Are you ready to start creating real estate videos? You probably should be—video content is responsible for 93% of businesses gaining new customers each year. If you’re not in that 93%, you probably should be!
Of course, creating truly excellent real estate videos isn’t as easy as the drop of a hat. But it’s not hard, especially if you have the right tools! Here are a few tools that you need if you want to create truly excellent real estate videos and expand your client base.
1. Camera
Obviously, the first thing you need is a camera. However, while there are cameras out there that are hundreds or thousands of dollars (and you may want to purchase these at some point in the future), you really don’t need much to start. Two great options are:
- Your phone. Smartphones these days come with incredibly sophisticated cameras. You can easily get started by taking your phone to homes you’re showing or setting it up in your office to film simple content.
- Sony. Sony offers tons of cameras, from the simple to the highly advanced. You can pick and choose whatever you want to fit your needs. Again, it doesn’t have to be much—something simple will do great, especially as you’re starting out.
2. Lighting
While you may not need complicated equipment for videoing yourself, you do need to make sure that your videos are of SOME quality. No one will watch a video that looks like complete trash!
To ensure your video is at least somewhat professional-looking, you need to make sure you get the lighting right. In general, you’ll need to sit with a light source behind your camera to shed the best light on your face so that the audience can actually see you. There are two ways to do this:
- Use natural lighting. If you’re out and about and want to show off a house or street, use natural lighting from the outdoors. In your office, set up your camera in front of a window and sit in front of it so that the window sheds light on your face. If you don’t have a window, try to use a light that looks as natural as possible (nothing garish or odd-colored).
- Use a lighting tool. A few of the best tools you can try are ring lights (which are pretty cheap on Amazon), softbox lights, and umbrella kits. Any of these lighting fixtures can be purchased relatively cheaply and used to enhance the look and feel of your space as naturally as possible.
3. Microphone
While you may start out with only your natural voice, your video quality will go up EXPONENTIALLY with a good microphone. It’s important that you get some kind of microphone as soon as you can to ensure people hear and understand you as well as possible.
A few types of microphones you may need to collect include:
- A lapel microphone that you can easily hide and that will pick up your voice really well. Lapel microphones are simple to hook up and can easily be taken anywhere if you’re wanting to film content outside.
- A desk microphone will be really handy if you spend a lot of time in your office creating videos and chatting on Zoom calls. They’re cheap, simple to hook up, and great for helping your voice sound professional and close to home.
- Professional microphones can be super handy if you’re a more advanced videographer and want to invite guests or host livestreams where you need to engage with more people and speak with greater authority.
4. Editing Services
If you’re not an expert videographer (and, really, few of us are), you’ll need to do some editing to get your video looking great. You can either do it yourself or hire someone to help you.
- You can always choose free video editing software to start with. There are tons of options out there, from Lightworks to Adobe Premiere Rush to iMovie (a good choice for YouTube). Any of these options will give you a good start on understanding HOW to edit your videos well.
- If you want to pay for a higher-quality video editing software, there are two great options: Premiere and Final Cut Pro. Adobe Premiere Pro is similar to Premiere Rush but comes with even more benefits, while Final Cut Pro is a superior option that works great with Windows.
Creating Excellent Videos
If you’re interested in starting on YouTube, you’ll find that these are the tools you need to get going. Most of them are inexpensive but indispensable to creating professional and excellent videos for YouTube.
If you have more questions about creating YouTube videos that add value for your audience and get real results, check out my other blogs on YouTube for Real Estate Agents and how you can Get Started with YouTube Fast as a real estate agent.