Real Estate Video Idea of the Week

It seems as if I am endlessly meeting with REALTORS®, giving them marketing advice, and helping them plan their campaigns (heck, that is my job, after all, right?). Much of what I discuss with clients in meetings is well received.

One thing though that always seems to come to a grinding halt is the discussion of video. Specifically, most agents freeze up at the thought of being on camera. Additionally, the "What do I say or do?" element of the task also makes it harder to get them to want to instantly jump on board.

The truth is, it's not just our clients. I field dozens and dozens of phone calls and emails every week from agents, all over the country, that are looking for inspiration, or perhaps a direction to head when searching for the perfect strategy for the online video portion of their marketing plans.

A few weeks ago, I noted in an article about how creating original content will help you double your website traffic. I also noted how on Emily Williams' blog on RETechnology.com, one could get all sorts of blogging ideas in her monthly "Blogging Plan" posts. I got to thinking about what Emily was doing on her blog and it inspired me to do something of a similar sort.

To those ends, each week, I'm going to post a quick video blurb about this week's topic, a real life (i.e. from an actual agent that is successfully practicing real estate) video that an agent has used and/or created in the process of marketing their real estate practice. Each post will also include a brief paragraph or two describing how to do the same thing shown in the example video for yourself.

As a regular feature on our blog, we'll also be accepting submissions from REALTORS® that feel what they have done is pretty cool. If we check out your stuff, and it inspires us, we'll feature that video in one of our weekly posts and give you some props that you can brag about at your next office meeting. If you want to submit such a video link, simply do so by using our contact form.

So, without further delay, here is the video idea of the week:

Instead of a BORING "about" page on your website, use video to introduce yourself. Take, for instance, this video, which a client of ours--Quincy Virgilio of Keller Williams Realty--put on a website we just built for him and his real estate practice:

In the video, Quincy clearly gives his value proposition--what he offers his clients and what his differentiating factors are.

Most importantly, he shot the video at his desk in his office, where he has spent countless hours and is very comfortable. Whether you consciously realize it or not, being comfortable when you shoot a video does directly show through to your audience.

Are you a little bit of an "out of the box" type of person? Does a traditional "This is why you should hire me" video not really do it for you? Then consider what another REALTOR®, Jessica Edwards, did.

Edwards did a spoof video of YouTube sensation Carly Rae Jepsen's hit "Call Me Maybe." Unfortunately, the video has, for some reason, been changed to a private video on Jessica's YouTube channel. (Unfortunate. I watched it and it was very funny, memorable, and creative. In fact, so creative that there are other REALTORS® on YouTube basically posting direct rip-offs of her idea.)

Even though we can't watch the video that got her in the headlines, you can see that her and her colleagues really believe in video. One stop at their brokerage's YouTube channel will prove this.

So, what is the take home message here? If the purpose of your "About" page on your website is for people to get to know you, why tell them when you can show them?

With your HD cell phone camera and very little to no video editing at all, you can pull this off.

To view the original article, visit the Leading Agent blog.