In this episode, Bernice Ross, CEO of RealEstateCoach.com, explains the differences between three popular short-form video platforms: TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. She also discusses what they all have in common — that they educate and entertain — and why agents should keep this in mind as they incorporate these platforms into their marketing strategy. Remember, she says, the ultimate goal of this video content is awareness and personalization of the agent.
Links mentioned:
Otter
Lead Great Virtual Meetings
You can listen to this episode here, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Gayle Weiswasser:
Welcome to the Homesnap Snapshot, a podcast about digital marketing for real estate agents. Each episode, we talk to agents just like you, who are successfully using some type of digital marketing to build their brand. When it’s over, you’ll walk away with concrete ideas that you can use in your own marketing to help grow your business. Today’s guest on the Snapshot is Bernice Ross, who is CEO and coach at RealEstateCoach.com. Bernice, welcome back to the show.
Bernice Ross:
Thank you, Gayle. I’m delighted to be here and to be with all the wonderful people who use Homesnap. I think it’s one of the best tools in the industry.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Oh, thank you. You were on the show, I think it was almost 100 episodes ago, which is hard to believe.
Bernice Ross:
I thought you were going to say 100 years ago.
Gayle Weiswasser:
It feels like 100 years. 100 episodes ago.
Bernice Ross:
Absolutely.
Gayle Weiswasser:
It’s hard to believe I’ve recorded that many shows since we last had you, but I’m so happy to have you back. Your content is great and people love listening to you, so I’m thrilled to have you back. For those of you who are listening and don’t know who Bernice is, why don’t you give them a little bit of background on you and RealEstateCoach.com?
Bernice Ross:
Delighted to do that, Gayle. I’ve been in the business since I was in my 20s, and I was an active agent for 20 years. I ended up running the training for John Douglas company. We were the top producing company per agent in the United States, and that was in the 1990s. We’re selling a billion dollars a month of real estate in the 1990s. There’re very few people who do that today, but that’s where I cut my teeth and I started Real Estate Coach back in 1998. But what’s interesting, Gayle, is that people say they want coaching, but they come to us and they want training.
Bernice Ross:
Part of my database has come from writing for Inman News. I’ve been writing for them since 2001. I’m coming up on my 20th anniversary with them. I also co-authored the Woman Up research and I host a conference for executive women in real estate, called Awesome Females in Real Estate. So those are the big things on my plate. However, I have a wonderful new book that’s going to be out in April, called Lead Great Virtual Meetings. I haven’t led a meeting here on Uber before, so this is something that’s new for me. And thank you for introducing me to it. That’s background on me.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Wow. Virtual meetings. Talk about a relevant topic right now and how to make those meetings good because there’s a lot of ways to make them bad, and sure people can use some guidance on how to make them better. So that’s great. We’ll link to that, so if people want to find out more about that book and more about RealEstateCoach.com, just go to the show notes for this show and it’ll all be there. All right. Today we’re going to talk about something that was not in existence in the ’90s, when you were cutting your teeth, and that is short form video.
Gayle Weiswasser:
We talk about video a lot on the show today. We’re going to talk about some platforms that are definitely of the moment. My favorite waste of time, TikTok, which actually I don’t think is a waste of time at all. I actually think it’s an incredibly rich and valuable platform. I’m a big fan of TikTok. We’re going to talk about TikTok, we’re going to talk about Instagram Reels, and Bernice is going to take us through some of the short form video platforms so people can understand what they are and how they differ, and how to use them. Why don’t you give us the landscape. When we talk about short form video, what are we talking about?
Bernice Ross:
What we’re talking about are videos that are under 30 seconds, but the true short form videos are the ones that are 15 seconds or less. Instagram Reels will let you to more than 15 seconds, so will TikTok. What’s fascinating. YouTube shorts, it’s still being beta tested right now in India, but you can use YouTube shorts by simply doing a short form video and then posting the word, shorts, in the actual title. And from my perspective, I believe the biggest opportunity will be with YouTube shorts, primarily due to the fact that this particular platform is tied to Google and YouTube, which already … The other two platforms, TikTok and Instagram Reels, while they both have huge followings, they don’t have the Google search engine sitting there, promoting Google content on YouTube.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Yeah, YouTube is the largest search engine in the world, I think.
