Ready to generate more listings? Attract more buyers? Stand out as a premier agent?
3D home tours aren’t a novelty or a passing fad. They’re an extremely effective tool to generate new opportunities. According to a Matterport Industry Stat, homebuyers who experience a 3D tour are 95% more likely to call and 300% more engaged.
The agents who are effectively implementing 3D tours know why. Sellers are looking for an agent who can provide top exposure for their home, and homebuyers aren’t just looking for new ways to engage with Real Estate and their REALTOR® online, they expect it.
Creating a 3D tour is incredibly easy with the Matterport Camera.
After some simple training, you’ll use the camera on a tripod to scan rooms throughout the property. The Matterport technology will piece together those scans to make a virtual model of the home. This 3D model can be viewed as a floor plan or as an interactive walk-through tour.
Did you know that we proudly offer ERA Grizzard agents the use of our two Matterport cameras, plus, promote the virtual tour to help market their listing?
Optimization before promotion is a golden rule in online Real Estate Marketing.
Once you’ve created your tour and logged-in to the Matterport online dashboard, take time to fill in your “Public Details.”
The “Name” you enter will be the headline you see at the beginning of the video. Consider using a tagline instead of the home’s address such as, “Updated Bungalow in the Desirable Lake Eola Heights District” to capture more attention online. You’ll have the opportunity to add the address in the details as well.
Next, dive into the Workshop to create a “Guided Tour” where a user can watch the “Highlight Reels” by pressing play, create “Labels” to note what type of room the viewer is exploring, and add “Mattertags” to explain certain features of the home.
Your tour includes a branded, unbranded, and MLS compliant link and embed code. Use the unbranded MLS compliant link as your “virtual tour link” in MLS and the branded embed code in your own marketing.
If you have a Matterport tour on Realtor.com, the first photo on the search site will be replaced with a fully-functional virtual tour. This is huge news. Every day, more buyers are exposed to this technology and enjoying more immersive home search experiences. There is even an option to filter search results to display only homes with 3D tours. I believe this feature proves that 3D tours aren’t just here to stay, they’re becoming a consumer preference!
One of the problems with promoting a 3D tour on social media had been that you couldn’t explore the home virtually unless you click on the preview link. For example, if you shared a tour on Facebook, someone would need to click on the “dollhouse view” photo and be taken to the tour. Since video is taking over social media, these image previews weren’t capturing what makes Matterport unique.
Matterport has quite cleverly solved this problem. Teaser Videos, like the one below, are now automatically created for all tours.
Upload the teaser video to Facebook to promote your new listing. Include the link to your tour or the page on your website where the Matterport tour is embedded and include an attention-grabbing message -
“Take a 3D, virtual tour of this designer home (insert link). Featuring granite counters, a saltwater pool, and 5 spacious bedrooms this is a Winter Garden home you won’t want to miss!”
You can also add this Teaser Video to YouTube, the 2nd largest search engine behind Google. For the YouTube video, I’d recommend using the home’s address in the title and the keywords “home for sale.” If you include the link back to the listing on your website in your YouTube details, this will increase the chance of people finding your tour and generating leads.
Have you uploaded a panoramic photo to Facebook? The photo is transformed into a 360º photo to explore. You can create a 360º Snapshot with every tour in the Matterport Workshop! Upload the Snapshot of your home to social with a similar attention-grabbing message as above.
And don’t forget you can pre-promote your new listing’s tour!
When you’re scanning the Matterport at the home, take a selfie or better yet, video of yourself creating the tour. Share on social with a message like this -
“Excited to be creating a 3D tour for you to explore my latest listing in XYZ area. It features an awesome open-floor plan that you’ll get to truly experience in the virtual tour. Be sure to look for the architectural details in the dining room. I know you’re going to love it! Let me know if you want me to send you the link once the tour’s completed. And if you’re thinking about selling, I’d be happy to use this technology to get your home sold fast. Let’s talk!”
Don’t stop just with social! Add your tour to your email signature. You can add the link directly to the tour, but also add the link to the Teaser Video.
If you upload the Teaser Video to YouTube, and include that YouTube link in your email signature, Gmail users will automatically get a preview of the video when they open your email.
If you send out Just Listed postcards or create flyers for the home, add the link to those print materials! Include an image of the “dollhouse view” so buyers understand it will be a 3D tour and are intrigued to explore more.
Use your new 3D tour to attract not only buyers, but sellers as well!
Add it to your listing or marketing presentation or use the social media tip above. Even after your home’s sold, your tour is a valuable marketing material to attract more sellers.
After all, you are an industry leading agent with the right technology to get the home sold! If you’re looking to offer your home buyers and sellers the latest marketing, learn more about our ERA Grizzard team! We’re proud to offer our agents Matterport technology along with cutting edge marketing, industry leading training, and a collaborative team culture! Request a Careers Consultation to Learn More.
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