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Quick guide to: virtual reality viewings

You have a great business, but do you have the vision to take it to the next level? Look into the future, it is virtual reality technology, says Tara Dulake.

Tara Dulake

Tara Dulake imageWith millions of people spending considerable amounts of time on social media platforms every day, there is no doubt that these social networks are the key to getting in front of your target audiences. You will find many articles describing the benefits of creating engaging content and posting it online, and, with brilliant new technologies such as virtual reality becoming widely available and surprisingly easy to use, the future of engaging content continues to evolve.

Tara Dulake imageYour business needs to evolve along with this technology, so let’s have a look at how you can adapt your social media content so that it will appeal to today’s home buyer and social media enthusiast.

360° IMAGES

In 2014, virtual reality made its way into social media when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said that he was pleased to have acquired Oculus VR, an acquisition that most people wouldn’t even have noticed, but it was an important one behind the scenes.

Facebook now offers everyone the ability to add 360-degree images to a Facebook page, assuming of course, that you have bought your new 360-degree camera.

The estate agent always says, ‘take a look around’ but now your buyers can do that before they even get to the property.

When you take a photograph from the centre of the room using that 360-degree camera, a 360-degree image allows the user to browse directly around the room/scene without any limitations.

To browse around the room, the user can either use their cursor on a desktop or, if they are using a mobile device, they can drag with their finger – or even just turn their device to get the view they want.

A 360-degree image helps the agency to give a better representation of a room and allows the user or browser to take a quick look at the surroundings of a room to get a feel for what it would be like if they were actually within that space themselves.

It is much more powerful than a static image, so it retains the browser’s interest.

There are a few ways in which you could create a 360-degree image for social media:

  • Take a panorama with an iOS device or smartphone
  • Capture a 360-degree photo on your phone using an app like Street View or Google Camera
  • Take a 360-degree photo with a 360 camera, such as the Samsung Gear 360, RICOH THETA S, 360Fly, Giroptic 360 Cam or ALLie Camera
360° VIDEO

360° Tours online are even more exciting, creating an immersive and engaging way to show someone around a property that is newly available on the market. 360-degree video tours allow the agent to walk around a house describing the best aspects of it whilst looking around all the areas of the house and views from it.

Creating 360 videos requires a special camera with lenses that cover all of the angles around the camera, but it isn’t hard work – each one of these cameras can capture your entire surroundings in a single shot.

These videos can then be uploaded to YouTube and Facebook for promotion. This type of media is ideal for those who like to browse online for new homes, that either do not have time to view a property during the allotted hours or who are, for example, overseas investors, or UK base buyers looking to move to a different part of the country.

Once you have finished the video and made it available on YouTube, you can embed it on your own website’s listing and share it on Facebook and YouTube.

Here are some other ways to promote your carefully crafted content:

  • Embed the video in a blog on your website
  • Add it to a new property listing
  • Upload it to your Facebook page
  • Create an emailer and send a link to existing and past clients
  • Cross promote your channels and send your Twitter followers to view your video on YouTube
  • Create LinkedIn posts with the Video embedded from YouTube.

There are several forward thinking companies, including Winkworth, JLL, Greene & Co. and Life Residential which have already started to use 360 degree images as a way to generate interest and engagement on their social media platforms.

If you’d like to move into the 360-degree world, take a look at what you could do with the technology and start offering a whole new service and way to sell and rent properties.

December 23, 2016

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