Bernice Ross:
Absolutely.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Okay. These are all platforms where you can go on and create content, and share and post it, and people digest it in these short bursts. What is the magic around the 15 second mark? Why is that a cutoff that you think is a meaningful one for content creators?
Bernice Ross:
Well, I think it’s something that TikTok set up initially, and it’s become the standard. But if you think, Gayle, about how people consume content today, Twitter, text messaging, it’s all short, little, easily digestible bits. That’s what TikTok is. And the things that work in short form video, especially well, music, making people laugh, educating. So it’s about sharing something that’s educational or something that amuses people, something that captures their attention. And the music you select plays a huge part, especially on TikTok. We don’t know where we are with Instagram Reels, but on TikTok, when you pair a short form video with music, one of their trending songs, you’re going to get way more page views because TikTok will bring up … People will search for songs so they will respond to certain songs. That music drives something that they like, and then the video becomes secondary.
Bernice Ross:
Part of the challenge with these platforms is if you’re using music, you cannot be using your audio, in terms of giving the message. You can’t say you want to make a statement about something. No, it has to be done in terms of what you’re doing visually. And part of the reason this is important, I forget the numbers, Gayle, but it’s something huge. I think it may be close to 80 or 90%, I believe, of the videos on YouTube. I think it’s closer to 90% are viewed without the sound.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Wow. It’s a great point you make about TikTok. And I think that, I don’t want that to get lost in the shuffle here, is that people actually search for the background music. Within TikTok, there is a little feature where you can see what’s playing in the background, and it’s usually a song, but sometimes it’s a meme or it may be a line of dialogue from a movie or a show, or it’s some current event. It could be a Kamala Harris soundbite. It’s something that then people use as a background and they do something creative with it. So people can actually just tap on the sound and see all the stuff that comes up.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Like you were saying, it makes the sound not secondary, but actually the primary driver of what gets people to see your content. So you have to be very thoughtful about what you’re picking. And then, like you said, you can’t have your mic and your sound on at the same time. So you’re looking at texts on the screen, you’re looking at what they’re doing, but you’re not competing between the created sound versus the sound that’s being used as background.
Bernice Ross:
Now let me give you an example, probably the best example I’ve ever seen in terms of how powerful the right kind of music can be. There’s a gentleman by the name of Aaron Grushow, and he’s out in Southern California.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Hey, he’s come on our show before.
Bernice Ross:
Oh, great guy. He is terrific. He’s had his teeth on TikTok, and his strategy has just been to go out and to do TikTok videos on luxury properties that are on the market on Beverly Hills and Bel Air. He did one video of a shark aquarium that was in someone’s house. They actually had the sharks swimming in this little pond that they had at the house, but he paired it to the music from Jaws. And those of you who are younger may not know the shark movie from, I think, what was that? ’70s or ’80s, or whenever it was.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Yeah, ’70s.
Bernice Ross:
But it garnered 4.2 million views. He then paired it with one of the top TikTok trending songs, and that jumped that particular video up to 48 and a half million views with 6.9 million likes. This is the power, on TikTok in particular, of pairing great content or interesting, or fun content with the right song.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Absolutely. Yeah, he’s great. I think he was our first TikTok guest that we had on. It’s been maybe a year since he came on, but he’s very creative with that. And I just saw that shark video recently. It was really good.
Bernice Ross:
Well, a lot of people share our opinion on that one.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Yes, for sure. All right. That’s TikTok. Explain to us the difference between TikTok and Instagram Reels. Why would an agent choose one versus the other?
Bernice Ross:
Well, the answer’s fairly simple. If you go to TikTok, you’re going to have to build your listenership, your viewership from scratch. You can import your contacts, I guess. I started on TikTok and decided I didn’t have time. It was becoming an energy sack. But for most agents, the choice I think comes down to Instagram Reels or YouTube. And almost everyone I’ve talked to about this, who does a lot of videos, says, “Choose one and run with that.” Now Gayle, what’s your take on that? Because I’m always curious about what other people’s opinion is, and you’ve interviewed a lot of people. So you’ve got a lot of feedback, I suspect.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Well, I mean, listen, there’s only so much time in the day, and if you’re trying to be an active, successful agent at the same time that you’re creating all this content, your life is a zero sum game. And then the time that you’re spending doing this is time you’re not spending doing other stuff. So you have to weigh the benefit of it. My feeling is, if it’s possible to repurpose content in a way that feels authentic, and where you have a good match between the platform you’re on and the content you’re creating, then I think it’s great to create content and share it elsewhere.
