This year, video online has come of age. Witness the outrageous proliferation of video sites that were not even around one year ago....
YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, Grouper, Blip, VideoHomez and there are many, many more. YouTube was recently purchased by Google for 1.6 BILLION dollars - a site that was one year old and started in a garage! Often The Tonight Show and other TV shows feature videos from YouTube on television. A show on MTV or VH1 is devoted exclusively to showcasing internet videos. If you don't think this is big, think again. it's huge.
In fact it also recently got me national press from a local story that appeared a week ago in the paper about real estate marketing and real estate video tours. Not only did it generate a lot of interest but it was also distributed by the Associated Press and RISMedia just this week - nationally.
Why do a video tour instead of a 360 degree virtual tour?
1) Virtual tours are not natural. Nobody walks into a home and stands in the middle of the room and spins around like a top - unless you're drunk.
2) Most virtual tours, especially those taken with a mirrored VT lens are distorted - big time. Does this do your property justice? If I were a seller, I would demand that my agent remove most virtual tours I see - they're THAT bad.
3) With a 360 degree view, do you really want to show the rusty Camaro on the front lawn across the street? You don't really have much of an option. It takes one picture all the way around - junked car or not!
4) Pictures and 360 virtual tours are definitely better than not having any visual content for your clients. However, they fall well short of what a true Video Tour can provide. If you wanted someone to appreciate a favorite spot, would you take them in a room and show them a couple small photographs? Would you take them to the location and spin them around in a circle? That would hardly accomplish your purpose.
Video tours provide the viewer with a visual and audio (narration and music) experience of the property designed to evoke emotion. Typical virtual tours are a set of static pictures placed side by side to give the illusion you are standing in one spot in the home - spinning in a circle. There is no audio to create the emotion evoking experience for the viewer.
Why would you want to create emotion?
Most people buy a home based on emotion ("Incredible view", "Love the kitchen cabinets.", "Have you seen the hot tub?" etc.). Any opportunity to capitalize on that emotion puts you one step closer to the sale of that home - and a paycheck for you!
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