Why You Need Video As a Real Estate Agent
If you manage estate agents and you haven’t incorporated video into your business model yet, now is the time to wake up to the incredible impact it could have on your company. With video now making up almost 80% of consumer internet traffic, viewed mainly on a mobile device, there is no better time to utilize video and take your online multi-media game to the next level.
Not only can you provide customers with a huge amount of information in a short space of time, but the video offers convenience to your consumers whilst giving you a flexible, attractive and cost-effective way to reach your audience. It is a media platform that can benefit more or less every business with an online presence, and this fact is being acknowledged across multiple industries as more and more companies start to take video seriously. One of these industries is real estate; and if you are a part of this group, then listen closely.
The quality of your online persona as a real estate company is vital in today’s world. As the vast majority of property sales and lettings are sourced, queried and completed online, having a dysfunctional and poor-quality website as an estate agent is criminal. People nowadays are even sometimes happy to sign contracts for a property purely based on the information they can access online, but only if they trust the company they are buying from.
Developing this trust from your potential customer base is a big deal for property sellers, and one of the best ways to achieve this is through your website and social media. Clicking onto a website that looks like it was made in 2006 and finding a link to a Facebook page that hasn’t been updated since 2017 screams ‘unprofessional’ and isn’t going to help you make any sales. Keeping these platforms up to date, however, shows you to be conscientious and active which naturally instils trust into your client base.
A sure-fire way to improve your online image and generate a trustworthy brand is to utilize video as a way to inform, impress and engage with your audience. No company is better suited to video than a real estate agent either, as what you are selling requires as much visual information as possible. It is a simple fact that the more visual stimulus you can provide about a property, the more likely it is that this property will generate interest from prospective buyers.
Usually, this visual evidence comes in the form of pictures. But why stop there? What if you could provide prospective buyers with an immersive and comprehensive visual experience? One that encapsulates what it is like to walk around the property yourself. If done right, this is exactly what a short video can provide.
Giving you much better visual depth than simple photographs and showing a number of different perspectives and angles, the video will drastically improve the content associated with your properties. Online marketers have proven that better online content = higher audience engagement and as a result, your viewership interest will increase dramatically, in turn generating a higher number of sales.
Not to mention the time and money you could save on pointless viewings and repetitive phone calls. How many times a month do you think one of your agents shows a prospective client around a property and then never hears from them again, leaving your colleague to have to chase them down over the phone? In such a fast-moving industry, this happens regularly and a lot of it can be attributed to the fact that the prospective client didn’t know what they were in for when they booked the viewing. Basing their opinion on a few poorly taken photographs, many clients will book viewings “just to see what it is like”, rather than having any real intention of purchasing or renting the property.
We know for a fact that video can help ease the pain of this persistent problem. By capturing every corner of the property in its natural and most accurate light, you are able to capture the essence of the property and showcase this on-screen to your audience. Paired with the fact that most online consumers prefer receiving information through video, this strategy will help your customers decide whether the property is what they are after, meaning your agents will spend more time in the office and waste less time showing uninterested parties around your properties.
This major benefit has never been more apparent than right now in the era of COVID-19. Back in March as the country entered a nationwide lockdown and property viewings were immediately suspended, most estate agents offered video viewings where possible as it was the closest thing to an actual viewing they could provide. Now, as viewings become possible again, albeit in a limited capacity, there is no reason to stop producing these video viewings as they offer a credible source of detailed information for customers to consume.
Video for a real estate agency is a triple threat and cannot be ignored in the modern world. It will save you time, generate revenue, and raise your online brand image above that of your competition. For an industry hampered by the effects of COVID and one which is so competitive and ruthless, video could be the next crucial step in strengthening your business and fostering a profitable relationship between you and your potential clients.
Watch the video we made for Stewart Milne Homes below
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