Amy's Blog - The Digital REALTOR

Video involves more of the senses; it sells you and your service using sight, sound and emotion. With video, you can make a perfect “first impression” every time. Using one of the tools listed below I have a list of five  easy ways to get you started with video. Lets bring video into your real estate business.

• Use your digital camera - most can create video clips very easily
• Your Virtual Tour Product - I use Real Estate Shows. For just $99 a year I can create as many as I want. They use photos with movement, text and royalty free music.
• Or invest in the The Flip - an easy to use video camera with a USB port on the side. Simply by plugging it into your laptop or computer you can create a movie, email it or post it on YouTube.

Remember Video is mobile and Viral. The iPhone and mobile phones enable viral, on the fly video distribution.

Here are some ways to use video.

1. Customer Testimonials. The next time you are at a closing table, pull out your digital camera and ask your client for a 30 second testimonial of what is was like working with you.  Once you have these videos, post them on your website, email them as references, or post them on Youtube or Wellcomemat. Make sure you get it writing that you are allowed to use these testimonials as advertising.

2. Open House Videos. Many of your clients can't make it to the open house when it is held, so bring the open house to them! There is a great website called OpenHouse.com where you can post your vidoes. Walk through the home with your Flip or your digital camera and take 10 second vignettes in all the rooms and tell the stories why living in that home is special. The Flip can take all those clips and create a movie very easily. If you are using your digital camera, try using MovieMaker - a free program on your computer. If you want something more robust, try Sony Movie Studio. Only $54,95 and they offer a free trial.

3. Social Networking with Video. - Viral marketing can help distribute your video into a group of people's inboxes who may not have ever heard of you. Consider creating a "JUST MOVED" video for your buyer clients. We do this for our clients. We take 8 pictures of the house and then the last picture is the client very happy in their new home. We then put appropriate text and then give the new address and phone number of our buyer. If you give this instead of just moved postcards, your buyer client will send this on to their sphere. On average everyone has at least 100 people in their sphere. We know we have gotten business from this type of video. Check out a great example here.

4. Neighborhood videos - Using your virtual tour product. Start by taking pictures of your farm area, a condo complex, the area in which you live, add text and music and send it to your sphere to remind them what a great place they live in. A gentleman I met on the gulf coast in Alabama took a poem he wrote and put it to music and photos of his area. He received two listings as a result.

5. - Up and coming . . . Video lsting presentation. Just go to YouTube and put that in the search window and you will see some examples by early adopters.

Next post: where do you put these videos . . . with easy to follow step by step instructions. Until then, make me proud, go out and get some video under your belt. Get out your camera and start practicing!