Real Simple Video by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC

Real Simple Video A video marketing guide for real estate

by David Marine

ÂŠ 2010 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell BankerÂŽ is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated.

Real Simple Video by David Marine

Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 6 Basics for Video Marketing..................................................................................................................... 7 Video camera...................................................................................................................................... 7 Software ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Peripherals.......................................................................................................................................... 9 Uploading ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Action Items...................................................................................................................................... 10 Video Listings ........................................................................................................................................ 12 Video vs. Slideshow .......................................................................................................................... 12 A True Video Listing .......................................................................................................................... 13 A Minimalist Video Listing ................................................................................................................ 13 What’s a Video Listing Going to Do for Me? .................................................................................... 14 Action Items...................................................................................................................................... 14 Agent Videos......................................................................................................................................... 16 A Good Agent Video ......................................................................................................................... 16 What’s an Agent Video Going to Do for Me? ................................................................................... 17 Action Items...................................................................................................................................... 18 Community Video ................................................................................................................................. 19 A Good Community Video ................................................................................................................ 19 A Bad Community Video................................................................................................................... 20 What’s a Community Video Going to Do for Me? ............................................................................ 20 Action Items...................................................................................................................................... 21 What to Do After the Video is Done..................................................................................................... 22 Epilogue ................................................................................................................................................ 23 About the Author ................................................................................................................................. 25

Introduction On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., MTV unleashed the first all music channel on TV. The first video ever played on MTV was Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles. Now this video wasn’t chosen because of its cinematic quality or song popularity. It was a statement that MTV was changing the industry by making music a more stimulating media through the use of video. Fast forward to real estate marketing in 2010. Not exactly the parallel one would expect when talking about MTV, but there is some correlation. Video is about to change how you market a property and how consumers shop for properties online. Photos aren’t enough. Those so called “virtual tours” with the fish eye camera lens are difficult to use and provide no true value to the online shopper. Every day millions of people are watching video content online. YouTube, according to a 2009 ComScore report, has become the number two search engine behind Google. The public is finding video to be an excellent source of not only entertainment, but information. You cannot visit a popular website today without finding some type of video content prominently displayed on the home page and throughout the site. For some odd reason, real estate is the last industry to take notice—that is except for Coldwell Banker. Our brand was the first national real estate brand with streaming video on our national site, and in 2009 when we launched the Coldwell Banker On Locationsm channel, we became the first real estate brand to truly grasp the power of YouTube and local video content. With over 600,000 views in the first six months, it’s safe to say that Coldwell Banker On Location is attracting real estate audiences, but is it attracting your local real estate audience? Are you even taking advantage of this one of a kind destination that is at your disposal? Video will be the key to your marketing and prospecting ventures both now and into the future. It can give you an entirely unique way to showcase a property and enrapture consumers looking for that new home. Video can distinguish you from the competition. It can set you up as a real estate expert in your local area. It can even drive business. The catch is that it has to be done the right way. Sure, creating slideshows of properties set to lovely elevator music is the easy way to get a “video” up on YouTube, but is that really what the consumer wants to see? Is that what’s going to make someone choose to work with you over a competing agent? Are your sellers going to be wowed by a slideshow? This document will give you a better idea of how to create videos for Coldwell Banker On Location. We’ll cover the three video types that a Coldwell Banker agent can upload to our channel: listing videos, agent videos and community videos. To begin let’s cover some basic things you’ll need to create a video.

Basics for Video Marketing You want to make videos, but you don’t know where to start. What tools do you need? Is this going to break your bank account? What if you’re a video novice? Don’t let your fears become overwhelming. Using a video as a marketing tool isn’t complex. If I can figure this out, I’m pretty sure you can too. You see, I epitomize an amateur videographer. I have no official training, no fancy equipment or studio, but for the last three years I’ve been creating videos for Coldwell Banker and I’ve found that it’s a lot easier than I expected. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s look at the three categories of items an agent needs before he or she can say “action”: video camera, software and peripherals.

