How to Use YouTube for Real Estate Agents in 12 Steps (2024)

Video is one of the most consumed types of online content that you can leverage to grow your real estate business and brand. With more than 2.7 billion active users each month, YouTube is the obvious choice to host and promote your content. Learn how to use YouTube for real estate agents by optimizing your channel, creating relevant video content, and generating highly targeted real estate leads.

1. Start a Real Estate YouTube Channel

The process of creating a YouTube real estate channel is extremely simple, and it’s the first step to creating an incredibly effective business-building platform. In fact, creating a channel for YouTube marketing requires only a few clicks:

• Sign in to YouTube (or create a new Google account if you don’t have one or want a separate account for your business)
• Click on your profile picture on the top right and click “Create a Channel”
• Upload a profile picture, choose your name and YouTube handle
• Click “Create Channel” on the bottom right-hand corner

Once your channel is created, click “customize channel.” This will take you to YouTube Studio, where you can add, adjust, and customize the content and design of your channel. These elements can be adjusted at any time, but it’s important to start your channel with as much information as possible.

2. Optimize Your YouTube Real Estate Channel

One of the most important pieces of a strong real estate YouTube strategy is the organization and optimization of your channel. Think of your channel page as a landing page where you get a valuable opportunity to establish who you are and how you stand out from your competition. In addition, your channel should make it easy for viewers to continue watching your videos and sign up as one of your leads. Ultimately, your YouTube channel design is vital to achieving your goal of attracting leads and converting them into clients.

To optimize your real estate agent YouTube channel, focus on these areas:

• Profile image: Although small, your profile image will appear on every real estate video you share. Use your realtor headshot and make sure your face is clear, without distractions or busy backgrounds.
• Banner: Your banner is arguably the most valuable space on your YouTube channel page. Include your logo, contact information, and tagline or brief description of what you do. Use our Facebook cover photo tips and simply adjust the image size in Canva.
• Channel description: This will appear in the “about” section of your channel and will generally be viewed by people considering whether they should subscribe to your channel or reach out to you for help. Write a short real estate bio that gets to the point and identifies your niche and standout qualities.
• External links: This is where you add links to your website and other social media platforms.
• Channel trailer video: This is a pinned video at the top of your channel page. Take this opportunity to create or choose an engaging video that clearly shows what you offer and the type of content viewers can expect from you.
• Trailer description: The trailer video description is the first thing viewers see on your real estate YouTube channel, so it’s even more important than your “about” description. Use the opportunity to describe the video and name specific questions and problems you help clients solve.
• Playlists: Playlists are key for targeting different types of leads. For example, buyers and sellers have different questions and concerns, so create specific playlists for each customer’s personas. This will draw them in and increase your conversions.

Here’s an example of how one California realtor, Jeb Smith, optimized his YouTube channel:

As you optimize your real estate agent YouTube channel, make sure each element is consistent with your real estate branding. This includes designing a logo and choosing brand colors and copy that speaks to your ideal client type and represents your personality.

If you aren’t familiar with branding or designing, getting professional assistance is well worth it. With a company like 99designs, write a brief that describes your needs, like a logo, YouTube banner, or a complete brand kit. Then various designers will present their ideas, and you decide on the design that best fits your style and needs. Start building a strong brand with 99designs today.

Visit 99designs

3. Target a Specific Audience With Relevant Content

Make sure your YouTube channel isn’t flooded with overly general content. If you try to appeal to every potential type of real estate client, you’ll end up with content that doesn’t appeal to anyone. Instead, create specific content to establish yourself as the go-to expert, targeting your niche audience and ideal client types.

For example, your real estate niche could be real estate homebuyers in and around your city or town. Instead of creating a general first-time homebuyer video that will get buried among thousands of similar videos, create a video series about the different types of homes for sale in your area, ways to finance them, and what the process looks like. You will attract a very targeted audience quickly and generate much more qualified leads.

4. Strategically Edit Your Videos

One of the reasons YouTube is so powerful for real estate marketing is that video is more engaging than written text. In fact, real estate listings that have at least one video receive 400% more inquiries. However, your videos must be clear, organized, and engaging to attract and maintain an audience.

