MyHomeViewer's project delivery system has slightly changed recently. The videos we produce and upload to our video host (Vimeo) are now private by default (ie. you may have noticed the little 'share' icon is now gone) and our videos are now primarily viewable on the web pages we provide to our clients. This change helps to ensure that when a client promotes their own video they won't have to worry about inadvertently promoting other videos on our Vimeo channel. What's more, we can now more easily protect the confidentiality of sold, exclusive and/or off-market homes.

That being said, how do you go about sharing a video on social media like Facebook?
You can always share your property's web page to your social media channels either by copy/pasting the URL or clicking the social media sharing icons located at the very bottom of the web page.

What if sharing the video on its own is your main priority and you want it playable directly on Facebook, for example?
We provide all clients with a downloadable copy of their real estate video (.mp4 file). For best results and furthest reach the recommended way to share the video on social media is to upload the video file provided directly to Facebook.

Did you know?
​Studies have shown that when you upload a video directly to Facebook, your potential for viral reach is 10x higher than when you use a YouTube link (Vimeo is not even considered). What’s more, on average Facebook users can experience a healthy 208% increase in reach with a video uploaded directly to Facebook as opposed to a YouTube link and the differential between Vimeo would be even higher. Facebook’s algorithm favours itself so to speak; prioritizing its own native content especially video now that Youtube, Vimeo and others are essentially Facebook’s competition in the realm of social media video hosting.

How to increase playback quality on Facebook?
Unfortunately by default the Facebook video player shows a low resolution version of your video to viewers. Perhaps this is because such a high percentage of users are watching on mobile devices, and lower resolution playback is lighter on data and therefore smoother in the event of a poor mobile data connection. In order to watch the high resolution version (which improves not only the video playback quality, but also the audio playback quality too), look for the white "HD" button in the bottom right hand corner and ensure it is turned on. Currently a video owner cannot automatically turn on the HD video setting for other viewers–it is up to each individual user to adjust playback settings while watching a video.

"Fear paralyzes us all. When we leap past it, new worlds can unfurl and amazing things can happen.

Ask Amy Youngren, leader of the Toronto-based five-agent team Urban Lifestyle Group. She leapt past her fear of being on camera 18 months ago and has become a video shooting star, nominated by Inman News for most innovative agent of the year and earning several high-profile conference speaking gigs.
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The engaging, creative videos she produces for all her team’s listings have done more than raise her industry profile; they’ve propelled her business, helping to:

• Double her team’s listing inventory
• Triple the number of incoming referrals
• Generate a ton of buyer leads

Youngren's Tinder-inspired listing video that we shot in late August generated over 3,600 views on Facebook prior to the writing of this article, without any paid advertising.

She looks like a natural, doesn’t she? But that wasn’t always the case. She was afraid. Very afraid...

'I used to let my perfectionism hinder my progress,' Youngren said. People always told her to do video and she finally decided to heed the advice of two industry luminaries who preach video, prominent industry speaker Jeff Lobb and Curaytor Co-founder Chris Smith.

'The fear of not seeing the results became greater than the fear of doing it,' Youngren said.

Youngren’s just three and a half years into her real estate career, yet the swagger exhibited in her videos has propelled her already to great heights. In 2016, her team handled 254 transactions totalling $92M in sales volume. She attributes her quick success to lots of work, not much sleep, and her budding video strategy.

​Eighteen months and dozens of videos ago, Youngren started her video life small. She did [short] intros and read the entire script on the video. That’s evolved into a more relaxed style as she’s become more comfortable, but butterflies remain. 

While she’s becoming more relaxed with video and experience, she still carefully plans.
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People comment that she looks so natural, that she slips interesting impromptu words into the videos. That’s mostly scripted and planned, Youngren said." –Paul Hagey, Curaytor

Youngren's first listing video we shot for the year 2017 talks about winter market trends.

Our client Amy Youngren truly shines on video and with a little help from us you can too! Click here to learn more and book one of our highly-sought after real estate video packages today.

If you noticed that some of your Facebook shares (via our website or others) aren't showing the thumbnail preview prior to sharing, then don't fret. You're not alone.

We see it too and unfortunately there isn't anything we can do about that.  Here is a summary of why.

According to Facebook's own documentation this is a known problem. The preview image isn't displayed until the Facebook crawler sees it, so the first person to share a page may not see a preview.

Their official advice is to use the OpenGraph Debugger and page by individual page process each URL you want Facebook to pre-cache. There are no other methods of having Facebook pre-cache images.

​So with that sadly stated, the solutions here are limited.

​If you don't want to use the Debugger tool linked above, here is our suggestion:

1. When you see the thumbnail-less post, refresh/reload your Facebook page and try sharing the link again. Facebook will ask if you are sure you want to cancel or discard your current post - say Yes.
2. Try sharing the link again.
3. Facebook should have already crawled the web link once (the first time when it came up empty handed, with no image) and now upon crawling it for a second time the thumbnail should show up.
4. Post successfully with image thumbnail!