In today’s day and age – which some already call the Age of Information – videos are used by businesses for a variety of purposes in many different industries. Lets look at one industry in particular – real estate. How can realtors use video production to further their sales? One important type of videos available to them are property virtual tour videos.
Real Estate Virtual Tour Videos
Lets look at a use case scenario for a person researching properties online. They will first visit a real estate website, locate the property listing or the MLS feed, and enter the criteria for their search – price range, neighborhood, number of beds/baths, etc. They then scan through the results and when they see something interesting, they will click on the particular listing and read more details – including looking through the pictures and looking at the map to determine the appeal of the location. At this moment, after the review of the listing, they will decide to either continue on with their search, or take the next step and contact the real estate agent to schedule a viewing – if this happens, the agency gets a lead, so the real estate website records a conversion.
Using Videos to Increase the Conversion Rate of Real Estate Listings
If the visitor does not contact the realtor, our conversion rate goes down. So, what could have we done better to ensure a conversion? One possibility is reinforce the listing with a video, either a simple 360° or a full-blown virtual tour of the property. We have just written an article examining the question is it worth it to make a product video for an online store? The article focuses more on product videos for eCommerce websites (and indeed a real estate listing website is a type of an eCommerce website too) but the concept is the same and it touches on 360° view/virtual tour videos as well, so you may want to look at it too.
How to Utilize a Video in the Real Estate Industry and Save Money
When considering a video for your real estate agency you need to always think of costs, which – if not controlled – can kill the most successful operation. One possibility is to use one video for multiple purposes, thus getting more bang for your buck and possibly spreading the cost of making the video among different parties or divisions within your company. We’ve discussed this in one of our older articles How to get More Budget for Corporate Video Production.
Types of Real Estate Video Production Projects and Their Applications
Lets look at some possibilities. There are several types of videos that can be utilized for real estate. The most common found as part of a property listings are 360° view and a full virtual tour but that doesn’t mean those are the only types of videos that we can use. A web-series for a blog or a YouTube channel can be used both to not only showcase a property but to build an online following and increase the company’s brand, thus additionally performing marketing and public relations functions. Syndicated videos, marketing videos made to target a certain location or other demographic, reality tv, blog segments, and many more – as soon as you move outside the box, a world of opportunity opens up.
Let your creativity go and you might be very surprised what can be done for your real estate business but make sure you choose the right video production company – a company with experience in creative projects and doing something new can greatly contribute to your project, not only in terms of shooting a quality video but helping you come up with that one, million dollar idea.
If you’d like to talk to us about what Indigo Productions can do for you, please feel free to call us at 212-765-5224 or send us an email from our contact page!