Video for real estate: what to create as an estate agent
Estate agents should create five main types of real estate video: house tours, Q&A sessions, tips and tricks, client testimonials, and social ads. Research by HubSpot (2022) shows 66% of consumers watch video to learn about a brand, whilst We Are Social and Hootsuite (July 2022) reported that 92.6% of global internet users watch digital videos weekly. Video content helps prospective buyers evaluate property layouts and connect directly with the agent.
What are the 5 most effective types of real estate video?
When it comes to real estate marketing, creating a varied content is a key part of providing an experience to your audience. And, of course, the same goes for video marketing. So, here are a few pieces of content for you to keep in mind for the next time you’re uploading a real estate listing, creating content for social media, for your website or a newsletter.
House tours
House tours are useful for an estate agent for two reasons. First of all, when added to a real estate portal, this visual aid helps attract potential buyers to book a visit and come see the property with their own eyes. In addition, this is a way of showing the place to a foreign audience that might be interested in acquiring the property even from afar.
It can be done in many formats, including a live broadcast, a recorded video or by offering a virtual tour on your property listings. Content can be long and detailed or short, showing the size of the property and disposition of the rooms across different communication channels.
What really matters is to emphasise the qualities of the property and show those characteristics that will attract potential buyers to it.
Questions and answers
Not only is this type of video for real estate interesting to keep your audience interested in your content and informed, but they draw your following close to you.
You can choose those questions frequently asked to you by your current clients, on emails or even use a broadcast to give your audience the chance to ask their questions live and interact with you.
Tips and tricks
You know that insider information, those tricks that only a real estate professional knows? These can become useful pieces of content to share with your followers.
You could talk about the documents clients need to sell or buy a property, using CASAFARI Area Insights for market movements and yields, what to look for in a property, how to increase their chances of getting home loans approved or anything else relevant.
The idea here is that your knowledge makes your audience feel more secure about buying, more ready, more informed. Also, this strengthens the interaction between you and your followers, as well as reinforces your image as a very knowledgeable professional.
Client’s testimonials
Testimonials are a great way of showing your audience that you’re reliable and trustworthy as an estate agent. Basically, they work as social proof of the quality of your work.
The challenge here is to get your current clients past their shyness in front of the cameras. But once they are convinced about it, you can either let them record their own videos, so they feel more comfortable with what they are going to say, or you can help them with recording, to make sure the quality is up to your expectations.
Having your clients on your video for real estate adds an extra pinch of reality and credibility, since they will not only be a random name in your content, but have a voice and a face.
Once this content is live, make sure to spread the word in all your communication channels.
Social ads
If you want to expand your reach, build a bigger audience and reach even more potential clients, social ads are a key part of social media marketing for real estate, especially in video format.
Remember to talk straight to the needs and concerns of your target. Also, if you’re showing them a property, select one that fits with the audience that will be impacted by this content. Finally, remember to talk about what makes you the best choice for them, followed by a call-to-action for them to fill a form or get in touch with you.
How can estate agents get the best results from property videos?
Keep it short
Your audience has a life that’s packed with obligations, as yourself. So, remember that their leisure time is limited and needs to be put to good use.
Going back to the research done for HubSpot, 16% of the interviewed consumers said that they prefer watching videos up to 1 minute long, 36% would rather watch videos from 1 to 3 minutes long and another 27% chose videos from 4 to 6 minutes.
When creating your videos for real estate, provide useful information and straight-to-the-point information, exactly the kind of content they will be looking for while scrolling through social media, emails or looking for entertainment.
Pay attention to the quality of your real estate video
Poorly made content can scare your audience away and give the impression of an unprofessional work. Around 64% of those interviewed by HubSpot said that the quality of the production matters when choosing which video to watch.
So, whenever you’re filming, check if the light and audio are working on camera. When it comes to audio, pay attention to external noises that might interfere with your video, places that echo or, if you are wearing a microphone, make sure it doesn’t rub against your clothes. As for ambience, work on lighting so you always show the houses in your portfolio as well-lit spaces to cause a good impression.
Make the first few seconds remarkable
Did you know that Microsoft once conducted a study that found out that the attention span of an American adult was 8 seconds. As much as Americans cannot be used as the standard for all nations, the results sure made marketeers wary, especially after AdAge confirmed this statistic. And on social media these numbers can drop even further.
Speaking of AdAge, in 2015 it conducted studies showing that if you haven’t engaged your audience in your video content up until 30 seconds, most likely you lost 33% of your viewers by this point and 45% until the first minute is complete.
But, on the other hand, even with these challenges, videos for real estate continue to be a good idea. Not only video content raises the ROI, but also a research done in 2021 shows that 78% of marketing professionals saw increases in traffic to their website after adding videos to the pages.
Meaning, if you want to make sure your audience sticks with your content and brings you positive outcomes, then make those first seconds memorable. Make an impactful statement, use a call-to-action, show some impressive images, anything that can catch the attention of your audience and make them want to keep watching should be tried.
Add captions to your real estate videos
That’s a fact: many people simply watch videos on mute, especially when they’re on public spaces. The actual number for Facebook is of 85% of users with muted videos, while Forbes tells us that 80% of consumers are more likely to watch an entire video when captions are available.
So, you get the gist: caption your videos for better results.
Interact with your audience
To get closer to your following or potential new clients, do interact with them by answering inbox messages, comments or emails. Not only this allows you to explain something in more detail, but also gives an impression that you care for your audience.
Use call-to-actions
They’ve watched your video for real estate. Now what? You should always give your viewers a next step, whether it’s dropping their opinions on the comment section or getting in touch with you in some other way. What do you want them to do next?
Ready to get started? Sign in to the CASAFARI platform to inform your real estate videos with market data and enjoy this new way of prospecting for your business.
Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash
Frequently asked questions
What types of videos should estate agents create?
Estate agents should focus on five core video formats: house tours (live or recorded), Q&A sessions addressing common client queries, tips and tricks regarding market movements and buying processes, client testimonials for social proof, and targeted social ads.
What is the ideal length for a real estate video?
According to HubSpot research from 2022, videos should be kept concise. 36% of surveyed consumers prefer videos between 1 and 3 minutes long, 27% prefer 4 to 6 minutes, and 16% prefer videos under 1 minute.
Why are captions essential on property videos?
Many viewers watch video content on mute in public environments. Data from NewtonTech indicates that 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, whilst Forbes reported in 2019 that 80% of consumers are more likely to watch a video to completion when captions are provided.
How do house tour videos help sell properties?
House tours effectively demonstrate property sizes and room layouts to prospective buyers. They attract local buyers to schedule in-person viewings while allowing international buyers to evaluate properties remotely.
Where can estate agents get accurate market data for their educational videos?
Agents can draw data from CASAFARI’s Area Insights and Valuation tools to present verified market movements, rental yields, asking prices, and closing-price data in their educational content.