showcasing Both Interior and Exterior Features Effectively
Showcasing the interior features of an empty property is a huge challenge, as it can feel bare and unwelcoming. Hence, staging a property—virtual or physical—gives prospective buyers a sense of what it would feel like to live there. When done right, home staging gives a perfect sense of scale during the video tour of the property.
For instance, a prospect will get a clear idea of the size of the bed that will fit in the master bedroom. Likewise, they can visualize the size of the various furniture pieces that will fit in the living room.
Use a script that explains the main features of the property. Hire a professional voiceover artist to add the narrative to the virtual tour. The narrative should include key details, such as the square footage, the main features, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
The best way to showcase the outdoor areas is to accentuate the patios, balconies, landscaping, seating areas, gardens, and other unique features. Focus on minimizing the flaws.
If the property has remodeling potential, consider creating a virtual tour that showcases the possibilities.
C. The Importance of Good Lighting and Camera Angles
Good Lighting
Using natural light and multiple camera angles plays a decisive role in showcasing properties to capture the attention of prospective buyers.
There can be an inconsistent video experience if some rooms have adequate natural lighting, but others don’t. Ensure consistent lighting throughout the property by opening the curtains. Turn on the lights if necessary. While natural light is sufficient to brighten the property interiors, too much light can wash out colors.
Keep an eye on the weather forecast before capturing the property video. For best results, capture outdoor video on a sunny day, as the video might turn out gloomy if captured on a cloudy day.
Camera Angles
1. Establishing Shot
This camera angle should be used at the beginning of a property video, as it sets the scene and provides context. An establishing shot will capture a wide-angle shot, showing the entire property.
2. Panning Shot
A panning shot is effective and easy to implement. It necessitates rotating or moving the camera a wee bit horizontally. This angle can be used to showcase different features in a room or show the whole room from one end to the other.
3. Tilting Shot
A tilt is similar to a pan. The camera is rotated vertically, keeping the horizontal plane level. This camera angle is useful for highlighting the height of ceilings, spotlighting tall structures like stairs, or capturing architectural details.
A tilting shot is also effective in showing a large window from the floor to the ceiling or a fireplace from the top to the bottom.
4. Static Shot
It’s the simplest of all camera angles, as it doesn’t involve any movement. The camera is mounted on a tripod and remains stationary. The shot allows prospects to take in the scene with minimal distraction.
5. Reveal Shot
As the name implies, a reveal shot involves the gradual unveiling of a subject or space inside a room. An element of surprise awaits the viewer. A reveal shot is used to show a fireplace, grand staircase, or any other impressive feature in the property.
Highlighting Neighborhoods and Community Amenities
A neighborhood highlights video tour is one of the best marketing videos for real estate. It’s not only an effective way to promote your brand but also relatively inexpensive to make.
A. How Can Videos Be Used to Showcase the Surrounding Neighborhoods?
Before creating a neighborhood highlights video, plan your route meticulously. Opt for one that has minimal traffic and distractions.
Prepare a short script with the main talking points along these lines:
• Location of the neighborhood and its borders
• The kind of people to whom it would appeal the most
• Average residences
• Resident demographics
• Local vibe and lifestyle
• Amenities and things to do
• Educational institutions
Capture the video in clear weather, covering all the vital aspects of the neighborhood. Pass through essential local amenities, restaurants, healthcare facilities, and central/downtown areas.
B. The Significance of Featuring Local Amenities, Schools, Parks, and Attractions
Few properties exist in a vacuum.
A fine blend of safety, community, and accessibility is what makes a good neighborhood. Easy access to schools and convenient leisure facilities in the neighborhood can make a decisive difference in people’s quality of life and sense of community.
In this context, it’s fair to say that a prospective homebuyer is not just considering buying a house. They’re also looking to enter a new community. Hence, from their perspective, before finalizing the purchase, it makes perfect sense to have a thorough understanding of all the amenities they can quickly access once they settle down in the local community.
Crafting a Personalized Agent Introduction Video
A. Tips to Create a Welcoming and Professional Introduction
An introduction video can increase the popularity of your brand and help more potential clients find your business.
Consider the different elements of the About Us page on your business website. Your introduction video could be along similar lines.
Prepare a short script that includes the following talking points:
• Your entry into the real estate industry
• The reason you love your work
• Your background, certifications, and achievements
• The neighborhoods you operate in
• The specific niche you specialize in
• Your core values
• Your hobbies and interests
• Your team members
Speaking in a natural and engaging tone is a point of great importance. Remember, you’ll never get a second chance at making a great first impression.
B. Using Personal Anecdotes and Insights to Connect with Potential Buyers
In a relationship-based business like real estate, nothing can be more off-putting than going on and on about your exceptional academic record, professional achievements, and previous sales. While all these details are important, it’s best to squeeze them into a few sentences.
Instead, focus on showing a genuine personality. Add an element of storytelling and humanize your brand. Speak about what drew you to the real estate industry and how you can help prospective clients. Discuss the aspects of your daily work that you love.
Check out some introduction videos of successful realtors in your niche and take inspiration from them.
Utilizing Aerial and Drone Footage
Drone footage of properties adds immense value. Drone technology has also simplified the task of getting hard-to-capture angles for real estate videos.
