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My name is Nat Wallen. I am a Realtor in Charleston SC. I have been using Video tours in my real estate business since 2007. I stumbled into it on accident almost, when I sold one of the recruiters for Boeing a home. Knowing that 15,000 new employees were on their way to my city, I asked myself the question… “what can i do to provide value before they get here?”
My first tour was pretty terrible, but once buyers started calling me saying… “I watched your Mt Pleasant tour last night, will you help me find a home?”
Well, I was hooked and quickly began spending time building a small catalog of tours…
It was not until I made my most recent Charleston Overview Video Tour that I finally realized that bringing value was scalable and a tool I could use in many different ways.
Local insight is something that Zillow cannot provide. Yes they have all the pictures of the pretty houses out there, but they do not provide local insight that my tours provide.
In this blog post, I am going to give you the step by step plan to building your own hyper local video tour…
Creating a Google Earth Video Tour and launching it into YouTube builds credibility with consumers, and provides local knowledge. It also breaks down barriers by showcasing your style and demeanor. - Nat W.
Google Earth is fairly easy to use. These instructions will include limited functionality based on the needs of the tools to build the Google Earth Video Tour.
THE AUDIO NEEDS TO BE LISTENABLE
Audio is often overlooked as an unimportant variable. This is one of the most important aspects. If the mic is weak, or you can hear a ceiling fan in the background, or anything other than really clear sound it downgrades your production significantly.
A NOTE ABOUT WEBCAMS
If your laptop does not have a webcam, then it might be time for a new computer… but, there may be some value in not being onscreen too much. I was onscreen quite a bit in my first few video tours and feedback from consumers was that my floating head was a distraction.
I changed my approach at that point and developed a tour with a teleprompter. It gave me the chance to script out exactly what I was going to say and then my process was to weave myself in and out out of view (see the video example above).
If you do choose to be a part of the video, then below is an example of a webcam I bought for a wider view than my laptop could provide.
INSERT YOURSELF TO BUILD RAPPORT
I know you are probably thinking right now… wow, this looks like a lot of work. And yes, it may seem like a project but once you create this for your market, then it becomes an ASSET to your business.
Consumers think they already have everything they need with Zillow and Redfin and the other corporations that threaten our value. By creating a tour you can show consumers that they need your local insight to make the right decision. There is no better way to be found than to start with helping people before they meet you.
Creating a Google Earth Video Tour and launching it into YouTube builds credibility with consumers, and provides local knowledge. It also breaks down barriers by showcasing your style and demeanor. - Nat W.
CONSIDER THE BENEFITS