To create engaging videos that generate real estate leads effectively, you’ll need tools to help you edit and produce professional videos. Remove awkward pauses, mumbling, and fuzzy sections to keep the video flowing steadily and eliminate errors. Ensure no unnecessary background noises like beeping, gusting wind, or outside conversation so your viewers can hear you clearly. Consider adding subtitles and/or background music to make your video more appealing, accessible, and understandable.

Luckily, editing videos for YouTube doesn’t require expensive or confusing high-end video equipment, software, or even training. Animoto, an easy-to-use video editing software, can easily upload, trim, customize, edit, and share your videos. It doesn’t require hours to learn how to use the tool, and it provides a range of real estate-specific video templates like listing videos, explainers, and agent testimonials. Try Animoto for free and see how it will help you gain success with YouTube for real estate agents.

Visit Animoto

5. Choose Topics Based on Keyword Research

YouTube search engine optimization (SEO) is arguably the most effective way to get views and drive traffic to your YouTube real estate channel. YouTube is owned by Google, so when you create video content on the platform, you are more likely to appear in web searches for similar questions. To leverage the power of SEO, you must learn how to do topical and keyword research and create videos based on what your audience is already searching for.

For example, if you are looking for first-time homebuyers, use keywords like “affordable homes for sale,” “buying your first house,” or “how to buy your first home.” Since your content will likely be highly localized, your keywords should be used in conjunction with locale, such as “homes for sale in Dallas.”

To help you find the best keywords for your content, you need a strong SEO tool like Semrush. It provides in-depth keyword data like search volume, keyword difficulty, search intent, and keyword variations. It also provides the average cost-per-click for real estate Google ads, helping you make the best possible decisions about your content.

Visit Semrush

6. Optimize All Content for SEO

Once you’ve determined a few keywords to target, make sure to place the keywords throughout your video and content. This will help YouTube learn the topic and correctly rank it in searches. Places to add keywords include the following:

• Title: Include the primary keyword in the video’s title and add power words, like “discover,” “alluring,” or “nostalgic,” to communicate the value that the video offers (for example, “Nostalgic New England Colonial Home Tour” or “Discover the Value of a Real Estate for Your Home Search”).
• Description: Include the primary and any secondary keyword(s) in the video’s description, and use short paragraphs for readability. Don’t forget to add links to other related videos and a call to action (CTA), like visiting your blog or subscribing to your monthly newsletter.
• Subtitles: Adding subtitles to your YouTube real estate videos helps with SEO because Google can crawl all the subtitle text in the video. Even more importantly, it makes your content accessible to all viewers.
• Custom thumbnail: YouTube allows you to choose from automatically generated screenshots within your video, but it’s important to customize your thumbnail with a high-quality image. Simply choosing a screenshot wastes extremely valuable space since viewers often read the text on this image before the actual title of the video. While your thumbnail may not directly help the Google algorithm, it will help viewers choose to watch your video among other real estate videos.
• Hashtags: Hashtags help categorize and organize content on YouTube, which boosts each video’s discoverability. By strategically using relevant YouTube real estate hashtags, videos become more visible to audiences interested in local and real estate-specific topics.

By optimizing your content for Google, you can leverage the extremely powerful platform to help your audience find your videos and increase your success. Keep in mind, however, that search engines should only be used as a tool to reach your audience, not as the sole focus of your videos. If you become too focused on keywords and algorithms, you’ll lose your connection with viewers and ultimately won’t get new business from your videos. Make sure that your priority is always to provide value to your audience.

7. Include Calls to Action (CTAs)

A call to action (CTA) is vital to every piece of real estate marketing content, providing a clear next step for the viewer. If you create content on other platforms like Instagram or a blog, you might be accustomed to writing CTAs at the bottom of every post. However, YouTube content should present multiple CTAs and be placed at the beginning, throughout, and on the end screen of your real estate videos. YouTube provides many ways to present your CTAs to your audience.

Here are some ways you can and should include the CTAs:

• Verbally mentioning them within your video
• In cards or annotations that appear during the video
• Within the video description
• On the beginning and end screens of your video

CTAs do not need to be complicated. In fact, simple calls to action are more likely to resonate with viewers, and they are easier for you to consistently mention. Choose from a few different phrases like, “Don’t forget to subscribe for more information,” “Click the link in the description for a free home valuation,” or “Follow me on Instagram for updates.”

