If you missed the first entry of this three-part series on the best ways to stay in front of your subscribers, you can check it out here.
In part two, we’re going to talk about the power of using video to build authority with your subscribers.
As I’ve discussed previously: authority sells.
People listen to authority. People trust authority figures and believe them to be right. So right, in fact, that people are willing to listen to them, follow them and become loyal consumers for life.
And it’s because of this desire to become willingly committed to a brand that you, your team and your business must do what it takes to establish authority in your marketplace.
To earn authority, you must build relationships with people and one of the best ways to do that is to provide consumers with useful content on your website.
Any good real estate agent knows that subscribers who find useful information on their website are much more likely to come back with the intent of using them to buy or sell a home and even refer them to the members of their sphere.
It’s important to realize that your subscribers don’t want to be sold anything. Instead, they want proof of your expertise and knowledge and video is likely the best platform where you can put these things on display for people to see.
Knowing this, here are ways you can used video to stay in front of your subscribers.
Introduce yourself and your brand
Video is the ideal medium to let people get to know you, your brand and the services you can bring to the table in helping them achieve their real estate goals.
And, while it’s not like you’re making a sales pitch for the Bass O Matic, your video does give you the perfect platform to gain people’s trust and establish your authority.
At the heart of this process is the fact that you must be have an engaging story to tell.
Likely, you’re the best person to tell that story, so you must be able to explain your vision, your passion, what got things all started for you and about the blood, sweat and tears that went into building your business
At the same time, you can demonstrate what you do and how you do it to get seller’s homes sold for the most amount of money in the shortest period of time. You can talk about your unique marketing approach and even share success stories for other sellers you helped accomplish great things using your home selling system.
The important thing to do here is to gain visibility as quickly as possible for you and your business while you’re earning trust and building authority at the same time.
Being authentic here is key. Let people see who you are as a person at your core. It needs to be the real you that resonates with the people watching your video. As you tell your story, the tone of voice you use and the words you choose will have a huge impact on how people view you your brand.
So, no matter what it is you want to be seen as - fun, happy, serious, silly or quirky - it needs to shine through in an authentic manner in your video.
Be the Expert
Everyone of your subscribers has a real-estate-related problem that they are trying to solve.
And, they’re looking to find an expert whom they can trust to solve that problem, whether it needs attention today, tomorrow or well into the future.
You job is to add a tremendous amount of value to helping them solve their problem to the point where they would want to choose you over any other option available to them.
To do this, you can record videos that educate them on what you know about buying and selling homes. As part of that process, you can discuss things like:
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Your company’s mission and purpose
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What it takes to get top dollar for your home
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How to save thousands when you buy a home
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The biggest mistakes to avoid when buying or selling a home
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The latest trends in real estate
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How to choose an agent to help you sell your home
And anything else that shows you know your stuff.
Every industry has people that rise above the crowd and who share their passion for their products and services and believe in their hearts that what they provide is the best in the market.
Be one of those people and demonstrate, on video, how hard you work each and every day to bring tremendous value to the consumers in your marketplace.
Speak at business events
An amazing way to create video that builds your authority with your subscribers and contemporaries alike is to speak at business and industry events.
Your local and state board of realtors, the Chamber of Commerce, civic and non-profit organizations and other regional speaking opportunities provide the perfect platform for you to demonstrate your knowledge of, and passion for, real estate.
Record each of your speaking engagements and share them online with your subscribers. Through the power of the ability to share things online, you can even benefit from your videos going viral if people love them enough.
Plus, once they’re on the Internet, they’ll stay there and be able to be found by potential customers well into the future.
Again, if you speak at any industry event, make sure you get a copy of the recording to share on your website – doing so is an amazing way to establish credibility and build your authority.
Interview industry experts
There are experts in your industry that can interview who would add a lot of credibility and value to you in your effort to build authority with your subscribers.
Lenders, title representatives, home inspectors, general contractors, radon testers, pest control experts, septic experts are just a few of the many experts in their field that you could interview, on video, for your subscribers.
There’s a tremendous amount of value in featuring or referring to people who already have a lot of attention online as their followers will be notified when something new about them hits the Internet. As a result, once the new content with you has been posted, they’ll take the time to go watch it; naturally driving more traffic to that website.
It’s important to note here that conducting interviews is an in-depth process and it takes a lot of preparation and research. Getting an authority figure from your industry to agree to an interview is a huge opportunity and you don’t want to squander it by asking mundane and standard questions.
You need to get them to really open up and speak their mind.
Again, if you don’t have an authority from your industry that you can get to participate in an interview, you always have the opportunity to refer to an expert who has an audience already. Once you’ve done that in a video, reach out to them and let them know you gave them a mention. They will likely be appreciative of it and share it with their followers as a thank you.
Host Webinars and Hangouts
Conducting webinars and holding hangouts on Google are valuable and inexpensive ways to market you and your brand to build and strengthen your authority.
When people attend a webinar that you conduct, they are required to register and give you at least their name and email address at that time. So, you can collect contact information and have the ability to reach out to potential prospects.
In addition to that, since registrants know who you are and intentionally sign up to watch and hear from you, there’s a great chance they’re interested in your products and services.
And, because a lot of webinars give you the opportunity to conduct surveys and poll your audience to gather information, you have a built-in opportunity to find new and effective ways to sell to your subscribers by giving them what they want.
In the end, webinars give you a platform to increase your credibility, visibility and trust, and to demonstrate your expertise. To that end, you can vary the different types of webinars you host - informative, sales oriented, coaching, training, Q&A - to accomplish different outcomes.
If you have the ability to educate people and add value on various aspects of buying and/or selling a home, you have the perfect opportunity to create content and market your business through video.
No doubt, video can be an incredibly effective marketing tool that you can use to increase your web presence and establish yourself and your business as an authority in your industry.
Video allows for a richer experience and stronger connection versus a blog post or other written content.
Use video to create solid content while you establish your brand identity, show yourself and generate tremendous credibility and authority.
Be unique. Be consistent. Be authentic. Plan well. Then hit record.