Technology is a big topic in most industries right now, and it’s a trending conversation in real estate. It is changing how we do business and helping us add tremendous value to our clients’ experience.
This video is going to be on four applications we use to elevate our business. It’s likely you’ve heard a lot about ChatGPT, so I’ll put it out there now, ChatGPT is not on this list, although it’s certainly a valuable tool when used effectively. There’s a lot of really good videos out there about ChatGPT if you’re interested in learning more about it.
Without further ado, the apps I’m going to be talking about are: Asana, Epidemic Sound, Canva, and Descript!
Asana
First up is the project management software we use, Asana.
Asana has a special place in my heart, I use it personally and professionally. It has been instrumental in systemizing our work flows, keeping us organized, and supporting our communication. You can assign tasks and set deadlines in whichever visual formats work best for you and your team.
My favourite feature in Asana is the ability to create templates. We have four main checklist templates that we use:
– Listing a strata property
– Listing a single family detached home (non-strata)
– Buying a strata property
– Buying a single family detached home (non-strata)
Everytime we sign a listing or receive an accepted offer for a client purchasing, we use these templates to create a new project checklist for that contract and track each step going through the process.
While this sounds obvious enough, having these templates housed in a project management software is a game-changer for systemizing your business and ensuring effective communication to uphold a high quality of service for every client.
We also use Asana to plan our educational and inspirational content for our social media, website, and monthly newsletter. Having content mapped out this way ensures we are providing relevant resources for all our clients, whether they’re buying, selling, or maintaining their current home ownership.
Epidemic Sound
Next up is Epidemic Sound, our go-to for royalty-free music and sound effects that we can use in video content across our channels.
While we invest in expert property videography for our listings, we also do a large portion of video editing in house – for our YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
Epidemic Sound has a large selection of music and sound effects to level up your videos, adding an emotional dimension to make your content more engaging and properties more memorable for viewers.
It is worth noting that TikTok only allows music usage up to 60 seconds, anything past 60 seconds will get a copyright claim and be muted. This won’t be an issue on YouTube or Instagram, as long as you’re using music from your Epidemic Sound subscription. But, keep your TikTok videos to 60 seconds or less.
Canva
The third application, Canva, is one I’ve talked about in previous videos, and is generally well-known as an extremely versatile and user-friendly graphic design application.
Even if you have experience using design applications such as InDesign and Illustrator, my favourite thing about Canva is that it is more accessible for people with varying levels of design knowledge, or for people who don’t have Adobe applications, so it’s great for sharing templates with your own team or colleagues.
I make all our social media posts, postcards, and brochures in Canva for this reason. And I can easily share something like our brochures templates with other agents in our brokerage to support them in their business.
Maintaining a consistent and professional brand image is not only beneficial from a visual recognition standpoint, it also saves you time and energy so you can focus on delivering the best possible service to your clients.
Descript
Last but not least, Descript!
Video content has taken social media by storm. Adding your own closed captioning helps 1) make your video more engaging and 2) ensure the information you’re providing is clearly delivered.
In addition to captioning your videos, Descript has tools to seamlessly edit out filler words and sounds, you can do this quickly while you’re correcting any spelling or punctuation changes you’d like to make in the captioning.
The ability to have closed captions in your brands fonts and colours builds on maintaining a consistent and professional brand image.
These are the applications we use to elevate our business by staying on track, and top of mind.
We love providing value for our new and existing clients no matter what stage they’re at, and to us this means being a trusted source for up-to-date information on Victoria’s real estate market and celebrating the local businesses, people, and events that make Southern Vancouver Island such a special place to live.
Integrating Tech into Your Real Estate Business
Thinking about the interconnectedness of these applications with other tech, we create video content for our social media channels and YouTube, most videos on our YouTube are also adapted as blog posts on our website, and our website uses Zapier to integrate with kvCORE, which is the client relations management software that we use.
We also have a Calendly account that offers online booking through our website for prospective new clients who prefer to schedule an exact time for follow up with us.
These applications help us deliver exceptional real estate service and informative and relevant resources without compromise.
We’re Here to Help
I hope you found value in this video.
In conclusion, embracing technology can assist you in providing exceptional service to your clients and help you stand out in a competitive market place.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Thank you for watching, and here’s to your continued success!
Thank you for being here,
Alex Hughes* and Ricki-Lee Jewell, Victoria, BC Real Estate Agents
*Personal Real Estate Corporation