Gayle Weiswasser:
For example, if you create a really good TikTok video, you can then go and share that on Facebook or you can share that in another place. But I think as far as trying to create original content for two different short form video platforms, it’s probably not the best use of time. I would say double down on one of them, build an audience there, focus on that, see where it’s possible to syndicate or repurpose that content. But don’t try to create original content in multiple places that ultimately may be reaching a very similar demographic.
Bernice Ross:
Well, I couldn’t agree with you more. First of all, I’m a huge fan of repurposing content. Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose, post across multiple platforms. I think TikTok, I agree with you. Again, you have to start from scratch. If you are already really active on Instagram and you have a following there in your market area, then that’s really a good platform to take a look at using. However, I like YouTube better, just for the whole Google search, but also for the size of the audience. And with YouTube, it’s super easy to syndicate to Twitter and to other things, to other outlets from there. You just click a button, click, click, click, click, click. So you get your video posted across all those other platforms very easily. But Google is also … What they’ve said they want to do with shorts is, they really want to promote this so they’re giving shorts the same treatment as if they were long form videos, because they want drive a wedge into TikTok and to Instagram Reels.
Bernice Ross:
For those of you who are not familiar with the difference between Instagram stories and Instagram Reels, Instagram stories disappear in 24 hours, is one of the reasons I never wanted to get involved in that, other than personal things. But for me, Instagram stories is … They’re talking about it. I believe the phrase that they’re using, Gayle, correct me if this is wrong, something about just documenting your day because that’s a phrase that you’ve heard before. It’s like sharing what you’re doing over the course of the day or what’s in your life. So for me, YouTube is a better choice because of the power of regular YouTube videos, because the size of the audience, and because Google has decided they’re going to promote these short form videos very aggressively, especially as they bring the new version of shorts out of beta and make it available here in the States.
Gayle Weiswasser:
I think it’s hard to take TikTok content, and then post that elsewhere. I mean, you can export it easily. You can share elsewhere, and that’s no problem. You just need a link, but TikTok content looks so branded to TikTok in the way it’s laid out and the way … You get used to seeing it a certain way. And I think it would stand out strangely, if you then were to syndicate that onto one of the other short form platforms, if you can even do that.
Bernice Ross:
Well, for me, I’d rather start with YouTube and syndicate to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, rather than trying to do it from … Again, Facebook doesn’t play nice with other competitors.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Right, right. Of course. Right. Okay. Let’s talk about audiences because I’m sure a lot of people listening to this might think, I don’t listen to this content. I don’t know anyone else who listens to this content. What’s the point? Why is this worth my time? Give us the rundown on who’s actually using them. And does it skew as young as people think, or are there legitimate audiences of actual home buyers and people who have the budgets to be homeowners, and might have the lifestyle where they’re either getting a second home or they’re moving? Is this a fertile ground for the types of leads that people want?
Bernice Ross:
Well, first of all, TikTok has an international audience so it may not be as localized as you want. The last time I checked the numbers on TikTok, 20% of their users were between 25 and 44, which is the sweet spot for millennials and later born gen Xs. Those people are buying houses. Have you had a chance to interview Alisa Glutz?
Gayle Weiswasser:
No, I have not.
Bernice Ross:
I highly recommend that you have her on, to talk about … She’s my expert that I go to on TikTok, and I did an article about her just recently. Alisa is in the mortgage side, and she started using TikTok because her eight and 10 year old daughters were on there. They were just doing these crazy dances. What she decided to start doing is to make short form videos that answered people’s questions about mortgage. For example, she has been able to answer, how can you increase your credit score? Using two or three little TikTok videos. One of the things she does that is fascinating, she has these little bubbles that come up on TikTok, that have the content. She’s dancing to some crazy movie music, and then she’ll have music that will say, “Yes, no.” Do I need two credit cards? And she’s going, “Np, no, no, no, no.” She’s pointing to the no, no, no, in a little bubble, but the song is saying that. So she has some fun with that.
