Are You Missing Prospects Due To A Poor Youtube Channel?
I have ignored a goldmine of opportunity because I just couldn't find the time to develop a Youtube Channel strategy.
I have a true confession to make about my use of Youtube. It is so dark, so disturbing, that I purposely have been avoiding writing this article for the past several months. But it is time to get it off my chest.
I have ignored a goldmine of opportunity because I just couldn't find the time to develop a Youtube Channel strategy.
That's right, I have neglected the #2 search engine on the internet and the #2 trafficked website because "I was busy."
But the days of cinematic sloth are over, I am now investing the time and energy to make my presence felt on Youtube.
Youtube Considerations
My brokerage is located in Tallahassee, Florida, an MSA of just over 300,000 people isolated away from any large metropolitan area. In fact, when we help a new arrival, I explain to them that Tallahassee is 300,000 people, 1/2 of which are students, all located in a 30-mile radius. Outside of that, it's just cows and chickens for several hours in every direction. So why does this matter?
Real estate is local, and I'm in a relatively small market. There are fewer than 100,000 people that I target in a 100-mile radius. Yet I need to use Youtube. I share this because I've heard people from markets of all sizes who had reasons they were not active on Youtube, and I believe they are kidding themselves. If you want to promote yourself, the top three locations are Google, Youtube, & Facebook.
Youtube For Branding
I have advertised on Youtube for years, loving the fact that I can get 20 to 50 people in my market area to watch a video by simply spending $1. It's amazing. It's affordable. But that is only the tip of the iceberg.
What I really want to do is to get people to subscribe to my channel, get them interacting with my videos with comments, thumbs-ups, and shares. These interactions tell Youtube (who also tells Google) that my content is good and that it should be promoted through search.
I have generated very little interaction and instead taken more of a "Youtube videos are commercials for my brand" approach. Here are ten of my top "commercials" with a collective 1.5M views.
A "commercial" style video certainly beats "nothing," but commercials do not create engagement with prospective customers. So here are the changes that are underway on the Joe Manausa Real Estate Youtube Channel.
Youtube Channel Redesign
If you visit my Youtube Channel now, you can still see the "before" look. I've been tweaking the organization a little, but it is still very much the neglected goldmine that I've had for years. Please subscribe to the channel and click on the "bell," so you'll know when I post a new video.
And why would you want to know when a new video is posted?
For ideas of what you could be posting! There is so much more than just property videos that you can and should be posting to Youtube, and the ActiveRain community is filled with the right people to take advantage of this opportunity. Why?
Because we are content creators already, we just use a keyboard instead of a camera. I bet if you look through some of your best-performing content on your blog, you'll find excellent ideas for videos and playlists on Youtube.
Playlists Help You Generate More Views
If you are like me, you probably thought the "playlists" feature on Youtube was there to help you organize your channel. Perhaps initially that was the intent, but the reality is playlists allow you to keep consumers engaged on your channel. You can create playlists (the video I included above is actually a playlist so it served one video right after the other) to spoon-feed your visitors the content that you think they will like.
So far, I have created four playlists that I plan on promoting. They are:
Housing Market Reports - I've been writing housing reports since July 2007, now I am going to do a (good) job of video reporting them. I am at the initial stage of this, but my goal is to do a better job of promoting my Youtube Channel while delivering my thoughts on the housing market. Here's what this playlist looks like now, but it will be so much better in a few months.
Homes For Sale - My wife (Michelle) has taken up the video camera lately and we're experimenting with her "showing homes." It's ironic that she started doing this just a few weeks before we truly understood the impact of the pandemic on showing homes. As you'll see below, we have a long way to go. In future videos, we'll be doing a lot better job of encouraging interactions, subscriptions, etc.
Real Estate Frequently Asked Questions - Believe it or not, this is a playlist that I started more than ten years ago! And it was doing great! Yet I stopped. Well, I'm going to get the ball rolling answering the most frequently asked questions from home sellers and home buyers. I think this is an excellent way to improve SEO, because each video will target a specific keyword and question that we get from consumers.
What They Are Saying About Joe - I do believe that many people want to hear what others have to say about an agent, once they have preliminarily decided to work with that agent. I want to start generating a library full of video testimonials that we will include in this playlist (along with the endorsements we already have).
Youtube Channel Transformation
This is just the beginning. In the next 90 days, expect to see the good, the bad, and the ugly as I continue my evolution and growth on Youtube.
I hope you'll "like" and reblog this article and then follow along with the subsequent updates. The easiest way to do that is to follow my profile on ActiveRain. Doing so will ensure that you share the journey and I hope I can help shorten the learning curve for you as you update and grow your presence on Youtube.
Remember, Youtube is the 2nd most active place on the internet, so it's not to be ignored any longer!
Will I see you there?
Joe Wrote The Book On How To Sell A Home In The Digital Age
Joe recently wrote "The Business of Getting Business."
It is a comprehensive guide for small businesses to help them understand how to implement digital marketing. For Realtors, it's a guide to using digital as the heart and soul of your marketing.
For those of us who want to survive and thrive in a world where large corporations are taking over, it is a must-read.
You can find "The Business Of Getting Business on Amazon here.
Comments(7)