Now THIS is How You Do Social Media Video

Fun clip. Only a couple areas of improvement IMO:
1. A longer view of the front of the house that was in the middle of the clip. (yes, I realize there is an ability to pause/rewind, but a lot of people won’t do it.)

2. Move the beat up green Neon car thats missing 1 hubcap outside the window at 1:05.

Enjoyable and fun overall though.

while I like the video, and the music, this would have to be specifically demographic targeted. This would not be for everyone.

this video would be perfect for attracting the ‘single guy’ who leads a bachelor lifestyle. ie: the focus on the deodorant.

Really? I guess I don’t get it. All I got from that video was that the back yard is dead, the counters need replacing, and they should have cleaned up the bathroom before the video.
There was nothing about that that made me want to see that house any more than any other without a video. I’d rather look at still photos that I can control the pace or a virtual tour that I can skip around on. No price, no information, didn’t do it for me.
Am I missing something that I should be getting?

Benn – Good point. I guess I was trying to get some responses out of the various agents floating around to see what a general consensus would look like. Me, I’m all for something new and different. I’d buy a house with a Slayer poster in it any day.

Glenn – You may not like the music, but would you say, “hey, this house might be something Client X would like to see.”? Would the music “scare” you away? I think I know your answer, but I’m trying to dig deeper to get a better picture of what today’s agent is thinking. What if you had seen it back in 1995? Just curious.

I have been looking for a useful guide on how to create high quality video presentations of homes. Is there any available that will teach me how to create a video like this?

Thank you in advance.

You all are a bunch of ole sticks in the mud! 😛

Is the vid appropriate for everyone? No, of course not. Its niche marketing. Young music-heads live in homes too, y’know?

Side note – Perhaps he should do a whole series of videos that way he can appeal to all buyer genres:
Put him in a tuxedo with opera/classical.
Big ole straw hat with country music.
Bunch of gold chains, sunglasses with Rap music.
etc

🙂

Matt – If I had a client looking this particular home – I might consider it for the client. The music is irritating to me – but remember I am probably older than a lot of people commenting on this video. If it was back in 1995 – I would have avoided the video at all costs – of course back then I was in a 3 piece suit and highly conservative. Today, I can let down my hair – if I had any. 🙂

i don’t think the music is so much the issue as the volume. You have a purposefully jerky, quick-moving video, and the music matches that. Turn the volume down on the music, then let it ride.

I like the idea, Benn, but not the presentation. The home just didn’t seem to have the wow factor to go with the organic-nature of the video. I’m glad to see you’re working on an after-version though, because I DO think that this kind of targeted advertising can be a huge hit.

Brad gets the Slayer poster, and I’m glad to send an extra hubcap for Green Lantern parked out front.

It has been amazing to watch the availability of the internet destroy old standards. The first time I saw one of the old Kinescope shorts, I marvelled that anyone bothered with them. I often feel the same way when watching real estate web videos, but this internet video technology is just so darned sexy!!!

Fair warning this is long, but I did some research to the ideal demographic that might help those interested in video.

“Challenge: show this video to 10 of your friends in the target demo, and ask for reactions. (Don’t telegraph what you think.)”

Took you up on that challenge. I will not post most of the comments as many are not exactly professional as it was an exchange between friends.

Some important points; all people I sent the video to are between the ages of 25 and 38, all use technology on a regular basis, and most if not all use social networking. The only text sent to my friends with the link was:
“Tell me what you think of this video. (and linked directly to the video, not this post)”
To make sure that my opinions didn’t influence their comments.

At this point I now have feedback from 16 people.

All agreed the video sucked (much nicer then many of the comments), but they all agreed that the concept was cool. I got responses ranging from did a 6 year old shoot this to why are they so cheap they are using their 1990 camcorder to shoot the video.

Just about all thought the music was incorrect for this home, for example “I understand it may be a licensing thing, but the music didn’t fit my idea of a house I’d like to purchase. A song like “Our House” or something more classic would have made me enjoy it more.” That came from someone who is really into current music and it shocked me that he suggested something more “classic” because it would make it “fit my idea of a house I’d like to purchase”. That was very interesting to me.

Some liked the idea of music (just not that music), others thought there shouldn’t be any.

Across the board people didn’t understand why the homeowner was in the video. The comments here varied, but all thought he should be in there as it was. Some suggested having people actually doing different things in the home, like cooking, watching TV, stepping out of the shower (to follow with the humor of the door entry) (sorry I have some messed up friends, but they are very good at marketing). Others suggested not having anyone in the video as they are buying the house, not the homeowner.

Now I also did a follow up with a really bad tour of one of our properties. This I only have feedback from 9 people on. Across the board they felt the tour was more useful then the video. They also did make a point of saying if the video was better done it could be better then a tour. One thing I hadn’t thought of “One other thing I forgot to mention about the video I really liked is that it helped show the layout of the house. That’s something that is missing from “virtual tours” and I’m too lazy to look at floor plans.”

Hope that helps everyone a little. Figured it was worth sharing as not everyone has 20 people with the correct demographics to send this video off to.

Agents should always be looking for new ways to stand out from their competition and video might be the next way to do so.

Production quality will be an important way of standing out as more amateurs dive in. The suggestions made earlier were very helpful. The video above is an example of a kewl concept executed in amateurish fashion. YouTube availablity lowered standards, but standards are rising again now that broadcast quality programming is being distributed directly to the internet. That was the point of my kinescope reference. Novelty forgives content. The novelty of watching people wander through houses, yards, and neighborhoods with flip cams is quickly wearing off. It would be far more helpful to find professional examples instead of amateurish ones.

I bounced this off of 4 people aged 22 to 35. The thoughts were spread across the board from liking the music, but not wanting to see the house to very cool and wanting to see the house.

Each of the 4 individuals had very different educational and economic backgrounds.

This led me to believe, matching the video to the buyer profile is extremely important. The balancing act is how to match the buyer profile with the image we as a real estate agent want to project to the public.