IPhone video content app enables multiple devices to broadcast on a single stream and add rich graphics on the fly. Sorry Android users — this one is iPhone-exclusive.
September is Marketing and Branding Month at Inman. That means we’re talking to the chief marketing officers at major brokerages about how the pandemic is changing their jobs and what it means for agents. We’re publishing a suite of tactical Inman Handbooks for marketing on digital portals. And we’re looking at what pages of the traditional marketing playbook still work. Join us all month long.
Switcher Studio is a video creation and streaming app.
Platforms: iPhone and iPad
Ideal for: Listing agents, teams and brokerages wanting to create video marketing content
Top selling points:
- Multicam capability
- Easy input of graphics and text titles
- Broadcast-quality visual tools and enhancements
- No complicated editing
- Facebook, YouTube stream integrations
Top concerns:
The app isn’t designed specifically for real estate, so it’ll take time to build industry case studies.
What you should know
As I mentioned in this 3D tour rundown during Connect Now in June, video tours and live content production continue to get easier.
And while I wouldn’t call Switcher Studio the outright easiest (but it does make some aspect of video creation very easy), I definitely deem it one of the coolest video content apps I’ve come across in the pandemic era.
If you have two (or nine) Apple devices on the same Wi-Fi network, you can establish multiple camera views for a streaming broadcast and insert one perspective into the other using the picture-in-picture effect.
Agents and teams with savvy marketing staff could leverage this in all kinds of ways. Multiple people in a house? “Over to you in the wine cellar, Jill.”
Luxury teams could use Switcher Studio for their larger, more ornate homes, where square footage demands and unique features require additional messaging — and creativity.
The app allows you to upload existing video and images, too. Users can quickly tap them into any livestream, exactly as you would see on a prime-time newscast. Only the user sees the menus and input process.
Graphics, such as logos, titles, headshots or just about any sort of image are also simply “tapped” into any recorded video or stream.
Switcher Studio, like EyeSpy360, allows you to narrate live over recorded video. Along the way, a quick tap enables you to introduce bulleted lists, say for room finishes and appliance brands, pictures of neighborhood highlights or even a map.
Livestreams are easily scheduled using slick integrations with Facebook and YouTube’s live event scheduling interfaces. You don’t have to log in to either network’s account after your initial setup. It also connects to LinkedIn Live and Twitch.
The position, look, color and general style of graphics are easily edited in the template menu. You can drop in social media account graphics, “lower-thirds” (text or headlines on the lower third of the screen), corner bugs (small headshots or graphics) and even split the screen on the fly.
To build a general listing video, import captured video and images, hit record, and tap the corresponding windows. You don’t need to drag-and-drop them in any order. Add text and overlays as you record.
What makes Switcher Studio ideal for real estate agents is that it can be used for both general marketing video production and live events. It excels at the latter. Logos and headshots are simple to add, as are banners and other supportive imagery.
This feels very much like a television production truck, but in your iPhone. The dashboard has the look and feel of a technical editing suite, with dark colors and transition menus listed around blocks of imported content.
It certainly could benefit from a softer look and feel, but don’t let it intimidate you. After a couple of minutes of watching the demo, I felt totally comfortable in my ability to navigate features. Jump in there, and have fun with it.
Kerbox Media recommends this app to its clients and offers training on how to best leverage it.
Video listings and streaming open houses are here, folks. And streaming media is going to be used in real estate for much more than open houses, like video blogs and agent podcasts.
As HomeSnap CEO John Mazur said at Connect Now, it’s time for agents to have a virtual presence on top of what they do online. Switcher Studio can do that for you.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
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