Remember when your cell phone functioned simply as a telephone? For many of us, that’s hard to imagine. We do everything on our phones, from balancing our checkbooks and paying bills to managing “to-do” lists, shopping, and keeping up with friends and family on social media. These days, there’s no reason to have a variety of devices like a phone, camera, and camcorder. Most smartphones function as all three, and when you live an on-the-go lifestyle like so many of us do, it’s nice to consolidate.
For real estate agents, the smartphone has become as important as business cards and brochures. Smartphones allow you to snap photos of properties and share them with interested buyers, not to mention take videos of listings. While taking a video with your smartphone isn’t as easy as using the point-and-shoot functionality of the camera, a little practice goes a long way.
It’s important to remember that your smartphone wasn’t designed to function as a video camera exclusively. Here are some easy tips that will quickly improve your video work:
- Stand tall
- Keep your feet shoulder-width apart or wider
- Use two hands, and hold your smartphone horizontally
- Hold the outside of your phone with both hands, and “pull” the camera slowly with your leading hand in the direction you want the shot to move, while keeping your body still from the waist down. This will help to minimize the chance of you making natural movements that could cause your camera to skip or bounce.
- Practice makes perfect
Practice by taking videos around your own home, and when you feel like you have the hang of it, try it out at one of your listings.
Once finished, make sure you’re ready to share with your social media network by uploading the video to YouTube. Most smartphones have YouTube apps built-in, so you can make your video available on the Internet shortly after you finish. YouTube also generates a code that you can use to embed it on your website, or share it via Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms to catch the attention of potential buyers.
