Tips for Creating Viral Real Estate Videos

The biggest challenge of realtors in 2017: standing out from the pack and making sure that it’s your name that comes to a prospective client’s mind. A strong, well-rounded marketing plan is key, of course, but it takes time to work. What if we told you there was a super fast way to take you from nobody to household name? There is: viral real estate videos.

You’re probably rolling your eyes right now, and we get why: most viral videos feature someone famous, someone outrageous, someone hilarious or someone doing something pretty stupid. And sure, there’s no guarantee that a video will go viral or not.

But there’s no guarantee that it won’t. There have been viral real estate videos that have made the realtor instantly recognizable to hundreds of thousands of people. Examples include:

• Realtor Josh Altman created a goofy music video for a song called “I Sell the Dream.” It’s received over one million views.
• Atlanta agent Mark Bhaggan’s video tour of an over-the-top $25 million estate has netted a crazy amount of views — more than 1,700,000.
• On the more achievable end of the spectrum, Los Angeles-based realtors Cherrie Brown, Zach McReynolds and Sara Spalione did something similar as Altman, with their version of “Every Day I’m Hustlin” that landed an impressive 84,000+ views.

Interested in creating a realtor video with viral potential? Here are four essential tips:

1. Find the right idea

Picking your topic is obviously the hardest and most important step. You need to be unique (don’t try to rip off another realtor’s music video idea), creative and current. A few ideas to get the ball rolling:

• The easiest topic: if you have an incredible property to list, then create a standout walk-through video that gives the viewer a sense of what life there could be like. If there’s a beautiful backyard pool, then create the best-ever pool party scene, with giant floaties, palm trees, a DJ, water guns, etcetera.
• Create a video around something newsy. For example, if new legislation has been announced that will help young buyers get into the market, you could film a pseudo-reality show that follows a couple on their home-buying journey.
• Bust real estate myths or present facts in a cleverly-named video that people can’t help but click, like “5 INSANE facts about Toronto real estate,” as an example.

2. Bring in the pros

Whether you’re shooting live footage or creating a slideshow-like video of images and text, take out your wallet and pay to hire professional videographers and graphic designers.

High-quality footage and editing will keep people clicking and watching. Anything too amateur  might either turn viewers away or get you noticed for the wrong reasons.

3. Keep it short

Do you ever watch five-minute-long videos on YouTube? Rarely? The same goes for your audience. Don’t be precious and assume that your video is the exception; keep it snappy and to less than three minutes.

4. Know how to market it

You can’t publish your video to YouTube and expect the views to come flying in. Name and title are incredibly important for SEO purposes (we like the guides here and here for best video-publishing practices).

Once you feel confident, then it’s time to share it. Here are some ideas on where and how to share your video:

• Write a blog post on the same topic as your video and publish it to your website, with the video embedded
• Have your whole team share it at the same time on their social media accounts, using clever copy and appropriate hashtags (if need be)
• Include the video in your newsletter
• Ask friends and family to watch the video, and/or share and retweet your social media posts
• Ask friendly professional contacts in different industries if they would share your video in exchange for some exposure on your website or social media accounts (it’s all about reciprocity)

What are some of your favourite viral real estate videos? Will you be aiming to create one in 2017?

Last Updated on November 28, 2023 by myRealPage