8. Connect YouTube to Your Website & Landing Page

Although video views are important, having people watch your videos alone will not grow your business. You must make it easy for viewers to become one of your leads, so include written links and reminders in your videos to your real estate landing page or website. Consider offering something valuable, like a home valuation or comparative market analysis (CMA), through a sign-up form on your website. Draw attention to this offer in videos, explaining why they are valuable and how your audience can get their own.

If you don’t have a website or landing pages with lead capture forms, you can get one up and running in just a few hours with Placester. With over 30 beautiful real estate IDX website templates, an easy-to-use design platform, and a marketplace of website and marketing services offered by professionals, Placester has everything needed to build a real estate business more effectively.

Visit Placester

As powerful as YouTube for real estate agents can be on its own, there are no marketing methods that will magically grow your business without effort. You need a promotion strategy to get the maximum results as a real estate YouTuber.

Promote your YouTube videos in real estate by:

• Cross-posting YouTube real estate videos to other real estate social networks, like Facebook
• Share short clips of the video to generate leads on TikTok or your real estate agent Instagram page
• Embed videos in emails and send them to your lists
• Embed YouTube videos on a blog post or landing page
• Ask your social media connections to share your videos
• Run ads to drive traffic to your YouTube videos

Your promotion strategy can be done manually, but it will likely take hours to complete for every new YouTube video. A much more efficient way to build your success is using a social media marketing company like Constant Contact, which provides publishing and scheduling features. It also provides a single dashboard to view and respond to comments, mentions, and messages across all of your social media profiles. Learn more about how Constant Contact can massively improve your real estate YouTube channel.

Visit Constant Contact

10. Actively Encourage Comments & Subscribers

Every time you post real estate videos on YouTube, ask viewers to like and comment on the video and subscribe to your channel. This should be one of your CTAs for the reasons mentioned above, but these engagement metrics are particularly important for the YouTube algorithm. The more engagement you receive, the more likely YouTube is to show your videos.

Another reason why video engagement is vital to your success as a YouTube realtor is because it directly grows your audience. It reveals who your audience members are and allows you to start building relationships with them. They will be able to ask you questions and interact with you, showcasing your value and expertise to attract clients.

Every time someone comments on your video or subscribes to your channel, add their name as a contact in your customer relationship manager (CRM). Using a CRM with a visual pipeline, like Pipedrive, you can easily track each time a lead interacts with you or your videos. Pipedrive also uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze how each audience member interacts and identify which are more likely to respond or convert.

Visit Pipedrive

11. Partner With YouTube Influencers

Even though there are many real estate professionals who are already using YouTube to grow their business, you don’t have to consider all of them as your competition—especially once you establish your ideal clientele. Instead, partner with other YouTubers in the real estate space to create something that benefits both professionals and audiences.

Find YouTubers who have a similar audience as your own and already have a large audience. If you don’t have any connections to them, start supporting them by simply liking and commenting on their videos. Then, reach out and offer a way that you can provide value to their audience. For example, collaborate with popular real estate investors and teach their audiences how to successfully choose and work with real estate agents.

12. Advertise on YouTube

Since YouTube has advanced targeting data and algorithms and generally has lower competition than ads on other platforms, it’s one of the best and most cost-effective ways to run highly targeted ads that bring views to your videos from your desired audience. There is also no minimum cost for advertising on the platform, but you can expect to pay from 1 cent to 3 cents per click or view. In comparison, the average cost-per-click (CPC) of real estate Google ads is about $1.55, and the average cost of Facebook ads is about 51 cents per click.

All YouTube ads for real estate agents should clearly display the value you provide to grab viewers’ attention immediately and motivate them to take immediate action in connecting with you. However, the type of ad you choose is up to your discretion and unique strategy.

