Real estate video: How to find inspiration and use it

In part 1, we dealt with the question, “Do we really need to do video?” The conclusion was, “Yes, I think the ground has shifted, and we need to jump.”

OK, so, my husband and I are willing to jump into video for our business, but in what direction? What’s the next step? How do videos get done? Real decisions will be made from real action, but here’s our thought process so far.

We started by looking up articles on Inman about real estate video. And, we Googled it. We viewed lots of videos and gauged our reactions to what we saw. There is a lot out there in the real estate video world, and it’s all over the map.

We saw beautiful craftsmanship, hazy phone treks through houses, lots of webcam news and even a few shots of bare behinds. Our search was an education.

Here’s our deal: We are just two people, and this will be DIY. No team hovering around with makeup and cameras. No actors. No drones. We will have to make our own video content as good as we can. It will be our interpretation, given our budget and limitations.

It’s clear that video demands a lot of new skills — regarding technology, photography, speaking, lighting and editing. As agents, we wear a lot of hats — too many to mention here. But now, cinematographer? TV personality? Can we do this and not be embarrassingly bad? We shall see.

On the positive side, after thinking this over quite a bit, I’m convinced that videos give an advantage to individual agents. We can build our own brand by just speaking up and being present. I don’t see big data accomplishing this as well as we can. At least, not right now. It’s nice to have this advantage, and I intend to use it. That’s why I am excited about getting this show on the road.

And all roads lead back to content. Content is all about what we give to the viewer — not about what we want from the viewer. I think we can condense good content down to three things: interesting information, visual appeal and respect for time. Long intros, for example, are an example of taking from the viewer rather than giving.

Video is a just another way to create content. More to the point — it’s the way content must be created today. And then there is distribution to consider. We need our videos to get out to the right viewers — namely people who need an agent to help them in Austin, Texas. We need our videos to build familiarity and trust. How can we do that?

5 things to keep in mind when making video

I’m inspired by the Corcoran Group on YouTube.

Here are 5 things I learned from their videos that I will draw upon in my own video marketing campaign:

1. Pace

Their pace feels very comfortable. It’s not hurried or harried. It’s gentle and even genteel.

2. Variation

The style variations — stop motion, slow motion, slides, details, rooms, streets — keep me watching.

3. Agent presence

I love the individual agent who introduces the property. That presence makes it real for me.

4. New information

Each clip within the video brings new information — houses, neighborhoods, people, gardens. No repeats. I stay interested.

5. Knowledge shared

I like the sense of knowledge shared — not sold. These don’t come across as ads. No hard sell.

Also, I’ve been inspired by Jessica Edwards and associates, a fellow Coldwell Banker agent in Wilmington, North Carolina. I like the way she speaks from the heart to the viewer and uses easily available resources to create content.

So, back to reality. Listings and neighborhood content seem to be the best place for us to get started with our video marketing. I don’t think we need to know exactly what we are doing. We just need to do it.

But, at the moment, there is the small matter of equipment. We still need to work on that. I’ll keep you posted.

Roselind Hejl is an associate on the Hejl Team at Coldwell Banker United Realtors in Austin, Texas. You can follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Email Roselind Hejl.