Four practical tips on how to drive consumers wild with real estate video

Video that stands out

Frequently tapped by national news media outlets like Fox News, CNN and the like, Brian Lewis, Executive Vice President at Halstead Property in New York City does real estate video a little differently. Above is his most recent installment that follows over 100 other videos Lewis has created on New York City properties, most of which implement humor as effectively as above. He is creative and his mock talk show format above is highly entertaining. 00:57 is hands down our favorite second of the entire video (as Lewis would say… “wow”).

It’s fresh, it’s hip, but most of all, it’s an effective approach that can translate to any market if done properly.

Four ways to drive consumers wild with real estate video

There are four ways any real estate professional can a drive consumers wild with real estate video and it’s more simple than you may think:

1. Planning– Lewis’ videos are not of a Realtor walking around with a shaky iPhone giving a “tour” of a property, mumbling about the features as he walks through, no, Lewis’ videos are scripted, practiced, and planned. He knows where he’ll be sitting before the shot begins, what he’ll say, and with what inflections, and it shows. Whether being clever or not, any video should be planned out and written down prior to turning on a camera.
2. Regularity– visit a random Realtor’s YouTube channel and you may see seven videos from 2008, three from 2009, thirty from 2010 and none from 2011. We’re not saying you have to video blog or that you should create a video for random reasons, but you should have a theme and give consumers some stability in their viewing lives or it appears you only get a listing once every quarter. Try doing a monthly video of your hottest property to get started and build from there. If it is high quality, more is better in this case.
3. Quality video– speaking of quality, that is one of the top ways to drive consumers wild! You can do it yourself, but if you have the means to do so, videographers have come down in price and all metro areas have quality talent now. Make sure to have good lighting, quality equipment, a quality videographer (if possible).
4. Quality editing– appropriate yet subtle music can make or break a video, as can transitions, removing “umms” and bad takes, and a quality editing job will have proper branding for any real estate professional. Again, this can be done yourself with quality software, but we recommend hiring a quality videographer that does editing as part of their package. This editing should reflect the script and vision you originally created which is the ultimate reason to have it written down.
5. BONUS: if you can pull off humor, do it. Some people say the internet was made for funny cat pictures and it’s true- humor in a sea of drab real estate videos really stands out. Lewis appears approachable above, and because of the mocking tone, we watched it several times to figure out which part was our favorite. Then we watched other videos, and the breadcrumbs led us down the path of entertainment while seeing amazing listings. It can be the hardest way to drive consumers wild, but if you can do it, hit that home run!