When it comes to creating content, being comfortable talking to the camera is one of the biggest things that real estate agents struggle with.
So, I’m sharing four tips to help you overcome your fear of talking to the camera in order to produce better content. Because the last thing you have time for is rerecording a Reel when you have a full day of appointments, showings and lead generation.
#1—Your Worst Critic is You
To start, I have some great news for everybody, and that is… nobody cares about you.
It’s the most freeing thing in the world to know that you are your own harshest critic.
Not convinced? Think of your own content consumption. Have you ever spent hours awake thinking, “Oh man, that Reel I saw today… that guy was wearing that red shirt, and it just stuck with me”?
No. If the content is authentic, and the message is clear and concise, that’s what will stick with you and provide value. Everything else is just set dressing. So it’s important to leave that at the door before you get on camera and say, “I’m just going to do it.”
#2—Find Your Voice
The next tip is to recognize that It takes a lot to get from, “Here’s what’s happening in your market” and finding your voice. But you need to find who you are. Find what makes you relatable to your client and your brand.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “Your vibe attracts your tribe” before. Use that to your advantage. You know the content you consume, and you who you want to consume your content. So speak to them. Speak to people with interest. Speak to the content that, if you were scrolling, you’d say, “Oh yeah, that’s a cool clip!” and it’ll always pan out better.
#3—Don’t Start Over
Nobody watching you knows the script. So a lot of the time, people who are new to creating content and clips for Instagram will mess up one word, and it completely destroys their flow.
It’s tempting to start over, but don’t. Keep it rolling. Your natural voice won’t always be an exact match for the script. If you leave a word out, that’s probably not how you would say it in conversation. Nobody’s going to know if it was an “a” or an “an” other than you. So however you present the material naturally, once you find that flow, don’t beat yourself up if it’s a little different from what you had written down in the script ahead of time.
#4—Talk to a Friend
The biggest tip I’ve given to agents as we were filming is “Just talk to a friend.” It sounds silly, but I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had an agent tripping up on words when we’re filming, and I said, “Just tell me the story. Just say, ‘Bobby, this is what happened.’” And magically everything just comes out.
It’s a silly trick, but pick your best friend. “Taylor. You won’t believe it. So I was showing this house and the client brought his dog, and the other guy had a cat. It was a crazy thing, right?”
That’s a story. It’s fun. It’s natural to tell. It’s how you would speak normally to somebody who knows you and somebody you have a connection with.
Any bot can read a script. You bring something to it that no one else can. And the more you put yourself out there, talking to the camera, the more that something will stand out.
The next time you’re in front of the camera, remember to “Just talk to a friend.” Picture them in your mind, if it helps. Allow your real self—the person who comes out when you’re talking to this friend—to come out. That’s the person your tribe wants to see.
