Whether you are looking to market a residential or commercial property, it is important to leverage as many platforms as possible in order to most effectively get your property in front of as many eyes. Not only is the number of impressions (the number of times it is viewed) important, but also the purchasing intent and buying power of the audience it is being shown to. Strategically pursuing platforms with the most reach and highest return on your dollar is paramount in a time when there are countless social media platforms pulling buyers in different directions.
Currently, the most popular social media platform that is showing signs that it will continue growing in popularity is TikTok. TikTok features short videos that are up to 60 seconds in duration, often with fanciful video and audio filters, silly dances, and fun instructional videos. The average viewer is in their late teenage years, but it is quickly gaining popularity with users of all ages. The important aspects to focus on for real estate marketing when delving into the newest and biggest platform, TikTok, are audience retention, content density, and concept planning.
Keep the Eyes on the Prize
Any time you are utilizing video marketing, audience retention becomes one of the most important metrics to keep at the forefront of your mind. If you reveal your main message too soon, nobody will have the need to stay throughout. However, if you do not reveal any information valuable to the viewer until the very end, they will have nothing encouraging them to stick around to the end. It is finding this balance that makes a truly successful video on TikTok, and this requires practice and failed attempts in order to learn what works best for your specific content style and viewers.
What helps? On most videos, the viewer will click off within the first few seconds if they do not feel the video offers them anything that they would like to see or know more about. Within the first 3 seconds, ensure that you are laying out your value proposition to the viewer. Let them know what they are about to see, and why they should stay to see it.
In real estate marketing videos, there are countless opportunities to utilize unique property features such as location, luxury finishes, or layout to entice the viewer to stick around and watch the rest of the video. If possible, utilize viral concepts that are popular across niches. Things that go above and beyond what anyone else is doing. Show the custom quartz countertop and hand-hammered copper sinks, or the enormous overhead doors brought in from a rustic firehouse to really drive in just how special your property is.
As an example, if you are selling a luxurious $3,500,000 home in Highland Park, be sure to make a few videos highlighting the property. One idea that has been historically successful on TikTok is the video concept of “what $3,500,000 will buy you” in a certain market, in this case Dallas. Do an exciting walkthrough of the property with quick cuts between shots in each room, and throw some upbeat background music on there to keep the pace moving! Highlight the most luxurious aspects in every room and what sets this property apart from the rest. Making sure that your pace is consistently fast throughout helps with TikTok viewers, who expect the content to keep moving them forward and onto the next video.
Content Density
When you only have 60 seconds to get your point across to viewers and let them know why your property is the one that they need to buy, you are required to more carefully select what you include in your video.
What are you supposed to include when using TikTok to market real estate? Include the big points that everyone wants to know when inquiring about real estate - price, square footage, location, and any unique aspects that make it better than other properties on the market.
If necessary, it is better to make several TikToks for a singular property highlighting different aspects rather than trying to fit 30 highlights into one 60 second video. High density content is important, and is ultimately a balancing act at the end of the day. As a rule of thumb, 4 - 8 seconds per point is long enough for viewers to get a good idea of what they are looking at and short enough that they do not get bored and click away. Do not stray away from making a video less than 60 seconds, as it is better to have a short but great video that gets 50,000 views than a long video that nobody watches all the way through.
Storyboarding and Micro-Content
When planning your next TikTok, be sure that you are making the most of your upload by storyboarding it in advance. Compile a list of your key points and highlights of your property that you want to include in your video, and begin building out the structure of how you envision the video playing out.
When filming, be cognizant of this storyboard and do your best to shoot each key point in several different ways in case you need to make adjustments to your storyboard in editing later on. This provides you with flexibility, and also the opportunity to make standalone TikTok clips with your footage that does not make it into the final cut. These little film snippets act as a form of micro content that you can put out in addition to the longer clips, and get even more views on from people who might not necessarily want to watch the whole 60 second video.
By producing a variety of real estate content consistently on your TikTok account, you will be able to draw in more viewers week after week looking to see what you have to say in addition to what you have for sale or lease. Becoming the authority on real estate in your market via TikTok allows you to more effectively use the platform to market and sell properties. The key to doing so is retaining viewer attention for the whole video by laying out your value proposition early and delivering on it, packing in high value content and cutting out the fat, and finally by organizing your key points in a storyboard and taking advantage of small snippets of footage to create microcontent for viewers with shorter attention spans and less time. This holistic approach to marketing properties on TikTok helps you produce high quality original real estate content on a consistent basis, and get your properties sold.