Video camera If you already have a decent video camera you can move on to #2. If you don’t have a video camera, which one should you get? To help simplify things, let me highlight three task appropriate varieties of video cameras. 1. Flip cam: a. Pros: The most basic of video cameras. It’s compact. It’s easy to use. It’s relatively cheap. It has only 3 buttons. It comes in an HD version (which I recommend) as well as a standard version. b. Cons: The downside is that it has no ability to make any adjustments to the settings on the camera. No adjusting sound quality or video aspects except for zooming in and out. It also doesn’t have a microphone jac so your sound quality will vary depending on where you’re shooting your video. c. Bottom line: You can get an HD Flip Cam for around $175 for taking simple videos that are easy to get onto YouTube. If you get a Flip cam get, a tripod as well to avoid the “earthquake effect” (technical term for what happens when a videographer can’t hold the camera steady). Visit theflip.com for more info on Flip cams and where you can purchase one. 2. Fam cam: a. Pros: This intermediate camera category is composed of standard cameras found at any Best Buy, Wal-Mart or Target. I refer to them as the “fam cam” because on any given Saturday you’ll find a mom or dad sitting on a bleacher or in a high school gym holding one of these very cameras. Canon, Sony & JVC make great video cameras that would fall in this category. They’re a step up from Flip cams as far as overall quality including audio, zoom capabilities, etc; and for those who want to use some more advanced features these fam cams often have a limited set of adjustments that can be made to them. Some even have a microphone jack available so that if you wanted to use an external mic, you 7

have that option available. Some cameras are tape based, others are DVD, and the newer ones have a hard drive so that the camera actually saves digital files. Although the hard drive based models are more expensive, they’re much easier to work with for editing and uploading videos online. b. Cons: These cameras are more expensive than Flip Cams. Usually fam cams fall in the $300-$900 range depending on size, make and model. The advantage to a fam cam is that it has more features than a Flip cam, but using the advance features on a fam cam is not the easiest of things if you’re not already well versed in video production. c. Bottom line: Get a fam cam if you’re serious about creating videos on an ongoing basis. The sound quality will be much better and will allow you to grow into the amateur videographer you want to become. Plus they’re great for the kids’ soccer games. Visit CNet’s Digital Camcorder section to see reviews of some of the best fam cams and some helpful guides on what specifications to look for. 3. Expert camera: a. Pros: Chances are that if you’re looking to buy an expert camera, you don’t need to read this document. These are the high end production cameras that professional videographers use. They have all the bells and whistles an amateur Spielberg could want. b. Cons: The majority of these types of camera are over $2,000 so this is more of a lifestyle investment than a casual purchase. c. Bottom line: Don’t buy an expert camera for real estate marketing purposes unless you plan on also taping weddings or recreating The Blair Witch Project.

Software Few people realize this, but if you have purchased a computer in the last five years, you already own video editing software. For Windows computers, MovieMaker is the pre-installed video software, and for Macs the iLife suite comes with iMovie. While some may prefer one of these tools over the other (I lean towards iMovie) basically both do the same thing. Each offers the ability to import videos from files on a computer or direct from a camcorder, simple editing features, including splicing videos or adding a soundtrack, and the ability to incorporate images, title screens and overlay text. More robust movie editing software is available (like Final Cut Pro), but for the types of videos an agent will produce, iMovie or MovieMaker is ideal. Those that already own a Flip cam may ask, “What about the software that comes with the Flip cam?” Yes, every Flip cam comes embedded with some basic editing software, but I recommend using either iMovie or MovieMaker instead. I’ve learned from experience that the Flip software is limited and not as user friendly as these other pieces of software. This document won’t train a person how to use iMovie or MovieMaker, but if you’re familiar with basic software programs like Microsoft Office or any image editor I think you’ll find it’s not that hard to pick up. Just in case you need some additional guidance, the following are some links and video tutorials to assist: 8