Bernice Ross:
She talked about, and she gave me the best example of something she did. She decided that she was going to run a contest to give away a free evaluation of someone’s credit. She was going to have a drawing for five of these. And what happened, this 10 year old little girl had heard her parents talking about, they want to buy a house. And this little girl didn’t understand what Alisa was doing, but she liked watching her. So she entered her parent’s name in the drawing and they won. What happened was that Alisa was able to help them raise their credit score by 100 points in 45 days. And this little girl was going around saying, “We’re getting a house, we’re getting a house, we’re getting a house.”
Bernice Ross:
The takeaway here, Gayle, is that, as Alisa says, TikTok, all these short forms, but TikTok in particular, it’s about the moms, because she constantly has people who contact her about mortgage, or credit scores and improving them. And they say, “My daughter or my son told me, ‘I don’t understand this, mom, but I think you need to hear it.” That’s where the real opportunity is. You may have an eight or 10 or 12 year old who’s on TikTok, and they want to move into a house. They see your video and they tell their mom or their dad about it.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Got it. So you’re entering into people’s consciousness through their kids, who are on these platforms all the time. And then they’re sharing that with their parents.
Bernice Ross:
Now Alisa outlined some things that she thinks are really important. She says almost all of her videos are designed to entertain and educate. That’s what is going to work. It’s that combination. I don’t care what type of short form video you’re doing, what the platform is, you want to entertain and educate. She talks about what it takes to be a first time buyer and an FHA buyer. I mentioned the little text bubbles to share content, how she was putting the no, no, no, up in the text box. And also, I have an example that I use in the article where she says she’s got two text boxes. One of them says, “Having one open credit card and spending $20 once a month, and then paying it to zero will never cause you to go into death and it works like a charm to increase your credit score.”
Bernice Ross:
Super simple message that someone can read in eight to 10 seconds. And that content, it’s that bite size content that is ideal for these platforms. You need to think, what would you be posting in a text message to a client or possibly a tweet, if you use Twitter? That’s the kind of content [inaudible 00:18:22], you tie it to the right visuals, into the background songs. If you’re on TikTok or Instagram Reels, tie it to the right background music or to, I should say, the trending music. And that’s the formula for doing really well, using that.
Gayle Weiswasser:
What is the goal of this? Are people looking for branding, awareness, leads, clients, selling homes? What do you say to someone who’s going into TikTok? What should they be trying to tick off their list by doing it?
Bernice Ross:
Well, if you go back, it’s about the moms. A lot of times they come in because their kids are using the platform. That drives it over at TikTok. We’re going to see with Instagram Reels, there’s a natural migration from Instagram Stories to Instagram Reels because Reels is permanent where Instagram Stories generally disappears in 24 hours, unless, of course, you record the video yourself and then post it. So your goal here, again, educate and entertain, and pair it with trending music. I’ve seen a number of brokers who have, again, they started doing dances with their kids. I can’t remember the dance that was all … The renegade, I guess it was. This was all [inaudible 00:19:35]. Is that still popular over there? They do these different trends. I forget. Who’s the young woman who’s got the biggest following over there? [crosstalk 00:19:43].
Bernice Ross:
Watch what she’s doing in terms of dances and what she’s pairing too, and you can pair your videos to that. Again, for me, I’m older. YouTube short is a much better combination for me. I can do some slides. I can do a voiceover. I can go onto Zoom. I can record it on Zoom, take it back. I record it directly on my computer, post it to YouTube. That, to me, rather than having to do it from my phone, because I’m working more from my computer, my laptop, than many agents are. And again, if you’re on your phone all the time, these short form videos are meant to be done on your mobile device. They are set up as apps, they’re easy to use, 15 seconds.
Bernice Ross:
One of the things you want to do when you are posting these, you want to be sure that you use hashtags, which will help the search engine locate the right people for you. So you might use, moving to, I live in Austin, moving to Austin, or become a first time buyer. You can tag these how … The shark video, no sharks, luxury property. Look at how successful videos are being tagged, what hashtags they’re using, and you can learn from that. Look at what’s working and then copy what’s working.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Yep, that’s very helpful from a nuts and bolts perspective, but what is the marketing goal that’s being met by doing all this?
