There are a lot of attention arbitrage opportunities in the world of Real Estate Video Marketing.

As a real estate marketing agency we need to find ways to acquire attention for our clients at a cost that is less than the value to them. To put it lightly, finding these attention arbitrage opportunities can be a challenge in the hyper-competitive real estate niche.

In this post I want to talk about how there are still many attention arbitrage opportunities to be had in the world of real estate video marketing.

In this video I’ll walk you through some of of our biggest real estate video marketing wins.

1. YouTube Organic Traffic

YouTube has been a huge driver of growth for the clients of our real estate marketing agency (see this case study here).

The biggest YouTube channel we’ve ever grown, we grew to over 80,000 subscribers and 1M + video views.

We like ranking real estate websites high within YouTube for many different reasons.

First, it’s usually easier to rank a real estate video on YouTube for a specific keyword, than it is to rank a blog post in Google for the same keyword.

Secondly, about 5% to 10% of traffic that watches a YouTube video will go over to your website (which you can then retarget later on).

Third, having a YouTube video targeting a specific keyword allows you to embed that video on the page within your real estate website targeting the same keyword.

We’ve found that video embeds on high value, bottom of the funnel pages helps us dramatically improve our engagement metrics (i.e. time on site, bounce rate, scroll depth etc.) which in turn helps us rank our landing page quicker and higher for our target keywords.

Here is a screenshot for a YouTube channel we’re scaling for a client at the moment.

It’s a brand new channel that we started from ZERO and we’ve managed to scale up to over 7000 video views / month in only 4 months.

If we continue this client on this trajectory, the client will be at over 20,000 views / month within 12 months. Not bad, considering we started this channel from nothing.

2. YouTube: In-Market Audiences

Another real estate video marketing strategy you might want to consider is targeting “in-market audiences” on YouTube.

Essentially, in-market audiences allow you to target a pre-defined audience that Google has determined to be product or service shopping.

This allows you to place your videos in front of an audience with a high likelihood of wanting to make a purchase. In-market audiences have been one of our most successful YouTube ad targeting strategies.

Take a look at the screenshot below and notice how YouTube allows us to target 3 different in-market audiences under the “real estate” category. We can target:

1. Commercial properties
2. Moving and relocation
3. Residential properties

However, the targeting options don’t stop here. YouTube also allows us to get quite a bit more granular with our targeting of in-market audiences.

Notice below, if I expand “residential properties”, I’ll get a list of sub-categories that I can select such as:

1. Residential properties (for rent)
– Apartments (for rent)
– Furnished apartments
– Unfurnished apartments

2. Houses (for rent)

3. Residential properties (for sale)
– Apartments (for sale)
– etc.

3. YouTube: Keyword Audiences

Another one of our favorite real estate video marketing strategies is the targeting of related keyword audiences on YouTube. Very much like you can target keywords within Google Ads, you can do the same within YouTube.

We recently ran a campaign for a real estate client using the video discovery feature (meaning our client’s videos would show up in the search results (or suggested videos) when someone typed in a specific keyword.

Using this strategy we gained access to very affordable and hyper-targeted awareness. Using video discovery ads won’t always produce an immediate ROI. However, if your videos are new and you’re looking for an affordable way to help your newest videos increase their view count, then video discovery ads targeting specific real estate related keywords might be the way to go.

Generally, YouTube real estate video views will cost about .10 to .30 cents per view.

At our real estate marketing agency, we’re often at the lower end of this spectrum for our client’s sites (and we’re targeting traditionally more expensive US audiences). The cost / view can get much cheaper if you’re targeting audiences outside of the US. Targeting mobile users is another way to reduce your cost / view. 

For example, here is a YouTube video discovery campaign where our cost / view is hovering around .10 cents / view.

 4: YouTube: Specific Videos & Channels

Another real estate video marketing strategy you might consider testing, is a video marketing campaign that targets specific videos or channels.

For example, imagine you are a real estate agent based in New York and you’ve recently produced a new video walkthrough tour showcasing a new rental unit for $5000 / month in Manhattan.

You might want your newly uploaded video to play either before (skippable ad) or in the suggested videos section in the sidebar of related videos.

For example, imagine you could show your video beside any of these videos:

5. YouTube: Topic Targeting

Generally speaking don’t expect to produce a positive ROI with YouTube’s “topic targeting” feature.

Topic targeting is generally used for scale and brand awareness. If you’re looking to get a lot of awareness on your videos quickly, then topic targeting might be the way to go.

However, if ROI is your priority then consider targeting in-market audiences (as discussed above).

The exception to this rule is if you’re targeting otherwise hard to target real estate audiences. For example, topic targeting allows you to target people interested in the following two topics:

1. Lots / land
2. Bank owned foreclosure properties

These can be harder topics to target using YouTube’s other targeting options. Therefore, in some cases, depending on your real estate product or service, topic targeting could be a powerful targeting tool for you.

6: YouTube: Custom Affinity Audiences

Lastly, I wanted to talk briefly about YouTube’s custom affinity audiences.

Generally speaking, for most real estate PPC video marketing campaigns, I would steer clear of affinity audiences.

Like “topic audiences” (discussed above), affinity audiences can be great for scale and brand awareness, but challenging in terms of producing a positive ROI.

However, there is one exception to this rule.

Depending on your real estate product or service, custom affinity audiences might provide you with a targeting option not otherwise available.

First, custom affinity audiences allow you to target audiences based on specific websites. This means you could enter your competitor’s websites and target their audiences. This can be a hugely valuable targeting option.

Second, you can target audiences based on the apps they have installed. This would be valuable for those of you in the real estate niche who are trying to promote a real estate app. You could simply target audiences who have similar or competitor apps installed on their devices.

Conclusion

That’s all I have for you today. Thank you for taking the time to stop by Turf.Press today. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you scale your real estate website, then visit our homepage or reach out to us today to organize a free 45 minute strategy session.