In this post youll find what we, the Data Science Dojo Video Team, picked as our top video marketing platforms.
YouTube YouTube needs no introduction.
Nearly one out of every two internet users are on YouTube, and the site is the second largest search engine on the web.
Because of YouTube’s rapidly growing popularity, it shouldn’t come as a surprise this would be the first platform on our list.
Photo by Christian Wiediger on UnsplashAt its core, YouTube is a video hosting platform that uses your content as the business model, much like Facebook.
It’s the reason all the tools are free to use, otherwise, it wouldn’t have caught on as quickly.
Features:Create & customize your own channelIntegrations with Google Analytics & toolsSubscribers, Likes, Sharing buttonsFree Live streamingPowerful recommendation engineSubtitle generationScheduling public videosAdvertising using uploaded videosYouTube is almost the complete package when it comes to video marketing.
But remember, YouTube’s business is keeping users on the site, so the tools they give you are designed to do just that.
This can bring complications if the goal is to send users to your site.
Which brings us to the pros and the cons to using YouTube as a platform.
Pros:Massive userbaseNo upload limitsMonetization optionsGoogle search seoPowerful analytical dashboardsCan upload almost anything Cons:Very competitive Strict content ID system Restrictions on linking interactive mediaVery limited embedding optionsNo security on videosLacking support / help articlesAds on the videosOther channels are advertised with the recommendation engineDon’t underestimate how difficult it will be to get a foothold on your target audience.
Since YouTubes so massive, there is a ton of competition to have the top video in the search results.
Therefore, its important to know how your videos rank in the system.
Applying plugins can help you understand and analyze your video rankings.
We use VidIQ and TubeBuddy to help us with our rankings.
Tubebuddy: Allows users to quickly manage their YouTube channels and improve SEO, views, and subscriber growth.
While it has some SEO features, it focuses more on Bulk updating and ease-of-use.
VidIQ: More focused on SEO, it has a more robust tagging system and a nice cleanly laid out interface.
If SEO is what you want, look no further.
Theres no harm in using both as the “free” features are more than enough to get you going.
We do suggest paying the extra money for Tubebuddy as the features it adds are time saving especially on larger channels.
Vimeo ProVimeo is the closest competitor to YouTube with over 700 million active users.
However, Vimeo caters to a completely different audience.
Vimeo is considered the “professionals” choice when it comes to video hosting platforms.
This is largely to do with the better compression and lack of ads on the site.
A lot of Indy filmmaker content is found there, and they push that genre much higher than, say, a tutorial.
Regardless, It is another great video sharing platform that offers some unique features over its competitors.
No advertisementsA cleaner and more customizable layoutWider range of embedding optionsMore interaction elementsGreater security for your contentHigher quality encodingBranding customizationHide videos from Vimeo and keep them public The cons of using Vimeo:Lower viewer numbersNo advertising optionsMust pay for advanced featuresUpload limitsLacks automatic subtitle optionsLacks bulk updatingLimited integrations and 3rd party support Live streaming is expensiveNo scheduling optionsUnlike YouTube’s features, Vimeo’s are not entirely free.
Vimeo currently offers five membership plans, which vary in features and upload limits.
With the free plan, you can see very basic analytics like: The number of times your video was loadedThe number of plays, finishes, likes and commentsYour most popular videosFor a marketer, that is not good enough, so upgrading to a Pro plan allows you to see engagement and duration graphs.
This makes the analytics much more like YouTube’s.
Depending on the content you produce, Vimeo is a great tool, but for gaining visibility, it may not be the right tool since YouTube has twice the users.
It is also worth noting that YouTube is a Google product and Vimeo is not.
This means Google will place YouTube videos much higher on search results than Vimeo, but sometimes Google will display the same video from both platforms.
We use Vimeo more as an embedding tool than anything else.
We arent trying to necessarily reach the audience on Vimeo, but the seamless embedding is an important tool for our website.
It acheives the same goal at a cheaper price than other sites like:WistiaVidyardBrightcoveIt’s not outlandish to use both platforms, but because Vimeo requires a paid plan to get the deeper analytics, YouTube may still be a better choice.
FacebookPhoto by William Iven on UnsplashFacebook is the most popular social media site on the planet.
With over 2 billion active users, it is not slowing down.
When you think of video platforms, Facebook is not one of them, but it has recently been making steps in changing this fact.
It is defiantly behind when it comes to the likes of Vimeo and YouTube especially in the metrics department.
However, it has been busy adding new features that makes the platform hard to ignore.
Facebook features:A New creator studio for video management and performance monitoringReturning viewers vs new metricsMetrics specific to Facebook news feedAd performance monitoring Retire and backdate video postsFacebook Live StreamingAutomatic CaptioningIn recent years, Facebook has been pushing users to start uploading videos to their platform.
With this push, they have been treating posts with YouTube and Vimeo links as thumbnails instead of imbedding the content.
This explains why Facebook has been adding video tools so quickly.
But as it is, Facebook is best used as a supplemental platform and not the main driver of your content.
Facebook Pros:2 Billion usersFree Live StreamingFree video toolsHas a multitude of apps that work with itNo Ads in videosFacebook Cons:Closed platform (can’t embed posts)No Google Search ResultsInterface has a slight learning curveLacks depth in metricsNo interactive contentIf youre looking to market to Facebook users, its better to use Facebookss native video hosting and not just because of the imbedding issues.
Since Facebook videos dont show up on web search results, Facebook is considered a closed garden in terms of video hosting.
But thats why Facebook should be supplemental to YouTube or Vimeo as it is a social media site first, video hosting second.
Other up and coming video platform options are:InstagramPeriscopeLinkedinNone of these tools are perfect, each one has their pros and cons, audiences, and metrics.
But using them together and understanding your data can provide you with the knowledge you need to continue putting out quality content.
Take the time to understand the tools as well as the data they provide and see how you can use them to your advantage.
In the next blog, we will explore video metrics and how to manage them using online tools!Similar Posts body { background:#222; text-align:center; font-size:180%; margin:2em; font-family: Calibri, arial, sans-serif; } .
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