Bernice Ross:
Well, again, given the audience, especially on TikTok, it’s awareness. And it will attract clients, but in my mind, it’s not as effective as some other types of marketing are. For me, my goal, ultimately, what you want to do with any of your marketing, I don’t care if it’s a postcard, a short form video, Facebook reels, I don’t care what the platform is, your goal is to get face to face with that person who’s thinking about buying or selling a house, because what the National Association of Realtors Research says in their latest profile of home buyers and sellers, 75% of the sellers hire the first agent they spoke to face to face, when they are ready to list their house. The average seller knows 12 different real estate agents. Your goal, with any of your marketing, is to make that shift from being online or on a postcard to getting an appointment where you’re face to face. You want to take it from online to offline.
Gayle Weiswasser:
I think that this is one place where TikTok and other short form video could be so effective, is that it does very much personalize you and let people know what you’re like so that by the time they have set up an appointment with you, you are not an unknown. They’ve become familiar with you, they know what kind of personality you have, they may know what you’d be like to work with. That makes it even more likely that if you’ve made it to that face to face meeting with them, it will lead to an actual engagement and an actual client agent relationship. I think that this really speaks to the power of video, it’s something we talk about on the show a lot, and how it has that ability to create that personal connection. And that just makes that relationship stronger and accelerates that whole client process.
Bernice Ross:
Gayle, you just summarized it so nicely. The goal is to create a personal connection with the person who is viewing it. My partner, Greg McDaniel, he lives on video, and people walk up to him. they think they know him, but they’ve seen his videos. That’s what you’re looking for. People get to know you, they recognize you in the market or when you’re shopping somewhere, when you’re at a little late game. Whatever it is, it’s having that recognition. I’m going to go back to an old fashioned marketing technique here. Don’t be a secret agent. Wear something that says that you’re in real estate, whether it’s a polo shirt that’s got your company name on, your name badge if you’re going to … You’d say, “Oh, I just came from work. I’m going to take my badge off”, but people will ask you about how the market is. And it’s one thing to generate a lead, but how do you convert it?
Bernice Ross:
The thing that works best, there’s a wonderful book by Bob Burg, called The Go-Giver. And the notion here is that you give first, before you receive. Very simply one of the best tools that I have found in my career, to convert people. When someone asks you, “Well, Gale, how’s the market?” A lot of agents will say, “Well, gee, it’s great,” or whatever. But the way you want to come back with … You want to ask, “Well, what price range were you looking in?” And then the next question is, would you like me to send you an equity checkup, which will give you the value of your home, plus a whole variety of other information?
Bernice Ross:
Well, they’re going to say yes, but what you’ve done now then, you’ve [00:24:59] reason. This is a conversion technique that can work from, if you want to post it in one of your short form videos, and the notes or in the comments. Would you like an equity checkup? Click here. What that does is that gets you either an email or it gets you a text, a phone number where you can text them or send them the PDF of the information. And the things I like to include are not only a CMA. There’s a site called homedisclosure.com, which has a whole variety of really detailed information about their property. And of course, we like narrpr.com for their beautiful reports.
Bernice Ross:
When you put that together and give that to someone, that says that you are a professional, and what will happen is … A woman who introduced me to this 20 years ago, said she gets requests all the time, from people saying, “Oh, my sister-in-law lives out a couple of miles from here. Could you do an equity checkup for her?” So it’s a way, again, to take your short form videos and bring them by doing a give to get offer. Contact me for … Or click here to learn about the five ways that you can save money on your next mortgage. Click here to find out about getting down payment assistance. Again, the idea here is to take the conversation from online to offline.
Gayle Weiswasser:
All right. Let’s talk about the pandemic. You have been presumably coaching agents throughout the last 12 months or so. And just to date stamp this episode, we’re now on March 19th. So we are a year, plus almost a week since things basically shut down. How do you think that marketing has changed in the last year? And which of those changes do you think we’re going to see persisting once things get back to some semblance of normal?
