As things are slowly getting back to normal and with a promise of states being reopened in the near future, we want to talk about a new trend that emerged as an answer to the call of the times. With COVID-19 challenging the real estate industry and its core practices of communication, real estate agents found a safe solution for the most prominent real estate activity, open house tours. With the real estate industry still being under some restriction, real estate agents found the way out in real estate virtual tours.
Today we will talk about how real estate virtual tours may become a new norm for the real estate industry, how to do a proper virtual tour, and how to market it.
The History of Real Estate Virtual Tours
This solution isn’t new for the real estate industry. But not many real estate agents embraced it in the past. The real estate industry in its core is built on face-to-face communication, that’s why real estate agents preferred to host actual open houses rather than virtual open house tours.
With the pandemic changing the way we work, real estate agents needed to adapt their work practices as well. That gave virtual house tours a go.
There are different options for virtual tours. Some call any video recording of the property a virtual tour. Some say that 3D exploration is a must.
With that thought in mind, let’s focus on the qualities of the best virtual tours.
What Are the Best Qualities of Virtual Tours
Technology transformed the way we do our business in real estate. We have websites to showcase our listings. We connect with customers through social media. Virtual house tours that have an option of 3D exploration is just another way to make our interaction with clients more engaging. It’s a creative way of showcasing the best in your listings. Experts suggest that using actual footage of the house is better than a digital recreation. For creating a 3D exploration of the listing, every room is photographed from a 360-degree angle in a panoramic view. Then, every photo is stitched together to create this virtual model of the property.
Virtual house tours should replicate the experience of visiting the house in person. This means the video that you record should show the property from all angles. And most importantly, it should have natural bright lighting throughout the house.
If you want to add audio as well, we suggest doing a voiceover for the video.
There is also another option for the virtual tour: putting videos on Facebook and Instagram. This way you will not only have such popular content on your social media account as videos, but you will also have more engagement with your clients.
Now that we established the best qualities for virtual house tours, let’s talk about placement.
Real Estate Virtual Tours Marketing
We already mentioned that having a live virtual open house tour on your social media will drive traffic to your social media account. It’s not a new trend. Videos are Facebooks’s favorable content. Having videos on Facebook will make your account more visible to your audience’s feed.
Another important channel is YouTube. Unlike any other social media platforms, YouTube prefers longer content. As statistics show, viewers on YouTube like longer videos as well. This is a perfect place for listings videos. And most importantly, make sure you optimize your YouTube account. Click here for more information.
Interested in new technologies for real estate agents? Check out this article WHY DO I NEED A MOBILE APP FOR MY IDX WEBSITE?
