Video may once have been considered a flashy “extra” in your real estate marketing plan, but those days are long gone.
Thanks to real estate websites and mobile apps, home buyers now play a major role in driving their own home search. Real estate agents can’t afford listings or websites that fall short of expectations – and buyers’ expectations now include video.
Video is here in a big way
Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users, according to Wordstream. When it comes to boosting brand awareness and gaining customers, video is the best content for driving ROI. As a real estate agent, two of your most important jobs are marketing your listings and marketing yourself, so you should be using video to do both.
According to NAR’s Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 61% of home buyers consider video a useful feature on real estate websites, but only 11% of sellers say their agent used video to market their home in 2017. Agents who don’t use video are not generating buzz or standing out among their competition, and are ultimately leaving clients — and money — on the table.
Video allows agents to be storytellers, and you have stories to tell
Nobody knows how to tell the story of a home better than a real estate agent. And no medium better captures a home’s personality than a video. With video, you can communicate the airiness of an open floorplan in a way photos can’t, or zoom in on property details that might be overlooked during an open house.
In short, video allows you to immerse prospective buyers in a home before they even set foot in it.
The perfect video channel is already in front of the buyers’ eyes
The largest social platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat – have introduced a feature called “Stories.” (For those not yet on the ‘gram: Stories are a way for people to share short snippets of video in a way that feels spontaneous and candid – and they typically are only visible for 24 hours.)
Businesses have caught onto the power of Stories, and you should, too. In addition to recording a virtual walk-through of a home, you can post a more personalized video to Stories. Each video Story can speak to the hidden gems of a home, the highlights of a neighborhood, or even the charming touches from the current owner.
Your Stories will appear in prospects’ feeds right alongside their friends’ Stories, creating intimacy and an emotional connection to the home.? As an agent, you are selling more than just a house. You’re selling a sanctuary where buyers will raise a family, celebrate milestones, and create memories. Use Stories to start building that relationship between the property and the buyer.
Publish a Story directly to your listing
Video content like Homesnap Stories will continue to become even more important as an advertising channel, and buyers will simply expect this type of content. Homesnap is the first real estate platform to offer agents a solution to create eye-catching Stories in a free and easy way right now.
“Homesnap is an all-in-one platform that allows agents to engage with clients and other agents,”’ says Alison Hudler of RE/MAX Sails, Inc. “With their newest feature, Homesnap Stories, agents can create fun and exciting clips to feature different aspects of a home to grab their attention right away.”
Best of all, Homesnap Stories publish directly on your listing in Homesnap to engage buyers and agents who are browsing for homes. Homesnap surfaces viewer stats to you too, so you can see who’s engaging with your content. Additionally, you can republish Homesnap Stories on your own social media accounts and share them organically.
This solution is customized specifically for the real estate industry, to help you get on board with this trend and differentiate yourself, your listings, and your business. If you aren’t already using Stories, get started now.
With easy-to-use mobile technology fueled by unmatched data intelligence, Homesnap is changing the way real estate agents connect with consumers and serve their clients. The industry-endorsed Homesnap platform leverages real-time data from 180+ MLSs to empower millions of consumers with a superior home search experience while providing U.S. agents with access to powerful mobile tools that accelerate their success.