A Complete Real Estate Video Marketing Guide: The 5 Fundamentals

Success in real estate has always been about staying connected with your target market and the local community. Now, much of that communication has shifted to the digital realm. 

Did you know that 73% of homeowners are more likely to hire a real estate agent that uses video vs. one who doesn’t? Or that real estate listings with video receive 403% more inquiries than those which do not include video?

These are big numbers, and yet only 9% of real estate agents are actively using video in their marketing strategy. Talk about a huge missed opportunity!

If you’re ready to make the jump into the video realm, keep reading. This post will break down exactly what you need to do to create an effective real estate video marketing strategy that brings more leads in the door and helps you close more deals than ever before.

Step 1:  Gather Relevant And Hyperlocal Real Estate Content Ideas

Content is king in video marketing (and all marketing for that matter). You can’t expect to just throw together random videos and attract any sort of following from it. 

Your video content needs to be engaging, click-worthy, and most importantly, connect with your target audience. 

Here are a handful of content paths you can try out:

• • Address your prospect pain points
    Speaking directly to the needs wants, and desires of your target audience is a great way to get people engaged. As you know, there are tons of common struggles that buyers and sellers have to deal with in real estate. Lost opportunities, price negotiations, running open houses, how hard it is to find a dream home, etc. When you address their pain points directly, you’re communicating that you understand what they’re going through and can help them get what they want. These are great for building credibility and trust.

• • Interpreting and analyzing market data
    Most people aren’t up-to-date with the latest trends in the real estate industry, or even their local community for that matter. The idea here is to analyze current market data, trends, new developments, or industry statistics and present them to your followers in a way that they can connect with. People interested in real estate are always on the hunt for easily digestible videos that teach them about the market. If you can synthesize confusing data into bite-sized videos for people, they’re going to engage with you.
  • Interview industry experts – Podcasts are quickly becoming one of the most popular content mediums. There’s something about long-form conversations that’s innate to the human experience. We love to listen to knowledgeable people talk about what they do best. Interviewing real estate experts is a fantastic way to bring more eyes to your brand. These experts typically have a following of their own, giving you a bit of cross-promotion. That increased exposure, along with guaranteed A+ content makes these interviews a fantastic way to expand your video content.

Tom Ferry is an excellent example of someone who actually activates his network to bring value to his show, his guests, and his audience.

Don’t worry about bringing groundbreaking guests – anyone serving in your local businesses will have industry-unique insights about the market.

If you need more ideas, check out this article we wrote about the 9 real estate videos you should absolutely produce (or at least bookmark it for later!).

Step 2:  Choose Your Platforms

Seems like every week there’s a new platform making its way into our lives.  Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok… the list goes on and on. As you’re developing your real estate video marketing strategy, it’s important that you carefully select the platforms you’re going to use, and know the benefits of each.

Let’s break down each of the most common platforms and their uses in the real estate market.

• Facebook – Many real estate agents have been using Facebook Live to promote their listings, host Q&A sessions, and even conduct virtual open houses.  It’s often hard for people to travel around to different open houses, so offering yours on Facebook Live will give all your listings more exposure. There are over 221 million Facebook users in the United States and over 75% of them are older than 25-years-old.

Odds are that most people who are looking to buy a home have a Facebook account, so it’s a tried-and-true platform to connect with your target market. The Jesse Peters Team has been killing it with their Facebook videos. Jesse himself is an exciting host as Mr. Social Savvy and brings house tours to life despite communicating with his audience through a screen.

They also produced some awesome hyperlocal videos in the form of their web series ‘Our 30 Favourite Places in 30 Days’ which follows the team to their favorite diners, shopping strips, and historical parks in the city.

• Instagram – Instagram began as strictly a place to share photos with friends.  But now it’s grown into so much more.  You can publish IGTV videos, go live, or share video content on your stories.
  
  It’s a great platform for showcasing your listings or running virtual tours, but also to infuse a bit of personality into your real estate business. For example, Joyce Rey is a top real estate agent based in Los Angeles who uses Instagram in a super effective way.

She used her Instagram highlights brilliantly, showcasing clips and still photos of various properties neatly filed into their respective reels. All prospects have to do is tap and swipe to experience Joyce’s properties.

Want to see more of how top-producing agents harness the power of Instagram? Check out our article on the top real estate Instagram accounts to follow.

• YouTube – When it comes to video content, YouTube is the clear industry leader.  With 2 billion active monthly users it gives anyone the potential to reach a HUGE market. 

