May 23 2013
Reaching out and marketing to clients has drastically changed over the years. Now, more than ever before, you can connect with potential clients on a personal level through the use of social networking sites.
There's one network that combines both the accessibility to client's actions and the ability to reflect one's one personal style, and that social network is the one and only YouTube. Since its inception, YouTube has been the phenomenon that has changed the face of almost every market out there. When people were given the ability to easily upload and view personal videos online, people flocked en masse to the website. Many started their own communities with other like-minded individuals, some started their own internet-based television series, and others, like real estate professionals, were using YouTube to inexpensively showcase themselves and their newest properties.
If you are already implementing all these strategies into your personal marketing mix, then congratulations, because you are well on your way to getting the most out of YouTube. But if you're new to YouTube and need help getting started, we have laid out some tips to help you better build your business and online reputation.
Homes.com now offers the ability for you to directly link to your favorite YouTube video within your profile page. When you enter the specific URL into your account settings, clients will be able to view your video every time they visit your profile page and that is an opportunity that shouldn't be overlooked.
Next, make a YouTube Channel for your business. This will allow you to showcase all of your business' videos in a streamlined fashion from a single, branded location. If you don't already have a YouTube account, head to YouTube's page and sign up for free. You can either create your own unique login or sign in through an existing Google account of yours. We suggest if you sign in through Google to do so through an email address associated with your business for best results.
Once you are signed in, you can create a channel through your account settings. You can customize nearly everything about your channel--add "Channel Art" to personalize your page, create a unique URL for your channel, and more. After you fine tune the branding on your page, you can begin upload videos to the site and set up YouTube "playlists" or collections of videos with a general theme. Typically, agents will have several different playlists for several different topics and situations to keep everything organized for their clients. For example, one playlist can be for virtual tours and another for videos of your local area and points of interests or even a playlist for your own podcast-style series.
Using your YouTube channel as a base for your own personalized web series is one of the best features of this application. Creating your own web series is nothing to be scared about, either. User-created series on YouTube are made for expressing yourself and showcasing personality.
If you decide to take the leap, we suggest finding something you are passionate about and focusing the series around that. It doesn't just have to be about real estate. Rather, any passion of yours is the best--gardening tips, DIY activities, fishing basics, literally anything you happen to get excited about can make for great YouTube series. And who knows, you may actually enjoy being the star of the show, and it could develop a following of its own!
Do you have a successful YouTube channel? Please share your URLs in the comments below!
To view the original article, visit the Homes.com blog.