5 reasons real estate agents should use video

Video has been labelled the ‘next big thing’ in real estate for about five years with most Kiwis watching online videos daily, but still many agents are reluctant to embrace it. Whether it’s the time it takes to create one to a suitable quality, the fear of seeing yourself on the screen, or the fear of not knowing what to say, it’s time to get ready for a close up. Here are five reasons why.

1. You’ll reach a new audience

The overwhelming majority of first home buyers are now Millennials and Millennials watch more than 1.5 hours of video online every day. Millennials are also big on using mobile video to help them understand how to ‘do’ things and research buying decisions. When you create video content about your property market, you’re making it more accessible to a whole new generation of property buyers and sellers.

2. It makes important information easier to remember

A team of neuroscientists from MIT has found that the human brain can process entire images that the eye sees, in as little as 13 milliseconds. In fact, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch a video compared to just 10% when reading it in text. With something as important as a property transaction, being able to understand and remember how the market is performing can go a long way to helping sellers and buyers feel confident about what they’re about to do.

3. It will improve the effectiveness of your email marketing

The use of video in emails more than doubles click-through rates according to Hubspot, while subject lines with the word ‘video’ in them are opened an average of 7% more than emails without. In addition, instead of using an image in your email, marketers recommend using a thumbnail from the video in your email linking to the video. This small change can increase click through rates alone by 21%.

4. It will improve the reach of your social media marketing

According to Sproutsocial, videos account for just 11% of Facebook posts and yet Facebook videos have increased to eight billion views across the globe every day. Video posts also have 135% better reach on Facebook than photos. Twitter also claim that posts with videos on their platform are six times more likely to be shared than other posts.

5. It will improve the performance of your website

Forrester research shows you have a 53% better chance of getting your page to the top of the search results if you have video on it because of the way the Google algorithms favour video. Meanwhile 84% of marketers say their website traffic increased due to video, with 80% stating it also increased the time spent on their site.

Automatically combine REINZ data straight from the REINZ Statistics Portal to create an informative, local suburb video in just minutes – then share it across your own social media channels, straight to your potential customers and clients, visit statistics.reinz.co.nz/home to claim your free seven-day trial.

Kylie Davis, HomePrezzo