Here is a special holiday message from me!
May your days be merry and bright!
Happy Holidays from Megan at BVAS! {Video}
11 Weeks Left in 2011? Let’s Get Ready for 2012 NOW!
Believe it or not, there are only 11 weeks left in 2011! We are firmly in the 4th quarter and have you examined your progress on your 2011 business plan? Are you flying blind without one? Well whatever your answer, there is no time to waste. The time to implement is now if you want 2012 to get off to a great start.
Some say that if you start your business January 1st 2012, you are already behind. Real estate is a lag industry and things can take 60-90 days of implementation to see any results. So if you don’t start until January, you may not see any results for several months (especially in this slow economy).
The best marketing advice I’ve ever received is to ramp up your marketing efforts and activities in the 4th quarter so you can see your results once the new year hits and get it off to a fabulous start. If you wait too long, you may find it harder to reach your business or revenue goals because you were waiting for leads to convert and get those marketing results to appear. Market for next year starting NOW!
Starting now, there are probably a few things you can be doing differently, or at least get started on, that can get your 2012 started off right. For example, you can:
- Start a blog or dust off that blog you have been neglecting and post regularly (at least 2-3 times a week to start)
- Give your website a makeover and make sure the focus is on the consumer, and not what a great REALTOR you are.
- Create or find deliverables that your prospects would actually want to sign up for and get those leads starting to come into your pipeline
- Increase your visibility on Facebook and make a business pages focusing on the neighborhoods and communities you serve.
- Start up on Twitter and be visible, engage, and share with your followers.
- Start using video! Promote your properties, your expertise, and your market area
- Be sure to keep your social media activities ongoing and never let anything get stale or make people wonder if you are still in business.
It is the perfect time to examine your current business plan (if you have one) refine it, in start implementing NOW so you can have a fabulous 2012. So take some action! I want you to start it off with a bang!
Have some marketing ideas you can implement now to get next year off to a great start? I would love to hear them! Please leave me a comment below!
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The Power of Information – New video from RISMedia
RISMedia just released this fantastic new video today about the impact of social media and mobile internet on the future of real estate. It is evident that they worked hard on this. This video has some good stuff to get you thinking in case you are on the fence.
This is a great video that illustrates what is coming in the future. But I don’t think social media is THE magic bullet. I have a post upcoming that talks about this more, so stay tuned!
Let me know your thoughts on the video. Leave me a comment below!
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Funny Real Estate Video – Old Spice Parody
Real estate videos don’t have to be boring. In my search of some entertainment in the real estate world, I have seen that there are a lot of Old Spice parodies popping up lately. But this one has to be my favorite:
My favorite part: “I have balloons tied to my ankles.” Well done Landmark Realty.
You can view a few more real estate related Old Spice parody videos at the Agency Logic blog here.
Have you tried your hand at comedy in your videos? Found any recent real estate videos that have made you laugh lately? Leave me a comment below and let me know about them.
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Tips For Creating Fantastic Real Estate Videos
This year I am on a mission to help REALTORS use video, and use it effectively to build their business. By now, you’ve seen many agents all over the web taking matters into their own hands and creating videos for their real estate marketing. Though some will say that it should be left to the video pros to use video successfully, agents are fully able to do it themselves with the right tools and tricks in place.
Here are some tips and best practices for video success.
- Make sure you have all the right tools to get you started in video. Check out my last post on that subject.
- Film in a a location with good lighting, be sure that the background is not too distracting, and try to be in a place with few off-camera noises or interruptions.
- If you plan on being in front of the camera for your videos, practice, practice, practice. Do lots of takes and practice being on camera to help you be more comfortable and natural while being filmed.
- Practice your filming movements with camera in hand. Don’t use jerky movements or pan too quickly. And make use of a stability bar to help with smooth filming and panning.
- If you are not comfortable in front of the camera, get behind the camera and perform interviews and showcase your neighborhood, businesses and events.
- Try and keep informational videos short and sweet. You will lose an audience with long videos that drone on, so keep your videos to around 3 minutes long, 5 minutes max. Anything beyond that, you risk losing the interest of your audience.
- When shooting home tours, make use of a wide angle lens to get better shots of interior rooms.
- Include a call to action and display your phone number and the url to your website/blog at the end of your video.
- Make use of your editing software and edit the raw footage of your videos, add transitions and titles with your website link.
- When uploading to your YouTube channel, make good use of the description using some keywords and be sure to include links to your website or blog in it.
If you haven’t started with video for your business yet, hopefully the above tips will get you going. And as always, you can make use of a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, to help with editing your videos and broadcasting across the web.
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The World is Obsessed With Facebook – video
Check out this fun video inspired by the onlineschools.org infographic about the latest Facebook stats.
The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.
