How to Promote Your Listings Using Video

Whether you're new to the real estate business or a seasoned veteran, if you're not utilizing video to promote your listings, you could be missing out on a potential goldmine.

Producing and posting video of your listings might seem a difficult and time-consuming task, but once you've mastered the process, it's a pretty quick and easy way with great potential to grow your business quickly.

Before you hit the record button, take some time to figure out who your audience is. The easiest way to do this is to target the clients you've already worked with, and the communities you've worked in.

If you want to start small as you hone your video marketing plan, send some videos out to your existing client list. If they're not interested in any of your current listings, they may share them with friends and family who may be interested.

A good place to market your listings is on YouTube.

Chances are you'll gain exposure there. After all, it's only one of the world's largest search engines, with over one billion unique visitors each month watching six billion hours of video. More than half of prospective homebuyers head to YouTube to research homes and communities.

Search engine optimization will help your videos get discovered by your target audience. Develop a list of keywords your audience is using and that relate to your listings. Many times, they'll have to do with a particular community or neighborhood, or maybe house style or size.

It's important to include a call to action in each video.

What do you want your viewers to do? Make sure your web address, phone number and logo are clearly seen at the beginning and end of each video so your prospects can easily reach you. Also, include a link to your website in the video description. As potential homebuyers visit your site, there's further opportunity to gain leads.

Plan some advertising.

A good and inexpensive place to advertise is on YouTube. After all, you already have a presence there. For just a few bucks, you can take advantage of tools such as in-video clickable links.

Promote your listings on other Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

The more you share your videos, the more they'll be seen and shared by others. Continue to aim for your target audience. Sites like Instagram, Tumblr and Vimeo may prove to be good places to place your video ads.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to drive traffic to your own website–and to keep visitors there as long as possible. A dedicated video hosting service like VimeoPro is a useful tools for marketing. They're good for capturing leads, sharing on social networks and delivering analytics to help you track your marketing results.

To view the original article, visit the VScreen blog.