Guided Tour of iMovie ’09: http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/guided-tour/ Getting Started with MovieMaker: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Gettingstarted-with-Windows-Movie-Maker How to Edit a Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOx2Dk_tk_s

Peripherals So you have a video camera. You’ve got some video editing software. What else do you need? Not much, but a few extra items might help your video production. Tripod: No matter what type of camera you’re using, a tripod is helpful to steady your shots and create a better looking video. Estimated cost = $30-$50 External mic: If you’re camera has a mic jack, it might not be a bad idea to look at getting an external mic to improve audio quality. You can even get a wireless mic to clip to your shirt while giving a tour of a home. Estimated Cost = $50-$100 External hard drive for your computer: Depending on the size of your computer’s hard drive you may want to get an external hard drive to store the videos. You can get one for under $100 that can store hundreds of gigabytes, although some new computers may already have enough space. Estimated cost = $50-$75

Uploading Your video is done and now you need to share it online. Obviously you’re going to want to share it on Coldwell Banker On Location. There are guides on Coldwell Banker Works to help walk you through the process, but uploading to Coldwell Banker On Location isn’t the same as uploading a video to a free YouTube channel. Let me explain the difference: Coldwell Banker On Location uploads HAVE to go through Coldwell Banker Works: Why? For good reason. When you upload a video through Coldwell Banker Works we marry that video to data in our database. We associate the new listing video with the price, beds, baths, and other data that is on coldwellbanker.com. The same is true for agent or office videos. We do this is so when a home sells and is taken off coldwellbanker.com we can automatically remove it from YouTube as well. This saves the agent time from manually deleting videos and having sold properties still being promoted on YouTube. Through Coldwell Banker Works agents have the ability to remove a video at any time, but this automated process helps keep our videos up to date. The Coldwell Banker Works upload tool abides by different rules: One might think our upload tool is the exact same thing as the free YouTube account you use to share family videos. That’s what I thought, but you and I are both wrong. Our upload tool uses a separate technology called the YouTube API (don’t worry about what that means because I don’t really know either)—this is a process that YouTube requires its larger channel users to use to send videos. Videos are 9

processed differently and have different character limits in the title, description and keywords field than you find on a normal YouTube account. The end user watching the video won’t see any difference, but you should be aware of the difference in the uploading rules. Watch your UPLOAD speed: High speed internet connections are great. However, just because downloading at the speed of light is possible; uploading at the same speed is not. Most internet service providers offer super quick download speeds, but much slower upload speeds. While it may take five minutes to download a 50MB video, it can take thirty minutes to upload a video of that same size. There are a couple of things you can do to help solve this. First, contact your internet service provider (i.e. Comcast, Verizon, etc.) and ask about upgrading your upload speed. Second try to minimize the size of video files by keeping videos in the 1-2 minute range. If you use an HD camera, video files will be bigger than normal quality videos. While these videos will look better-a lot better- they will probably take longer to upload. But all good things come to those who wait, right? Video specifications: The top questions I get about uploading videos involve file types, file size and video length. Let’s hit these items individually. o File types: The Coldwell Banker Works upload tool accepts most any video file type from MOV to MP4 to WMV to AVI to FLV. Flash files (.swf, .fla, etc.)will not upload. o File size: The maximum video upload size is 1GB. However, I highly recommend not uploading videos of that size. Ideally a two minute video, even a video shot in HD, shouldn’t exceed 400MB. So if your video is pushing 500MB, trim some content because it’s probably too long to keep a buyer’s attention anyway. o Video length: The rule of thumb is two minutes or less for a video. I know, I know. I’m beginning to sound redundant. But you’d be amazed at how many six to eight minute videos I’ve seen that lose my attention after 30 seconds. Two minutes, people. Don’t upload duplicate videos: YouTube only allows a video to be uploaded once. Renaming the file or changing the title and description of the video won’t work. YouTube has a unique technology to detect duplicate video uploads. The video will be rejected. One upload is enough.

