How and Why to Live Stream an Open House Online

Live video gets our attention.

Whether we’re watching breaking news or our favorite team, seeing it live still piques our interests. Combine that with the fact that most home buyers search for homes online and you’ve got a reason to take live-streaming video marketing seriously.

Many real estate agents are comfortable with creating online, photo-based listing tours, but throwing live video into the mix may seem a little intimidating. But it is surprisingly simple, straightforward, and fun.

Give it a try!

Live streaming an open house gives you the opportunity to reach more people through social sharing. You can even practice some with Facebook Live and Periscope before broadcasting your video to your network.

“The average home buyer is 36…and more than half of buyers are millennials” – Zillow ‪at Inman Connect (San Francisco), 2016

Before we dive into the how-to’s of live streaming, let’s consider some benefits and potential challenges of live streaming an open house and look at a few examples.

Live streaming an Open House:

Periscope live walk-through examples

Here’s an example of a quick Periscope walk-through video shot during an open house:

Watch on #Periscope: 4588 Stonegate, Newburgh, IN Open House #openhouse #newburgh #realtor #realestateagent https://t.co/7rDFlLBg50

— Theresa Catanese (@theresacatanese) July 10, 2016

This is a quick Periscope video that was shot during an open house break:

Watch on #Periscope: ? First public open house! What do the buyers think? Is it worth the price? #LAHousingMarket… https://t.co/bjrsU7U55W

— Laura Twors (@LauraTsellsRE) July 17, 2016

Highlights: This agent has good energy, highlights some of the home’s features, and interacts with audience members with quick shout-outs.

Two kinds of live open house videos

So what kind of live video should you broadcast? You have several options, but you’ll probably want to start with the basics.

Option 1: The live open house

This is where you’ve planned a real-life-walking-around-eating-snacks-and-looking-at-features open house and you’re going to live-broadcast the event. This option allows you to interact with potential home buyers onsite and online. You’ll need to know the property well, and it would help for you to be able to throw in interesting anecdotes about the home as you broadcast. You can also take advantage of lulls in foot traffic to really focus on your online audience, and then when traffic picks up, use a tripod to continue your live feed as you welcome and talk with onsite guests.

Option 2: The walk-through

Create an inviting atmosphere in the home and take your online audience with you for a group tour of the home. Make sure to tell them the basics, make stops at all of the home’s essential spaces and places, and throw in some flair about the home as well. Talk to your audience members, call out their names as they join your tour, answer questions they have, and thank them for “liking” and “loving” your video.

Note: Having an audience that knows about the live open house in advance really makes a difference! Make sure to market your live open house or walk-through before you live stream it. Get the word out on social media, send a few email invites, create a Facebook Event, and write a new blog post promoting the live open house (and promote that on social media, too!).

Facebook Live or Periscope?

Both Facebook Live and Periscope can be used for live-streaming an open house. So you’ll need to consider who exactly you’re marketing to and what kind of engagement you’re looking for.

Here are some of the benefits of using each platform and some things they have in common:

Setting up: 10 tips on how to get a live open house up and running

  Getting started with a live open house is easy. Here’s a quick, step by step guide:  

1. Select a platform (Facebook Live or Periscope). If you’re already on Facebook, this is probably going to be the easiest since your existing network is already there. Note: you can always experiment and see which one you like more later.
2. Decide which device you want to use, and make sure you have the apps you’re going to use on that device.
3. Practice a little. Get familiar with how to use Facebook Live or Periscope before your first live open house. Shoot some live practice videos and get some friends to follow you, comment, share likes and hearts (on Periscope), and practice responding to them. You can practice with small audiences, download your videos, and you can easily delete these practice sessions.
4. Watch your recorded practice live streams. Make adjustments to your presentation and the way you interact with your audience, adjust your volume and posture, watch how other people do live open houses, and try again. You don’t have to be perfect, but you should work at being comfortable on camera, engaging, and knowledgeable about the property.
5. Plan your open house. Follow industry open house best practices. Think through the following questions: What features of the home do you really need to capture in the live broadcast? Do you need a tripod so you’re free to engage with on site guests? Do you need a friend or fellow agent to film you? How will you engage with your online audience? Don’t ignore them!
6. Spread the word about your open house and work at building an online audience prior to live streaming. Remember, people need to know you’re going to be live streaming in advance so they can plan on watching.
7. Host the open house and start your live stream! Interact with your on site visitors and engage with your online audience. Make sure your smartphone battery is charged (bring the charger and/or a backup battery as well) and start rolling.
8. Download your live stream to your camera roll or gallery on your phone.
9. Share your video after the live-stream (more on that below).
10. Hopefully you were able to snag some leads! Follow up with your online audience and your on-site guests.

Facebook Live: Getting started

  Here are some instructions on getting started with Facebook Live (straight from Facebook!):   Broadcasting on Facebook Live – A Quick How-To Guide

1. Tap “What’s on your mind” at the top of News Feed.
2. Select “Live Video” from the dropdown menu.
3. Add a description and choose your audience before hitting “Go Live.” You’ll see a three-second countdown before your broadcast begins!

Facebook Live Tips and Tricks

1. Tell fans when you’re broadcasting ahead of time.
2. Go live when you have a strong connection.
3. Write a catchy description before going live.
4. Ask viewers to subscribe to Live notifications.
5. Say hello to commenters by name; respond to their comments live.
6. Broadcast for longer periods of time to reach more people.
7. Use a closing line to signal the end of the broadcast.

Periscope: Getting started

  And here are Periscope’s instructions for setting up a broadcast:   Broadcasting on Periscope 1. Once you have created a Periscope account, open the Broadcast Tab on your iPhone app by tapping the Camera icon at the bottom of the screen. On Android, tap the red Camera icon at the bottom right of the screen. 2. Enter a title that describes what your viewers will see or experience in your broadcast. 3. Use the four icons above the ‘Start Broadcast’ button to manage your location settings, make your broadcast private, limit your chat, and Tweet your live stream. 4. Tap ‘Start Broadcast’. 5. To end a broadcast, swipe the screen down and tap ‘Stop Broadcast’.

Sharing

  One great benefit of using Facebook Live or Periscope is that both of these video tools are part of or connected to existing social media channels. So take advantage of this connectivity by using Facebook and Twitter to promote your live open house and work at building an audience. Use your live stream to increase your follower base and encourage viewers to invite friends and other potential buyers to watch. Finally, engage with viewers by responding to their comments, likes, shares, and retweets. And remember that even though your live stream may have ended, you can still publish a recording (or clip) of the live event to other social media channels like YouTube and Instagram.

Get ready to create your first live-stream!

 There you go! Now you know enough to be dangerous. Keep building a balanced marketing plan that includes online and offline marketing channels, and get ready to add the live open house to your digital marketing toolkit.     Resources 3 ideas to pump up your social presence using Facebook Live 11 starter tips for becoming a neighborhood expert Bring 7,000 People to Your Showing — on Facebook Live