The homebuilding industry is highly competitive, so you need to make sure you are staying ahead of the game when it comes to your photography and videography. Effectively showcasing your craftsmanship, design, and unique features sets you apart from the rest. High-quality photography and videography can make all the difference in helping you attract potential buyers. Social media is sometimes the first place a buyer sees your product/brand and the shots you capture can significantly impact their perception of them. In this guide, we’ll explore the must-have shots for both photography and videography for social, ensuring that your content stands out and resonates with your target audience.
Frame by Frame Fun: Dive into the Reel Excitement of Video
Kitchen Showcase: Impress buyers with a short video highlighting this heart-of-the-home which is a key selling point. Dive into a vibrant, fast-paced tour showcasing the kitchen’s dynamic elements—focus on countertops, cabinets, appliances, lighting, and more.
Newly Completed or Under-Construction Home: Showcase a home newly built or one in progress to create excitement and demonstrate your commitment to quality craftsmanship. This can also be done as a time-lapse of the transformation from an under-construction home’s structure to a completed masterpiece. Take the buyers on a journey revealing the magic behind the walls.
Quick New Home Walk-Through: Create a rapid-fire, high-energy tour that takes buyers on a brief tour of a featured home. Highlight key rooms and features, to captivate interest with quick glimpses of these spaces.
Favorite Feature Highlight: Personalize your brand by showcasing your favorite feature in one of your homes. This helps you build a connection with potential buyers. You can even let your team shine as they share some of their personal favorite features.
Outdoor Spaces: Capture the stunning outdoor spaces, including the breathtaking views from the home. Showcase all of the benefits of outdoor living and any additional added features.
Community Amenities: Compile short clips of different community amenities to showcase the overall lifestyle. Create a video that sparks excitement about the lifestyle your developments offer.
Behind the Brand: What does your team do every day? Offer a glimpse into your team’s daily activities to start building trust with your audience.
Behind the Scenes: Provide a closer look at the construction process and what’s behind the walls. Take viewers on a behind-the-scenes journey, exploring the daily life and challenges of your team as they bring dream homes to life. What does framing look like up close and personal? How is a concrete foundation poured?
Explainer Videos: How does your buying, building, or warranty process work? Create short videos explaining your buying, building, or warranty processes. These informative pieces help promote your transparency about the homebuilding journey to potential buyers. Use a visually engaging, step-by-step explainer video. You can also do this for a frequently asked questions video.
Community Overview: Take breathtaking drone shots that capture the essence of your community from the sky, revealing unseen angles and perspectives to sell the community lifestyle to potential buyers.
Model Home Tours: Engage your audience with virtual tour videos of your model homes. Guide viewers through the ins and outs of the model home and showcase its standout features. This allows viewers to explore different floor plans and designs you offer.
Buyer Education: Simplify complex topics, such as construction loans, through short, informative videos. How does a construction loan work? Create a brief, digestible video that helps potential buyers navigate the financial aspects of their home-buying journey. Educated buyers are confident buyers.
Home Design: Unveil the latest home design trends in bite-sized, visually appealing shots, so you can keep your audience up to date on the new trends and styles.
Special Features: Showcase the latest design elements by highlighting special features like dens, butler’s pantries, wine cellars, game rooms, or media rooms that set your homes apart.
Captured Chronicles: Capturing The Artistry of Home Photography
Exteriors: Capture the exterior of the home from various angles. Showcase both the front and rear elevations and highlight any architectural details and landscaping.
Kitchen Details: Showcase the kitchen, featuring any detail shots like the backsplash and countertops. These shots provide a closer look at the craftsmanship of the home. Capture the intricate details in a series of close-ups, as well as photos of the whole kitchen.
Living Space: Photograph the living space to show its expansive beauty. Showcase how it connects to other parts of the home, creating a seamless flow.
Owner’s Bedroom: Highlight the owner’s bedroom with any distinctive features, such as tray ceilings, sitting areas, and more that turn it into a haven.
Owner’s Bathroom: Capture different angles of the owner’s bathroom, including details of the luxury shower, soaking bath, and vanity. Show why it’s a great place to relax and unwind after a long day.
