The Agent Stays in the Picture

8 tips to create and distribute better videos.

By Lisa Tomcko

Video has increasingly become the marketing medium of choice in an age when social media, email marketing and the internet dominate business marketing plans. Not only is video a relatively inexpensive marketing tool, it is now extremely easy to use and highly effective. A recent National Association of REALTORS® study found that 85 percent of buyers and sellers want to work with an agent who uses video marketing, yet only 15 percent of agents have a video presence.

Brian Icenhower, CRS, offers a two-part webinar series, “Video Techniques: Effective Strategies to Capture, Enhance and Distribute,” that touches on how to craft worthwhile videos that help sell you and your properties. We’ve culled a few fast tips from Icenhower’s series, but to get the full webinar, download it at CRS.com.

4 Ways to Use Video for Real Estate Marketing

In Part 1 of his video webinar series, Icenhower covers several types of real estate videos to help you capitalize on this underutilized medium.

1. Geographic farming videos

Icenhower calls this the most popular video type for SEO. He recommends setting up specific pages on your website dedicated to geographic areas you want to farm, e.g., “The Briarcliff Neighborhood” in Kansas City. Post videos covering neighborhood features, such as schools, parks, etc., on farm pages to drive traffic.

2. Pre-listing videos

A pre-listing video demonstrates that you deliver a higher level of service. Icenhower advises getting this video professionally done, if you have the funds. If not, shooting on a newer smartphone, such as the iPhone 6, will do just fine.

3. Hyper-local videos

For hyper-local videos, try to find local amenities or businesses that don’t have good websites, such as running trails or farmers markets. Shoot a quick video about them, and post it to your site. Because your video has fewer established sites to compete with it, you become the resource for information about that amenity, and you become better associated with the area.

4. Client testimonial videos

Shooting these off the cuff on a smartphone can actually be advantageous—they come across as more genuine.

4 YouTube Hacks to Boost Your SEO

In Part 2 of the series, Icenhower shares YouTube tweaks to rig your videos for maximum SEO appeal.

1. Fine tune your title

Google’s crawlers give the most weight to the first five words in your video’s title, so be selective. It’s a good idea to start with “Real Estate” and then get more specific, e.g., “Real Estate Investing Tips.”

2. Start with your site

YouTube only displays roughly the first 160 characters of the description. To see the rest, viewers must click the “SHOW MORE” button. So, begin your description with a link to your site to drive traffic there.

3. Take time to tag

When tagging, think of terms people might search for that would lead them to your video. Include different variations of a term in your tags, e.g., “buyer’s agent,” “buyers agent,” and “buyer’s specialist” if the video is about training buyers’ agents. Refrain from using more than six tags, however, as this can dilute the weight Google gives to each tag.

Hint: You can use Google AdWords (free with a Gmail account) to hone your title and tags.

4. Build your subscriber base

Google gives higher rank to videos with lots of views. Subscribers are automatically notified when you post new videos, which helps to rack up views. To build a subscriber base, include periodic annotations in your video urging viewers to subscribe. You can add annotations via the Video Manager when logged into your channel.

Stay tuned for developments on these initiatives and more at CRS.com and TRSMag.com.