360 Degree Video is an exciting technology for social media marketers by providing their audiences and potential customers a new experience.
Relatively young to the world of social media, 360 Degree Video was first introduced in 2015. In March of the same year, Youtube officially launched a prerecorded 360 video on their site. Viewing of such content was also made available in Android phones and in embedded videos on Chrome.
Facebook also followed the lead when it launched viewing and uploading of 360 videos on its site in the same year. A number of publishers that share 360 videos include Star Wars with its most recent sequel Star Wars: The Force Awakens; NBC's Saturday Night Live, Discovery, and VICE.
A year later, Youtube announced that it now supports live stream 360 video while Facebook launched 360 photo. Presently, other networking sites are yet to support this media type.
With Youtube offering 360 video uploads and Facebook following their lead, using this technology for social media marketing promises wide viewership and can eventually become a game changer in digital marketing.
Why 360 Degree Video can be a Game Changer in Marketing
360 Degree Videos have the capacity to tell stories in a unique way. It can turn marketing from passive into an active experience by offering more than just a material for viewing, but an interactive content with an engaging message.
Below are some reasons why your brand should incorporate 360 Degree Videos to your marketing campaigns:
I. Near Virtual Reality Experience
This new technology is one of the most immersive media content to date. Viewing such content is a fresh experience for customers. A person’s ability to control the viewing angles by moving their devices makes 360 Degree Video more engaging.
For marketers, using this technology can be challenging. On the other hand, this is a great opportunity to flaunt the best about their product or business offering. Customers are also empowered to make informed purchases as they can inspect products better.
Watch how The North Face gave viewers not merely a peek but rather a virtual experience that their brand can offer.
II. Offers High Marketing ROI Potential
The high potential Return on Investment of this technology is hard to negate. As an upgrade of video streaming experience, it is expected that it could equal or even exceed expectations in terms of conversion rate.
A lot of success stories are documented by eConsultancy, a research center for digital business that prove video is a catalyst to improve conversion rate.
Here’s some of the most important data taken from the document:
- Visits that view products videos have a conversion rate of 160% as experience by Ariat, an equestrian sports supplier.
- Conversion rate for Simply Piste increased by 25% on pages that include video.
- Sales increase by 30% for Zappos products with product demo
- Shoppers are 144% more likely to buy after seeing a product video
How to Create and Upload your Own 360 Video
As you understand the importance of adopting the 360-video experience for your social media marketing campaign, the next thing that you would want to know is, “how to start?”.
Below is a step-by-step guide in creating and uploading your 360-video:
1. Get a Specialized Camera
Shooting a 360 degree video requires extra investment for 360 cameras. This type of camera with lenses that cover all of the angles around the camera used to be very expensive. But as it gets more popular, less high-grade cameras emerged with price as low as $250.
2. Shoot the Video in 360 Mode
Cameras for this technology have up to 16 lenses to capture the moment. And for many camera models in the market, the recorded videos have to be stitched together. Camera brands most likely have their own app for post production editing, while models like the compact Ricoh Theta needs no editing and is smartphone capable.
3. Edit the Video
If you want to get the most out of your 360 video online, a little editing is required. There are various editing software that will help you add titles, adjust color, play with clips, add music and many more.
4. Optimize the Video
Make sure that you optimise your 360 video by adding appropriate metadata. Some 360 cameras do not automatically add this so here’s what you need to do.
- You can download a 360 video metadata app for Mac or Windows
- Run the app and select the video
- Do not select 3D Top-Bottom
- Save the video
Here are the cameras that automatically adds metadata to the video:
- RICOH THETA
- ALLie by IC Real Tech
- Giroptic 360cam
- 360fly
5. Upload Your 360 Video
YouTube
When the video is already 360 enabled by following the above process, you can now upload the video on Youtube just as how normal videos are uploaded.
- Click "Advanced" tab and tick "this video was recorded in 360 format"
- Set the camera orientation by clicking the pan controls
- Videos are limited to only 1.75 size Gb and 10 minutes length
Top Industries that can Best Leverage 360 Video
There is a myriad of possibilities that this new technology can offer. Below is a list of industries that can best leverage 360 Degree Video and incorporate it to their social media marketing campaigns.
Real Estate
The 360 video technology is a good tool to provide potential buyers a virtual tour of real estate properties. You can easily showcase the details of the house and even walk the viewers around the neighborhood virtually. Being transparent and showing your potential buyer everything about the property for sale greatly affects the selling process.
Travel Industry
There is no doubt that you’ll find some of best applications of 360 videos in the tourism and hospitality industries. By using 360 Videos, not only will you be able to provide a great view of the location, but it also allows the viewers to experience what it feels like to travel to that particular destination.
Events
With this technology, you can extend the live experience in concerts, product launch, conference and virtually any event to a much wider audience. Utilization of 360 Degree Video in Events promotion is profitable by boosting brand awareness.
Ticket Sales
Ticket vending companies and theatres enables ticket buyers to experience the view from the seats through 360 Degree Video. This technology is a good replacement to floor plans and pictures.
Retail
There are various uses for 360 degree video in the Retail industry. Simplest would be to create an enticing product demo. If you want to get more creative, develop a short film to show how useful and reliable your products are.
This new technology is a fresh field for every marketer.
There are a lot of exciting possibilities that 360 videos can offer.
Do you know any other way to incorporate 360 Degree Video to social media marketing? Share your thoughts by commenting below.