Now more than ever, great property photos and videos are an essential piece of real estate marketing. With fewer prospects touring in person and renters looking to find all the information they need online, great photos on your property website and reputation management profiles can single-handedly make or break your property at the beginning of a prospect’s buyer journey. Not only that, but great photography is essential to building display ads that get users to click.
High-quality video has even higher potential to impact your marketing success. You probably know by now that video ads drive higher engagement and conversion rates than ads using still images. Landing pages with video are also known to increase conversions (by up to 80%) and get more organic traffic from Google. And a video tour on your website can bridge the conversion gap for potential residents even if they can’t visit in person.
So how do you create eye-catching photos and videos that do all this heavy lifting for your real estate marketing? With a few tips, it could be easier than you think.
How To Make Photos Work For You
When it comes to great photos, hiring the right photographer goes a long way (or you can have your agency partner do that for you). But whether you’re opting to hire a photographer or do it all in-house, there are a few things you can do to ensure you walk away with assets that bring your property website, Google My Business page, display ads, and social media profiles to life.
Capture All The Right Angles
Your prospects want to see as much of your community as possible and you want them to see your good side. Carefully curating your shot list will ensure you both get what you’re looking for.
First, think about what your key differentiators are and make shots that illustrate them your top priority. Do you have a state-of-the-art fitness center? Show it off! Is it your on-site staff that set you apart? A shot of the leasing office might be in order. Got a fantastic location? Bring attention to it with an exterior shot that shows your community as part of the neighborhood.
Regardless of what you’re most proud of, you should make sure prospects can find photos of as many amenities as possible, especially the apartment amenities. Folks want to know what their bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and living room will look like at the very least.
Whether you’re capturing your fitness center, your pool, or your apartment interiors, you’ll also want to think about the photo composition. You want photos that show things from a prospect’s point of view if they were to tour in person, but you also want to capture areas with the most visual interest and striking aesthetics. In other words, shoot your kitchen from a spot that captures the island, the stainless steel oven, the modern lighting, and the custom cabinetry all in one; don’t bother with a photo that only shows the sink and the countertops or is dominated by empty spaces like floors and ceilings.
Control Your Lighting
Good lighting is absolutely essential and natural lighting is best (even for indoor shots). The best times for taking photos with natural light are a few hours after sunrise and a few hours before sunset to ensure there is plenty of light without harsh brightness or exaggerated shadows.
If taking photos where no natural light is available, make sure to turn on all the lights in the area. You may also want to bring additional light sources with you (ones specially made for photography if possible) to ensure diffuse but bright light that doesn’t result in strange shadows or overly warm or washed out photos.
Set The Stage
An empty apartment doesn’t do your property justice. Whenever possible, stage your model unit carefully and stylishly to show your prospects its full potential. That means towels hanging in the bathroom, a cute succulent on the kitchen island, a colorful rug amongst the living room furniture, and so on. Careful staging helps ensure your prospects have no barriers to imagining themselves living in your community.
How To Make Videos Work For You
From video ads to stunning homepages to informative virtual tours, high-quality video assets can do a lot of work for your apartment marketing. Again, we recommend hiring a professional videographer and/or video editor (or getting your agency partner to help). Either way, these tips and recommendations can help you get video assets that drive conversions and inspire engagement.
Film a Breathtaking Flyover
Drone footage capturing your property from the sky is a great way to capture breathtaking visuals and add a luxurious feel to your community. This option is especially effective if you have rooftop spaces, lush interior courtyards, or lofty high-rise views. Videos like these are often displayed prominently above-the-fold on a property home page, and there’s a reason for that. They result in lower bounce rates and more time spent on-site, giving prospects a higher likelihood of converting.
Create Video Ads From Still Photos
If you’d rather opt for the budget version or need a quick turnaround, you might choose to turn existing photo assets into engaging video through the power of editing. Even a simple slideshow set to pleasant music and featuring a few key messages through written copy can enhance the impact beyond that of still photos alone, making for a great video ad strategy on Facebook or YouTube. Just make sure to keep it short; the most effective video ads, according to Facebook, are between 5 and 15 seconds long.
Shoot a Video Tour
Virtual tours are a must these days, and shooting real video of one of your leasing agents or community residents showing the viewer around a model apartment is one effective way to get that done. A video tour posted prominently on the website, shared on social media, or sent out in your email marketing is a great way to provide the experience of in-person touring without the hassle or the hazards of visiting the community in person.
Get a Matterport Video
Did you know you can get a simple video tour made for you that combines still images into a virtual 3D floor plan and allows prospects to measure and explore the layout with a click of the mouse? Matterport videos are one such tool, and another great virtual tour option that you can embed on websites, post on social media, or send in emails. For more information, talk to a Threshold team member (no strings attached).
That’s it for our property photos and video tips! From coordinating shot lists to editing videos, we hope these tips can help you create assets that work for your property. If you’re looking for more advice or help getting started, we’re happy to put the full force of the Threshold team at your back! Reach out to our team to learn more about our videography and photography services, or check out our product slick.
