What kind of title is that you ask? Being ‘underwater’ is the last place you want to be in your real estate business. Even finding motivated sellers who are underwater doesn’t help much.
The reason we picked that title is due to a new app we found. It’s called Periscope. See the reference? Periscope… submarine… get it now? Well, this app may just be good enough to endure some bad jokes as you learn about it.
It is available for both Android and Apple.
Periscope is a newer social media app owned by Twitter. There are many similarities between the app and Twitter. You can have people follow you (or you follow them), people can ‘fave’ or ‘like’ you (in Periscope they send you hearts), and you can interact with people all over the world.
The big difference is that Periscope is a video sharing app. Think of something like Google Hangout or FaceTime on your Apple phone. Instead of having a video call with one or a couple of your friends like Hangout or FaceTime, when you activate Periscope, you are live to the whole world.
Periscope is billed as the closest thing to teleportation available yet. The idea is that you can see what someone on a boat in Hawaii sees, or a TV actor as they prepare to go on the set.
There are some great uses for Periscope in real estate investing as well. But first, let us show you how Periscope works.
Time to ‘Dive In’ To Periscope
Okay, we promise that was the last bad Periscope joke. All joking aside, you should seriously consider adding Periscope to your real estate marketing. The popularity of Periscope and its competition, Meerkat is really growing.
We’re focusing in this lesson on Periscope instead of Meerkat primarily for 2 reasons:
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Periscope allows you to download your videos for sharing elsewhere like YouTube
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Periscope is owned by Twitter, which both services rely on. Meerkat is not. Guess which one Twitter will favor more?
For other differences you can see this handy graphic we found:
What’s also very nice about both services is that they allow comments in addition to their ‘hearts.’ That way, you can interact with your audience in real time and answer questions from them.
How to get started? Just download the app. Then the app will ask you to sign in using Twitter or your phone number. We highly recommend using a Twitter account, in order to share your videos with your investing audience.
Once you are signed in, you will see 4 options at the bottom of your screen.
The four options help you navigate the app:
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The TV set shows you two lists – a list of people you follow who are currently ‘Live’ streaming, and a list of recent streaming video you have watched from people you follow.
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The Earth – again two views. One is a map of the world. You can zoom in or scroll across it. It will show you who is streaming live from various locations. The other is a list of public broadcasts you can watch or scroll through.
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The Camera – where you make the magic happen. This is your camera to send out your own streaming video. You can control everything from totally private (a good place to practice) to totally public.
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The People – here is where you can look up and figure out whom you want to follow. You can also set up push notifications so that when one of the people you follow starts streaming, you can tune in.
It’s important to tune in soon after people put up videos, because the videos only stay up for 24 hours. That’s why we thought it would be important to be able to store your videos and upload them to places like Facebook and YouTube.
The videos can go as long as you would like, but remember that a really long video will take up a lot of memory and be difficult to load onto other social media.
If you would like to learn more about the mechanics of how to use Periscope, here is a helpful instructional video.
Where’s the Real Estate Investing Connection?
Video is becoming more and more important in business these days. Pictures and videos of houses are a lot more interesting than just text.
Are the ideas for Periscope uses starting to come to you? How about these:
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Virtual tours of wholesale deals for your buyers list
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How-To videos to show your buyer’s list everything from how to estimate jobs to how to find financing
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Advertise affiliate partnerships you have with local lenders, Realtors, contractors, etc.
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Invitations to contractors to bid on a job they can see on video
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Q&A webinars for motivated sellers to help them with their situation
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Views of your ‘farm’ area neighborhood to attract buyers for your flips
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Find other investors, Realtors, contractors and potential future members of your team who are also broadcasting on Twitter
Like other forms of social media, Periscope is a chance for you to get your name out there and connect with other people. Putting your Periscope profile on your website will also help draw people to your videos.
In order to maximize the effectiveness of Periscope, you want to make your videos professional and engaging for your audience. Here are some tips to impress your viewers in general:
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Like a good copywriter, think of a catchy title to draw people in
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Add comments yourself to welcome your viewers and followers
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Ask questions in your videos that your viewers would want to answer
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Ask for your viewers to give you hearts if they liked what they saw – more hearts means higher rankings
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Let people know you will follow them back if they follow you
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Watch your own videos after they are done to see what you could have done better for the next one
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Just like all other marketing, keep it going – make a schedule to crank out the videos and stick to it
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Don’t make videos just trying to sell – provide tips, tricks and techniques for others to become better investors, homeowners or contractors
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Don’t be too professional – pretend you are talking to a friend in the videos, after all – ‘Strangers are just friends we haven’t met yet.’
In order to run your real estate investing business effectively these days, you have to put yourself out there. People will respond. Deals will come. Periscope is a great way to help you promote yourself and your business, while helping others.
Use Social Media – View it, broadcast on it, follow people on it. It’s a great way to find leads, learn tricks and connect with people. And for the most part it’s free!
Give Away Value – Who would you rather buy from? Someone who just sells you stuff all the time, or someone who provides lots of help for free because they want to succeed. Be the second person.
Provide Pictures and Videos – If a picture is worth 1,000 words, how much is video worth? Any Realtor worth their salt will tell you pictures bring buyers in much more than text. Use this same philosophy when marketing your business – whether to renters, motivated sellers or potential buyers.
JP Moses
is a real estate investor in Memphis, TN, with experience ranging from land lording to note buying, rehabbing, and wholesaling. However, wholesaling is the area that he enjoys most and where he bring the most experience and expertise to his students.