What Is 360-Degree Photography For Business?
If a photo is worth a thousand words, how many words is a 360-degree photo worth?
Gone are the days of mainstream photography whereby you only take still snapshots of your business location. Consumers want to see 360-degree media content. If you’re going to stand out from your competition and grow sales, you need to embrace this technology in your digital marketing plan.
This blog will cover everything you need to know about 360-degree photography.
What is a 360-degree photo?
A 360-degree photo is a panoramic image that simulates a view of the entire scene from which the shot was taken. Viewers have the ability to turn around and look at a surrounding environment as if they are there in person.
They can simply click on any point of the image and drag it in the desired direction — left, right, up, and down. They can also zoom in and out to take a closer look.
360-degree photos are achieved through a combination of panoramic images. The images are lined up to frame for a full rotation around the photographer’s point of shooting. A specialized camera should be used as it has built-in features that help align the shots. Once enough shots are taken, the pictures are uploaded to a specific image editing software and compiled into a 360-degree photo.
This already sounds expensive; how much will this cost my business?
Fortunately, our photography packages start from just $375 (dependent on square footage), so don’t fret; it’s affordable to businesses of all sizes!
How are 360-degree photos taken?
In theory, anyone can shoot 360-degree photos. As a matter of fact, there are various ways to do it. You can use a DSLR camera or a smartphone to record your surroundings, though image quality and user experience will suffer. There are advanced one-shot solutions like the iGuide, which is arguably the industry-leading technology in Canada due to its unrivalled convenience.
These eyeball-shaped cameras record all 360-degrees of a scene thanks to their multiple lenses (usually two separate wide-angle lenses and matching high-tech processing chips). This means you don’t have to hold your camera and spin in circles to record the space. The camera will capture everything within seconds. Then, during post-processing, all the images are manually stitched together to bring you one spherical image. Voila! Now, your 360-degree photos are ready to be uploaded to your website.
Multiple lenses alongside lasers in the iGuide system also mean that it provides spatial measurement technology. This higher-end technology prevents any parallax errors that can make your images looking distorted, while also providing accurate floor plans so users can navigate from room to room and scene to scene, as opposed to feeling like they’re lost in a video game.
Benefits of 360-degree photography for business
If you’re reading this far, you probably have a sense of how helpful 360-degree photos are already. Well, you’re not wrong! There are even more benefits to incorporating this next-level tech in your business.
Gain more sales
Social Bakers found that 360-degree photos make companies more engaging; they were able to reach a wider audience and see sales grow by as much as 67%!
Indeed, 360-degree photos allow customers to interact with virtual reality like never before. It completely flipped the e-commerce playing field wherein consumers are more informed of what they purchase now.
Stand out from your competition
Online shoppers are spoilt with choices; they often conduct side-by-side comparisons of different brands to find the best deal. As such, you will need to come up with a method to distinguish your company in your industry. Using 360-degree photos undeniably gives you a competitive edge over competitors who have yet to make use of this method in their business.
Picture this; a customer searches for your products or services on Google. Your brand shows up on the results page along with your competitors. However, when the customer runs their cursor over your 360-degree photo, it rotates and presents your business location sophisticatedly and interactively. You earn the click and they’re in your online store, or now wanting to visit in person.
Boost buyer confidence
According to iinfoport, one of the top reasons consumers stray away from online shopping is because they do not get to examine the company properly. Who’s going to spend their money on something they don’t trust?
360-degree photos allow shoppers to check your business ambience and get a true sense of its quality. In addition, 360-degree photos themselves elevate the perception of your brand; it proves that your company values quality so much as to provide top-notch photos. This boosted confidence in your brand will help you win over the customer.
Benefits of 360-degree photography for digital marketing
Apart from improving your business flow, this method of photography helps streamline your digital marketing initiatives as well.
Expand your reach on social media platforms
Over 53% of the world’s population is on social media, that’s 4.20 billion people. If your business is on social media, you should know that it is one of the best ways to reach your target audience.
