Google Exec Tells Apartment Marketers How to Succeed With Video
The rise in video marketing is one way to embrace “the trends that won’t go away.”
Marketers and the world are coming out of the craziest 24 months of the pandemic and they’ve now got a clean slate in front of them for strategy.
Video is taking a forward position in their marketing, and it doesn’t have to be movie-quality, it just has to be fun.
That’s the philosophy that marketers must take, according to Dave Hoffman, senior sales consultant – home and consumer services, Google. He provided guidance and tips on Thursday at the Multifamily Social Media Summit held in Napa, Calif.
“You need to embrace the trends that won’t go away,” Hoffman said. “Find ways to find authentic ‘voices’ to drive your social media engagement. Rely on sight-sound-emotion.”
He said marketers have the freedom to do a 30-second TikTok, a 3-minute YouTube video or a 3-hour podcast “as long as it’s engaging.”
With everyone looking at their phones almost all of the time, “Your product or brand is practically just 3 inches away from them. Who would ever think you could be that intimate with someone with your videos?”
Google’s Four Pillars
Hoffman said marketers must focus on Google’s four ABCD Pillars:
Attract: You just have to dive right into what you are trying to get across in the opening seconds. There is no ‘lead-in’ to the story. Remember, there’s a skip button on every video and your audience can get away from you that quickly and move onto the next thing in the scroll.
Brand: You want your brand to be visible early and often, consistently. Even if the viewer is not in buying mode, seeing it often (in tactful ways) will leave an impression.
Connect: You want the viewer to think or feel something by creating that connection. If you want them to act on your call to action, don’t send them to a lead form to fill out. People hate that; 80 percent of consumers won’t fill one out and you lose them. If anything, enable auto-fill of the viewer’s information so they don’t leave the post.”
Direct: Be clear about what you want the viewer to do.
Plenty of Video Producer Sources
Starting out, find one channel to do video and get really good at it before moving to the others.
Rely on your staff to create videos. “18- to 30-year-olds are so enterprising. It’s okay if they fail. It’s experimental. They are failing for free.”
Look to influencers who live at your property to provide content—if they have a ton of followers, offer them two months’ free rent to partner with you.
Google provides the platform “Google Shorts,” which can be leveraged for short-term videos much like TikTok or Reels.