2012 will be the year that real estate professionals across the county will be realizing the power of using video in real estate marketing. 2 years ago everywhere I turned I heard Facebook this, Facebook that – today the 2 syllable marketing powerhouse known as face book is being replaced by another, one that I believe offers significantly more benefit in the real estate space- You Tube.
If you follow my real estate marketing blog, my YouTube Channel my Twitter or have come to one of my Phoenix video classes you know that I teach why and more importantly HOW video can be used in real estate marketing. Listings, subdivisions, purchase contract overviews,screen capture demonstrations, expert interviews, market updates, things to do in Phoenix, opinion, testimonials etc. The list really goes on and on. Unlike Facebook ads and Pay Per Click marketing, a properly optimized video on a video hosting site like YouTube can deliver qualified traffic [consumers] for FREE and for EVER.
One of the 1st things I address in my “How To Use Video In Real Estate” and my 10 Tips To Video Marketing Success class is the misconception that a video’s success is measured in the number of views. When we receive the latest video of a talking dog, or dancing baby that says “hey dude, you gotta check this out!” We will often look at the number of views FIRST, we have been conditioned to do so. The number of views validates the video [social proof ] as millions of views means the video must be good right? Wrong. Most people lucky enough or in some cases UN lucky enough to have a video go VIRAL with hundreds of millions of views have never and will never make a single penny off of it. Question: Would you prefer to have a video with 1,000,000 views by people that have no interest or need for your real estate services or 5 views from buyers, sellers or investors that actually have a need? Exactly.Using video is your real estate business is not about the number of views, Video marketing is about Traffic and Conversion.
Video Traffic
Before I make a video I first evaluate WHO I am making the video for. Who am I talking to? Who is my audience. WHO do I want to FIND my video? Then I get in that persons mind or shoes, {so to speak} and think about what they would look for when they had a need for what my video is about. Once I know this I am able to research my keywords to create my message that speaks in a tone that is right for that audience. This method gets me TRAFFIC. Traffic is my ideal client that is searching in a search engine like Google or YouTube to gather information or solve a problem. This is what I want. Once I get the traffic to my video it then needs to be converted.
Video Conversion
Traffic without conversion means nothing. It’s kind of like the guy that has 5000 Facebook friends [and can't wait to tell you about it] that he really doesn’t know and more importantly, they don’t know him. It’s a waste. There are many benefits of using video in your real estate business but my goal is to convert that traffic into customers. This often relies upon a strong value proposition or Unique Selling Proposition [how you are different, better, what problem do you solve] and a good call to action. Go HERE and do THIS for this VALUE.
In order to measure my success I need to know HOW people are finding my videos. WHERE they are coming from [Google, YouTube Search, YouTube Related Search, Twitter etc] and WHAT they are doing when they watch my videos. YouTube had a tool called Insights for this. I could open a video and using insights, see information like demographics, region, Hotspots – the parts of my video my audience likes and is engaged by and what parts they are exiting my video from. While this information was great, it wasn’t awesome. It left something to be desired. If only YouTube had something more like Google Analytics. Well today YouTube introduced Analytics.
Beginning yesterday [11/30/11] when you log into your YouTube account you can see through your YouTube Analytics – views, demographics, video popularity by region, your channels overall performance, discovery [how your videos are being found] and engagement – all in one easy to use screen.
YouTube Analytics will help you better understand WHO your audience is, HOW they are finding you, and WHAT they are engaged by so you can create better content. If it’s one thing I have learned, no one likes “Vanilla”, it’s boring. Eyeballs go to the best content on the web. Consumers have a short attention span, understanding and leveraging YouTube analytics can help you stretch that attention span out to the call to action and point of conversion. For more information check out How To Use Video In Real Estate Marketing.
If you are a real estate professional in the Phoenix Metro area that wants help with video marketing please contact me for more info about my Phoenix Real Estate Video Marketing Classes.
Comments(2)