A. The Impact of Aerial Views in Real Estate Videos
Aerial footage presents an instant wow factor to your brand. While aerial views of properties can be awe-inspiring, they can also help show off your brand’s tech knowledge.
Drone videos can help you create more captivating listings. While prospective buyers can focus better on the property, they can also get a decent view of the entire neighborhood.
A video walkthrough isn’t enough to accurately convey the dimensions of a property, the size of the backyard, or the appearance of nearby properties. But an aerial view is different. It describes the big picture to perfection.
B. Tips on Incorporating Drone Footage for a Unique Perspective
The major advantage of drone photography is it allows you to play with angles. Hence, you must come up with creative angles that can help you capture photographs of each property in attention-grabbing ways.
Take shots of the best features of the exterior of the house—such as a swimming pool, lush landscaping, contrasting garage doors, or wraparound porch—as it typically makes a lasting first impression.
Planning your shots in advance and storyboarding the property video will ensure you create an engaging final product that transitions smoothly.
Video Editing Tips for Realtors
A. The Importance of Concise and Engaging Videos
In today’s time-poor world, a long-winded video isn’t going to keep your target audience interested. On the contrary, a short and engaging video can increase the reach and visibility of your brand. As a result, you can grow your audience and get your message across more effectively.
The best way to connect with your prospective clients in a cost-effective way is to create short, visually appealing videos. With people’s attention span dropping drastically in the current digital age, you can count on short videos to make the highest impact.
B. Basic Video Editing Tips and Editing Software Recommendations
Video editors play a decisive role in the success—or failure—of real estate video marketing. The following are some basic video editing tips to create a highly engaging video:
1. Make the video footage more engaging by adding special effects and text, but take care not to overdo it.
2. Maintain a logical sequence and continuity throughout—ensure it’s more like a natural walkthrough of the property.
3. Choose the best angles for each room.
4. Keep up a steady narrative flow to retain visual interest.
5. Use a subtle variation of close-up, wide, and medium shots.
6. Incorporate royalty-free background music from YouTube’s audio library.
7. Keep the videos short—2 to 3 minutes.
Video Editing Software Recommendations
1. Adobe Premiere Pro
2. Synthesia.io
3. Wondershare
4. Movavi Video Editor
5. CyberLink PowerDirector
Mobile Optimization and Social Media
A. The Importance of Mobile-Friendly Videos
In today’s device-driven lifestyle, more and more prospective clients view real estate videos through their smartphones. Hence, you’ll need to create mobile-friendly videos to reach your target audience.
The increased reliance on mobile devices has resulted in videos becoming the most favored format for content consumption on the go. Viewing and sharing videos on smartphones is simple, making them accessible to a broader audience.
The most important factor working in favor of videos is their audiovisual nature, making it easier for prospective clients to absorb and retain information. Mobile-friendly videos can also improve search rankings, as most search engine algorithms rank mobile-friendly content higher.
B. Strategies for Promoting Videos on Popular Social Media Platforms
Popular social media platforms allow you to promote the most relevant real estate videos to specific demographics and locations. Use this highly refined targeting feature to ensure your videos reach the right people. With this strategy, you’ll make the best use of your advertising budget by focusing solely on your target audience.
Social sharing is a vital factor in increasing video engagement and visibility. When videos are shared on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube, you will expand your reach and attract more prospects. Hence, you must encourage viewers to like and share your videos, as that would be instrumental in increasing their visibility and reach.
A visually appealing thumbnail can drive more views. Another effective strategy to increase the visibility of videos in search results is to identify relevant keywords and add them to the video titles, alt tags, and descriptions.
Metrics and Analytics
Metrics and analytics help you understand how your videos are performing.
A. How Can Realtors Track the Performance of Their Videos?
To track the performance of your videos, you’ll need to understand the following key video metrics first:
1. Views/view count: The number of times your video was seen.
2. Impressions: The number of times your video loaded or showed up on a page.
3. Play rate: The number of views divided by the number of impressions.
4. Video watch time: The average time viewers spent watching your video.
5. Video engagement: Likes, comments, shares, etc.
6. Clicks/Click-Through Rate: The number of clicks divided by the percentage of viewers who clicked on the CTA in the video.
B. The Importance of Analyzing Metrics to Refine Video Marketing Strategies
Being a technology frontrunner can work in the favor of your brand.
Analytics gives you all the information you need about the videos that are most popular and the ones that have the highest engagement levels. All you need to do is look at this data.
You can then use this data to refine your video marketing strategies. For instance, when potential buyers are interested in a specific type of home or condo, you can create more listing videos of similar properties for sale.
Paid advertising in social media is another effective strategy to target your best prospective clients directly.
Conclusion
This detailed blog post is a comprehensive guide for realtors looking to leverage video in their real estate marketing efforts in Kansas City.
In the intensely competitive real estate marketing videos universe, videos are a powerful tool that can drive engagement and generate business. These videos can also promote your brand across a variety of social media platforms by establishing authority and building trust with prospective clients. When done right, videos can be priceless assets that elevate your brand.
Obviously, marketing videos for real estate play a decisive role in connecting with potential buyers and selling homes. Therefore, it’s mandatory for realtors to create high-quality, engaging videos for their success.
Contact The Perfect Spot for You real estate photography and videography services for spectacular videos. We help you incorporate video and aerial video photography into your marketing strategies anywhere in Kansas City.