Introducing 360 Videos - The Best Virtual Tour Medium
As the second part of our virtual tour initiative, we want to introduce you to the easiest and most cost effective virtual tour medium, 360 Video. In this post, we will provide all the info you need to get started.
And if interested and would like more info, or just have questions, do reach out to us at virtualtour@yougotlistings.com. We be happy to chat over email or phone.
360 Video Virtual Tour Examples
Keep in mind that 360-degree videos are interactive where you can pan the video to look around; you can also pause at any moment to take a longer and closer look at the surroundings.
Example 1:
Same video on Facebook.
Example 2:
Same video on Facebook.
360 Video Advantages
360-degree videos have many advantages over other types of virtual tours.
- Great Tour Experience - Comparing to normal videos and photos, it's is much more informative as viewers can look around, pause at any time and jump to any specific location. Comparing to tours such as Matterport, 360 videos give a more realistic and personal feel.
- Easy to Create - It's hard to do virtual tours unless it is dead simple, and that's what 360 videos are. Taking a 360 video is actually easier than shooting a video with your phone. Just walk around the property while holding the camera, there is no need to point the camera to cover different areas or angels since the 360 camera automatically captures the full view.
- Easy to Upload - Once a video is shot, you can directly upload it from your phone. No extra editing step is needed.
- Wide Platform Support - Like a normal video, 360 videos can be uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and many other platforms. 360 videos can also be shared to any social media.
- Great Exposure - Because of the wide platform support, 360 Video gives your virtual tours much more exposure to potential tenants and give you more marketing options.
- No Extra Cost or Third Party Dependency - Unlike other virtual tour technology such as Matterport. You don't need to use or pay any third party system to create and host your virtual tours. Youtube is free.
- Advanced Options Available - As you get more experience, you can do much more, such as creating a video trailer for the 360 video, voice-over to provide an audio guide, etc. It is truly limitless.
3 Simple Steps to Create Your Own 360 Videos
Step 1 - Get an affordable 360 camera and a selfie stick.
After much research and testing of various cameras, we recommend the Rylo 360. It is $200 and very easy to use.
(Prices as of 4/13/2020)
BestBuy - $199.99 Amazon - $197.95 Adorama - $198.49
A selfie stick is needed to hold the camera in front of you while filming. Any will do, just make sure the below mount type is included, which most do.
Here is an example selfie stick from BestBuy that would work.
Step 2 - Shoot the video and download to your phone.
Here is a short video tutorial for the Rylo 360. See how easy it is.
It is extremely important that the "360 Video" type is selected before downloading to your phone. Refer to the 2:01 minute mark in the video if unsure.
Step 3 - Upload to Youtube (or other platforms)
Once the video is downloaded to your phone, you can upload it to Youtube just like a normal video.
FREE Training, Q&A, Support
We hope you are now excited to start creating your own virtual tours. It is a great way to stand out from the crowd and conduct business online. It is a small investment that will carry you a long way.
Remember that we are here to support you through this process. Whether if that's guides, such as top tips on how to film 360 videos, or over the phone training, or questions you might have, you can reach us at:
virtualtour@yougotlistings.com
We are working on the 3rd part of our virtual tour initiative, which we will bring 360 videos online for YGL Network listings, as well as updating our Personal Site and Widget to better showcase them.
Happy filming!
- The YouGotListings Team