Using Digital Video as a Marketing Tool

With YouTube practically a household word and digital cameras and video-editing software becoming ever more sophisticated and affordable, video is suddenly where the action is in real estate. Most computers come with basic video software built in and basic  cameras are under $200. All you need now is a bit of time, a good idea of what you want to convey, and the patience to practice, practice, practice. Property sellers and real estate professionals alike are finding out how easy and effective it is to create and post homemade virtual tours, neighborhood guides, and other videos to help sell real estate. Check out our updated Field Guide to find out how and why to market real estate using web video.

How Millennial are You?

The Pew Research Center, a non-profit ‘fact tank’ that tracks Americans’ attitudes to the press, religion, each other, and the world at large through research and polling, usually has something worth reading on its website. Recently the focus has been on ‘Millennials‘, the generation born after 1980 who are coming of age now. A recent survey has backed up what is generally assumed to be true about this generation, sometimes known as Generation Y:

• Tech-savvy and hooked into social media
• More liberal than conservative
• Highly educated (partly as a result of the recession)
• Multi-cultural and diverse
• Less religious than their parents
• More optimistic than previous generations

While Millennials are different in some ways then their parents and grandparents, they still put ‘home ownership’ towards the top of their list of life priorities. REALTORS® should take some time to understand where this next generation is coming from, where they’re going, and how to reach them.

How much do you share in common with the Millennials? Pew has a quick and easy online quiz to see which generation your habits and technology uses most closely mirror. How you answer will place you on a spectrum ranging from the Silent Generation (born 1928-45) to Boomer (1946-64) to Gen Xer (1965-80) to Millennial (1981+).

Looking for more information and resources? The library at realtor.org has a some free eBooks available to members on the topic:

• Gen BuY: How Tweens, Teens and Twenty-Somethings are Revolutionizing Retail
• Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees and Save you Money and Grow your Business
• Future Marketing: Targeting Seniors, Boomers, and Generations X and Y

Preparing and Staging a House For Sale

Banish the clutter! Trim the bushes! Hide your Star Wars collection! Take down the family pictures! When selling your house (or representing those who are) it pays to take a look at the message the home is sending to prospective purchasers. What things can you do to prepare a house for sale? Check out our newly updated Field Guide for tips, hints, thoughts and ideas on sprucing up, cleaning out, decorating, staging, creating a great first impression and making a house appealing to buyers.

Have an idea for a new Field Guide? Click here to send us your suggestions!

Social Media for Small Business

Looking for more help in getting a grip on how your business can benefit from a social media program? If you have a Facebook account, I encourage you to sign up for the group Social Media for Small Business – Sponsored by Dell (search in the upper right corner of Facebook and become a fan). They have lots of content geared toward small businesses and how they can utilize social media to increase sales and drive business.

The group includes guides, screencasts, a discussion board, and YouTube videos. Topics include how to listen to what others are saying about you online, starting a blog, using Twitter, and generating buzz with crowdsourcing. And best of all, it’s not just a big ad for Dell computers. Today for example, they posted a link to a video on why small business might want to post to YouTube and tips on how to get started with creating a channel and loading a video.

Also remember, members can turn to our online library here at the National Association for further help with social media tools. We have Field Guides, white papers and eBooks available for free! And if you haven’t found REALTOR® Magazine’s blog, Speaking of Real Estate, it’s another good source of information.

800-874-6500!

Information Central has just released our first Infomercial! This tongue-in-cheek video outlines a few of the many services NAR’s Information Central provides to members of the National Association of Realtors. Starring Information Specialist Karisa Bruin.

Watch the after the jump.
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An open house, a bottle of wine and thou

Attend an open house in Tiburon, California last week, and you might have received a bottle of chardonnay. REALTORS® and agents are giving away unique gifts at open houses to attract buyers–gas cards, gallons of ice cream, shoeshines, vodka tastings, free dog biscuits and spa coupons. “In this housing market, volume is really off; there’s limited demand,” says Mark McLaughlin, a Realtor with Morgan Lane, who is representing the home and gave out the wine. “We had a team meeting and came up with this and said, ‘Why not give it a try?’ It’s a really nice bottle of wine. It’s to keep the house in the top of their mind.”