How Live-Stream Video Can Put Your Practice in Focus
The experience of architecture is multi-sensory. Visiting a building in person can evoke a complex set of stimuli and sensations, from how light enters the space to the way a stone floor feels beneath your feet. When it comes to promoting your work and trying to share this experience with the media, you can invite editors and journalists to visit in person. But how can you convey a similar experience of your project through other means?
Conducting a virtual tour of your project using video can be a great way to allow your audiences to experience the building inside and out. Even though your “guests” won’t physically inhabit the space, a virtual tour can provide an effective facsimile and may even entice them to visit in person.
Social media platforms that use video and live streaming can bring your projects to life and share them with a global audience. Users can virtually experience your project, and you can tell the building’s story in a three-dimensional way; this is something two-dimensional photographs can’t do.
Let’s look at a few ways you can share the experience of your projects with your fans, the media, and other audiences using digital and social media together.
Promote your project via a “virtual tour” using social media
Posting a walk-through video of a project on social media gives your audience an inside perspective. This way, anyone can “visit” your design no matter where they are in the world. You can also send the video out to editors and writers as a way to introduce them to your work or even invite them to visit the site in person.
Online design publications love to post video because it generates clicks, so send them your virtual tour via direct Tweet; it’s a great way to get an editor’s attention. If you’ve planned a grand opening, in-person media tour, or other live event, a 30-second video posted to Twitter or a 15-second clip on Instagram can be an effective teaser to build interest in that event. Posting your video to all of your social media platforms can generate broader interest in your project and give your firm greater exposure to a larger audience.
Use video to demonstrate special features
Using video, you can also highlight – and even demonstrate – important features of your project. For example, let’s say your new dormitory building has a special daylighting system that adjusts windows and blinds to control the amount of natural light in the space. You can shoot a 30-second time-lapse video to show the movement of light within the space and how it changes throughout the day. This gives viewers a sense of what it’s like to visit and can encourage them to experience it first hand.
Hold a media tour via live streaming
Your favorite journalist can’t make it to your live event? Then bring your live event to her! Using apps like Instagram Live, Periscope, or Facebook Live, you can share your media tours and grand openings with a wide online audience. The best part is, you can download the app to your smart phone and carry it around with you during your event to share the experience of the space with people in real time. Remember you are in control of what viewers see and hear, so even though it might be tempting to be spontaneous with your live-stream, it’s really important to control the message. Prepare a script [or at least a list of talking points] and know what images are important to telling the project’s story.
Want to learn more? Read about how some architecture firms are getting creative with video here.