Action Items Here are some steps you can take to use what you learned in this section and put it into practice: Step 1 – Get a camera. If you have one, great. If you don’t look at getting a Flip cam to start Step 2 – Familiarize yourself with your video software. Record yourself talking for 30 seconds and import that video into your video editing software. The more you use video software the more comfortable you’ll be when it’s time to produce a video. Step 3 – Determine if you need a tripod. Take a look at a sample video that you created. If you feel sea sick, you probably need a tripod.

Step 4 – Check your upload speed. Call your internet service provider to see what your current speed is and whether there’s an option to increase it. And there you have it. These are the basics of starting with video. Let’s move on to the content types that you’ll be uploading to Coldwell Banker On Location.

Video Listings From Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to local open houses, there is undisputable evidence that people love looking at houses. We like looking at celebrity houses. We like looking at unique houses. We like sticking our nose into our neighbors’ houses. It’s what makes us human. While one can peek at a house to some extent through pictures on listing pages, it’s just not the same as taking a video tour of a home. Virtual tours were supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but the fish eye lens view of a room really doesn’t do it justice. Instead, what about entering the front door of a home and walking from room to room to get a sense of the layout and feel of a home? Can a virtual, fish eye tour do that? Don’t think so. Can pictures? Nope. Can video? Why, yes it can. A video listing can really enhance a home shopper’s view of a home and separate a property from others in the market. Stop reading this for ten seconds and write down a list of every competing company in your area that’s producing real video tours of their listings. Go ahead and write those down. You done? Good. I’m willing to guess that the number of companies you listed is somewhere between zero and zilch. Ok, maybe someone reading this somewhere has one competitor creating videos. But are they videos or a slideshow of pictures set to elevator music? Is a slideshow really a video?

Video vs. Slideshow I’m willing to guess that at some point during your life your parent or guardian uttered the phrase “nothing worthwhile ever comes easily.” Creating property slideshows and pawning them off as video listings is the easy way to create a video listing. Is it really worthwhile for your customers or you to produce this type of content? Have you ever been to a relative’s house and without warning they break out the old projector with the slide turntable? You know what I’m talking about. For the next hour or so you were subjected to photo after photo of family vacation and ancient memory that you never cared to relive. That’s kind of what an agent does when she produces a video listing that is nothing more than a slideshow and music. Did YouTube explode in popularity because people loved watching slideshows? No, people like seeing interesting and entertaining videos. However, it is possible to make interesting slideshows if you feel that creating full feature videos is not within your capabilities. Here are two simple ideas to enhance property slideshows if that’s really all you’re capable of producing: Be on camera at the beginning and end of the video: This takes all of 30 seconds. Make a Video introduction of yourself (with Flip cam or video camera) and welcome the audience to your video

listing. Then take 15 seconds at the end of the slideshow to encourage people to contact you for more information or request an appointment to see the property. Add an audio track: Don’t let elevator music be the only soundtrack to the video listing. Record yourself talking about the property while the slideshow is running. It will add some more detail and show some of your personality.

