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Animoto : The new secret weapon to secure and market listings

By Jon Washburn

Real Estate Agent

September 11, 2007 08:51 AM

From Animoto's website:

"Animoto is a web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using their own patent-pending technology and high-end motion design. Each video is a fully customized orchestration of user-selected images and music. Produced on a widescreen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer. The heart of Animoto is its newly developed Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology that thinks like an actual director and editor. It analyzes and combines user-selected images and music with the same sophisticated post-production skills & techniques that are used in television and film."

These are the steps I took to make this video and post it on ActiveRain:

1. Take some pictures of my listing. (In this case I stole the pictures from Kevin's page on the EWM website - with their permission of course. Thanks Kevin and Beth!)

2. Upload the pictures into Animoto.

3. Select a song from their song library.

4. Hit the "create" button and watch Animoto work it's magic.

5. Paste the embed code into this blog post.

Updated: For comparison sake, here is a show that I put together using Real Estate Shows. Both services took me about the same amount of time to prepare and used the same images. To me both video options are great and will impress sellers; I guess it comes down to style.

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Al Maxwell

Keller Williams - Marietta, GA

Real Estate Agent

That looks very cool. I will definitely check it out. I did not see any prices. Is this service free? At least for now?

Sep 11, 2007 11:43 PM

Tracy Thrower Conyers

Silicon Beach Properties • KW - Venice, CA

buy. sell. lease. residential in silicon beach.

To me, the Animoto show is too frenetic. I understood better when I saw the comments that it isn't geared to real estate. The intended audience is probably a younger crowd. Real Estate Shows has a simple to use, attractive, real estate-oriented product for an excellent price. That's a winning combination.

For the couple of commenters who want to know if Animoto is free, why would it be and it is was, why would you want to use it??? Free is going to mean (1) an inferior product; (2) a company that isn't going to be around long; and/or (3) a product packed with advertising (your competitors, if the vendor knows what they're doing and has a sustainable revenue model).

Sep 12, 2007 01:31 AM

Michael Eisenberg

eXp Realty - Bellingham, WA

Bellingham Real Estate Guy

Definetly geared to the younger set, very interesting though, have to check it out.

Sep 12, 2007 05:38 AM

William Johnson

Retired - La Jolla, CA

Retired

Hi Jonathan,

One thing I discovered is that in the agreement of terms, it states that by agreeing, you agree not use animoto for commercial purposes. Are virtual tours commercial?

Maybe Jeff can enhance the Real Estate Shows to do the slide flip overs and some of the other unique movments.

Nice post.

Sep 12, 2007 06:08 AM

David Thomas

HomeSmart Realty, Elite Group Scottsdale, Arizona - Gilbert, AZ

Phoenix,Chandler,Mesa,Gilbert,AZ

thanks so much for the post - every new tool at our disposal is helpful - especially free ones!

Sep 12, 2007 01:18 PM

Beth Butler

Beth Butler - Big Mouth Consulting - Miami, FL

Jon - I have been playing around with it and I like it - adds a little spice and is perfect for the listing you chose.

Sep 12, 2007 02:34 PM

Robert Huntsinger

Empire Realty - Upland, CA

Empire Realty Upland, CA - Full Service at a Discount

Hey that is a real good listing promotion, I think I will need to use this format. My only concern is that with approx. 1,500 hits on a litsing with 2-3 going to the virtual tour is it really worth it?

Take care!

RJH

Sep 12, 2007 06:33 PM

Rebecca Savitski

BSR Real Estate Group - Cary, NC

NC Real Estate Listings

I likey likey very cool.

Sep 13, 2007 01:14 AM

Tracy Thrower Conyers

Silicon Beach Properties • KW - Venice, CA

buy. sell. lease. residential in silicon beach.

William, VT's are definitely commercial. They are a tool used in your business to make money. That is a huge drawback that people ought to pay attention to. Nothing like putting up a few of these videos on your site to find out later that the company pulled the content down and you didn't know it.

Sep 13, 2007 02:02 AM

Stacey McCarthy

McCarthy Real Estate - Philadelphia, PA

@SmartGirlsOwn

The thing is, the point I think alot of people are missing, is that it's not really a virtual tour in the sense that you are taking your time touring and checking out the pictures, but more like a 30 second commercial. Buying a home is largely emotional and if you can convey a feeling through this media, then that's how you nail it.