By posting 360-degree photos of your business location on social media, you easily capture your audience’s attention. People enjoy seeing HD immersive and interactive 360-degree photos. Users are likely to share, comment, and ask questions regarding your brand. This ultimately leads to greater brand awareness and customer engagement. As such, 360-degree photos will strengthen your social media strategy.
Save more time
360-degree photos offer more assurance to the eyes of the public than any blog post, infographic, or podcast. They are raw and realistic impressions of your brand. Instead of spending hours writing a long article, a 360-degree photo might be your missing key to seal the deal.
Additionally, 360-degree photos speed up your customer’s decision-making process. Given how they will be more assured of your business, they are bound to trust your service and check out your location. Not only can you save this time to focus on more marketing efforts, but you will also save your customers’ time. We’re sure every customer appreciates that.
Enhanced marketing experience
While photos and corporate videos are great, 360-degree photos offer a whole new level to marketing. Hotels, universities, travel agencies, and other businesses are quick to realize the potential of 360-degree photography as a marketing tool.
For example, Thon Hotels added a 360-degree view of a room. This provides users with a chance to examine their well-designed interior from virtually every angle. 360-degree photos allow users to immerse themselves in the moment and get a glimpse of what awaits.
Improve search engine optimization (SEO)
Adding 360-degree photos on your website will boost your SEO ranking on Google My Business as well as on Google Maps. It gives users the opportunity to take a complete virtual tour by viewing the inside and outside your business location when browsing online. This incites them to click on your website link. Therefore, increasing your site’s lead generation power.
360-degree photos will also integrate a greater overall user-experience. Users are more compelled to stay on the website longer to learn more about the brand. These extra seconds are what give you a competitive edge by decreasing your website’s bounce rate. As a result, you elevate your search engine ranking and attract more organic traffic to your site.
It’s time to switch to 360-degree photos
Now that you’re aware of the numerous benefits that 360-degree photography can bring to your business, it’s time to take advantage of this incredible technological feature that’s accessible to your brand.
There are a few mobile camera apps that you can use to take 360-degree photos of your business location. However, you should be ready to expect lower-quality images when using this method.
We highly recommend consulting with a professional photographer if it’s your first time doing 360-degree photos. This is because they have the proper equipment to capture the photos, and the experience to stitch the images together for a frustration-free client experience.
FAQs
Is 360-degree photography truly beneficial for my business?
It is definitely a step above the norm, and that’s also what makes it so effective. Considering the costs, 360-degree photography can be more useful for certain businesses. The answer varies between your type of industry and the type of target audience.
Any business that wants to encourage footfall can showcase their store, attraction, hotel etc. in the most tangible way possible. Potential customers’ ability to control and rotate their view from various angles goes a massive step above and provides an experience that 2D photos could never do. 360-degree virtual tours for real estate are becoming a necessary feature of any listing.
If your business location has eye-catching features that the customers would want to examine and interact with, 360-degree photos should definitely be worth the investment. As we’ve learned from this blog, 360-degree photos are proven to help you stand out from the competition, boost buyer confidence, and gain sales.
Does the quality of my 360-degree photos matter?
You need to remember that whatever you post online will affect people’s impression of your business. While 360-degree photos are a great addition to improving your audience’s buyer-experience, they can be equally detrimental if you do not use them properly. For example, if you use a 360-degree scene that’s of poor quality, slanted, or confusing to navigate, users have no choice but to lower their perception of your brand. You don’t want your marketing to be anything less than perfect.
As such, you should always aim to attain the highest image quality possible. One way to do this is by using a higher-end camera to shoot your 360-degree photos. A professional camera will produce a 4K resolution and offer a better video experience.
What photography equipment do I need to shoot 360-degree photos?
If you feel that you’re tight on budget but still want to offer 360-degree photos to your audience, you can always get the ball rolling yourself first. To build your very own DIY 360-degree shoot, you will require the following equipment:
DSLR camera
Tripod or monopod to stabilize your camera
Mics, if you wish to capture spatial audio
Extra SD cards
Charger for your camera
360-degree editing software
Upon further considerations, you might realize that hiring a professional photographer is more economically viable than purchasing all these pieces of new equipment. In addition, you’d be saving yourself a lot of time.
Would you like us to shoot 360-degree photographs for your business?
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