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Tools You Need to Build Your Business with Video
Image via Wikipedia
Building your real estate business with video is nothing new. Last year, real estate coaches and consultants had merely introduced video as a great option that you should consider to start incorporating into your real estate business. Now in 2011, video has become a NECESSARY tool for building your real estate business online. With YouTube being the 2nd most popular search engine in the world (2nd to Google), people are consuming video content online day in and day out. And let’s face it, pictures and video capture attention a little better as most people would rather watch a video than read big long articles and posts.
So as part of my Getting Down to Basics series, if you have yet to get started with video and want to know how, here I will share with you the tools you need to get started with creating videos.
Tools You Need to Get Started
- Camera – First you need a camera to capture your videos. A hand-held camcorder can do the trick, or even your smartphone with video camera can work. You can find great deals for them on Amazon
, or on Kodak. My recommendations:
- Flip Video – Offers 3 different HD handheld camcorders, with fun colors and design options. I personally use the HD Ultra.
- Kodak Playtouch – A new version of Kodak’s handheld camera came out (formerly the Zi8) and has gained much popularity since it came out. Unlike the flip, it has the option to use an external microphone, which allows you to capture video in slightly noisy places and still be heard clearly.
- iPhone, Motorola DroidX, etc. – Most all of the latest smartphones include decent cameras that can be enhanced with some simple accessories.
- Tripod- The Tripod is your friend! Even if you have the most steady hand, the tripod will really help improve the quality of your videos while helping you create them from a steady, level surface. You can find very simple, portable tripods to ones with fancy features. Start your search at Amazon
- Another option is a Stabilizer Bar. If you are touring a home with your camera, these really help with the quality of your videos by helping reduce the side to side twist in your videos. Check out the one on HDhat.com.
iPhone Wide Angle Case
- Wide Angle Lens – A wide angle lens is especially important when you are filming home tours with your camera. The regular view of a camcorder can be limited and can be hard to show a room, especiall from a doorway. A wide angle lens gives you a much better view of the entire room. You can find some great wide angle lens options that can magnetically attach to your camera model (or phone) via Amazon
- Editing Software – You might not get every video perfect in one take. So most likely, your raw video footage will need some editing, some title additions, etc. There are many editing options out there and you don’t need to be a total pro to use most of them.
- Most computers will come with easy-to-use video and movie creation software installed right on, like Windows Movie Maker for PCs and iMovie for Macs.
- For more robust video editing options, you can try something like Camtasia or what I personally use, Pinnacle Studio.
- YouTube Channel – Not only is it valuable to put your videos on your blog or website, it is absolutely necessary that you have a YouTube channel. As mentioned above, YouTube is the 2nd most popular search engine and uploading them to YouTube will help gain exposure for them as well as add additional promotion and embedding opportunities on your social networks and blogs. Your YouTube channel background can also be customized to go with your personal branding. (And if you don’t know how, your Virtual Assistant can definitely help with this)
So there are the essential tools you need to get started with using video for your real estate marketing. If you have any questions tools you need for real estate videos, or have some favorite tools of your own, we would love to hear about it. Please leave us a comment below and let us know about it!
Next up, I will be going over some tips and and best practices for creating and using video to build your business.
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Changes in How to Create a Facebook Page – Video
Just a week ago I posted a “How to Create a Facebook Page” video tutorial in my Getting Down to Basics series. Just when I show you one way, Facebook changes the game a little bit.
Facebook has rolled out some changes this week that slightly augments the way you create a Facebook page, as well as a whole new look to Facebook pages. So in my latest videos, More on Facebook Pages, Part 1 below will show you the changes they made to the create a page screen. Check it out!
Stay tuned Part 2 where I cover the new Facebook Pages layout and the cool new features they added!
Have any questions or a request for a tutorial on Facebook or any other tech tool? I would like to hear about it! Please leave me a comment below with your questions or suggestions.
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How To Create a Facebook Page – Video
In this latest installment in the Getting Down To Basics series, I created a video tutorial for how to create a Facebook Page for your real estate business. In a recent post I went over the differences between a Facebook Profile and Facebook Page, so here I am going one step further.
I have encountered many agents that knew they needed a Facebook page for their business, just didn’t know how to actually make one. So in the following video I made, I show you just exactly where to go to create a new page and some basic page setup. Enjoy!
I want to hear from you! Have anything to add, or a request for future tutorials? Please leave a comment below and let me know what you want to hear.
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Bringing Humor to the Industry Using Video
Dallas Broker Turns Heads with New Web Comedy Series ‘The Agent’ | RISMedia 
via rismedia.com
A new web comedy series titled “The Agent”, is coming to a computer near you. Created by David Winans, and his marketing team at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, David Winans & Associates, “The Agent”, showcases a young man who stumbles into the world of becoming a REALTOR, and hilarity ensues.
The series pokes fun a the industry featuring some of the trials and tribulations of an agent’s daily life in the field, which at times can be quite funny. Like David Winans says in the above article, a little self-depreciating humor is always healthy.
You can check out The Agent at http://theagent.tv and be sure to watch the rap song and video used to kick off the series “Makin’ Money”. Funny stuff! And a fun use of video.
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