I love it, and I have it linked to some pictures of houses on my website. I really like yours and how you put words and your picture in it. I didn't think of that! The houses I have done aren't fancy (mostly fixer-uppers), so it's a much different feeling, although I have been thinking of going around taking pictures of the neighborhood too. Maybe even buying an unlimited membership so I can make a longer video.

I can't figure out how to load it into my MLS though, so it's only on my website and the others I submit it to.

Sep 13, 2007 02:57 PM

Jon Washburn

Seattle, WA

Stacey,
That is an excellent point! You articulated what I was unable to.

Thanks,

Sep 13, 2007 05:04 PM

Tracy Thrower Conyers

Silicon Beach Properties • KW - Venice, CA

buy. sell. lease. residential in silicon beach.

Jonathan, what is your position on William Johnson's comment?

Sep 14, 2007 11:34 AM

Ted Baker

Carmody and Associates LLC - Winter Haven, FL

MidFloridaMediation.com

Jonathan - great information, well written on a new technology.

My understanding is that the Animoto site has been active since August so more progress and upgrades will be coming. There is a question about using their product for commercial purposes - unless their terms and conditions of use have been updated. It is my understanding that they are looking at the real estate application so these points will be sorted out.

It is interesting and fun to see new technology as it appears in the marketplace and the people, like you, who immediately see the application to our business.

Sep 15, 2007 02:26 AM

Jon Washburn

Seattle, WA

Tracy & William,

I was trying to sidestep commenting on that issue. I am not a lawyer and have no idea if it means that an agent/brokerage cannot use it as a marketing tool. However it appears to me that Animoto is primarily focused on being a publisher and making money from advertising. The $30/year for longer videos cannot be their big plan. So with that in mind i highly doubt that they would ask agents using their tool to stop using it.

Sep 16, 2007 10:57 AM

Tracy Thrower Conyers

Silicon Beach Properties • KW - Venice, CA

buy. sell. lease. residential in silicon beach.

Jonathan, you don't have to be a lawyer to understand that your business is "commercial" and promoting your business is a commercial activity. And you can guess and second guess what the publisher's financial motives are, but anybody who is violating a provider's terms of service needs to realize that they can wake up one day and find red x's on their site where content used to be (or worse). Just understand that there are terms of service for electronic content and services, and keep a close eye on your site if there is even a remote possibility that you're violating the TOS of any of your providers. Heck, you should be looking at your site all the time to make sure every piece of it is operating the way you think it should be.

Sep 17, 2007 02:20 AM

Teresa Boardman

Boardman Realty - Saint Paul, MN

A friend of mine just sent me some of his photos in Animoto. He takes amazing pictures. When I saw them in this format I couldn't believe it. They jumped and danced tomusic but I could not see or appreciate the photos. I sent them back in a video format where each photo was panned so that it could be seen and appreciated. I know this product is the latest cool thing but I think consumers are interested in seeing as much of a home as they can before they waste their valuable time looking at it. I am not impressed with this product because it does not show the photos or the home to there best advantage. Just because something is new and cool, and we can use it does not mean we should.

Sep 17, 2007 03:06 AM

Anonymous

Tracy,

What can I say, you are right. By agreeing to their terms of service you are agreeing that your videos will not to be "used for a commercial purpose of any kind." Pretty clear. Whether or not they will enforce their policies is an entirely question all together.

Sep 17, 2007 10:28 AM

#63

Joshua Jarvis

Virtual Properties - Atlanta Real Estate - Duluth, GA

Moving Families Forward.

I tried to load my animoto video on Active Rain, but can't seem to figure out what's going wrong, it's not showing up. Any thoughts?

Oct 12, 2007 01:18 AM

Fran Gatti

RE/MAX Integrity - Medford, OR

Managing Principal Broker - RE/MAX Integrity

Cool. Bookmarked and will give it a try. I don't know who to get text ontop of a picture, but hey, it's something else to learn and I love to learn techy stuff.

Thanks,

Nov 07, 2007 02:28 AM

Jennifer Grace

Elk Grove, CA

Jennifer Grace

Lovely! Check out my blog to see how to actually use animoto.

Jun 08, 2009 01:06 PM

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