The primary types of YouTube ads include the following:

• Skippable in-stream ads: Video ads that appear in the middle of another YouTube video and can be skipped by the user after a designated period of time.
• Non-skippable in-stream ads: These ads also play in the middle of another YouTube video, but cannot be skipped by the user. They are a maximum of 15 seconds long.
• In-feed video ads: In-feed ads appear similar to a related video on the right-hand side of the user’s screen. You are only charged for the ads when viewers click on them.
• Bumper ads: Bumper ads are only six seconds or shorter and play before, during, or after another YouTube video, similar to non-skippable in-stream ads.
• Outstream ads: These are video ads that appear on websites and apps across the internet.
• Masthead ads: Masthead ads are placed at the top of the YouTube home page and autoplay without sound for 30 seconds.

Benefits of YouTube for Real Estate Agents

YouTube is one of the most powerful yet underutilized platforms for real estate agents to grow their audience and generate leads. Most real estate agents see Instagram and Facebook as simpler and more accessible platforms to build an audience, but 122 million people use YouTube every day. Although it takes more time to create engaging and well-designed videos, this channel can be an incredibly powerful tool to help grow your business.

Here are six reasons why you may want to consider becoming a realtor on YouTube:

• Videos are more engaging: Videos have become the most-viewed type of online content over the last few years, and they consistently generate more engagement on every platform. In fact, 96% of people seek out videos to learn more about a product or service when deciding whether or not to purchase.
• Creating videos can be easy: Filming real estate videos can actually be incredibly simple with the right tools and strategy. Recent studies show that 79% of consumers prefer videos to be one to six minutes long. With an easy-to-use video editing tool like Animoto, you can almost automatically create real estate videos and make valuable edits in just a few minutes.
• YouTube SEO is simple and powerful: Optimizing YouTube videos is much easier than optimizing blog posts and full websites for Google rankings. Plus, video results are 50 times more likely to rank in Google than text-based results. When a potential client searches for an answer to their question and finds one of your videos, you’ve automatically made yourself a valuable resource to them.
• Less competition: There are hundreds of thousands of real estate agents on other social media platforms, but studies say that only approximately 9% of small businesses use YouTube to promote their business. At the same time, over 51% of homebuyers use YouTube to search for their next home. By creating and sharing real estate video content on YouTube, you are automatically ahead of your competition and increasing your chances of finding new leads and buyers.
• Video content can be repurposed: Once you create a video, you can share and promote the content within the video on almost every single platform. Video is generally more easily repurposed than written content and typically gets more engagement. In fact, 61% of marketers say updating or repurposing content is the most effective strategy for generating organic traffic.
• Video is more personal: Videos allow leads to see and hear you talk before they ever reach out, making it easy for them to view you as an expert and feel like they already know you. Using YouTube to grow your real estate business is an effective way to build authentic connections and relationships with leads and clients.

Real Estate Video Ideas & Examples From Top YouTubers

The key to gaining success on YouTube is posting interesting videos that actually help your audience. This might mean teaching them new information or even entertaining them at times. Fortunately, creating engaging content that makes you successful in real estate doesn’t require reinventing the wheel. You simply need to be authentic, be clear about who you want to serve, and provide value. There are many different types of YouTube videos you can create. To help you start generating ideas, here are four common types with various examples from other real estate agents on YouTube.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

YouTube is an invaluable tool for real estate agents. It lets agents present properties visually, provide valuable insights, and build relationships with potential clients. The platform’s wide audience reach and engaging nature allow agents to connect with clients on a more personal level, making it an excellent medium for marketing properties and establishing expertise in the real estate industry.

In order to leverage YouTube to get more real estate clients, agents must optimize their channel, create engaging content, and promote their videos on other platforms. Consider who your target audience is and create content that appeals to their interests and questions. Using YouTube strategically can help agents connect with potential clients, build trust, and expand their online presence.

Most real estate agents don’t have active YouTube channels, so you’re already a step ahead of your competition by having one. In addition to the low amount of competition on YouTube, it also provides an incredibly wide reach. Plus, video content is easy to repurpose for multiple platforms and generates a high engagement rate. Being active on YouTube as a realtor creates an opportunity to engage with clients in a more dynamic and immersive way.

Bottom Line

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), only 26% of active real estate agents use YouTube in their real estate business. However, YouTube for real estate agents can be a lucrative and incredibly powerful way to attract leads and clients and build a reputation as a local real estate expert. Make sure to establish your brand and YouTube strategy, target the right keywords, and provide value to your audience. With these strategic choices, YouTube could be the source of your real estate success.