Outdoor Living Space: Transport viewers to the great outdoors with stunning shots of inviting outdoor living spaces. Showcase outdoor areas, such as patios, decks, or gardens to create a sense of tranquility and relaxation.
Dining Areas: Highlight size, layout, and potential for hosting memorable gatherings with shots that capture its charm. Showcasing these areas helps buyers envision their future gatherings and how they will use the space.
Guest Bedroom/In-Law Suite: Provide a glimpse into the guest bedroom or in-law suite showcasing the comfort and hospitality your homes offer. Highlight features that make these spaces warm, welcoming, and functional.
Secondary Bathrooms: Explore secondary bathrooms from different angles, emphasizing modern design, functionality, and cleanliness.
Standout Features: Dedicate specific shots to some of the standout features in the home, showcasing the unique aspects that set your home apart. Create visual showcases for the Den, Butler’s Pantry, Wine Cellar, Game Room, Media Room, etc., giving each one its moment in the spotlight.
Community Features: Showcase the lifestyle of the community by photographing any amenities, clubhouses, golf courses, etc. Enhance the appeal of community living to help sell it to potential buyers.
Under Construction/Progress Photos: Take photos throughout the construction process to build anticipation and showcase your team’s dedication to quality craftsmanship. This helps to build trust and show behind-the-scenes of what goes into building a home.
Detail Shots of Standout Designs: Take some close detail shots of standout design elements such as tiles and countertops. They are great for design inspiration and engaging your audience with “this or that” posts.
Virtually Staged Empty Rooms: Use virtual staging to help showcase the potential of an empty room in a home so buyers can visualize it. This is also great for additional photography for your website.
Quality Matters: When taking photos, avoid blurry or low-quality shots. To make sure you’re staying competitive in the industry, you want to make sure you’re using clear, high-resolution images to enhance your brand’s professionalism and appeal. This helps to leave a lasting impression on potential buyers.
Avoid Distractions: Your goal is to present a high-quality and attractive representation of your homes. When taking photos, don’t include construction materials, dirt, exposed wiring, or any distractions. Steer clear of anything that may divert attention from the true beauty of the homes.
Short vs. Long-Form Video: What’s the Best One for You?
To maximize your impact on social media, it’s essential to diversify your content. There has been a long-standing debate between short and long-form video content. In the age of social media dominance, both formats have their benefits, and the key to success lies in striking the right balance. It used to be that the ideal videos on social were under 15 seconds, but now platforms are starting to allow long-form videos and push both of them. A good idea is to mix short-form videos, stunning images, and longer, more informative videos. This strategy helps you capture the attention of various audiences with different preferences for consuming content.
Short-form video content is still performing the best and needs to grab people’s attention in the first 2 seconds. So continuing to keep short-form videos to under 15 seconds is a good rule of thumb. These are ideal for platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. They are attention-grabbing and are easy to share quickly. Short-form video is the perfect option for teaser content about a new community or model as well as any fun events and things going on behind the scenes. Creating reels for move-in ready homes and model home walk-throughs are a great option for short-form videos.
Long-form videos are anything over 60 seconds and are great for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. This content allows for a deeper dive into storytelling and makes it easier to showcase the entire process of homebuilding. These are great for about us, meet the team, and community videos. They are a great way to educate and engage viewers on a more substantial level.
Video is the dominant form of content across the board, so you want to make sure you have plenty of it to mix into your monthly content calendar. In the ever-changing world of social media, making sure you have a good mix of content will keep your brand competitive and help it stand out. As we’ve noted, there are benefits to having long-form and short-form video content on your social pages that can appeal to the right audiences.
Setting Yourself Up For Success
In the competitive world of homebuilding, how you present your homes can make all the difference. Whether through captivating photography or immersive videography, mastering these visual mediums is key to showcasing the artistry and craftsmanship that define your brand. You’ll not only capture the attention of potential buyers but also establish a strong and appealing brand identity in the competitive homebuilding market.
In the ever-evolving landscape of social media, the judicious use of short and long-form videos ensures that your content resonates with a wide and diverse audience. The key to success is to create content that resonates, educates, and inspires your audience. So pick up your camera, find the perfect angle, and let the world see the brilliance of your homebuilding endeavors.
