August is Listings Tech theme month at Inman. All month, we’re digging into listing technology, a conversation which spans portals to single-listing sites, landing pages, 3-D tours, photography, videos, promotion and more.
The listing video has evolved from an automated slideshow of images set to cheesy stock music to highly produced, Hollywood-esque short films.
Like all things though, the most effective and practical style of listing video rests somewhere in the middle, and there are all kinds of tools in the marketplace to help you make that listing stand out on big — and little — screens.
This month, Inman tackles the multifaceted, deeply nuanced concept of listing tech, and the impact of digital, shareable video on real estate marketing is a big driver of how consumers react to available property.
Let’s have a look at seven video technology providers helping Inman readers shine online with custom property productions, social media-ready video and ancillary lead generation tactics. The more original content you can create for a listing, the more it can stand out in the market. Yet, video is still under utilized.
Additionally, because online content tends to thrive in perpetuity, video done today helps you market for tomorrow. And one last thing: The market is ever more comfortable with buying sight unseen, and video is critical to helping your seller earn better offers in less time.
1. Replay Listings
Based in New York, Replay Listings is a video creation app that encourages agents to create quick, authentic walkthroughs of available apartments.
The company is relatively hands-off when it comes to what the videos can contain, but it does stress that they should be dialogue-free and under two minutes in length. It doesn’t contain any in-app editing or fancy graphics, opting instead for simple, straightforward property videos.
Consider it a video-based MLS. It doesn’t push production quality or marketing beyond its intrinsic intent, which is to help agents and their clients get a better visual understanding of an available property before scheduling a physical appointment.
2. Phixer
Similar to BoxBrownie in that users upload content, add some context and get something much better in return, Phixer customers need only upload a series of individual video clips and, within a day, have a professionally edited promotional listing video.
Your video includes image correction, music and branding elements. And also like BoxBrownie, Phixer uses a team of talented overseas editors to make changes while you sleep and help you market listings when awake.
3. Kerbox Media
It took former agent Bill Kerbox a long time to get my attention. He was early to the video marketing game — too early, in fact. Time was on his side, however, and now Kerbox is producing some compelling content for real estate agents, teams and national franchises.
This isn’t an app or algorithm that cranks out ready-made videos. Kerbox works with clients individually to build unique video projects, assists in how to market your content and can also help produce general branding content.
Kerbox admits he’s happy to see more agents embracing video and stepping up in front of the camera, but he’s confident that with little extra time and investment, it’s not difficult to go from DIY to a professional, polished product.
4. Real Estate Shows
This service won’t impress with its showmanship, so to speak, but its efficiency is worthy of encore applause. It uses an MLS connection and street address to affordably automate creation of enhanced slideshows.
And yes, while it’s simple, it also means you better put your best picture forward when uploading source images to the MLS.
A terrific value-add is that Real Estate Shows then uses your video in an included single-property website. This is a fast, close-to-comprehensive listing marketing package.
5. Vuse
The former chief operating officer of Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates and an award-winning filmmaker and creative professional spliced themselves into a company called Vuse, which offers a video production app for the real estate industry.
Videos are optimized for social sharing and ideal for ad campaigns. They come with ready-to-go templates and the ability to add custom content and branded “sign-offs.” There are also shot-list suggestions and in-app formatting queues. Cool.
6. RoomVu
Like Real Estate Shows, Roomvu helps agents market their video content as well as create it. Accounts come loaded with all kinds of market-specific content and templates, as well as lead generation capabilities that drive viewers to calls to action.
Videos are largely graphic and statistical in nature, designed to convey useful market data quickly in a social media setting. Roomvu also includes flexible scheduling tools, floor-plan creators, for-hire professional services for video production, and a photographer clearinghouse for U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
7. TruPlace
This is a marketing company that allows agents to capture content themselves for multiple tour types or farm it out to one of the TruPlace’s national photographers. They offer simple slideshow videos to walk-through videos that start with highlighting curb appeal. You can add aerial footage, too.
All TruPlace products are published with unique URLs, and any video can be made MLS-ready via Vimeo or branded for YouTube. The company also sells a large menu of rich real estate photography content, including floor plans, virtual staging and twilight edits.
Remember that listing technology encapsulates a large swath of tools and tactics that help property get sold. Every Facebook ad, email campaign and landing page you create is a chapter in your listing’s story, and video is likely going to be the one buyers flip to first.
Keep listing videos light, accurate and shareable. And always make sure the viewer knows where to turn when it ends.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
