Interactive video marketing as a real estate professional in 2024 is not a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have. We know that you know this already, from the countless coaches and marketers telling you the benefits of video marketing to generate prospects.
What we will share with you are some unique ways you can integrate interactive personalized videos to really get the attention of your prospects.
Before sharing the exact content types and how to execute them, let’s quickly explore the various video marketing channels you can use for your real estate business.
Interactive Video Marketing Channels for Real Estate
All of the interactive video marketing channels where you can post your content can be divided into two broad categories:
- 1) Third Party Platforms (Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, etc.), or
- 2) Owned Media (your own properties, such as your website)
When sharing video content, most realtors post to third party platforms without driving viewers back to their own website.
Now, there is nothing wrong in posting these videos on third party platforms. In fact, when starting out with interactive video marketing for your real estate business, you absolutely should take advantage of the organic reach of these platforms to generate video views and build your brand.
However, third party platforms do not tell you the exact person that is watching and interacting with your content. This means you are casting a wide net, and hoping that some of the fish you catch will be part of your ideal customer profile.
Moving Towards a First Party Interactive Video Marketing Experience
The goal should always be to capture the right audience members and turn them into subscribers by offering your video content on your own website.
When you use an owned channel (such as your website), you have full control over who gets to see what. For example, when you send an email to any of your prospects or clients, that is an owned channel communication.
Most successful real estate professionals invest a significant part of their marketing budget into building up their database so that they don’t have to rely on other platforms to communicate with them.
The same goes for interactive video marketing. If you truly want to engage your database without relying on any third party platforms, we have a few tips for you.
Tips for Showcasing your Video Content on First Party Channels
- Create an account on Wistia and upload your videos there. You can then get the embed code or URL for each video. Paste it into an appropriate page on your website.
- Whenever possible, send traffic to web pages containing your videos, instead of directing to social platforms. Add a call to action for each video on the top or bottom right hand corner of the page asking them to take the action you want (for example, subscribe to your email newsletter, request a valuation for your home, download a local market update, etc.).
- Create short form videos to generate awareness and drive traffic to your owned property (website) Create short form video “previews” to post on social media and drive traffic to your website to view the content.
Interactive Video Qualifiers to Generate Seller Leads in your Local Market
When a prospect is thinking about selling their home, the number one question that lingers in their mind is “when is a good time to sell?”
While home valuation funnels have worked great for the last few years, they have now stagnated. Every agent is offering them, and prospects are well aware of online tools that can give them a ballpark estimate of what the value of their home is without giving an agent their info (Zillow’s Zestimate is a popular one).
A strategy that a few forward-thinking agents are adopting to differentiate themselves is a video-powered, personalized, exploratory quiz.
Use a software like VideoAsk or to create interactive video quizzes when targeting sellers. You will just need to create a small video clip for each question, using your webcam or smartphone.
Questions to Ask Sellers Using VideoAsk
- How long have you owned your current home? (Options – Less than 1 year, 1-3 years, 3-5 years, 5-10 years, 10 years+)
- Why do you want to sell your home? (Options – Relocation, Downsizing, Need More Room, For Equity Gain, Other)
- What is your timeframe for selling your home? (Options – Immediately, In 1 – 3 months, 3 – 6 months, 6 months+)
- What is your budget (if downsizing or relocating)? (Options – Open Question)
- Does your home need renovation? (Options – Yes, No, Not Sure)
- Name (form field)
- Email (form field)
- Phone Number (form field)
Once these questions have been answered, make sure that you have an ending video on the final page confirming that you have received their inquiry and that you will get back to them with a detailed evaluation of whether now is a good time to sell (with comps).
This helps create trust as a real estate expert by emphasizing that you are not just trying to close them as a customer, but rather, guiding them to make an informed decision about their property.
Mini-Series of Neighborhoods that you Target + Community Page
The number one reason (according to the Consumer Federation of America) that drives a customer to choose a certain real estate professional is local market expertise.
But here’s the problem: every agent in your area can (and will) say that they are knowledgeable about the local market.
All agents have access to the same MLS data and comps for a particular area. You can add someone to a list that notifies buyers and sellers when a property is sold in the market, and you all get access to the same market overview reports.
So the question is, what actually makes you different? Why should a prospect choose you over others? In fact, 90% of people start their home search journey online, doing research on their own before evaluating agents in a particular area.
This is why showcasing your expertise by talking about the neighborhood and its local businesses is so important. It allows you to share a visual narrative of how you fit into the community.
Steps for Creating a Mini Series of Community Overview Videos
Step 1: Write Out the Format for the Community Mini-Series & List Your Locations
In order to create the community mini-series, the most important part is planning the actual content for your videos.
We have created an outline to help you get started:
- Create a list of how many videos you are planning to create for your local area. This depends on how many communities you want to target, as well as different video content concepts.
- One video in your community series should feature the schools in your neighborhood.