A True Video Listing If you want to truly separate your property from the competition and set yourself up as an expert marketer of properties, you’ll want to follow these guidelines for creating a genuine listing video. 1. Use real video: No slideshows. Get yourself a video camera and get started. 2. Show yourself on camera: I don’t want to hear a voice behind the camera taking me through a home: I want to see who is talking: I want a personal tour. Don’t be shy. Out of all professionals, real estate agents are the least shy. We are the only people under the sun who put our pictures on our business cards. Show yourself. If this means calling in a favor from a brother-in-law to video you as you go through the house, so be it. The end product will be worth it. 3. Let your personality come through: There’s a reason why people work with you. They like you. They connect with you in some way. That can come through in a video more so than any other media. Don’t be stiff; Be yourself. 4. Take me on a real virtual tour: What would you do if I met you at an open house? Portray that experience through video. You don’t have to show me every single room, but give me a tour of the highlights. 5. Give me unique details of the home: On a website listing detail page every aspect of a home is not covered. You give the top level details. A video offers an opportunity to show viewers the personality and uniqueness of a home often overlooked in pictures and property details. Show that stunning window seat. Give them a look at the crown molding or that secret door in the closet that leads to a magical world of centaurs and talking lions…My apologies, C.S. Lewis. Got carried away there. 6. Leave me wanting more: You don’t need a Jack Bauer, 24-esque cliffhanger at the end of your video (although that would be awesome). Leave the viewer wanting to see more. Give them a tantalizing taste of the home that makes them want to see the rest in person. 7. Show your contact information: Don’t just speak your phone number or email address. Put it on the video so that the viewer can see it. Use a title slide at the end of your video with your name and contact information.

A Minimalist Video Listing If you’re interested in creating a bad video that no one wants to watch, here’s what you can do: 1. Don’t talk: just play whatever stock music is available. 13

2. Show me the same stuff I would find on any real estate website: Your listing is available on probably a dozen websites. Show me the same pictures and information that I could find on any of those sites. 3. Make it boring: Don’t be interesting, entertaining or insightful. Leave me longing for Saturday infomercials.

What’s a Video Listing Going to Do for Me? Here’s the real question. Will the time and investment put into making a video listing pay dividends? Yes, in these three ways: Differentiate: Because no one else is doing it, the very fact that you created a video listing immediately distinguishes you and your listing from the competition. Even if competitors produce video slideshows, if you make true video listing your videos will be superior to the rest. And if you appear on camera, your personality and expertise show your unique style. Expertise: Video listings can set up an agent as a real estate expert in a community. It shows that you know how to market listings like no one else. It proves to sellers that you will go the extra mile to market their home, and shows buyers that you are the agent to buy from because you know your properties better than competitors. Drive business: Your video listings will now be exposed to a brand new audience of millions of people. There are hundreds of thousands of videos viewed every day on YouTube. Coldwell Banker On Location will be promoted on a national basis across TV, Internet and social media platforms, giving you an unmatched platform for marketing your real estate video.

Action Items Here are some simple steps to get you started with video listing: Step 1 – Pick one property this week to make into a video listing. Don’t worry about getting all your listings turned into video, just start with one and build from there. Step 2 – For your first video, highlight the key elements of the listing instead of a tour of the whole house. For example, what are the four best rooms and features that would look great on a video? Step 3 – Find someone to video you as you walk through the listing. Get your assistant, your spouse, your sibling, your neighbor or whomever to help. Step 4 – Schedule a date with your seller to video the listing. Put it on the calendar or you won’t do it. Step 5 – Record at least 2 takes of your video tour. Multiple takes are helpful for editing. One take might have some odd background noise, but the second take might not. Then use video editing software to slice and dice the various takes to create one solid movie. 14

Step 6 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Edit the video and share it with others. Sit down, make your movie, but then show it to a couple of people to get input and ideas for future videos. Step 7 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Upload to Coldwell Banker On Location. Your video is ready for prime time.

You have a grasp on how to create a video listing, but what about agent videos? So glad you asked. Turn the page.

