realtor.ca - How to feature Matterport Virtual Tours?16922
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northernWIld private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I recently began offering Matterport scanning tours to local real estate agents. I am finding there is limited understanding on the Agent's parts, and their office managers, on how to prominently feature the Matterport tour on their listing. I don't have access to the MLS system myself to provide guidance either, and couldn't find any how-tos online. I was hoping someone could offer a how-to description for Agents and Agent staff (and me  for how to profile a Matterport tour on a Realtor.ca listing to get the highest visibility.Thanks for the help |
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Regina, Saskatchewan Canada |
Queen_City_3D private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @northernWIld I'm also in Canada (located in Saskatchewan) and I'm a REALTOR. It will likely depend on where you are located and what system the agent uses to upload to REALTOR.CA. A lot of provinces use MATRIX for their provincial MLS System. There, the agent simply has to copy and paste the Matterport URL in to the Virtual Tour field on the page where they add their listing comments and agent remarks.  REALTOR.CA recognizes Matterport links and features them prominently on the listings. If they use a system different than MATRIX I suspect there would be a Virtual Tour field there somewhere that they would put the URL in. NOTE: My particular association will not allow links with any branding and so I have to add the parameter &mls=1 to the Matterport links to make them compliant. You'll see on my screenshot above that below the Virtual Tour field is a Listing URL link. This can also have the Matterport link or if you have another link such as a WP3D Single Property Site it's good to put that URL there as that second field can have agent branding. |
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 WGAN Fan Club Member Gilroy, California |
Dataventurer private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @northernWIld Got your point! I am a realtor in Northern California (not currently actively seeking listings but helping fellow agents with their media). I have access to the local MLS ($$$ per month for access as an agent!) and find a similar lack of understanding here by agents about how the marketing media they pay for gets distributed (or NOT!) out to the various platforms. When an agent lists a home on the MLS, most of the real estate platforms (Redfin, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com) scrape the data from MLS into their own platform format. The frequency of updating varies, but some are every few minutes! Some platforms have restrictions on what they will post on their sites. For example, here is the page on the Realtor.com site that provides details: Adding 3D Tours, Video Tours, and Virtual Tour links to your listings To get to the meat of issue, the media links need to be entered into the appropriate fields in the MLS listing for the property. Since the MLS services cover a small geographic area (5 counties here, I think), there are variations of the interfaces for the local MLS systems. As an example, here is a screen shot of the media fields from my local MLS that are located at the bottom of the section where photos are added to a listing:  You can see at the top of the section where to add a "Virtual Tour" and 3D Tour. I advise my clients to add the 360 links in both sections (branded and unbranded versions). My clients don't use the old-fashioned "virtual tours" so putting the 360 link in both sections serves as an added opportunity for the tour to get picked up. If you are providing a single-page website, the URL for that can go into the "Additional Tour" field. I find that VERY FEW real estate platforms display a link to a single-page website (probably wanting to keep the eyeballs of visitors on their own platform). But single-page websites are helpful when showing off what can be provided to a prospective seller - it's impressive to see all the media accessible on one page. Too bad there are not that many avenues to get that website URL out for viewing... You will see that the fields in the screen shot don't provide one specifically for video. Huh?!? I have had to call Redfin support to get them to post a link to my listing videos. They are very helpful and responsive, but it's an extra step. For Zillow, the photographer can upload a video, but the agent must access their account to activate the video. For Realtor.com, the agent must access their dashboard to submit the link. From my research looking at traffic stats for the real estate platforms, the three I mentioned are the top three and they get a major portion of the hits for people looking for properties. I don't find it worthwhile to chase after smaller sites to get things displayed. Speaking to you now as a business person, if you can find out these kinds of details for your local MLS and become knowledgeable in how media is picked up and presented, you can position yourself as a "real estate media consultant" in addition to being a real estate photographer. It may take some calls to your local MLS or find a friendly agent who will send you a screen shot of the local MLS media fields (then call the MLS to confirm details). Once a listing goes live, check how its displaying on the top three sites and your local MLS to chase down any places where the media is not showing. If its not showing up, call the platform and prod them to get the media displaying properly. Keep the agent updated on your efforts so they see that you are providing service beyond sending them media links they must manage by themselves. That kind of service creates value and repeat business! |
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northernWIld private msg quote post Address this user | |
| This is all really helpful, thanks to you both for the comprehensive reply. Definitely helps my understanding of the workflow. I have a few friendly Agent contacts that I will reach out to see how our local MLS works so I can tailor a specialize how-to to their needs. Cheers again. | ||
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