Oh My GAWD. ANOTHER real estate video on YouTube. Let me rephrase that… another HORRIBLE real estate video on YouTube. This time it wasn’t a SHAKEY property video. It wasn’t a real estate video with BAD audio. It wasn’t even a real estate video of a real estate agent talking about how AWESOME he or she thinks they are. Nope. This real estate video was about the Phoenix housing market, a housing market update video.
The real estate agent had the best intentions and yet it was ALL wrong. Folks, there is a right way and a WRONG way to make a housing market update video. In case you are new to this website allow me to introduce myself. I’m Stephen Garner, AKA “MyTitleGuy”, Director of Sales Technology for Grand Canyon Title in Phoenix Arizona and a real estate video aficionado.
I started using video in my real estate business 4 years ago. If you have been to any of my real estate marketing classes, you have heard me say that I have made every mistake in the book when it comes to real estate video. Yes, I am no stranger to what NOT to do. You name a mistake and I likely made it. These “mistakes” made me better, they made me a better teacher and they gave me a certain level of authority in the real estate space when it comes to using video in real estate. Today real estate agents from around the world (Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, UK – even Scotland) contact me regarding using video in real estate.
@mytitleguy Great YouTube vids Stephen, u can now add Scotland to your watched list. Will email you in morning
— GSB Properties (@gsbproperties) April 4, 2013
Our technology team at Grand Canyon Title teaches and trains real estate agents HOW to use real estate video: property videos, green screen, screencast, visual stories and more.
So, let me tell you 14 ways NOT to make a real estate video. Ready?
- Sit in a poorly lit room
- Don’t use a microphone
- Sit too close to the webcam
- talk about the Phoenix housing market but…
- Don’t use any statistics or evidence to support your position
- just hold a white piece of paper and reference it (without showing it to the viewer)
- Be monotone and not at all engaging or even interesting
- Make your real estate video over 3 minutes long
- Say Um’s and Ah’s and “Like – A LOT”
- Don’t make eye contact regularly with the webcam
- Don’t use music
- Don’t EDIT the Video – at all
- Be SALESEY
- Use a crappy closing like “find me on Facebook”.
OK, now that you know what NOT to do, let me give you an idea of what a good housing market update video can look like. Meet Lydia Wietsma, a REALTOR® with Red Brick Realty in Mesa, Arizona. Lydia has clients that regularly ask her about the housing market in Phoenix. What better way to educate them than with a video? Lydia knows consumers prefer video. She knows video is more engaging, is better for education, is fast, uses more of our emotions and ranks better in search engines like Google than text alone. Lydia came to see me today and we made the housing market update video below. Take a look again at the 14 ways not to make a housing market update video and then watch Lydia’s market update below.
Did you notice the difference?
- Lydia is not even in the video – the attention goes to the data
- She used a USB condenser mic
- She used a Screencast program
- She asked a question
- She made a claim
- She demonstrated something
- She allowed the MLS to validate her position
- She kept her video short
- It was edited
- She used a call to action
- She included music
- She didn’t SELL
The best real estate videos educate and inform without being salesey. The best real estate videos are interesting and use visual calls to action to move the video or story along. The best real estate videos provide some kind of value. If you are currently using video in your real estate business or you plan to, you will want your real estate videos to provide some kind of value for the consumer. Value starts with making real estate videos that consumers want to see. Videos that help them solve a problem or make them smarter. If you are a real estate professional in Phoenix and would like help creating real estate videos that help differentiate you from your competition, please fill out the form below. We can help