Bernice Ross:
Well, Gayle, as I said in the beginning, I’m not coaching. I’m not doing one-on-one coaching. Haven’t done it for many years because people come to us for training. So all my efforts have been on training agents. Coaching’s more about helping you overcome the things in your brain that are keeping you from moving forward. It’s more about mindset. I want to tell people how to do stuff. That’s training.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Right.
Bernice Ross:
But what has shifted, probably the most profound shift has been the speeding up of the digitization of the industry, across the board. We had to deal with doing digital open houses. We couldn’t show them. We had to do walkthroughs that were … Again, we had to go onto video, and we had to do our meetings on Zoom and other platforms. It’s hastened the use of things like DocuSign and other platforms that let you digitize the transaction. The big trend right now, especially in mortgage and title, is moving more and more towards automation. What can be done by an algorithm rather than a human being? I know that people on the technology side like to talk about the fact that, oh, well, people don’t have to have agents. Well, as one of my friends says, you can’t call an algorithm at 02:00 in the morning when the pipe breaks in your listing.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Right.
Bernice Ross:
The role of the agent in terms of the problem solving, people don’t realize. And the one thing that hasn’t changed is all those steps that you’re required to follow, to close a transaction. What has changed is that you’re going to be doing more, and I think this trend is going to be with us. Why should I drive across town to go get something notarized, that they can send a mobile … I just closed my brother’s house in California about two weeks ago, and we did almost everything, with the exception of the grantee and a one trust document, all through DocuSign. And I remember for many years where I would drive all over town with offers, negotiating back and forth, driving back and forth to do presentations, doing inspections. That’s changed. The great news is, so much has become automated. But on the other hand, this is an opportunity for you to build that connection.
Bernice Ross:
So what happens is, and I’m a big advocate of doing face to face offer presentations. What I believe is going to happen, we’re going to see more and more offers coming on because of the pandemic. But going back to that as a way to differentiate yourself, using zoom, to present your offers because the listing agent is not the best representative for my buyer. I think that’s a trend to watch coming. Again, the digitization, there’s a tremendous amount of money, VC money that is seeking to have … I know we’ve got, [Cilla 00:29:48] moving in, becoming an agent there. And the competition, Gayle, primarily, is when can we capture that client? They want to get as early as possible in the process.
Bernice Ross:
So if you look at some of the other platforms, what they are doing is that they’re saying … Well, they’ll offer you a mortgage. And then they get that mortgage business, and they can direct the title business on this. And if you look at the iBuyers, they’re offering you, gee, we will let you … And I love these tools because they solve the contingent sale problem. I think you may have seen some of the TV commercials. They’ll say, “Well, we can make you into an all cash buyer.” They qualify you for the mortgage, you get mortgage title business, and they allow you to buy a new home. And then you live in your new house, they fix up your old one, sell it. So there’s a lot of that going on, and I think you’re going to see an increase in this because … And again, it’s part of the landscape.
Bernice Ross:
Anybody who’s in an area where you sell new homes, this is huge. You’ve got a whole bunch of the big national builders that are using these iBuyer programs, where you can live in your house, or they’re building your new house, you live in the new house, sell it. And then you’re good to go and you don’t have to rent. You don’t have to do a bridge showing, you don’t have to do any of the crazy things that we’ve had to do in the past.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Right.
Bernice Ross:
Those are things I see as pretty big changes, but I think they’ve been hastened by COVID.
Gayle Weiswasser:
For sure. Do you think that agents will return to conferences again anytime soon?
Bernice Ross:
I have some really good data on that. My friend, Darlene Lyons, has been booking my speaking engagements for many years, and she runs a huge events company. She does many of the major conferences in the real estate business. And apparently, the RE/MAX conference last spring, in June, had more attendance than any of their previous conferences. People are dying to get back to face-to-face. They want conferences and they want to be with their peers. Zoom, Uber conference, whatever you’re using, Microsoft Teams, Skype, great for connecting. It’s not the same thing as saying hello to a dear friend, and sitting down, and having lunch with them, talking and getting that face to face connection. We’re hungry for that.
