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*Zoom and services that include the name Zoom are services provided by Zoom Video Communications, Inc.
From July 15, 2022, Zoom will have a 40-minute limit even for meetings with two participants if you have a free subscription. (Previously, it was only for meetings with 3 or more people.)
Companies and organizations using Zoom for business should consider switching to a paid license at this opportunity.
Zoom is a web meeting tool that has many fans because it is free and has a wide range of functions, but it is not enough if you use it as a webinar tool when holding a web seminar or online salon.
If you use Zoom for web seminars and online salons, you need to use a paid license instead of a free license.
“Can’t you do it with the free version?”
Why should you use it even if it is paid? I think you will understand if you read the text. First of all, I will explain the basic knowledge about Zoom and the difference between Zoom free license and paid version license, so please read to the end.
What is a Zoom webinar?
Zoom webinar is a Zoom service for those who conduct web seminars and online salons on the Internet among many licenses.
Zoom has a very high reputation as a web conferencing tool for its high-quality, high-compression data communication, and is used by more than 1 million companies and organizations around the world. However, it is highly recommended for its cost performance .
Differences between Zoom meetings and webinars
The license for web conferences and online meetings is called Zoom Meeting, and the license for web seminars and online salons is called Zoom Webinar.
I compared the difference as a tool.
| Zoom meeting | Zoom webinars | |
|---|---|---|
| Usage | Web conferences and internal discussions | Web seminars and online salons |
| screen sharing | Possible | Possible |
| video sharing | Possible (all participants) | Hosts and panelists only |
| View-only participation | none | Possible |
| The number of participants | Up to 100 people for free, up to 500 people for paid plans | Depends on contract license. Up to 100 to 10,000 people |
| Participant list | Viewable by all participants | Visible only to host and panelists |
| Chat function | Possible | Possible |
| Q&A | none | Possible |
| live streaming | Facebook only | Facebook, YouTube, Facebook, etc. |
| subtitles | Possible | Possible |
| recording | Possible | Possible |
In this way, the difference between Zoom Meeting and Zoom Webinar as a tool is whether video sharing is possible or not, whether viewing only participation is possible, and whether there is a Q&A function.
Also, webinars are much more partners when live streaming seminars and online salons.
By the way, video sharing is a function for viewing common videos between people participating in Zoom.
The webinar is led by the host and panelists and is only available to the host and panelists.
In addition, the Q&A function is a function that is only available in webinars, and it is a function that allows you to take questionnaires from people participating in web seminars and online salons and to have two-way communication by chat .
Considering these, if you are thinking about delivering web seminars and online salons, webinars are recommended because they are optimized as a function.
Differences and features between Zoom free and paid licenses
In addition to the free version, Zoom’s pricing system includes professional, business, and enterprise licenses, and has an optional webinar tool function.
In other words, to use the Zoom webinar tool function, you must subscribe to a Zoom paid license.
If you would like to know more about which Zoom paid plan is best for Pro, Business, or Enterprise, please contact us from the banner at the bottom of the page. The person in charge will guide you to the best plan and price.
So what exactly is the difference between Zoom’s free and paid licenses?
There are many differences in detailed functions depending on the plan, but I will omit it here and explain only the major differences.
What is the difference
- 40 minutes time limit
- Paid version license can be saved in the cloud when recording
- You can manage usage status and meeting status
- Can be linked with other business tools
These four are the big differences between Zoom’s free version license and paid version license.
And the Zoom webinar, which is recommended for essential web seminars and online salons, can only be used with a paid plan.
Zoom has a strong image that it can be used for free, but if you use it as a webinar tool for web seminars or online salons, the free plan is not recommended.
The next section will explain why.
Why you should use the paid version of Zoom webinar instead of free for web seminars and online salons
If you use Zoom for web seminars and online salons, you can use it with a free license, but it may damage your branding and trust.
The free version of Zoom has a delivery time limit of 40 minutes
Because Zoom is a free license, you can only use it for up to 40 minutes even for a meeting with two participants.
Of course, if it is a web seminar or online salon, it is natural that there are many participants in addition to the host and panelists.
In that case, it will not be a story to finish with “because the time has come in 40 minutes”.
If you do a web seminar or online salon, you will introduce products, services, or information to your customers.
In order for those people to feel that they want your products, services, and information, in addition to the value of the product itself, it is necessary to have the credibility and brand power of the communicator (host, lecturer, panelist). .
In that sense, it is very important to be able to use it for more than 40 minutes with peace of mind.
Publish and share your recorded seminars online
Cloud storage of recordings, which is a feature of Zoom’s paid plan.
You can also record with Zoom, which has a free version license, but you can only save locally (save to your smartphone or tablet, such as your PC or iPhone).
When holding a webinar or online salon, you can record it, edit it, publish it as content, or share it with those who could not participate at that time.
With the paid version, you can save to the cloud, so all you have to do is share the URL of the save destination and these steps will be completed.
Analyze participants’ reports and use them for the next distribution
There is a report creation function as a function not in the free version.
This is a function that creates reports on registrants, attendees, response rate to questionnaires, attendee engagement, etc.
These data will be very useful for the next web seminar or online salon.
Combined marketing approach with Hubspot and Zapier
It is possible to link Zoom webinars with various business tools.
For example, if you link with Hubspot, you can get data on participation/non-participation and how far you have listened to the video.
By linking with Zapier, it is also possible to provide information on where to purchase products and services and present payment methods (Paypal, credit card payment, etc.) when web seminars and online salons are finished.
Article Summary
How was it? This time, we introduced the Zoom webinar and explained the necessity of switching from the free version license to the paid version.
I also talked about why it is recommended to use the webinar even if you change to the paid version.
A popular Zoom webinar that is actually used by many people. It has excellent functions as a tool, but I think that those who use Zoom webinars for the first time will be surprised by its stable communication quality.
Please try it once.