Videoblogs, or vlogs, are relatively new to the real estate industry.
But there is a growing community of experienced videobloggers outside of the real estate industry. They make up the bulk of the users on the “by invitation only” Seesmic.com. After spending a few days on the site, my gut told me this community would be a good one to tap into to jump start a conversation around the theme of “Beyond The Written Word,” a panel I am moderating at Inman’s Bloggers Connect conference in NY.
The Bloggers Connect panel will consist of Douglas Heddings, Senior Vice President, Prudential Douglas Elliman; Rachel Natalie Klein, Founder, IntoTheBox.tv; Daniel Rothamel, Realtor, Strong Team REALTORS; Blogger, RealEstateZebra.com; and Mike Price, President, ML Broadcast.
We only have 45 minutes to discuss a very hot topic. So let’s start it early.
To help us, I asked the seasoned videobloggers on Seesmic what they might have to say about the potential upside and possible downside that video blogging and podcasting might have for real estate agents looking to use it to grow their business. This 14 minute video is an edited version of the discussion.
The goal of this video is to generate further discussion. The questions and comments you leave here will help move this discussion forward and may very well end up being part of the panel discussion in New York. So, comment away. If you’d like to add your video comment, you can upload a video anywhere you choose and include it as a link in the comments here, or you can add your video comments to the discussion the discussion video on Viddler.
Here are links to the full comments used for this video.
Jeff Turner | Real Estate Shows
Deek Deekster | DeekDeekster.com
Adam Jochum | Cafn8ed.tv
David Jacobs | TheConnectedWorld.net
Nicole Spagnuolo | NicoleSpag.com
Victor Cajiao | TypicalMacUser.com
Daniel Rothamel | RealEstateZebra.com
Andy Kaufman | MyEastBayAgent.com
As further commentary, this video took a ridiculously long time to edit. 
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Great post. I’m trying to learn this topic right now. I think its a great way to personalize websites.
I’m excited to see this discussion coming to the forefront. I am a real estate investor and I also teach real estate investment strategies. One of the things I have been pushing is the use of technology and the leverage it affords those who are intelligently using it in their business.
Just the other day I was speaking to Justin Tupper (www.JustinTupper.com), a real estate broker in South Carolina, about how he has successfully implemented video as a sales tool for his listings. One of my biggest take-aways from our conversation was that the video walk throughs he uses provide something that has been missing from most realtors’ business – a way to accurately measure showings. Depending on where you load your video, you can easily see how many times your video has been viewed, and this has allowed him to accurately report back to his clients when they ask him “how’s it going?”.
I think it is Pearson’s Law that states “That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.” This is just one way we can introduce metrics into our business, and according to Pearson we should expect improvement in our business because of it.
An awesome display of the power of video.
As for podcasting, the case can be made that audio allows for uses not feasible for print– driving in your car, for example, or communicating to the visually challenged or blind.
Timely – and necessary – topic to discuss;
But Consumers-Realtors, buyers, sellers-have already voted with their dollars for Immersive Photography (360s) coupled with stills as the leading form of marketing properties on the web.
My view has always been there is a niche for RE video: for luxury properties, unique architecture and getting a sense of place about a community. These are all things RE video does well if RE video is done right.
Unfortunately, for most properties, RE video still has too many technical shortcomings, is too expensive and time consuming -as discussed here.
And web Consumers run from a poor buying experience. In droves.
Also, RE web video does not work for most listings because video tours are not
aggregated, distributed, or their impact measured effectively on the web.
Obeoman
steven.stearns@obeo.com
Here’s my long opinion and some samples of what I’m doing. See you in New York!
Brian Copeland
Nashville, Tennessee
Sorry, the embed didn’t work as planned. Here’s the link..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veIus9IBfxA
Great video, but that is a little too up close for me! LOL!
Another great resource, thanks for passing this info along!