Gayle Weiswasser:
I totally agree. I think there’s going to be such a huge pent up demand, come the fall when people have had their vaccinations. And I think it’s going to be a very busy conference season. All right. Well, Bernice, we are reaching the end of the show, and this has been a wealth of information about short form video. Lots of great perspective and ideas, and thoughts on differentiate them and how to use them.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Before I let you go, though, I need to ask you the question I ask everyone who comes on the show. I forgot to look up and see what you answered to this question last time, but tell me about some apps that you’re using, because I’m assuming that they’d be different than the ones you were using 100 episodes ago. Some apps that you’re using that keep you entertained, that keep you relaxed, keep you organized. Something that you think maybe our audience hasn’t heard of before.
Bernice Ross:
Well, first of all, the apps that, unless I’m traveling or speaking, I’m sitting at a laptop so I’m not using that many apps. But I am going to tell you about what I like in particular, that has … I really love this app because it lets me repurpose content. As I said earlier, repurpose, repurpose. It’s called otter.ai. O-T-T-E-R.ai. What you can do with this, say that I make a short form video or longer video, or I’m in a meeting that I’m at a conference, I can turn … I’ve done this at Inman Connect. I had Otter on my iPhone. I just turned it on and it recorded the session, and it transcribes it. It will do 10 hours a month for you, free. I use the professional version because I use this a lot, but if you’ve done a really good video and you don’t write very well, you can just pop that over to Otter. It’ll give you the written text, and you can do a blog post from that.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Wow. That sounds like a good use of time.
Bernice Ross:
Yes. I do want to say, if you use it for a conference, take notes because number one, it about 97, 98% accurate. It still thinks I work at a RealEstateCoach.C-A-L-M, calm, and it gets my name wrong a lot of times. I probably shouldn’t use this example, but I had a guest on my show, from Rate My Agent, and it translated it into rape instead of rate.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Oh, boy.
Bernice Ross:
Okay, well …
Gayle Weiswasser:
It’s good, but there’re still problems with it. What happens is, if you’re attending conference, take your own notes because the otter.ai is a great backup. By the way, where I learned about this was at Inman, because a number of their reporters use this tool to capture conversations and when they do interviews, and to write articles, because it’s a quick way to turn content around. And it’s a great way to get posts if you’re listening to a great podcast. Again, you can record it on Otter with your phone. And again, you have to always acknowledge when you use someone else’s content. You want to link to their podcast. You always must link to the original source. Big takeaway on that.
Gayle Weiswasser:
All right. Well, that’s a great suggestion. Thank you. I’ll be sure to link to that. Bernice, tell the world where they can find you. I do appreciate your explanation of the difference between coaching and training, but tell everyone where they can find you if they want to learn more or get in touch for more content.
Bernice Ross:
Visit my website at RealEstateCoach.com, subscribe to our free newsletter. It has my Inman articles each week, before they run on Inman. That runs on Monday rather than Wednesdays, when my Inman columns run. Also, we have the best new agent sales training in the business, Gayle. It’s been adapted by the California, Texas, and Alabama Associations of Realtors, and been white labeled by them and by a couple of other companies. We just updated that in 2020. What it is, is 24/7 self-paced. There’s 21 units in the current new agent [inaudible 00:35:56]. I started training new agents back in 1989, and I have best practices from John Douglas, where we are listing content, and my listing presentation content conversed at 92, 93%.
Bernice Ross:
We also have an experienced version that I did with Greg McDaniel in 2020. Our listings sell real estate like crazy so if you want to take more listings, that’s in your experienced agent, that’s something to check. But both of those tools are available on my website. And my new book is out in April, Lead Great Virtual Meetings. You can access it through leadgreatvirtualmeetings.com, but that website’s not up yet because we’re still working on it.
Gayle Weiswasser:
All right. Well, thank you. I’ll be sure to link to what’s available to link to, from that list. Bernice, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to come back on the show.
Bernice Ross:
Thank you, Gayle, for being here. And I want to wish everybody a happy spring selling season.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Exactly, although I guess some would argue that that spring selling season started a year ago and it hasn’t really let up. But yes, thank you for that. All right. Well, have a great weekend.
Bernice Ross:
Thanks very much.
Gayle Weiswasser:
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Snapshot. Please leave us a review on iTunes, it really helps us get new listeners. This podcast is part of Industry Syndicate, a curated media network continuing the highest rated real estate and mortgage podcasts. Find other excellent real estate content at industrysyndicate.com, home of real estate’s first media network.