- Another video should feature the local businesses like restaurants, pubs, local shops, etc. that any buyer would visit after moving to your target market.
- The third video should talk about the types of housing available and general price trends based on property type.
- In a further video, talk about the overall market outlook and what to expect in terms of how the community may develop.
- The closing video is where you talk about who the prototypical buyer is for that particular community.
Step 2: Determine the Tools & Systems you will use to Produce your Content
You can either ask someone to record you using a smartphone, or hire a local videographer to help you shoot the content. It’s important that you invest in a lavalier microphone to make sure you are able to capture crystal clear audio. When editing the video, you can ask the videographer to overlay the audio from the lavalier microphone to ensure that the final video is free of any background noise.
Protip: If you want to quickly edit your video clips by yourself, try using veed.io. We use it here at Studeo! Screenflow is also an option (you can find it in the App Store).
Step 3: Create a Studeo Storybook for each of your Videos and Share it with Prospects
Take a look at this example Storybook one of our clients used to showcase her expertise in her local area.
With the Studeo Storybook editorial-style format, users can actively interact with the content instead of just watching passively. This active format drives 50% more engagement compared to passive formats like video.
If you have a long video, use something like Canva’s video splitter to create chunks of content that you can populate across your Storybook.
Our AI-powered storytelling software will automatically write the editorial text and populate the Storybook with stock footage to maximize engagement.
Email Marketing with Personalized AI Videos for Buyers & Sellers
Welcome to the future of personalized marketing in real estate (powered by AI, of course). If you have made it to this point, we want to promise you something.
Implementing the strategy laid out above will not only set you apart from your competition, but also create a personalized experience for your prospects that almost no agent or broker currently leverages to improve win rate.
This strategy is getting more common in the B2B world and the results are mind-boggling. We have used it ourselves here at Studeo and have seen a 4X increase in clickthrough rate, along with a 150% increase in engagement rate.
In all honesty, you probably need to hire someone to set up this system using your CRM and tools like Tavus.io or Gan.ai. Once the system is set up, all you need are some triggers as part of your welcome email that sends whenever a buyer or seller lead comes in.
You need a CRM and a tool called Zapier to set up this system – feel free to send the instructions below to your tech team).
Here’s how it works, magically:
- Step 1: Record two videos using any random first name followed by a welcome message (one for buyers and one for sellers).
- Step 2: Inside your software (Tavus.io or Gan.ai), pick the first name field as a dynamic field. This will replace the first name from a prompt sent from your CRM via Zapier.
- Step 3: Create 2 Zapier prompts (called “Zaps”) that get triggered whenever you get a new buyer or a seller lead. Use the first name field from the CRM as the dynamic field to replace the opener.
- Step 4: Create 2 more zaps which send the video’s GIF URL, as well as the link to the final video, back to 2 different CRM fields which should be named Personalized GIF and Personalized Video URL (or something to that effect).
- Step 5 – Use the fields from Step 4 inside your email outreach template.
This five step process will allow you to a send personalized video to each and every prospect, giving them a completely unique experience.
Don’t forget to follow-up by calling the lead the same day.
Multi-Stream Live Open House Using StreamYard
Live-streaming an open house is not a new thing. It allows you to engage with potential prospects that cannot physically make it to your open house.
The strategy that we recommend is to go multichannel with open houses (essentially, open houses on steroids).
Sign up for StreamYard. It’s a service that allows you to livestream on multiple platforms at once:
- Instagram Live
- Facebook Live
- TikTok Live
- YouTube Live
The software also allows you to add your brand logo and calls to action right on the livestream.
Ideally before going live with an open house, follow this promotion strategy:
Step 1 – Pre-set the events on your social channels and run an email marketing campaign to your prospects prompting them to register for the live event.
Step 2 – When you go live, send your database another email. If you have an SMS marketing tool, use it to send them a notification straight to their phones.
Step 3 – Run some paid ads promoting your live webinar on social platforms to generate some new prospects.
During the live event, have a clear call to action allowing people to fill out a form if they are interested. At the physical event, create a QR code that directs to the form and place it in front of the home.
The QR code should go to a landing page that asks for their information and gets them registered for the open house. Add something of value to encourage registration; a local market report, for example.
Follow this simple blueprint for your next 2-3 open houses and you are sure to see more traction and generate more leads from these events.
Open House Livestreams in your Listing Storybooks
When the open house is over, download the recording and feel free to add it to your Storybook for that particular listing. Open house videos and 3D experiences are a great way to enhance Studeo Storybooks where the purpose is to market a listing.
Take a look at this listing Storybook example created by one of our clients that generated new listings from other prospects that viewed the Storybook.
The key is to leverage these content assets even after a listing is sold, to showcase authority in your local area and generate more leads.
In Conclusion – Get Started with Interactive Video Marketing
These 4 interactive video marketing strategies, when executed properly, will allow you to stand out from your competition and showcase your expertise in your local market. Pick any one and simply get started – the best time to start was yesterday, and the next best time is today.
