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Vuse is a video creation app for the real estate industry.
Platforms: iOS; browser
Ideal for: All agents, teams and brokerages
Top selling points:
- Simplifies process
- Automatic creation
- Shot suggestion during capture process
- Using existing footage or capture in-app
- Template creation and control
Top concern:
The scalability of the company. There is proven video production and real estate expertise behind Vuse, but I wonder how it would tackle rapid growth and customer service.
What you should know
I saw an early version of Vuse a number of months ago and was worried it had faded into what’s known in Hollywood as “development hell.”
I was wrong, happily.
Vuse is now live on Apple’s App store, and its Android counterpart isn’t far from its time in the spotlight.
What I like most about this real estate video marketing app is that you’ll never run into a complicated editing bay with trimming tools, audio sliders or multiple layers of soundtracks. It doesn’t make you try to be a video editor, only a creator.
The easiest way to use Vuse is to let it auto-assemble a video for you based on template choice. Video can be uploaded from the native device library or captured in-app. Only after the video is put together will Vuse offer you the chance to add titles and graphics or edit fonts.
I feel this is the best method for agents to use is because it takes away the creative hesitation that can hamper production. (If given too many options, inexperienced agents sometimes find themselves confused about how to get started — and most are anxious enough about video as it is.)
Included content themes are limited as of now, but the list will grow as the app matures. Users can choose from a Listing Spotlight, Buyer Preview or Agent Promotion. The promotion category has three options, one being the “humble brag” as a way to showcase recent successes. The Listing Spotlight has three options too.
You can capture and create as you go, and Vuse lets you choose the layout, style, border and font colors, music and text. There is a voice-over option as well.
Vuse also offers a series of tips as you record. It recommends ways to build anticipation, suggests where to start shooting and ensures your lighting is good. Nice reminders.
Finished products can be shared to social media, added to landing pages or included in mail campaigns.
The app’s user experience is smartly limited. You can jump right into creating a video or you can scroll through active and archived projects. You also have access to a list of tutorials, and you have the ability to build a video profile, which will accompany agent intros and exit slides.
Perhaps the biggest change I noticed from the early beta version is the administrative back-end that’s centered on template creation and usage permissions. Marketing managers and team leads can build out branded options and determine who can access and edit each video. Colors, fonts, styles and stock footage are readily available for users to be as creative as they can.
You can also setup push notifications to alert users to video views and other statistics.
Vuse is all about making video as common to a listing as its written description. And best of all, you can’t put unnecessary exclamation points in video.
Or, if you can … please don’t.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
