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Active Rainers ask: Is YouTube a good place for my video?

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with The Scene Lab

As video continues to make its way into the Real Estate market, professionals want to know how to best distribute their content. A question we occasionally are asked is, "Can we post our video to YouTube?"

The short answer is yes, it is possible. To me, the more valid question is: Should you post your property video on YouTube? My answer would be an unequivocal, NO. I am a big fan of what YouTube has done. I regularly stop by and check out funny or amazing clips on the site.YouTube But from a marketing standpoint, do you want your property video sandwiched between silly pet videos and wedding bloopers? How many qualified luxury buyers are stopping by YouTube to find their new home?

In reality, if you have a Real Estate video the best place for it to reside is on a real estate site. If you are selling a luxury property it should be a site where luxury and second home buyers are searching. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about luxury portals. These are some of the spots you might consider linking your luxury video:

Luxury Real Estate, duPont Registry, Luxury Portfolio, Luxury Homes, Unique Homes

 When it comes to non-luxury properties, there are specific sites devoted to Real Estate videos. Phil DiGiulio has done some nice work with Wellcome Mat, a site devoted to property videos. Inman Stories also are focused on the world of real estate.

Keep in mind though, you want your distribution vehicle(s) to deliver to your target audience. If you have a multimillion dollar property, you want it seen by potential buyers, not property gawkers who just like cool video tours. Google, Yahoo and YouTube are not the right place for your real estate video. If you want distribution, think about where qualified buyers are looking and find a way to get the video in front of them.

 

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Fred Light
| Nashua Video Tours - Nashua, NH
Real Estate Video Tours for MA and NH

Not sure I totally agree....

YouTube definitely is the worst in many ways, especially in quality.  

I don't believe that people actually search on YouTube or any of these video sites for real estate.  In that regard, it's worthless.

However....  people DO search for real estate on search engines, such as Google.

If a video that is uploaded to some of these sites like Google Video, Yahoo Video, Revver, iFilm, etc. (there are about a dozen), and they are encoded correctly, they show up in the searches - usually within DAYS and often times on page one - or page two...  They also provide a one way link BACK to your website. One I did last week showed up on page ONE four days after it was uploaded!  

That's why I post to all of these video sites.   

May 05, 2007 06:06 AM
Eric Carlsen
The Scene Lab - New York, NY
Fred,
I think your comments were 100% on target, and the example you gave was a good one.  Our focus is on the luxury niche and the advice to steer clear of YouTube primarily applies to that crowd.

Over the course of the last 3 years we have made it a point to ask luxury agents and brokers where they receive most of their luxury leads and interest. Most have informed us that their company sites (especially Christie's & Sotheby's), as well as the above mentioned luxury portals are where interested buyers are consistenty finding them.

I hope others will see what you posted regarding video and SEO for the majority of the RE market. Professionals need to use 'the right tools for the right job', and your tips make a lot of sense.

Eric
May 05, 2007 06:39 AM
Jennifer Fivelsdal
JFIVE Home Realty LLC | 845-758-6842|162 Deer Run Rd Red Hook NY 12571 - Rhinebeck, NY
Mid Hudson Valley real estate connection

Fred certainly made a valid point as to why YouTube would not be the best venue. And Eric thanks for the links to info on video for non luxury real estate

May 05, 2007 08:49 AM
Eric Carlsen
The Scene Lab - New York, NY
Jennifer,
Happy to help out. I thought Fred's points about Google were good ones.  It's great to have a forum with so many experienced professionals.
May 05, 2007 03:06 PM
Denise Dreyer
Ramagli GMAC - Yardley, PA

I say you do not keep it public on You Tube. I would use You Tube as the free hosting site for your video, grab the code and place it on any site you feel is worthy. Another option is with photobucket.com, they now have that option of hosting videos on the site but I think you have a limit until you pay.

 

May 10, 2007 05:35 AM
Fred Light
| Nashua Video Tours - Nashua, NH
Real Estate Video Tours for MA and NH
Denise....Seriously, if you're doing that I would use ANY other video site over YouTube - their quality is by far the WORST. You owe more to your seller than to put up a muddy video.  Use WellcomeMat, Blip.TV, Grouper.com, iFilm, Brightcove... they're all considerably better than YouTube.  They suck the life out of videos..!
May 10, 2007 05:50 AM
Gwendolyn Wrigh
Victory Virtual Solutions - Beaufort, SC
Victory Virtual Solutions
YouTube is usually just for seeing the worst video clips of people beating one another up, or a guy robbing and brutally beating an old lady. I get links to check things out all the time, but never nothing serious, never business, always drama or jokes. 
May 10, 2007 01:36 PM
Eric Carlsen
The Scene Lab - New York, NY
Thanks everyone for your comments. YouTube will continue to play a role for many, but there are real questions as to it's long term benefit for real estate.
May 10, 2007 02:05 PM
Ben Kinney
Ben Kinney Team - Bellingham, WA
We do real estate:Tech, Training, Sales, Brokerage

Youtube exposes you to the most amount of people.  Some people aer buyers and they don't even know it.  We have sold one property directly from youtube.  I mainly use it to host videos then we frame it into our real estate sites.

Jun 09, 2007 03:20 AM
Norvell Rose
www.RexNet.tv - Virginia Beach, VA

My opinion - YouTube is a risky video bulletin board...largely because you don't know what you'll get when you search for real estate.  Why?  Because the posters create their own tags, so anybody can (at least for a while) call anything a "wonderful oceanfront home in Miami Beach".

In the interest of full disclosure, I have a vested interest in promoting and popularizing my new destination site - www.RexNet.tv - currently in limited early release in Hampton Roads, Virginia - but now in search of prospective "partners" or "affiliates" in local markets nationwide to expand our reach and impact.

Rex is a safe, quality, user-friendly, content-controlled, interactive environment specifically for premium video content - property tours, agent intros, company and community profiles.  We even invite monitored UGC (user-generated content) from home sellers wishing to tell the visitors just how great their property really is.

So, as for YouTube, just look for yourself and be an honest judge.  Poor quality, yes.  But also a strange and unpredictable search environment where you don't know what's going to pop up...and neither do your sellers...or buyers.

Thanks,
Norvell Rose
www.RexNet.tv

 

Jun 12, 2007 05:17 AM
Robert ABC videoTours
ABCvideoTours.com - Tracy, CA

quality of the uploaded videoTours is our major concern. any website that allows us to upload a videoTour will be considered.

a house just needs one buyer and the real estate professional needed just one lead to find the buyer.

it is to early in this industry to discount any portal that allows the uploads of videoTours. 

 

Aug 21, 2007 07:35 AM
Eric Carlsen
The Scene Lab - New York, NY
Robert,
Thanks for your comment.  Serving the luxury segment, our primary concern is putting our clients listings in an appropriate environment.  At this point in time, YouTube does not meet the criteria we have set in place for our video content.  We agree, it certainly is for each individual provider to decide what is best for their clients.

Best,

Eric
Aug 21, 2007 09:32 AM
Stephen Joos & Chris Brubaker- HouseFront
HouseFront - Denver, CO
YES, YES, YES.  Great post, I totally agree with all that you said.  YouTube is not a place to try and sell a home, so if your going to use video (which is my weapon of choice) you should look into hosting services that will make you look professional.
Aug 21, 2007 09:46 AM
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