It's not hard to build a case for the merits of using real full motion video in promotion of property listings, the local community events, your brand.
We live in a visual society where instead of "read all about it" the guy selling newspaper hollers, it's like we all suddenly live in Missouri. We've got to be shown. And while doing the "showing", could you turn up he sound and tell me all about it. Because two senses, the eyeballs and the eardrums teaming up is way way better at delivering the marketing message. More memorable, quicker delivery of information. No heavy lifting requred by the real estate buyer or seller. Like the speghetti sauce, "it's in there". The audio is 40% of the real estate video because it adds the detail, spice and fills in the background information needed to go with the flow of video loops shot, edited, rendered and uploaded. To YouTube, Metacafe, Vimeo, Facebook, MySpace, Welcome Mat, Brightcove, Realtordotcom and a slew of other real estate video platforms.
It's some kind of easy for an out of state real estate buyer or seller to check in on your zip code these days. Seeing, hearing how you market real estate, cover the local community events. To get to know who the cat is on the other end of the message. If only one percent of REALTORS are using real full motion video, it is not hard to stand out.
To deliver video in a user friendly way for the guy or gal holding a Droid phone and watching, listening who is stuck at an airport.
Or holding down the couch watching Two And A Half Men and surfing for real estate listings at the same time on a portable laptop computer. Sending the link to the home video to family and friends to say look what I found. To see, hear about a new listing just coming on to the market. Then asking the family member that will eventually be hit up for help with the financing what do they think? A video is like anything else we put on line, just a string of code.Attach it, link it, embed it.
Like eggs, lots of ways to prepare and use them. To fit the need, feed the hunger for information quick, easy to digest, that fills them up.The sad fact is that many real estate agents, brokers, REALTORS did invest thousands of dollars in video cameras, editing software, tripods, jib cranes, sliding rails, lights, extra microphones, green screens and books on this is how you do video. The real estate professional saw a few property listing videos and thought "gimme some of that please". They threw money at the media that they knew delivered, were hooked on. But then realized there is a steep learning curve. That the stick a Flip camera on a dash during rush hour traffic and start talking randomly as the red light blinks is not so much fun for the other end. Many launched in to one take agent, broker, REALTOR, no edit, "talks" to share how great their brand of real estate was, but did not see the view counts rack up or the video go viral. Why?
It was not "good" for the real estate buyer, seller who is one busy dude or dudette and not coming back for more of the hot air.
So dust started to pile up on all that video gear, books, tutorials. No more time invested to climb on to the horse, stay on that horse.Some real estate agents, brokers, REALTORS waved the white flag. Not investing the time to master the video making craft. Decided to take images they had for the property listings, the same ones the real estate buyer already saw in the realtor.com, on their own website or the local mls image link and "doctor" them up. Let's slice and dice and make the pieces of the picture come together, blow apart with transitions that make the buyer dizzy. No sound that helps distinguish the properties being peddled. Or to pull the buyer through the property. More of a fireworks of activity and frankly like putting lipstick on a pig to pretty it up. Not much time invested to do, but no sizzle of the bacon either. Or if there is a music bed it has nothing to do with adding support to what the buyer is strapped to a chair sees. Is made to sit through and watch as the glorified powerpoint slide show "popcorns" violently. It's colorful, artistic, but wasting time.
Tips for what not to do, twenty of them as you take a deep breath, decide as the real estate professional to head back in to video property listing production to add to your media stream horsepower. The video real estate link codes can be put in to widget players that get attached to all your on line work if you just start producing them. Your real estate productions come out of the oven quicker, tastier to if you remember to shoot videos in sequence. And the best, easiest video story to tell that needs no script and who better for it then you is the one about your life path. The reader's digest version on how did you get to the part where you pinned on the blue and gold "R"? Settled in to the career in real estate?
Like blogging, real estate agents, broker, REALTORS are busy little red hens that can conclude they do not have any extra time to devote to the video arm of the media arsenal. The sad fact remains that if the public out in the cyber village around the blue and green planet want them, reach for them if they are available, just do it. Roll up your sleeves and pull back on some old tired methods not getting the return on investment of time and money anymore. Redirect that time in to real estate videos, movies on the local communities and go easy on the self promotion. Those don't help a real estate buyer find his or her home, apartment house investment, farm, recreational land or waterfront property. That's why they came to your site looking for something to watch, listen too.
Get creative with the video too. Videos with cartoons, showing how you are on the front page index for search engines and weave in plat maps, aerial views to round out the video experience. Remember these videos are cross blended in search engine queries. Nothing more satisfying then seeing on of your mini video player thumbnails show up on that front page real estate search. There is plenty of SEO gold in those video hills too. Start mining yours. Maine, blue, green, white are her favorite colors. But she's pretty partial to browns, shades of orange, red, yellow too.
I'm Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
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