Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
In 2022, the average person watched over 19 hours of online videos per week. If you want to connect with real estate buyers and sellers, you need to take video seriously.
Despite the success of short-form videos on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, YouTube is still the preferred platform for viewing video content online. If you want to generate qualified leads and sell more homes, launching a real estate YouTube channel can be well worth the effort.
In this guide, we'll help you understand why YouTube is the perfect real estate marketing tool and will tell you how to get the most out of it.
There are a lot of social media platforms that you can use to market your real estate business, so why should you use YouTube? Here are some of the reasons why putting some focus on YouTube can be well worth it.
If you want to reach prospective clients online, YouTube is one of the best places to do it. Youtube has more than 2.6 billion monthly active users and the number is increasing every year.
While not all those users will be located in your local area, chances are that YouTube is the best platform for reaching those that are.
YouTube is not just a platform where people go to be entertained, but many use it as a search engine. This includes homebuyers, who often use the platform when searching for a property or considering purchases.
More than 55% of people search for a product on Google and then go to YouTube to learn more before making a purchase.
These habits translate to real estate as well. Many home shoppers will use YouTube to dig deeper and learn more about the home before scheduling a showing.
Because YouTube and Google are so intertwined, efforts on one will likely affect the other. Your YouTube videos are more likely to show up in Google searches when compared to videos hosted on other platforms.
Having some videos rank in Google as well as on YouTube itself can be a great way to keep your business competitive and to get more visibility online.
It's important to recognize that there are many different types of videos you can create and upload to YouTube. The possibilities are endless, but here are a few of the main types of videos you might want to add to your channel.
The most obvious use for YouTube marketing videos is to show off your properties. YouTube is the perfect place for property tour videos, drone footage, and other cinematic videos that show off the professional real estate videos and photos that you've taken.
Guided tour videos that were shot professionally will do a great job of intriguing and exciting buyers. These real estate marketing videos can give buyers a clear idea of what the home looks like and how it would feel to set foot in it. These videos will also help buyers build an emotional connection to the property.
Providing value to your target customers first is the name of the game when it comes to content marketing. Your real estate YouTube channel can also be a great place to educate your target audience and provide value to them.
Using YouTube to share home staging tips, talk about real estate trends in your area, or give guides on various neighborhoods can be a great idea. These types of videos can allow you to establish yourself as an authority while also building a connection with your target audience.
If you're already working as a real estate agent and have helped some clients successfully land their dream homes, it could be worth sharing testimonials in video form. Whether you simply highlight written testimonials in the video or you interview your clients in the video, doing so can help you build your reputation and show your authority as a real estate agent.
Along with the right production and professional shots of the homes that your clients have bought, you can leverage your existing successes to get more potential clients interested in working with you.
As a realtor, you need to show your personality and be authentic with social media and YouTube marketing. Clients want to work with someone that they feel like they can trust and get along with on a personal level.
Consider creating YouTube videos that show your personality. Tell your clients about your experience and expertise, showcase your other team members, give a tour of your office, or simply mention some other things that interest you outside of real estate.
Telling clients more about yourself and your business can be a great way to get them more interested in working with you.
Now that you understand why YouTube can be so useful and what types of videos you can upload, let's get into the nuts and bolts of using the platform. Here's how to use YouTube effectively.
One of the first things that you should do after creating a YouTube account is to optimize your YouTube channel. You need to treat your YouTube channel as though it's a landing page. Ensure that it makes a great first impression.
You'll want to upload high-quality banner image and a profile image and should fill out the "about" page in a professional way.
You should also create a high-quality "trailer" video and add it to your channel. Since this video will be the first thing a person will see, you should be sure that it's personable and engaging. Use it to quickly tell viewers what you're all about.
Make sure that the videos you upload are fully optimized as well. Aside from making high-quality videos, you also need to fill out video information as completely as you can and optimize them for YouTube SEO.
You should add engaging headlines, fill out the description of your videos, and add tags while using relevant keywords. Be sure to place a link to your website in your video descriptions as well.
It can also be useful to create and add engaging thumbnails and to add CTAs through YouTube's cards and annotation features.
As part of optimizing your videos for YouTube, be sure to optimize them for local search as well. Here are a few ways that you can make sure that Google associates your video with your local area:
With the addition of these optimizations, your video will be more likely to show to people in your target area during a Google search.
If there are several types of videos that you'll be uploading, it can be helpful to group them into playlists. This can help make your channel easier to navigate. You can easily do this by clicking on "Save" under the video and then "create new playlist".
Playlists can also be useful for targeting different audiences. For example, you can sort videos into playlists for both buyers and sellers.
Keep in mind that to get the best results with YouTube, you should go beyond the platform itself.
Make sure that you're posting your videos to other social media channels to ensure that your followers see them once you've uploaded a new one.
Embedding videos can also be helpful. You can easily embed a video by going to the video and clicking on "share" and then "embed".
Consider embedding videos on your website, in blog posts, or in emails.
While you can get a lot of traction for your videos by simply optimizing them well, you can go further by running YouTube ads. To do this, you'll need to create a Google Ads account, create a new campaign, and go through the steps to create and start running an ad.
If you use the right geographic targeting features and keywords, YouTube Ads can help your business get some great results.
One final thing to remember when implementing a YouTube real estate strategy is that you need to track your results. Fortunately, YouTube makes this easy to do thanks to the included analytics tools.
To view YouTube Analytics, you'll need to log into your account and then click on the profile icon in the top right corner. You can then go to YouTube Studio and click on the Analytics icon to see your data.
Checking how long users have watched a certain video and learning more about the demographics of your viewers can be very helpful. This data can help you tweak and improve your YouTube strategy as time goes by.
If you want to improve your real estate marketing efforts, you should start building a presence on YouTube. A great YouTube presence can help you get more qualified leads, improve your SEO, and build trust with your audience.
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