Most real estate agents—if they’re filming videos at all—obsess about their “brand.” They care about the production quality of the videos, using HD drone footage, fancy microphones, camera stabilizers, etc. They spend a lot of money making their videos look as Hollywood quality as possible, because of their “brand.”

But here’s the thing.

No one cares about your brand if you’re defining brand as “how fancy your videos are.”

What people do care about is the content of your videos.

The topic. The script.

The actual substance.

How helpful are your videos?

Are viewers actually learning something about your community? Are you educating people about the market dynamics in local neighborhoods, or are you just editing together a bunch of gorgeous drone footage clips?

Just because a video looks good doesn’t mean it’s interesting or helpful.

Ultimately it’s interesting and helpful videos that go viral, not super fancy videos filmed with expensive cameras and professional video producers.

Many agents who work with Platform Marketing have launched video campaigns that get 50,000+ views

that were filmed on an iPhone.

It’s the wizard, not the wand.

The content and topic of your video is more important than how fancy your camera is.

Furthermore, it’s important to remember that listing videos only appeal to buyers that are looking to purchase right now.

In other words, you need more than just listing videos if you want to build a lasting local brand.

Listing videos are part of the video marketing recipe, but they’re not the only ingredient.

If someone is still in the “doing research” phase (maybe they’re not actually planning to make a move for another 4-6 months), you need other video content besides listing videos to keep them interested.

This is where our Platform retargeting video strategy comes in.

You must stay top of mind throughout the sales cycle (especially when your marketing is focused on cultivating “High Hanging Fruit”). Your retargeting strategy must include content about the neighborhoods and community. The best way to stay top of mind in a creative way is to highlight the community with retargeting ads that don’t feel like ads.

The more helpful your videos are, the more people will engage with them and share them.

When people share your videos, that’s when the potential to “go viral” is unleashed.

So, ask yourself, are my videos so interesting that people would share them online?

People are risking their social capital when they share your videos.

They’re implicitly endorsing the video! That means your retargeting videos better be interesting, funny, or useful.

And this has absolutely nothing to do with how expensive your camera is or how much you paid your video producer.

Sometimes different is better than better.

Fortunately, we’ve worked with hundreds of realtors over the years.

We’ve figured out a few video recipes that consistently go “viral” in a local community. You won’t necessarily get millions of views, but if your community only has 100,000 people in the specific areas you’re wanting to target—and your retargeting videos consistently get 20,000+ views apiece—it won’t be long before you become a micro celebrity in your town.

Combined with regular lead generation ads, this is the essence of the “Platform” strategy.

Here are 4 specific examples of viral video ideas that will make you look like a hero to your local community.