Editor’s Note: The Industry Influencers series analyzes the industry’s most effective marketing efforts and shares experts’ actionable insights.
Andrew Finney, a real estate advisor and team leader of The Andrew Finney Team at King Realty Group in Las Vegas, has made almost 600 YouTube videos that focus on buying, selling, investing and homeownership. His YouTube channel—Andrew Finney Team—has over 10,000 subscribers and includes live streamed content.
Finney, a 2019 RISMedia Real Estate Newsmaker, has found great success in video marketing as a way to not only brand the team, but to create regular touch points for clients.
“The results, thus far, are amazing. In 2019 alone, we’ve had six closings attributed to simply having our YouTube channel,” says Finney. “That’s an increase so far over last year and it’s highly likely it will continue to increase into the future too.”
Consistency Is Key
In order to maintain consistency in his digital efforts, Finney segments his videos by topic: Real Estate Advice, Home Buying Tips, Real Estate FAQs, Home Selling tips, Homeownership and Real Estate Investing. Videos range in length from five minutes to 25 minutes, with the exception of the FAQ videos, which are live streamed and often much lengthier.
Finney also ties in several other visual and auditory elements to ensure consistency, including regularly wearing a jacket over a collared shirt, filming in front of the same background (either an office setting or a rendering of a cottage), and repeating the same intro with the team’s branding for each video.
Making It a Personal Experience
The most important factor is that Finney speaks directly into the camera in all of his videos. Speaking directly to consumers, Finney can ensure that the audience feels they are receiving a personal experience.
“Video is fantastic since it provides a way for someone to engage with you in a very real estate-personal way,” says Finney. “Consider when someone is watching your video, they are taking the time out of their day to do so. They could be anywhere in the world, going about their day-to-day. To them, the video is a very personal engagement since it feels like it is shot for an audience of one—them! In short, it provides a way for a relationship to be built in the mind’s eye of the consumer with you and your brand.”
Additionally, with Finney’s live-streamed videos, consumers have a chance to ask timely questions and receive on-the-spot advice, making them much more valuable to consumers who are currently looking to buy or sell.
Implementing Video Marketing
Before filming, Finney recommends that agents ask themselves the following questions:
- Who are you making the videos for?
- What value do your videos provide?
- How will you approach your video creation strategy?
- How often will you release a video, and on which platform?
- Why are you making the videos and what is your goal?
Once these are answered, agents can then design a video schedule and move forward.
“It’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon. Providing consumer-focused content helps people show we as professionals maintain our edge over any tech disruptors or anyone that thinks an agent can be replaced, which is simply not the case,” says Finney. “Agents that truly embrace their purpose will flourish.”
Watch one of Finney’s videos below:
Liz Dominguez is RISMedia’s associate content editor.
