Properties are seeing the value in apartment virtual tours. However, as technology changes and there are more types of virtual tours on the market (i.e., 3D tours, professional videographers and 3D renderings), it’s more important than ever to understand how to create a winning apartment virtual tour.
Virtual tours need to stand out – engage the right audience, at the right time. And, ultimately, drive prospects toward the next step in the lead-to-lease funnel.
Whether you’re a beginner or you’ve been at it for a while and just need a refresher, here are a few key tips on how to make a real estate video tour.
Practice Makes Perfect
For most of us, we didn’t come into the multifamily industry innately knowing how to give the best in-person apartment tours, much less knowing how to create a beautiful virtual tour. However, with time, giving in-person tours gets easier and easier. The same is true with virtual tours. Just like with in-person tours, practicing again and again helps you learn what to say and what to show. You’ll get in the habit of creating a virtual tour that wins more eyeballs!
Choose the Right Tools for Your Toolbox
This doesn’t make bringing in an expensive camera for a Matterport apartment tour. Adding a few tools can really help take your apartment virtual tours to the next level. Have a stabilizer or gimbal on hand. This simple piece helps create a smooth, steady shot. It eliminates any risk of a shaky hand creating a poor experience. If your phone is an older model and doesn’t have one, consider adding a wide-angle lens. It’s an inexpensive add-on that makes a huge difference in the quality of the video. Also, make sure to keep an eye on the lighting. You don’t need to bring in massive lighting setups, in fact, it’s probably best that you don’t. But, make sure you stand in the right light and pay attention to the way light comes in at the time of day you’re
filming.
Put Your People In It
People are a big part of what makes a video, and a property, interesting and inviting. So, put your people in the video! A person doesn’t have to be in every clip of the entire tour, but strategically inserting people at the right time helps make the video more engaging to watch. For example, you could have another leasing agent stand at the sink loading the dishwasher. Or standing at the washer and dryer folding towels. This is something even the best 3D apartment tours can’t do.
People humanize the video and help the prospect visualize themselves in the apartment doing those real-life things. Including the human element helps build better connections and, in turn, creates a better overall apartment virtual tour experience.
Personalize the Video
Look for opportunities to personalize these tours beyond greeting the prospect by name. Look for ways that show you are listening and committed to showing them the things that matter most to them. Find a way to work it into the tour. If the prospect mentioned that they’d love some outdoor space, mention that while showing them the balcony. Or if they enjoy cooking include something like, “Marcus, you mentioned you enjoy spending time in the kitchen. Let me show you a few of the kitchen upgrades we’ve done in this unit.” Anything that will make the prospect feel like this video is for them and that you, as their leasing agent, are paying attention to their needs.
Learn how to excel at making a real estate video tour with a personal touch (video + cheatsheet)
Shoot in Clips
When you’re creating an apartment virtual tour, don’t do one long shot. When you’re filming, break it up into short clips. Meaning, shoot the entryway then stop. Shoot the living room and stop. Then shoot the bedroom and stop. This helps when you’re editing these video clips together. You have a more streamlined video with easier transitions for a great full video. The experience is easier to view and more people will watch to the end.
Include CTAs
Having a direct call-to-action (CTA) is a must for a winning virtual tour. What do you want them to do once they are done with the video? Should they request an in-person tour or is it time to encourage them to apply for a lease? Or is it early in the process and you want them to email you with additional questions? Give them a clear next step at the end. If not, your prospect will watch the video and move on to the next thing…which could be your competition.
Grab these 10 attention-grabbing CTAs for your multifamily marketing plan
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