5 Real Estate Marketing Strategies from All Around Video Influencer, Kyle Whissel

Kyle Whissel is a video pro… and not just a video pro, a marketing pro, who is sharing his real estate marketing strategies with us.

In the last two years, Kyle has finished at the top of our list in the All-Around Category for The Real Estate Video Influencers. Placing first in 2017, and second in 2018.

In the 9:27 video below, Kyle talks about…

• How his video strategy changed from 2017 to 2018
• How he’s grown such a large social following and what he recommends other agents do in order to increase their social engagement.
• How many hours a week his team dedicates to video and how many hours a week he recommends an agent just getting started with video dedicates to their strategy.

Real Estate Video Marketing Strategy #1 – How to Get the Most Out of your Video Content

Kyle starts out the video talking about a radio show that his team creates weekly called, “Whissel Weekends.” This is currently Kyle’s pillar piece of content, meaning, he gets the most juice he can from this radio show so that he can repurpose it in other areas and create “ancillary content.”

Kyle and his team are filming Whissel Weekends on a new camera they purchased called a Mevo Camera. What’s interesting about this camera is that it’s a small camera but it’s able to shoot multiple angles. They are also using this camera to showcase a video version of their radio show on Facebook live. After the show is complete, Kyle’s media and marketing team (lead by Bryan Koci) will chop the finished product into four separate segments, and publish that content onto YouTube. They also pull the audio from the video and upload it as a Podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud.

Kyle gives us a great tip here. After creating a Facebook Live, don’t forget that you have the opportunity to download the MP4 version of the content. You can then redistribute this content by uploading it on YouTube after the fact.

Real Estate Video Marketing Strategy #2 – Create Retargeting Ads for People Who Engage with your Content

Did you know that Facebook allows you to run targeted follow up advertisements to people who have watched a certain percentage of your videos? Kyle has been using retargeting on Facebook to really focus in on the right people who are already engaging with his content. You can even create custom audiences with this information that you can continue to run ads too.

Get more tips on how to create Facebook Retargeting Ads for Video in this Social Media Examiner Podcast with Amanda Bond, who’s known as the “Ad Strategist” specializing in Facebook ads.

Real Estate Video Marketing Strategy #3 – Generate Engagement through Video on Social Media

Before even worrying about purchasing fancy equipment, Kyle suggests that agents should focus on creating quality content. We understand that statement is harder than it sounds, but Kyle has a great tip here. Skim through Instagram and Facebook and see the types of content that’s getting the most engagement. Kyle explains that the content that succeeds is usually about “food, fashion, and fitness.” Instead of constantly creating content on open houses, and new listings, Kyle suggests focusing in on your local community instead. [See our Top Ten Community Video Winners Here.]

Kyle also recommends creating a separate page for your community content. For Kyle, this page is called “East County Eats,” where he has almost 20,000 likes. Kyle has actual data on why this works. He explained that he had another series that he ran for two years where he talked about food, fitness, and fashion, but because he published the content on his real estate page, he saw far less engagement. Even after having that page for ten plus years and creating high-quality content, he was only able to gain about 6,000 followers. “People don’t want to like a real estate page unless they’re interested in real estate. If you’re going to make content about food, fashion, or fitness, put it on separate page, you’ll be shocked how many people are more likely to like that page versus your real estate page.”

Real Estate Video Marketing Strategy #4 – Use Chatbots to Encourage Engagement

Kyle also talks about the importance of encouraging engagement by responding to every comment you receive on your social media channels. Something Kyle explains that his team has been working on this past year is utilizing chatbots. He explains that when he creates a East County Eats video, he’ll tell his fans to “comment below with the word pizza for the chance to win a $50 gift card.” Once the user comments the word pizza, a chatbot is triggered to message them, and they’re able to get into a conversation with them!

We were really amazed by this strategy at BombBomb, so we decided to comment in on one of the East County Eats posts to see how it works. It worked like a charm. What we loved about the interaction, was that it simply continued to encourage engagement. The next steps it asked the user to take were to either like the comment, follow the page, or share the video. By following these steps, the user would be more likely to win the gift card. And then Kyle’s team is able to further determine who is an engaged fan. Kyle’s Marketing & Media Manager, Bryan, also told us that once someone writes a comment and triggers a chatbot they know what episode that person opted in to. When it’s time to announce the winners, Bryan is able to reach out to all the people who messaged in on that particular and ask them to join their Facebook Live conversation to see if they won!

We’ve attached screenshots of how the chatbots work for Bryan and Kyle! We’re sure you’ll be as amazed as we were.

Step 1.) We commented the word “Harvest” on one of The East County Eats Posts

Step 2.) The East County Eats Page Sent us a Message

Step 3.) We wrote back “YES” to the chatbot. 

Real Estate Video Marketing Strategy #5  – The Time & Energy Should You Dedicate to Video.

This is a tough question for Kyle to answer because as we’ve already established, Kyle is not just a video pro, but a marketing mastermind. He has two full-time marketing and media team members working for him. However, his brand far extends just real estate as he’s also creating community videos, and speaking as an expert on the topics of real estate and real estate video.

So how much time and energy should the average agent dedicate to video? Just one video a week to start is all you need to create to see results! Kyle explains that to start using video, the only thing an agent needs is his or her smartphone. He also emphasizes spending more time on content creation as opposed to video production to make sure that you bring value within your videos. Once you know the type of content your audience will enjoy, and you’ve made a plan for the video itself, Kyle suggests going live on Facebook with your phone to engage your audience! Pro tip: Just make sure your light is always coming in from in front of you, as opposed to behind you.

Want to Learn More From Kyle?

Another new initiative for Kyle in 2018 was to create more content for real estate agents, and other business professionals who are just beginning their video journey. He created a Facebook Community called “The Whissel Way” in September for 2017 and he already has 2,508 members who are brainstorming ideas, discussing solutions to issues, and coming up with systems. Kyle explains that in this group, he’s documenting his day in real estate. He’s sharing everything from his meetings, to his speaking engagements, and even just general educational videos. You can join his Facebook group to hear even more amazing tips from Kyle, by clicking here!

You can also catch, Kyle as a keynote speaker at our event in Denver in May of 2019, Rehumanize!

And don’t forget to check out our Real Estate Video Influencer’s Guide, featuring Kyle and many other agents! The Real Estate Video Influencer’s Guide is the definitive guide to video in the real estate industry and features 75 professionals, who share tips and real estate marketing ideas just just like these, to help agents get started with video.