Now you all must be aware of the 360 degree photographs since they have been flooding your news feed everywhere. It is but natural that you also would want to use this particular feature to promote your business, after seeing the response the other images are getting.
Here are some tips and tricks that you can make use of, all thanks to Jenn’s Trends.
What should you be sharing? Here are some ideas on how you can use 360 degree photos for your business.
Your Workspace
When I say workspace, I mean actual workspace. Not the street in front of your house. Not your backyard. Not a corner of office – remember, it’s 360 degrees!
If you have a physical store or brick and mortar location, take a 360 of your front office or shop area. This invites people in to the location to really get a feel for what your location looks like and what they can expect when they visit. An exception to the “street” would be for these types of businesses where you can get a great 360 degree image of your storefront while showing your audience what your local neighborhood looks like. It’s kinda like a Google Earth view but better so that customers can better find your location. This is great for retail stores, restaurants, and other businesses that welcome new and returning customers daily.
If you have a warehouse, storage, or manufacturing set up of any kind (even your spare room in your house 😉 ), take a 360 photo to show what this set looks like. This shows people how serious you are about your merchandise and offers them a behind-the-scenes look at how you operate.
If you are more of a home office and service based business, you could still take a 360 of your workspace. You could make this fun showing “behind the camera” that everyone sees on your videos. Is the rest of your office messy, cluttered, clean, full of kids toys? Again, you’re letting your audience into your world on a more personal level but that is actually related to your business.
Does your workspace change regularly? If you’re a photographer or speaker, your “workspace” may be a different client location every time. A great 360 (with the client’s permission, of course) that shows your set up, the environment, the audience, and all the working pieces going on behind the camera can be a really unique way to highlight what you do.
Team Events or Gatherings
Out for a celebratory team dinner? Want to introduce new employees? Celebrating an employee’s birthday or company anniversary? Get everyone in a circle and have the 360 degree photo shot from the center of the group to capture everyone in one big smiling, happy photo.
This invites personality and a human dynamic to your brand while showcasing it in a unique and less-posed way (rather than everyone lined up in a row against the wall).
Events and Conferences
Do you go to seminars, conferences, charity events, local community events? Whether you’re sponsoring an event or attending the event, your customers and audience are likely interested to know what you’re doing and how you’re participating.
Stand in the middle of a busy area of the event, if you can, and grab an awesome 360 degree photo of the whole venue to give your audience a fun perspective. Include some takeaways or tips from the event to boost the value of this type of image.
Exciting Destinations
Do you travel for work? Do you visit fun, lively, exciting places? Ok, then you could justify some scenic photos in 360. But please make it interesting. Another random green grassy hill or random street in Boringville does not fall into this category.
A travel blogger or global speaker would make great use of this feature to showcase new locations or venues.
Unique Perspectives
If, and I mean IF, you can tie it to your business, an amazing and unique perspective photo could be highly valuable to your posting strategy. I’m talking standing at the peak of the highest building in your city, getting a panoramic shot of the whole city view. Or looking out from an airplane (or even as you jump out of an airplane). Or hanging off the side of a cliff. Or scaling a mountain. Or zip-lining. Or crossing a suspension bridge.
Ok, you get my point. If your brand is about these kind of unique places or opportunities, you can totally use a great 360 degree photo. But, even if your brand isn’t specifically about this but you did something like this and could tie it (your personal side, a marketing message, etc.) to your brand, these types of images are something that would stand out in the feed and that your audience would enjoy.
There are many other ways that you can get creative and find unique ways to share 360 photos that don’t bore or annoy your audience. Put that thinking cap on!
Now that you know what you should be sharing, how do you create these photos?
Well, it’s actually pretty easy, if you’re planning accordingly.