Video is one of the most effective property marketing tools, especially now that people are looking for ways to minimise contact throughout the buying process.
They may add an extra expense to your property marketing strategy, but the results from video are undeniable. Not only do videos engage potential buyers, but research has shown that they can increase enquiries by up to 400%.
You may think that videos can only be used on property listings, but to make sure you get the greatest return on your investment, there are plenty of different things you can do. Here are a few ideas for how you can make the most of your property videos.
Target A Relevant Audience With Facebook Ads
It’s become harder and harder to get organic reach with Facebook. On average, only 6.4% of your followers will see anything you post. So unless you already have a very large Facebook following, chances are your posts are only being seen by a handful of people. One way to work around that is to use Facebook ads.
Yes, adverts cost money, but they increase the visibility of your posts way beyond your own audience and can be set to target specific demographics that fit your ideal client base. For instance, say you have a new instruction that has a lot of land and its own stables. Naturally, it will be best suited to people who own horses. On Facebook, you can target a specific demographic of people who not only are living in a specific area and in a certain age range, but also people who have shown an active interest in horses through their Facebook activity. You can’t get much more targeted than that!
Even if you have a property that isn’t quite so niche, you can easily narrow down to the kinds of demographic who would be most interested in that property, like those aged 60+ who may be looking to downsize, or people in their 30s and 40s who may be in the market for a larger family home.
And, as far as advertising goes, Facebook is as cheap as it gets. You can ‘boost’ a post for only £5 and it will still have the potential to reach hundreds of people. This is a great strategy for video marketing, as research has shown that people on Facebook will spend 5x as long looking at a video than they would a static post. That’s a greater chance for you to build brand awareness, generate leads and win new clients.
Make Use Of Instagram Stories And IGTV
Just like Facebook, Instagram is now set up in such a way that only a small percentage of your followers will actually see your posts. As a result, Instagram stories have become a popular feature that helps get your content in front of your followers. If you’re not quite sure how they work or want a bit more information, head over to this blog post:
In a nutshell, stories are image or video posts that are live for 24 hours before they disappear. They appear at the top of your follower’s Instagram feeds, making them easier to find.
One thing to bear in mind with this is that Instagram stories are catered towards vertical video. As property videos are always filmed horizontally, you will need to ask your videographer to also create a vertical snippet for you to use on Instagram stories. Each Instagram story clip can only be a maximum of 15 seconds, so they needn’t be too long.
An alternative to this is to use IGTV, where you can post horizontal videos that last for up to 10 minutes. In this instance, all you would need to do is ask your videographer to create a 10 minute edit of your property video and post it straight to the platform.
Optimise Your Social Content
It may be harder to be seen on social media these days, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t still share your video across your platforms. The key is to encourage engagement to show Facebook and Instagram that yours is content worth taking notice of.
A simple trick for this is to ask a question in the caption of your video post. This encourages people to leave a comment, which will have a significant impact on the engagement of your post. It could be something as simple as asking for an opinion on a certain feature of the home or its location.
Use Video In Your Email Marketing
Video is the perfect accompaniment to email marketing. Research has shown that simply including the word ‘video’ in an email subject line can increase open rates by up to 19%. This is because it helps your emails stand out against other emails in your readers’ inbox and also promises more engaging content.
There are a few things you can do to ensure your video email is more effective. Firstly, it’s best to use videos that are only 1 to 2 minutes long (again you can ask your videographer to make an edit for you from a longer video). Second, you should host your video on a platform like YouTube or Vimeo and embed it into the email. This will make sure that your email is not too large to send and will also make it much easier for your audience to share the video.
If you aren’t using email marketing yet, head over to the following blog posts to find out more:
- Why Every Estate Agent Should Be Using Email Marketing
- Email Marketing For Estate Agents: What Should I Write About?
Create A Blog Post Around Your Video
A great way to get more eyes on your property video is to dedicate a blog post to it. This needn’t be about the property itself (although if it’s an extra special one, by all means go ahead!) It could be about how you use video as part of your marketing packages, or a case study of results from a particular property video.
You could even do a behind-the-scenes type blog post where you delve into what goes into a property video shoot. This will not only help build familiarity with your brand but will also show potential clients what to expect. Overall, the goal here is to show how your use of property videos sets you apart from other agents and, most importantly, helps secure sales.
Add A Link To Your Signature
This is such a simple way to drive traffic to a page that is often overlooked. How many emails do you send at work a day? For the average worker, it’s in the region of 40 (although you’ll probably receive more than 100!) You can get a link to your property video straight into people’s inboxes by simply adding a line of text with a link underneath your email signature.
If you use your videos on property listings, then this could be something as basic as, ‘Take a look at our newest instruction here’. You can set this up in a matter of minutes and update it whenever you upload a new listing.
Conclusion
To really get the most out of your property videos, it’s always best to spend some time promoting it after it’s been posted. The simple tips outlined in this post will help your videos be seen by more people, driving more traffic to your listings and helping you secure a sale.
If you don’t yet use property videos in your marketing strategy but are interested in finding out more, please feel free to get in touch. You can give us a call on +44 1494 358888 or you can head over to our contact page.
