When planning a webinar or virtual event, there are lots of options for virtual video or webinar platforms. So, how do you decide which one is right for you?
We’ve tried a lot of them: GoToMeeting, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. Here’s our review of these four video sharing platforms… and our top pick that we love using every time.
Microsoft Teams
If your business already has a Microsoft 365 license, Microsoft Teams won’t cost you extra to use. This can be a big benefit for small businesses or organizations on a tighter budget.
However, when it comes to its ease of use and functionality, Microsoft Teams isn’t our favorite. Teams excels when you’re using it within your internal system (and everyone is already using Office 365), but if you’re bringing in outsiders, the platform loses its “wow” power. The platform is not as intuitive and many of its integration features are lost.
GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting has been around longer than many of the other video conferencing services, getting started in 2004. And, when using this platform, you can tell that it’s older.
As we’re now in an “iPhone world” where we’re accustomed to user-friendly experiences with tech and devices, GoToMeeting could use some updates. It’s a bit clunky behind the scenes, and some of the features are a bit awkward. For example, it’s challenging to share your screen or get someone else to share their screen. When leading a presentation for your clients or customers, the last thing you need is to feel awkward using its basic features.
Google Meet
Google Meet can be great for a casual call with friends. And if you’re a Gmail user, Google automatically adds a Google Meet video meeting link to any of your calendar invitations to other email addresses, saving you the step.
However, if you’re looking to host webinars, you won’t be able to do that here as Google Meet is lacking a webinar feature. And why use multiple platforms when you could find just one to serve all of your needs? This brings us to…
Zoom
Did you have a hunch that we were going to say that Zoom was our favorite? Zoom has skyrocketed in popularity for many of the reasons that the other video platforms have not.
- Zoom has a very simple, easy, and clean interface. You don’t have to watch tutorials to be able to figure out the basic settings on Zoom. It’s simple to learn and once you know the basic settings, you can expand to exploring its more advanced functions.
- Zoom has both the webinar feature and the meeting feature, so you only need one account here versus using multiple platforms.
- Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinar are very similar. So if you start out by using Zoom Meetings, you can very easily transition into using Zoom Webinar.
At the end of the day, we’ll always recommend using Zoom!
Have you tried using different video platforms? We want to hear your experiences, too! Leave a comment sharing with us below.
‘Til next time,
Sandy