  YouTube is great for anything and everything you can showcase with video.  From posting listing walk-throughs to topic-specific webinars and interviews, YouTube is fantastic as the cornerstone of your real estate video marketing strategy. 

  Here are a few YouTube channel building tips:

1. Include CTA cards on your videos to make it easy for people to click through to your brokerage page.
2. Encourage engagement by responding to user comments and questions.
3. Again, content is king, so make sure your videos are engaging, interesting, and informative.

If you’re looking for some inspiration on building a successful YouTube channel, check out Loida Velasquez’s channel.

Loida’s a member of Team BC along with team leader and fellow real estate YouTuber Bryan Casella. She does house tours, listing videos, and even day-in-the-life videos where we get to see her in action at Team BC headquarters or on the road.

Guys, that’s 117,000 views. If you think nobody’s interested in your ‘behind-the-scenes’ as some boring real estate agent… You probably haven’t heard of Million Dollar Listing!

• Snapchat – While Snapchat has a younger audience, it’s very popular among millennials and younger people looking to enter the real estate market.  Establishing a presence on Snapchat can be a great way to differentiate yourself from older agents and be relevant to younger generations of buyers.
  
  Like Instagram, it’s as simple as downloading an app on your phone and sharing relevant content whenever you can. 
  Another benefit of Snapchat is that you can use Geofilters to create hyperlocal content that only reaches people in the areas you want to target. 
• TikTok – Gary Vee is a well-known serial entrepreneur who highly recommends TikTok as a marketing tool for all businesses.  He recommends posting several times per day because the more content you create, the more people will see your content, and the more opportunities you’ll have to build a following.
  

TikTok is exclusively a short-form video platform, so you can use it to drop tidbits of industry knowledge, share exciting news, or showcase the features of your listings.

Step 3: Plan Your Real Estate Content Creation Strategy

As with any effective marketing strategy, planning is key. The better you plan out your real estate video marketing roadmap, the easier it’ll be to manage, and the more success you’ll have building a following.

So before you create any video content, it’s important to be clear on a few key things:

• Know your audience – Marketing to millennials buying their first home is very different from marketing to real estate investors with a high net worth. Assess your current business and figure out who your target audience is so you can create engaging content that speaks to them directly.
• What video content you’d like to create – Are you a natural interviewer? A bit camera shy? Have content creation experience already? Doing video walkthroughs of your listings is much simpler than conducting long-form interviews or webinars. That said, each has its benefits so it’s best to think about the types of videos you’d like to create and build a strategy around that.
• Set clear goals – Goal setting will help you keep your video content strategy on track.  When you have a clear target that you’re after, it’s much easier to plan and develop a strategy that gets you where you want to be. 

Once you’re clear on your target audience, goals, and video content type it’s time to build out a plan. If you need any specific gear – like lighting equipment or a new camera – that’s a good first step.  You could also consider hiring an experienced videographer, but that’d require a bigger investment over the long run.

Since real estate is a fast-paced business, the more you can put your content strategy on auto-pilot, the better. There are ways to streamline your content creation so that you don’t have to spend much time managing it every day.

Here are a few ideas:

• Shoot a month’s worth of videos in a day
  Setting aside a day specifically for video content is a great way to get ahead. You could spend the whole day shooting a range of different videos for your business including listing walkthroughs, industry updates, an interview with another agent… whatever you’ve chosen to focus on with your content.

Building up a Rolodex of content that you can pull up in seconds whenever you need to makes the whole process a lot easier.

• Create a content release calendar – Scheduling your video content releases helps to stay organized and ensure that you stay consistent over time. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of phone calls, client meetings, and bookkeeping of real estate that you simply forget to publish content. A calendar will keep you on track.
• Consider using automation software to publish – Most social media platforms have the potential to automate uploads and posts on a specified schedule. Check out this list we compiled of 45 FREE real estate marketing resources including automation tools.

Step 4: Lights, Camera, Action!

Alright, now’s the time to put everything we covered into action.  Something I want to emphasize upfront is that you don’t need any fancy equipment to start creating effective video content. 

Many of the top real estate agents, with a fantastic online presence today, started with whatever they had in the beginning.  Your video content will never be perfect, nor does it have to be to succeed. 

Take a look at a couple of early videos from some of the biggest names in the business. Let’s start off with Tom Ferry, one of the most influential real estate coaches in the world today:

Tom Ferry (Tom Ferry – Your Coach), 2009 – “Using Video: Let’s Get Into the Game Real Estate Agents.”

Tom Ferry (Tom Ferry – Your Coach), 2020 – “How To Be A Successful Real Estate Agent In 2021.”

