360 Virtual Tours VS Video Tours- What is the Difference?

We get asked a lot about the difference between a video tour and a 360 virtual tour.  There is a lot of misinformation out there about if a video tour is the same as a 360 virtual tour. In this blog post, we are going to dissect each one to deeply understand how best to use them.

Video Tour

A video tour for any location is basically a walkthrough with a camera sometimes with a voice over, motion graphics or text for additional explanation and music to enhance the experience. However, video tours are viewed from one perspective as it does not give an in-depth feeling of the location being viewed.

Video tours are great for quick explanation or for giving an overview of a location. They are not great at giving an in-depth perspective on things, the more explanation one tries to give the longer the video gets. It is true that videos can be paused, rewound and fast forwarded but it still does not give the in- person feeling like 360 virtual tours do.

Video tours of 3D architectural designs can also be created to create the same experience as having a live video. Music, voice over, text and motion graphics can equally be added, however the experience will still be from one perspective.

Video tours are excellent for presentation purposes, as they can be edited to suit whatever audience being presented to. They can also be compressed in size and quality for sharing on various social media platforms, email, websites and blog sites.

360 Virtual Tours

For virtual tours, the main difference from video tours is that you can literally walk through the spaces at your own pace and pan around in full 360 degrees. With virtual tours, you can move to any point in the tour at will and still have that in- person experience. You are in control of what you see as you can move from space to space within the same locations. Just like video tours, you can add background music, voice over, text for explanation; motion graphics to enhance the experience and one can even view virtual tours with virtual reality headsets for an even more surreal experience.

Most times people who have experienced 360 virtual tours will say they feel like they have already experienced the space. With 360 virtual tours, most businesses get higher conversion rates than with video tours.

360 virtual tours of 3D architectural designs can also be created to create the same experience as having a live 360 virtual tour. Music, voice over, text and motion graphics can equally be added and they can be viewed using virtual reality headsets.

360 virtual tours are best viewed through a web link, which can be shared via SMS, Whatsapp, email and some social media platforms. The key advantage for 360 virtual tours is the ability to direct traffic to your website as they are termed ‘sticky content’.

If you are looking for something short and simple to portray your location, then a video tour is your best bet. However, if you want to create a more cutting edge and engaging marketing tool with high conversion rates and connectivity, then a 360 virtual tour should be your ideal solution.