Agent Videos Why do people visit agent websites? Is it for listings? Probably not. I can find listings online with my eyes closed and a broken mouse. There are listings on coldwellbanker.com, Realtor.com, ZIllow, MLS sites, and broker sites, so coming to an agent site for listings can’t be the major draw. Do people come to view content? Hmmm. When’s the last time you updated the content on your website? And recent awards or accolades do not count. I’m referring to consumer interest content. Has it been a month? Two months? Twelve months? Ever? I’m guessing content isn’t the draw. My guess (and yes it is a guess, but a fairly educated one) is that people go to agent websites to learn about an agent. Maybe they’ll find a tidbit to give them a sense of what this agent is like, how professional he is or if she’ll be nice to work with. But what are we giving these interested consumers? Basically a resume. I’ve seen hundreds of agent sites. The vast majority of them look exactly alike. They sport corporate-esque headshots, lists of all the awards the agent has won, years in the business, markets served and finally how much he or she enjoys helping people buy or sell their home. For the sake of argument, let’s say that your agent website is the best one ever created; it’s a modern marvel of real estate excellence. I’m willing to bet that a good agent video can trump even the best agent website. Through the power of video, we have been introduced to people, created opinions about them and connected with them emotionally. And those people are just the fictional characters on TV. Through the miracle of video, you have this same ability to communicate your expertise, professionalism and personality without posting a resume. I said it earlier, but I’ll say it again, people will choose to work with you because they connect with you on some personal level. A static web page can’t make that connection, but a video can.

A Good Agent Video Like video listings, good agent videos are hard to find, but aren’t hard to create. Here are some guidelines to follow: Don’ts Create a slideshow: If you’re going to make an agent video out of pictures, don’t even bother. Get on camera or do nothing at all. Read your resume: I’m pretty confident that people realize that agents like to help people find or sell a home since they are in the real estate business. Don’t give a name, rank, and serial number. Show me something more than what is on your profile page.

Do’s Open up: Why should I work with you? What makes the area you serve so interesting or a great place to live? What made you enter the real estate business? I don’t need a Real World confession, but please get past the exterior frills and show us who you really are. Testimonials: Instead of telling your audience how good you are, get a past customer on camera to say it for you. Someone you’ve worked with over the past year that is willing to give you an endorsement. A 30 second testimonial about why he or she enjoyed working with you is a powerful tool. Share common consumer questions: If you have a number of customers asking you a particular question, address that question in a video. Keep it short and simple: The video should be 1-2 minutes. If you have so much content that your video is 3-5 minutes, cut the video in half and make two separate videos. You’ve just doubled your video inventory without any extra work. Post only the first video for a few weeks then add the second. Fresh content: Don’t leave the same agent video up for the next two years. Create some new videos every two months. Discuss current topics affecting your customers or community. Highlight local market statistics and how they impact potential buyers or sellers. The key is to keep your content fresh. A video is not accurate if trends and stats are eight months old.

What’s an Agent Video Going to Do for Me? Similar to a video listing, a good agent video can also be beneficial to your business. Differentiate: You’re different than other agents. Every other agent online has the same type of information, but you’re the one agent who gave insight into your expertise and personality. Your video shared third party endorsements from past customers so I can see what experiences others had when working with you. Expertise: You can showcase your success without boasting or listing awards and achievements. If you use your agent videos to ask and answer questions, the customer can see that you’re an expert in local market real estate conditions and that you have key information to help him make purchasing decisions. Drive Business: Agent videos can help with search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the concept of how search engines find your content. YouTube videos now show up in Google search results and with your name and community in the title, description and keywords of the video, your agent video could be more optimized for search engines than competing websites. Need an example? Search for “Coldwell Banker iPhone” in Google. The videos we created to promote our iPhone application are one of the top pieces of content that you’ll find. Besides SEO, a good agent video can be a more powerful promotional tool than a personal website.

Action Items Here are six steps to help you apply what you’ve learned about agent videos: Step 1 – Reserve 15 minutes on your calendar this week to shoot an agent video Step 2 – Get a friend, colleague or relative to help record this first video Step 3 – For the first video, answer two questions (1) why did you get into the real estate business and (2) what makes living in your community so unique Step 4 – Call, email or visit a client from this past year; ask her to appear on your video to talk about how you worked with her to buy or sell a home Step 5 – Include at least one personal element in the video. For example, a picture of your family, a personal hobby, or just an interesting fact about yourself Step 6 – Upload it to Coldwell Banker On Location

You’re one credit away from an associate’s degree in amateur videography (which evidently isn’t a real word, who knew?). The last topic is community videos.

