Use video to promote your business

About 73 percent of homeowners would be more likely to list with agents using video than those who don’t, according to Darin Persinger, founder of Productivity Junkies.

“Unfortunately, only eight percent of Realtors® actually use video in their marketing,” he said. “Products that have videos are 95 percent more likely to be bought and video can add up to two minutes to a visitor’s stay on your website.”

Persinger compared the statistics of the average time a person spends on YouTube to how many Realtors® actually use the website as a marketing tool and urged them to consider using video to promote their business during an Agent Reboot conference in Cherry Hill, NJ.

“The average person spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube.  By 2013, video will be 90 percent of all consumer IP traffic and 64 percent will be mobile traffic,” he added. “Video can increase the likelihood of a front-page Google search as well.”

Among the reasons Persinger believes Realtors® aren’t utilizing video as much as they should is because they are overwhelmed by the technology, don’t know where to begin, are camera shy, intimidated by editing and are afraid the video will look too unprofessional.

“Don’t let your ego get in the way of making a video,” he said. “You must differentiate yourself by using video.  Your target market is demanding you do better.”

When choosing the necessary equipment to begin making a video, he recommends simply starting off using the video camera on your smartphone and then moving to a digital camera.

Persinger suggested several content ideas Realtors® can use for their videos:

• Share information about your local real estate market
• Share information about your local community
• Do a property tour of a listing
• Do a question-and-answer session
• Create a screencast
• Give a tour of the community or neighborhood
• Get client testimonials

When ready to implement video into your marketing, he suggests using these steps:

• Pick your equipment
• Pick your method
• Keep the video under two minutes
• Don’t worry about editing just yet
• Post it (YouTube)
• Share it (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

“Don’t think you will need to master your first video,” Persinger said. “The more you do it, the better you will get at it.”