The Viral Marketing Tool Most Real Estate Investors Overlook

People across America regularly fantasize about their “dream homes.” Yet, while almost every person longs for a serene, stunning and secure home, few actually turn their fantastic dreams into tangible realities.

Hence, there are millions of potential homeowners who have yet to buy their cherished homes and who make up a huge and unexploited market for real estate investors. Nonetheless, all these people who long for beautiful homes can only be converted into buyers by real estate investors who build the best homes, offer competitive prices and use the most powerful marketing mediums.

Today, videos have proven to be outstanding marketing tools for the real estate industry for many reasons.

Why Turn to Videos?

Emotions sway more property buyers than reason.

When they look for dream homes, many buyers opt for style, beauty, luxury and class. Therefore, whatever can stimulate their senses will speak to them more loudly, vividly and memorably. Through videos, potential clients can sample the beautiful sceneries outside of their potential homes; they can take gracious glimpses into the neighborhoods; they can check out transportation access and area attractions and watch the credible recommendations of satisfied clients, local government officials, real estate agents and real estate industry executives.

The potent blend of sound and motion pictures in videos helps to deliver a persuasive sales pitch that is loaded with emotional involvement and irresistible imagery.

While website posts, email messages, print items and audios may fail to grab the attention of many potential clients, videos will attract and retain the attention of almost all individuals who come by them. Well-crafted HD real estate videos deliver spellbinding visuals and aural texture that will strike the interest of pretty much anyone.

Moreover, professionally generated high-end videos are usually relevant, engaging, entertaining and concise. They allow potential clients to interact more with the brands, get value for their time, and they influence prospective buyers to consider making inquiries or to visit the screened property. In fact, the videos ensure that real estate investors, sellers and buyers establish stronger emotional connections with properties and the brokerages that represent them, which leads to more sales and a higher rate of customer retention.

Videos are also the best tool to generate viral marketing. For instance, a five-minute video has the potential of passing on the brand message and connecting with the clients quickly and effectively. Even those clients who are rushing through loads of online materials will find the few minutes that are required to watch a video. Therefore, an interesting video can easily be shared and watched by many people within the shortest time possible, resulting in a viral effect that can boost the performance of the marketed real estate property. Additionally, video compression technology by QuickTime and Adobe Flash have allowed for short form videos of HD resolution to be displayed on social networks and websites with minor loading time.

Looking at Statistics: The Magic of Videos

According to Google, more the 50 percent of all online interaction is video-based, with YouTube as the second most popular social media engine.

All video thumbnails that appear on page one of Google’s search results are 41 percent more likely to be clicked by potential buyers than the links to pictures and articles. Google gives greater ranks to video content than other forms of content because consumers prefer videos. Furthermore, according to a survey on the Real Estate Industry Relationships by Inman News, 70 percent of all previous home buyers usually forget the names of their agents if they did not find the property or agents after watching videos.

Another survey by Video Brewery indicated that real estate groups that marketed through videos received 403 percent more inquiries than those who did not use videos. Not convinced yet? A survey by the National Association of Realtors reported that at least 86 percent of real estate buyers look for educational information from videos, 70 percent look for property listings in videos, 50 percent go for videos that explain the buying and selling process, 30 percent look for testimonial videos, and 25 percent look for videos on property owners and their companies. Therefore, real estate investors who create and use videos will convert more clients by providing all the information that potential buyers look for in a more concise, quick and believable manner.

While videos are powerful marketing tools, very few real estate investors and marketers have adopted them. According to one study, only around 12 percent of real estate agents have YouTube accounts, and of this number, only 5 percent are actively creating videos and increasing their YouTube video collections. Because of this, real estate investors who turn to videos can move quickly ahead of their competitors by attracting and educating potential clients through online videos.

Conclusion

Videos allow for immense room for creativity and fun. I would encourage real estate investors to embrace this form of communication and to try their hand at creating interesting, share-worthy, brief and rich videos. Videos can describe neighborhoods, display the intricate details of a home, offer intimate experiences with the marketed property, showcase the unique services of a brokerage or agent and present vivid interviews with neighbors and local leaders in a welcoming environment.

Once the videos are produced, they should be promoted on the internet. The videos can be uploaded on sites such as WellcomeMat and YouTube, uploaded on Facebook Fan Pages, tweeted to followers on Twitter or promoted through PPC campaigns.

What type of Real Estate Marketing are you using to sell your properties? Would you consider making videos to promote your brand?

Get in on the discussion below — we want to hear from you!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.