Community Video We all know that the process of buying a home is more complex than looking for a place with four walls. Today’s customers shop not only for a sturdy roof over their heads, but also for a neighborhood and community. While many real estate sites, including coldwellbanker.com, offer searches for places of interest near a particular home, a video about a community can do much more to showcase what the neighborhood surrounding a listing has to offer. In fact there’s a whole network dedicated to community videos. It’s called the Travel Channel. Sure its content is more exotic than your hometown in Ohio (no offense intended. I used to live in Dublin, OH), but it is essentially a cable station built around what it’s like to live, work or play in various communities around the globe. You have the ability to own a community online. When people search for your area on YouTube, will they find a competitor or will they find a Coldwell Banker agent or office? Of the three video categories we’ve covered in this document, the community video is the most underutilized type, and ironically, has possibly the greatest potential to help your business. Of course the previous statement is only true of a good community video. Segue please…

A Good Community Video To make your community video successful, include the following: Real video: The viewer can’t get a sense of a community through still pictures (unless it’s a History channel documentary on ancient Sparta). Get out there with your video camera and show me what it feels like to be in your hometown. Focus on a few key areas: Don’t capture every nook and cranny of your community. Find two or three marquee things about your town that can be quickly showcased in a video. For example, a downtown shopping area, an exclusive museum, beautiful park or an historical structure. Hone in on a unique feature. Show people on camera: Your community video should have a host; a face and personality to associate with your town. Get testimonials from residents of the town. They can discuss why they moved here or what they love most about the community. Talk to previous customers that are current residents. Collaborate with others: A community video can be a community project. Reach out to the local chamber of commerce or prominent businesses to help with the production. They might be willing offset some of the production costs if the video features them. Then, they will help promote the video as well, therefore extending its reach. Keep it simple: Community videos tend to be longer than listing or agent videos. Try to keep it in the two to three minute time frame. Remember, you can create multiple community videos. Split up your content accordingly. 19

Example Video: If you need an idea of what a great community video looks like, take a look at this video made for Red Bank, NJ. It incorporates all of the concepts listed above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeLcmXrRwZk

A Bad Community Video A bad community video can be painful to watch. If you’re a masochist, do the following: Only use pictures: A picture is worth a thousand words, but a community video using only photos will have viewers thinking only one word: STOP. Don’t talk: Who needs to explain what is being seen in a video when you can open it up to interpretation? Read like a brochure: Use the exact content that could be found on your community’s web page or in a brochure. Don’t use multiple shots: Instead of taking the viewer through a few areas of your local market, just use one shot of one area.

What’s a Community Video Going to Do for Me? In my opinion, a community video has value for a real estate professional in today’s day and age where home buyers are looking to learn more about a community than just find a particular property that interests them. Differentiate: By reaching out to other businesses or to the community’s leadership, you will be one of the few companies in your area that is working to promote growth in your market. If these other businesses or your local government choose to also promote this video, you will have additional publicity available to you that your competitors won’t. Expertise: A community video shows those living in your area and those looking to move into your town that you are the agent to use. You have proven that you know and care about your community like no one else. Drive Business: While agent and listing videos are really only of use on other real estate sites, a community video has a number of applications. Community bloggers, business, and local websites might agree to add your video to their site. Even local publications might be interested in sharing your video in conjunction with community anniversaries or special dates. Extend the life of your community video by encouraging past clients or current customers to post comments on the video about their thoughts of the community. You’ll create a dialog about your town that can spark additional videos and opportunities to reach out to potential customers.

