How to Market Your Virtual Tours Effectively

Virtual tours have risen in popularity in recent months, largely due to COVID-19. While they have been around for years, social distancing and stay-at-home orders around the globe have made virtual tools an essential element of real estate. Really, 3D tours may have become just as popular without coronavirus on the scene – indeed they have been on the rise for some time – nevertheless, one thing seems certain: virtual tours are here to stay.

That’s a good thing, since 3D virtual tours are loved by buyers, sellers, and agents alike. Companies such as Matterport have been working tirelessly to produce products that agents can use to market and sell homes faster and at higher prices. Virtual tour technology has also become more accessible, putting powerful tools within reach of any marketing budget.

Some agents choose to hire a professional 3D virtual tour service that employs the latest and best in 3D camera and editing technology. Others opt to scan homes with their iPhone (which is also an option with Matterport). With all of the choices available, it only seems natural to offer virtual tours as part of your marketing mix.

But just how might you use those virtual tours to reach your audience effectively? Think about it. A fisherman needs to know where the fish are hanging out, go to where they are, and cast the bait the right way in order to bring home dinner. When it comes to marketing your virtual tours, how and where are you casting? Consider the following ideas to use virtual tours effectively.

Include virtual tours with your listings

The first and obvious choice for placement of a virtual tour is in a listing. You can link your virtual showcase to the MLS and real estate sites such as Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com – or rental sites like Zumper or VRBO. Including a virtual tour in a property listing gives it the greatest exposure and puts it in view of the more than ninety percent of buyers who begin their home searches online.

Post virtual tours to social media
Social media sites, the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Clubhouse, YouTube, LinkedIn, and others all offer opportunities to showcase a home with a virtual tour. Matterport’s teaser videos, included with every digital twin, are a great way to show off the best parts of a 3D tour through your social media channels. You can also feature a virtual tour in your social media ads.

Feature a virtual tour on your business website
When you include 3D home tours on your business website, you accomplish several things. For one, virtual tours make for quality content for your site’s visitors. 360 degree photos and videos on a website significantly increase traffic and produce higher engagement rates. That is good for your visitors – and it is good for you, since Google recognizes when your content is relevant and useful. As a result, Google boosts your site’s rankings in the search results. So, not only do virtual tours attract and keep attention, they also help with your SEO strategy.

Embed a tour on your homepage or create a landing page to which you can send customers from other places in your marketing campaigns. 

Publish a virtual tour of your business on Google Street View
When people search for products and services on the internet, frequently they turn to mapping products, like Google Maps. If you want consumers to engage with your business, you need to have a solid search listing for your business. One way to accomplish that is to add a virtual tour of your own office to Google Street View so that your business is recognized and promoted in your market – showing up in search results, on Google Maps, on your Google Plus page, and your Google local page. When you do, you control the content that appears when people see your business online. And a 3D virtual walkthrough of your business gives you a stronger presence than a simple photograph or panorama.

Send virtual tours through email
Email campaigns, as you well know, allow you to maintain tighter control over who receives your messages than, say, YouTube or Instagram might. While you usually cannot embed a virtual tour in an email, you can create a thumbnail image with a link to your Matterport showcase and share the tour with whomever you like. Or, place the thumbnail in your email signature and include a tour link in every email you send.

Direct customers to a virtual tour through direct mail and other print ads
In this digital age, you might find it ironic that many of your younger buyers, often drowning in a sea of digital messages, find print advertising to be a refreshing reprieve. Direct mail of postcards or brochures, of course, has not lost its importance, especially when customers have been forced to spend so much time at home in recent months.

But print ads also have other advantages. Many consumers like the touch and feel of a printed page, and many find them to be a more authoritative source of information. There are probably not a lot of people pinning their tablets to the refrigerator or saving home pics as their desktop wallpaper. They will, however, pin up a postcard and hold on to your hard-copy real estate flyer longer than a digital ad. So, use those printings to your advantage by including high-quality professional photography and QR codes linking to your virtual tour landing pages on your website.

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At a time when in-person gatherings are few, 3D virtual tours have become a go-to tool to showcase a listing. They are the “new open house”, and may remain so for the foreseeable future. So, if you are going to lean on the technology, make sure to get your virtual tours in front of as many of your potential customers as you can using a good dose of your imagination sparked by some of the strategies listed here.