Using Video to Market Real Estate Services
November 5th, 2007 | by Real Estate Marketing Team Published in Marketing With Videos | 1 Comment
Using video in today’s web 2.0 world to market realtor services and property listings
I wanted to touch upon an area of the web and of search engine functionality that is experiencing rapid growth right now, and that area is in the integration of video. As bandwidth and compression and editing tools become more commonplace and refined, video is now the biggest growth sectors in content online. Have you heard of a little website named YouTube? As the YouTube revolution continues to take over, other mediums suck as Pay-Per-Click could face serious pressure in delivering solid impressions and results, especially. Let’s take a look at where video online is at right now in the real estate industry, and hopefully spark a conversation on what is coming around the corner.
Posting Video to the Internet
This is where the YouTube revolution is currently taking hold. Whether posted to a Web 2.0 community like YouTube, or placed elsewhere on the web or on your website, putting video online has many applications. Obviously, you can describe your company or property listings in a more visual and 3-dimentional way than static, or even flash animation way. You can also describe in a personalized way, what that community is like, from one-on-one interviews with residents, to local video footage of town attractions, video again allows for more targeted, promotional, and persuasive content.
Video Podcasting
Video podcasting differs from YouTube and the like in that the content can be delivered and received on a regular basis. The beauty of syndicating the video is in the automation and wide net you can cast out there with your video content. Podcast video feed could be customized from the agent or office feeds to match a subscriber’s property search needs. Just as in audio podcasting, individuals can create monthly, or otherwise market trend reports. RSS and syndication programming is also part of the coming revolution of the world wide web and portable, hand-held devices. Sunday Open House listings sent directly to subscriber’s cell phones?
Whatever the ultimate direction, you can bet that video is going to be a huge component of whatever web 3.0 entails, and the real estate industry should be especially aware of this emerging medium!
November 6th, 2007 at 12:51 am (#)
Sheriff,
It will be a fun and bumpy ride on the way to Web 3.0 - I wonder what great things we’ll see on the way?!?!
Right now I think video has a great chance to showcase homes for online viewers better than any other means - but it has to be done well a la:
Nashua Video Tours (http://www.nashuavideotours.com/virtualtours/sample/sample_video_tour.html) or:
Knightyme Studios (http://www.knightymestudios.com/flvplayer/player.html?m=5119GreythorneLane&t=5119%20Greythorne%20Lane&co=0×00BFFF&bg=/videotours/images/Greythorne_Bkgrnd.jpg - or else it won’t be worth watching.
Photos still have much usefulness in the Web 2.0 world, so I’d say flexibility of a virtual tour provider is important as both video and photos can be a successful means of showing off a home online.
Doing it yourself or easily and affordably hiring a pro will also be an important consideration to Web 3.0. Much of the reason Web 2.0 has been a success has been due to user generated content. Great Web 2.0 tools empower users to do the work themselves and make it worth their time and effort. Web 3.0 will likely continue this and just continue to make it easier.
Who knows, maybe we’ll be finding the next Steven Spielberg by watching his movies online - or maybe new movie theaters will be user generated content at a fraction of the cost of today’s movies - but maybe this is more like Web 9.0! It’ll be fun to see where we are in 10-20 years and let’s enjoy the ride!