Action Items Here are seven steps to making your community video: Step 1 – Jot down three elements of your community that would be interesting to an outsider. Step 2 – See if your list from Step 1 contains any businesses, restaurants or potential partners that could help with production and content for the video. Step 3 – Contact these potential partners to gauge their interest Step 4 – Schedule a date to shoot the areas you’ve selected and choose a person to act as a host for the video Step 5 – Ask some former clients to appear on camera to talk about why they moved to or what they like about your community Step 6 – Shoot and edit the video Step 7 – Upload to Coldwell Banker On Location

You are now fully versed in the basic elements of listing, agent and community video creation. Fantastic. But you’re not done yet. There are a number of things that you can do after the video is posted to Coldwell Banker On Location to extend the life of your video.

What to Do After the Video is Done You’ve created your video masterpiece. Scorcese is jealous and Tarrantino is leaving you voice mails. But there’s still more that can be done. Here are some ideas to help extend the viewership of your video. Share on Social Networks: YouTube seamlessly integrates with almost every social networking site out there. Share your video with your sphere of influence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or your company Facebook fan page. You’ll be amazed by the response. Post it to your website: YouTube videos can be embedded on websites with a simple copy and paste of code. Showcase your video on your company website, your personal website or blog. Here’s a link with some instructions to get you started: http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=57788 Create a DVD loop of videos for your office: Once your video inventory is replete, consider creating a looped DVD of your videos for your office’s lobby TV (if you have one). All you need to accomplish this is your computer’s DVD burner and some blank DVDs. Teach others how to do it: Become a hero in your own office by showing other agents how you’ve created your own videos. Encourage comments: Send your videos out to customers and contacts. Encourage them to comment on your videos. Ask past clients to post endorsements on your agent videos or share experiences on your community videos. Monitor the comments and react to questions that areraised or add insight to the growing conversation. Keep the momentum going: Once you start creating videos to market your business, you’ll find they are a great tool to promote yourself and your listings. Don’t stop after one or two videos. Create a process for developing video content for new listings and set a date and time every month to update your agent video. It takes 21 days to form a habit so make video a part of your marketing arsenal in under a month.

Epilogue Video is not going away. According to YouTube, 20 hours of video is uploaded to their site every minute.1 Not only does YouTube have videos, but every major media site on the Internet has a video component. And how many real estate brands are embracing, promoting and encouraging their network of real estate professionals to grab hold of this shift in the way people consume online content and use it to build their business? Just one that I know of. Coldwell Banker. Coldwell Banker On Location (www.youtube.com/coldwellbanker) is living proof that video can change the way you market listings, your communities and yourselves. In just the first six months since its inception, Coldwell Banker On Location has become the most visited national real estate brand channel on YouTube…ever.2 We weren’t the first to create a YouTube channel, but we were the first to do it right. We were the ones that made watching real estate videos more than just a playlist. We made looking at real estate videos consistent with how people are used to shopping for real estate online. We’re the ones incorporating videos into listings and agent profiles on our website, coldwellbanker.com. If you’re not creating videos or uploading them to Coldwell Banker On Location, you’re missing out. Coldwell Banker On Location will be the focal point of a television commercial; have dedicated online advertising, search campaigns, and social media exposure that no other real estate video channel will have in 2010. Don’t miss the train. Jump on. Make videos. Have some fun. And distinguish yourself from the competition. See you on YouTube.

YouTube Global Blog; http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/05/zoinks-20-hours-of-video-uploadedevery_20.html 2 YouTube Insights May-November 2009

About the Author David Marine is an amateur videographer (emphasis on amateur). He watches a lot of TV. Some (his wife, perhaps) would argue too much TV. Sites like Hulu, YouTube and Daily Motion are frequented bookmarks on his browser. During his seven years with Coldwell Banker, David has worked on the launch of video players on both coldwellbanker.com and coldwellbankerworks.com, and more recently launched the Coldwell Banker On Location channel. David has also produced a number of promotional videos for Coldwell Banker On Location including demos of the Coldwell Banker Surface, iPhone and Android applications. David has been accused of breaking YouTube. Charges are still pending.

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