YouTube
Check It Out Here
Mission
Having worked with me in the past and knowing my skill set Sage Realty commissioned me to start a YouTube channel for their company. My task was to single handedly record, edit, and distribute a video every Friday of the year. These videos ranged from covering nearby cities to informative real estate topics. They would involve both shooting on location and in our in-house studio. The goal of the channel was to inform viewers about real estate and the communities around them. Hoping that in return we would attract both viewers into the area and/or get local viewers to use our services to buy or sell their home. The end goal was to get viewers from YouTube to become leads and convert those leads into closed deals.
Creating the Videos
The realtor would script the videos but I would be in charge of producing and releasing the finished product. If it was focused around a city, I would research the area and identify POI’s on which I wanted to cover. If the topic was real estate related, then we would shoot at our in-house studio. No matter the environment I would make sure that he was mic'd up properly and that we were receiving good sound levels. Along with other aspects of making videos such as lighting, composition, focus, etc. All the while keeping in mind if transitions were going to be in-camera or in post and what b-roll would help to develop the story.
Menifee CA | A 5 Minute Tour
This was our first video covering the city of Menifee. We did a video like this covering both Canyon Lake and Lake Elsinore as well.
Canyon Lake Intro
There was 4 different intros in total. One for each city we covered, Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, and one for our studio videos. All intros are edited to the same song to have continuity between the different videos we were publishing.
Constructing the Videos
The original goal was to stay a week ahead with the video content however, being a realtor a schedule is hard to keep to. Therefore a majority of the time we would shoot and release the video in the same week, giving me anywhere from 1 to 3 days to complete the video. After exporting all the footage into Premiere Pro I would start by trimming the speaking parts and roughly cutting down the b-roll as I went along. Next I would find a song that fits the theme of the video and time up the b-roll to it. Motion graphics and stock footage placement would come next if needed to progress the story. Sound design would be the final part as I would also be checking to make sure all the levels were consistent throughout the entirety of the video.
Publishing the Videos
On Friday the video would first be published on YouTube. With the transcript from Rev I would make a blog out of the content and post it on Wordpress. I would then schedule the full video to be posted on Instagram and Facebook. To get more eyes on our content I would find relevant Facebook groups and share the link of the YouTube video. The condensed version of the video, which had to be under a minute, was then shared to Instagram reels and YouTube shorts, directing those views to the full video on YouTube. I would then recycle the content by cutting the video down into sections, to be used as CTA's (Call to Actions) or as individual posts, to be scheduled on our socials.
Instagram
Check It Out Here
Mission
The Instagram account was already established having roughly 39 posts with around 119 followers. Most of the posts were of sold listings and had very little engagement. I was brought in to revamp the Instagram account and grow the community. With daily postings, I decided the content should include videos, carousel posts, stories, IGTVs, and more. Scheduled posts were utilized when compatible, helping to free up time to make more content. When the post was not of a new escrow or sold house, it would be of recycled content from the YouTube videos. This could range from anything from the full video to a carousel made from the topics covered. I made sure to take full advantage of the algorithm and used reels, as well as hashtag research to make sure we were optimizing our reach. With over 394 pieces of content, the account grew to 981 followers, gaining over 10K likes, and being seen by almost 70K.
Things Learned
Over the time working on this project I learned many things. Some came with practice such as shot composition or storytelling. Others came through research and analysis such as how to keep viewer retention high or why some thumbnails get a higher click-through rate. I had to first determine what factors were most important to us. Once picked, I evaluated the trends across all platforms to see what was working and what was not. Did you know that overproduced posts on Instagram perform half as well as a candid post, at least in our case. Along the way we began to realize how short video content was starting to take over the social media space. We adjusted our game plan and decided that condensing our content into a minute would be beneficial as to how many people we would be able to reach via shorts and reels. Reels have the potential to go viral being newer in the space, causing them to be pushed by Instagram's algorithm. Throughout this whole process I learned what it is to be a videographer, editor, social media manager, and much more.
