5 Cheap Tips to Make Your Real Estate Videos Get More Views And Be More Effective Paul Argueta best real estate agent

5 Cheap Tips That Will Get You More Views Of Your Real Estate Videos

If you’re a real estate agent or a real estate broker like me, you’ve hired professional videographers or you’ve used your own camera to create videos for the properties that you represent for sale. Now, what do you do when the only people seeing these videos are your clients, your home sellers, and yourself? Here are 5 cheap tips that are going to help you get those views through the roof and get your videos more exposure.

Now before I get started, let me preface this blog with this statement: I believe in specialization. In other words, I want the pros to do what their good at. I believe in hiring a videographer for the videos. I believe in hiring a photographer for my photos. I believe in hiring someone that can manage the 3D virtual tour matterport camera. I believe in outsourcing to an editor or having an in-house editor. These are all valuable tools that I think you should probably outsource, but, I know what it’s like to be brand new. I know what it’s like to have a limited budget and I’m going to be teaching you tips that will help you get by while you build momentum and build your business, so that you can’t really give any excuses to why you can’t do the things that I’m going to teach you how to do today. .

Tip #1:

Use the camera on your smartphone. Now, there are a couple disclaimers here. #1: These days I use a professional photographer, but if I had to start all over – and I was on a limited budget – I wouldn’t hesitate using the camera on my smartphone, so long as it’s at least 8 megapixels or above. Now, another disclaimer: The camera phone won’t work in poorly lit areas and I don’t want you taking pictures using the LED flash of your phone.The quality isn’t good, it’s grainy, sometimes it’s blurry, and it’s not going to do your client the justice that it deserves for getting that property sold.

#1 if it’s well lit, go ahead, use the camera phone. That does mean it may require you coming in, pulling all the drapes, turning on all the lights, allowing as much natural sunlight as you possibly can so that you can make sure that it’s well lit when you take those pictures using your smartphone. If you’re not going to use your smartphone, then at least have a backup source, a DSLR so that you can take the pictures yourself.

Lastly, even if do have a professional photographer taking the pictures for you, own it. Take ownership of these photos. In other words, you have the responsibility of making sure that the house looks it’s best. If you walk in and you see a laundry basket in somebody’s bedroom, move it out of the way during the photos. Go put some stuff in the closet. If you see a few beds that aren’t made, it happens. I have five children of my own, I know what it’s like getting them to make their beds. Walking into a room where you’re going to be shooting photos or you’re going to be taking those photos, by all means, at least pull the sheets up so that it looks like the bed is made. Do your job and make sure that the property looks its best. Tip #1: Feel free to use your camera phone, IF it’s well lit.

Tip #2:

Use photo image enhancing software or services. I like using a service called Boxbrownie. If you are going to be taking the photos yourself, and in some cases, if you’re going to be hiring a professional photographer to do this, I still recommend using that. You can upload your photos into Boxbrownie and they will enhance the images to make them pop, okay? Now, I do know that there are some people that are pretty savvy with photoshop. Listen, by no means am I telling you to go out there and enhance the images so that you put a pool on a home that doesn’t have a pool. That’s not what I’m telling you to do.

Again, as real estate agent, it’s our job to make sure that the properties look their best. Boxbrownie does a really good job of enhancing those images. They can actually remove stuff from the property as well. For instance, if you have any debris or furniture in areas that you don’t want there, you can have them removed and you can even add furniture and virtually stage it. It usually costs about a buck sixty to two dollars for any image enhancement. If you’re going to be removing or adding, it does cost a little bit more. My favorite feature is the dusk enhancement.

Now, what I do is typically take my exterior photos, provided to me by my professional photographer. I will upload them into Boxbrownie and they will create these images that look like the photos were taken just before sunset. They look phenomenal, and they definitely stand out. If you’re going to be taking the photos yourself, and even if you do use a professional photographer, I recommend using Boxbrownie to enhance those images for you.appearance or the fact that you’re younger, make sure that you dress a little bit more professional.


 Tip #3:

Sign up for a service that creates videos using your photos or video clips. I use a service called Magisto. Magisto.com. It costs about seventy dollars a month. As I said earlier, I believe in Specialization, so I’m going to let the people who are good at certain things do what they’re good at. Magisto is one of those services. I realize it’s not the cheapest service in the world, but it does a really good job of combining my photos and my videos to create a quick minute to two minute video. It does include music and titles, as well as text over those images. The reason I use Magisto is because this way I can take the photos and videos I already have, upload them, and create a quick video with music. Tip #3: Find a service that will create videos in HD 1080p for you based on the photos and clips, video clips, that you upload yourself. It will save you time, you’ll thank me later.

Tip #4:

Superimpose yourself over the property video. This took me awhile to learn and to figure out through a lot of trial and error. Here’s what I discovered: When I used to make my videos, I had a videographer stroll through the house and while all that stuff was cool, really the only people looking at these videos were my sellers, my clients, myself, a handful of agents, and maybe a handful of buyers. Most people weren’t looking at the videos, okay?

Here’s why: Most people aren’t going to relate to just the house. However, they WILL relate to you. If you’re on the video and you’re speaking as if you’re speaking directly to the consumer, then it has a much broader impact. Remember this, people relate to people. Let them see you talk about the property. Give all of the wonderful selling features about the property. If you do your job to sell the property and to give them calls of action during that video then you’re going to get a lot more views. Just recently, did I discover this over the last couple of months. What I’ve been doing is that I’ve been making sure that I’ve put myself over the video.

Now, there is two ways you can do this. You can do a PIP, which is a Picture-In-Picture, and really that’s just you videoing yourself. You can do it with a smartphone. Make sure that it’s horizontal, video yourself, and then put it over the image, right? It has to be HD, everything has to be HD these days. Minimum 1080p or you can do what I do which is get a green screen, record yourself, you use Adobe Premier, and then use the key effect. The keying effect. What you do is remove the green screen from the back and superimpose yourself over the video. Bottom line, people will relate to you more than they will relate to just seeing a stroll through the house. Tip #4: Superimpose yourself over the video of the property.

Tip #5:

Make sure that you include text and call to actions on your video. In the past, when I hired videographers, we would film our videos and they would walk through the property. It would look great. It would have background music, but really there wasn’t any text involved. I wasn’t on the videos and there wasn’t anything really selling the property other than these boring walkthroughs. What I want you to do is, I’ve taught you how to use your photos and your video clips, using tools like Magisto to create your videos, right? You create the video, you download it, Magisto does allow you the opportunity to create text. In transitions that will then show up, if you’re going to use Magisto to do it then you make sure you include descriptions of the property, the bedroom and bathroom, the address, where it’s located, and special features.

Now, personally what I do is, like I’ve said, I’m a big Adobe Premier guy. I will either outsource it to an editor or I will edit it myself. I’ll download the HD video, I’ll superimpose myself over the video, and then what I’ll do is use Adobe Premier Stock text headlines or Adobe Premier Stock, they’re called MOGURTS. (“Motion Graphic Templates”) to help you create the transitions that I want. Those things are already made for me, so I don’t really have to learn any programming. I can type in the titles, type in the descriptions, adjust the size, and adjust the colors. I can’t adjust the way that they flow in or fly out, but the truth is they’ve already created the template. Just take advantage of it.

You have two options. #1: Use the online services that does allow you to edit the text, if you’re going to be editing the graphics yourself, then just make sure that you buy these templates from Adobe, they’re called MOGURTS, Motion Graphic Templates. Tip #5: Make sure that you include text to sell the property and call to actions.