 You may think of YouTube as just a place to host your longer videos, but if we look under the hood, it’s actually a well-oiled search engine. That also makes YouTube an incredibly powerful lead generation and business growth tool, albeit vastly underutilized these days (so there’s a bigger opportunity for you). I truly believe that the average Realtor, mortgage lender, or business owner can start using YouTube for business and see results after 30 days, with significant ROI (or, ROT: Return on Time), within three months or less. Oh, and it’s also easy, free, and requires no special knowledge or equipment. I’ll break it all down for you in this article, but to start, we have to talk about a different company: Google. By far the most popular search engine in the U.S. (and the western world), Google now accounts for 73% of all internet searches. Next on down the list of traditional search engines you’ll see Bing second with 7.91% of internet queries. They’re followed by Yahoo with 3.95%, Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves) with 0.42%, and AOL (which wouldn’t even be notable save for their prominence in the early days of the internet) with 0.06% market share. If we add it to that list, YouTube is a far bigger search engine than Yahoo, Bing, Ask and AOL – combined!  Thinking of YouTube as a search engine – not just a video platform YouTube isn’t widely used as a search engine yet, but that’s exactly what it does, syncing seamlessly with Google to produce one of the most powerful and effective search engines in the world. (Notice that they ask you for a Google account or Gmail address to log in?) Just by posting enough quality content with the right headlines, descriptions, tags, and links, you can vault your content to the top of the search engines. That will allow you to rank highly for important key words and search equerries, reaching your potential audience en masse like never before. It’s within easy reach for the average Realtor, mortgage lender, or small business owner to rank high on YouTube, whereas ranking #1 or even on the first page of Google can take a whole lot of SEO and money. Here are some quick stats on YouTube, particularly as a search engine: YouTube by the numbers
 And YouTube is still growing
The YouTube youth movement…and seniors, too?
An audience that is looking for YOUR content, not the other way around Most Facebook and Instagram users scroll, post, and comment for entertainment’s sake (or messaging, sharing photos, etc.). But YouTube viewers are specifically looking for information, reviews, guides, video experiences, and How-To’s. In fact, the average YouTube viewer spends 8 minutes and 41 seconds on the site each day. YouTube instruction is so prevalent, that the term, “University of YouTube” was coined for DIY learning, and one US mother built her own house from the ground up just off of instructional videos – with no previous building experience! In fact, the three times as many people prefer to watch a How-To video on YouTube instead of reading an instruction manual. That’s a big paradigm shift – and the key to how YouTube can completely revolutionize your marketing. YouTube as a lead generation tool and sales magnet With one simple video, a Realtor, mortgage lender, or business owner can reach tens of thousands of viewers (or way more) in your local who are actively searching for that kind of content. Don’t get me wrong: Facebook or Instagram are important tools as well. But, when someone scrolls through their newsfeed on FB or IG, they aren’t actively looking or searching for your content (usually). You can only hope to capture their attention for a second or two – usually by paying for ad placement or boosting a post – before they scroll on. That’s like placing a billboard under an airport and expecting air passengers to see it as they zoom on by! Conversely, YouTube is much more efficient for getting your message across to a larger and more appreciative audience – on their own terms. It’s as if they park their car under that same billboard and look up. It’s also an ideal way to initiate your marketing funnel. (YouTube > Subscribe > Giveaway > Email List > Website or Blog > Social Media > etc.). But, like everything, the key is being consistent with your branding, messages, and frequency of posts while always focusing on adding value. I’ll talk a lot more about best practices for using YouTube as a lead generation engine and sales magnet in future articles, but we’ve established that YouTube is a kick-ass search engine and WAY underutilized among real estate agents, mortgage pros, and other business owners. Contact me if you’d like to chat more about how YouTube could help your business. -Norm :-) 
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 Like no other professionals I can think of, Realtors and loan officers are responsible for not only performing their duties of representing clients, but also acting as their own full-time marketing and advertising agencies. In fact, about 60% of the average real estate agent or loan officers’s time is consumed with marketing, promotions, prospecting, and trying to land their next client.
These days, there is no better way to grow your audience and reach potential new home buyers & sellers, purchasers & refinancers than on social media. However, too often, Realtors and LOs fail to grasp and execute the fundamentals of social media marketing. It’s understandable, considering it seems like there are so many platforms, options, and advice when it comes to social media, and not all of it in agreement! Today, I wanted to present you the basic guidelines, stats, best practices, and useful notes on the world’s top social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Linkedin. Start by implementing these basics, and you'll be on your way to the best year of your career! Key stat: Photo albums have 180% more engagement than other posts. Profile photo dimensions: Must be at least 80 x 180 Displays at 160 x 160 Thumbnail will appear on screen at 32 x 32 Display at 140 x 140 pixels on smartphones Cover photo dimension: Must be at least 399 pixels wide and 150 pixels tall. Displays at 828 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall on your page on computers, and 640 pixels wide by 360 pixels on smartphones. File under 100kb is optimal. Best times to post: 1 pm most shares 3 pm most likes The highest level of user activity between 9 AM and 7 PM Best days to post: Thursdays and Fridays Extra features:
Notes:
Key stat: Tweets with images receive 18% more clicks than those without pictures. Profile photo: Will be cropped square Recommended size 400 x 400 pixels (px) Displays at 20 c 200 px Header photo: 1500 x 500 px recommended Maximum file size 10 MB Use png (best), jpg or gif photo file Best time to post: 1 PM most retweets 12 PM and 6 PM highest activity and usage Best days to post: Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays Notes:
Key stat: Instagram users engage 25% more with brands than on other social media platforms. Profile photo: Appears as 292 x 292 on a desktop computer and 160 x 160 on mobile app Thumbnails display as squares (but your original image doesn’t have to be square) Photos are also 292 x 292 Best times to post: Peak Instagram usage times are 3-4PM Best days to post: Instagram shows consistently good engagement all week long, with the exception of a slight dip on Sundays. The highest day for engagement is Saturday by a small margin. Notes:
Key stats: Linkedin posts with images get 98% more comments, and posts with links have a 200% higher engagement rate. Thumbnail photos 160 x 160 Feed images 350 x 250 Best times to post: Between 10 AM and 11 AM Best days to post: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays Notes:
YouTube Key stats: 84% of consumers were convinced to make a purchase by a brand’s video, yet only 63% of businesses are recording videos to connect and inform their audience. More than 50% of all YouTube views are on mobile devices like smartphones. Channel Cover image: Full-size displays at 2560 x 1440 Video uploads: Must maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio Must be at least 1280 x 720 quality as HD resolution For highest quality, upload videos at 1920 x 1080 resolution and 4k resolutions Best time to post: 12 PM – 3 PM Around 5 PM – 6 PM Best days to post: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays Key stats: 93% of Pinterest users use the platform to make purchases, and Pinterest users spend 15x more money than Facebook users. For that reason, Pinterest drives 25% of all retail website referral traffic! Profile photo: DIsaplays at 165 x 165 on the homepage Displays at 32 x 32 everywhere else Maximum file size of 10mb Pin sizes: Pins display at 238 px wide, but their height automatically adjusts to the image. Expanded pins have a minimum width of 600 px. Board display: 222 x 150 px (large thumbnail) 55 x 55 px (smaller thumbnail) Best times to post: Pin between 8 PM – 11 PM Peak time 9 PM Best day to post: Saturdays Notes:
*** Need more help with your marketing and client acquisition? Contact me for a free ebook that will explain the essential pillars of marketing for every real estate and mortgage professional! |
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