Get More Traffic from your new Virtual Tour

Congratulations on enhancing your business’ Google profile with a See Inside tour!

While it might be tempting to sit back and let the visitors come to you, I’ve found that sharing your excitement about this new way of interacting with you can lead to more long term success and better ROI from the investment you’ve made.

Here are some ideas to help get you started:

1) ADD IT TO YOUR SITE  Your Google profile is great for people at the beginning (who are still searching for a provider in the area) or the end of your sales process (who are looking for directions to your location.)  That said, your website is owned and managed by you—making the experience it provides your customers more immune to the effects of platform changes and other distractions.

By embedding the tour on your site, you can provide your customers the experience that you’ve worked to craft for them, without the jumble of other ads and offers to pull them away. Not sure where to put it?  You could add it next to your current directions or map.  Here are directions for how to get an embed code or short link.

2) GO SOCIAL Now that you know where to get the short link, you can share it on your favorite social media platforms, or add it to your email signature.  You can upload a panoramic jpg to Facebook directly, or  you can also create a tab on your Facebook page to embed the full tour there.

3) USE A SPECIFIC VIEW  When you grab your link or embed code, take advantage of using a view that is relevant to the message you’ll be sending with your call-to-action.  For example, if you’re asking for feedback about the new mural in your office, go to the view that shows the mural, and then get the link from that specific view.  Now your audience will spend less time poking around, and more time focused on the question you asked.

4) CREATE A LANDING PAGE If you are using the tour for a particular campaign, why not embed it on a landing page so you can tailor your message and other calls to action around it, keeping your audience on your website longer.

5) TRACK RESULTS You can track the number of people referred to your website from your Google profile, but Analytics isn’t yet smart enough to show whether they’ve viewed the tour.  This is another great reason to use landing pages— so you can track the clicks and time spent on those pages.

There are some products out there that provide hotspot overlays and analytics for Google tours for an ongoing fee.  Check in with me if you’d like a rundown on those services.

6) ENCOURAGE REVIEWS  Now that your tour is on your profile, what better way to prompt your existing customer base to leave a review on your Google profile, since they’ll already be only a click away.  Businesses with more positive reviews rank highly with search robots— and look more trustworthy to humans, too.

7) ASK FOR OTHER INTERACTION  You’ve posted the tour on your other social media, so try using it to spark up a conversation or to pose questions to your followers.  If the platform supports it, you could use a poll or questionnaire.

For your next email newsletter, you could post the link as a text hyperlink, or use screenshots singly or in series as an animated gif for an image link. Camtasia or a other screencasting software can used to create a video version of your tour to post on Youtube or Vimeo.

Some tech savvy patrons may be into Google Cardboard and other VR experiences, and virtual tours are perfect for that technology.

8) COMBINE WITH PRINT CAMPAIGNS  If you use printed ads, business cards or flyers you virtual tour link could be printed as a QR code or a memory-friendly link to your landing page (i.e yourwebsite.com/vitualtour )

9) CREATE LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS  Be sure to connect in person with other business owners and civic leaders in your area.  Sometimes popping out for a quick coffee could perk up some great ideas for both of you, and keep you abreast of trends within the community.

10) GO BEYOND GOOGLE  Local search optimization is critical to increasing foot traffic.  Google is checking reputation and consistency of basic business information across other platforms as well as an indicator of a trustworthy business.  This includes making sure you’re listed on other platforms, and have the same address and contact information throughout. The SEO pros at Moz are offering this free checkup for your business on local search relevant platforms.  (They also offer a service to push the information for you for a fee.)

11) GO ROGUE Creative staging during your tour could open up a wealth of other possibilities. One creative marketer hid a mascot throughout the store during the shooting of the tour, then held a scavenger hunt for prizes—which could also be a fun thing if your business works with children.  Another company had a pretty typical office space with cubicles, but decided to show their fun side by having employees find creative ways to avoid having their faces blurred— hiding behind a plant, holding up a sign, or wearing a silly mask.

Thanks for choosing me as your Trusted Photographer!  Feel free to stay in touch to share your success story, and I’m looking forward to seeing you on the Map and beyond.