There are a few simple reasons why video marketing works so well for Real Estate agents. The most of which is because of something psychologists call a “Parasocial” relationship. This is where one person builds a relationship with a character and the character doesn’t know the other person exists.
It’s most common with celebrities that we follow. Sit back for a second and think about your favorite actor, athlete, or social influencer; if I were to begin to bad mouth these people in front of you, you’d likely instinctively begin to defend them.
Truthfully, you don’t know these people and these celebrities don’t know you, yet we’ll blindly defend them like they are better than family. Even though, we’ve really only seen maybe 6% of their real life.
Our TV screens went from actual TV’s to the cell phones we hold in our hands. Our networks went from ABC, NBC, and CBS to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more.
When you market with video today, you’re able to build this exact same type of relationship with your potential clients. There are a few really simple pieces of video content that you can create to position yourself as the local expert while building a relationship with each and every member of your database on auto-pilot.
1. About Me
As Simon Sinek would say, “Start with Why”. The best type of videos your potential clients could see about you in the beginning is who you are, what you do, and why you do it. A simple three to five minute video explaining how you go into the business and why you like to help people will help your prospects connect with you in a pretty impactful way.
As you continue to create content you really have to understand that your life is the content. When you can take your real life experiences and tie them back to what you do in business you’ll find an endless stream of content ideas actually come to you more and more each day.
For example…
I was recently traveling to Long Island to speak at an event. On my layover in Chicago, we got held up because a few birds had flown into the side of the plane. We had to deplane and wait at least an hour for them top jump in and fix it which pushed back my arrival time in Long Island. This wouldn’t have been a big deal but I was supposed to hit the stage at 5:00 PM and if we were laid over much longer I might not have made it. Kind of like when you’re set to close on a new home and the inspection report comes back and if we don’t get some key things fixed, we might have to push closing back.
This really isn’t much in the way of a pre-planned video but I took the story of what was happening in my real life and I simply tied it back to what I might do in my business. The more you can do to share who you are and what you’re living through with people the easier it is going to be for you to build a relationship with people without having to sit down and spend an hour selling them on yourself.
What I think is so incredible about what most people do is that there are hundreds if micro-parts to the process. Real Estate, while it can be a simple process, requires a great deal of situational expertise.
If you were to sit down and write out the top ten to twelve steps to either buying or selling a home you would have twelve to twenty-four pieces of content you could create. When you break those steps down into smaller steps you could take care of an entire years worth of content. When you combine this with real stories taking place in your business everyday you will create some really engaging content that both reaches and connects with people while positioning you as the expert in your market.
You don’t even have to be the main character in each of these potential videos. You can bring on other influencers related to the transaction. All of your Loan Officer, Insurance, Inspection, and Appraisal friends are all looking for more attention. Interviewing these people with great preloaded questions will help you gain more and more influence.
I have very often said the “best way to build a service based business is to teach and educate, then justify.”
If you give away all of your secrets you will position yourself as an expert in your community. All that will be left is to simply justify why they should use you as opposed to maybe doing it themselves.
A key psychological checkpoint in marketing and advertising is something we call third party validation. This simply means that we don’t always depend on the source to tell us how great they are but if someone else tells us how great they are we will believe them.
This is why you almost instantly start looking for reviews for products you might be considering. You are not looking for a reason to buy, you’re looking for a reason not to buy. Your prospective clients are doing the exact same thing.
When you can give others a platform to share their experiences with you. There are two ways you can capture this and give your clients an outlet to tell their story.
First, by documenting the journey from beginning to end. Think Gary Vaynerchuk’s everyday life. He’s not creating content per say. He’s recording the real life version of what is actually happening in his everyday life. He’s documenting his journey.
Not everyone can afford a big crew and has the time or skill set to edit these videos but you can likely afford to hire guys like Mike Cuevas, the Real Estate Marketing Dude. You can also pull out your cell phone and create little 30 – 60 second videos documenting the experience.
You can share these things via Facebook LIVE or Instagram Stories and pull your following into the journey of each and every one of your clients.
Whether you’re at the closing table or walking your new clients through the door of their new home, getting clients to tell their story on video will help you tremendously. The only reason most clients end up getting nervous about doing this is because you are. If you’re not projecting how uncomfortable you are behind the camera, they won’t either.
Make this apart of your closing process and use every experience to get a few more. The Social Proof you can gather will become your best friend both in marketing for new clients and in building your brand.
Almost everything in your local market is associated with Real Estate in some way. When someone is considering a move they are typically considering the location they are moving to.
Knowing where your ideal customer likes to shop, eat, and drink coffee is a pretty big deal. UNderstanding which schools they are working to get near or which locations they are trying to stay away from is unbelievably valuable insight.
The reason I encourage you to know these things because if you know your client, you know what they would be interested in when creating your content.
Right now, all over the country there are early adopting Real Estate agents beginning to create local community based shows to highlight their community. Their influence, as well as their sales, is skyrocketing.
You see, most business owners have to pay more attention. Radio shows, commercials, and billboards all charge these community leaders for more attention. When you show up with a camera crew ready to give it freely you accomplish three different goals.
You create content you know will bring you closer to your clients. You gain more attention for the business owner or community leader you interview, which instinctively creates something called reciprocity (you did something for them so they want to do something for you), and you also gain instant access to their following.
They are going to share this content you’ve created about them with all of their family, friends, and existing clients bringing you more attention.
Create content around your community and watch your business, your brand, and your influence take off almost instantly.
Each of these categories of content will help you grow in a pretty unique way. If you’re ready to grow your influence pick a category for today and press the record button.