What about Kevin Ward, another top producer turned renowned coach?:

Kevin Ward (Yesmasters), 2010 – “Kevin’s $100,000 Challenge for Real Estate Agents.”

Kevin Ward (Yesmasters), 2019 – “3 STupid Mistakes New Realtors Make – Kevin Ward.”

And finally, Agentfire’s CEO, Nelson Cuesta:

Nelson Cuesta (AgentFire), 2013 – “Developing A ‘Google Mindset’ For Real Estate Website Strategy.”

Nelson Cuesta (AgentFire), 2021 – “Quick 1 Minute Demo (AgentFire) Get More Buyer & Seller Real Estate Leads.”

Funny, right?  The early videos have poor sound quality, grainy images, and seem like they were created on the fly. When we see people at the top, it’s easy to think that they were producing A+ content all along. But that’s never the case.

Everybody starts from somewhere. All you have to do is commit to putting out video content and using whatever resources you have to get started.  Your growth and production value will come with time. 

That said, let’s move into a couple of video production tips.

Preparation is Key

Preparation ensures that your final product showcases the professionalism of your business and provides great value to people. 

Before you film anything at one of your listings, be sure to clean it up and make it camera-ready.  Clean up anything unappealing that’s laying around and ensure that every room is attractive and ready for the camera.

You should also be prepared for what you’re going to talk about on camera.  Don’t start up an Instagram Live and start rambling about your family vacation. Be clear on the value that you want to provide to people and be clear on the content of each video you put out.

Lighting

Next up is proper lighting.  You want every room you’re shooting video in to be bright and easy to see the details. Likewise, if you’re recording interviews of yourself, you should make sure that you’re in a well-lit room. 

There’s a ton of science that goes into great lighting, so if you’re interested you can check some of that out here. But for most people getting started, just making sure that your room is bright and well-lit goes a long way. Also, natural light is a big selling point in real estate, so try to emphasize it in your videos wherever possible.

Upgrade Your Gear (When You’re Ready)

First, I want to emphasize again that you can get started with any smartphone camera. Don’t worry about having the most stunning audio/video equipment before you put yourself out there.  Any video that provides value to people is a good video. 

That said, investing in a high-quality camera and microphone will make a difference in the finished product. For example, many real estate agents are getting into 3D videos to showcase their listings. If you’re conducting interviews, good microphones make the content much more enjoyable for the listener. You can get a solid desktop microphone for just a couple hundred dollars.

Enjoy The Journey

No, your first videos aren’t going to be Oscar-worthy. And it might take you a while to build up a solid following for your content. But that’s all a part of your growth story. 

With each video, you’ll iron out the kinks, become more comfortable with the camera, and hone into your own style over time.

As long as you stay consistent and committed to providing your clients with value in your content, it’s going to make a big difference for your business in the long run.

Step 5: Get Out And Promote

Once you have content published online, it’s time to start promoting it!  As with a content platform, you can’t just post something online and expect people to flock to it with open arms. Promotion is key to making your content gain real traction in the marketplace. 

A big part of promotion is simple consistency. When you regularly put out content, it makes it much easier for people to find and engage with you. 

On social media platforms, be sure to use relevant hashtags for your content so that you attract people interested. You also want to publish with a location whenever you can. People browsing for a real estate agent will often filter by location on social media to see who’s serving their community, so it’ll help you be front and center when the time comes. 

Share content with your community & clients – One of the best ways to expand your digital footprint is to start with your current circle of clients, family, and friends. It’s where all organic growth starts. 

So whenever you post a new video, I encourage you to share it with everyone that you can. The more you share your content, the more potential it has to spread like wildfire.

Start a mailing list – A mailing list gives you the ability to reach all of your clients and potential leads at once. Every time you release a new video, you can broadcast it out to your list with a quick message. 

Email marketing is so important in real estate today. Utilizing a mailing list to spread your content through your community is an effective way to engage with leads, continue the conversation with your past clients, and expand your reach.  

Final Thoughts

I want to leave you with a nugget of truth I got from Tom Ferry.  He once said something to the tune of this, “if you feel like you’re being vain by promoting yourself, you’re thinking selfishly. If you focus on the value you are delivering to your clients, people will watch you. It’s not about you.”

So as you get deeper into self-promotion of your content and your business, don’t forget your bigger mission. You are providing immense value to people in the real estate market and people are out there itching to find and work with you. 

Real estate video marketing is a lead-generating mechanism that you don’t want to miss in 2021 and beyond. 

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