Video promos have become increasingly popular across all industries. One of the biggest reasons for this escalating craze is that videos are easier to watch than reading text. Furthermore, online video marketing helps you tell your story in multiple imaginative ways. Here are pros and cons of three well known video platforms.
Related Blog: How to Use Video to Generate Leads Through Inbound Marketing
YouTube: Simple and Free
- Free video hosting
- Most popular video platform
- Built-in SEO for both Google and YouTube
YouTube has one billion users and gets over 4 billion views per day. It's also the second most used search engine behind Google. By using descriptions and tags (based on keywords), it's possible for your videos to gain visibility in both Google and YouTube search engines, depending on niche popularity as well as other factors.
The main drawback to YouTube is that some users click the link on the video player that takes them to YouTube's site, causing them to leave your site and possibly view videos that compete with your business. Although the steps to uploading videos is simple, sometimes it takes hours to upload a video, depending on your internet speed. Another common complaint about YouTube is that it is full of interruptive ads.
Vimeo: Higher Quality for Fans
- High quality HD playback
- No interruptive ads
- Video sharing and sophisticated privacy settings
Vimeo attracts more of a high end and creative video fan community, especially among indie filmmakers. As long as users watch the videos on high end devices with high speed internet, Vimeo's visual quality is very impressive and superior to YouTube. The White House uses Vimeo for its broadcasts, due to its eye-catching high definition.
One of the key benefits to Vimeo is that users don't have to sit through any bothersome ads, since it is based on a subscription-driven revenue model. It also allows you to customize the video player's control options and lets you add your logo. A major edge the site provides is offering unlimited channels, groups and albums as part of the Vimeo Plus package for an annual fee.
Some managers may be hesitant to subscribe to Vimeo's PRO package which includes video hosting, due to monthly fees. Businesses trying to cut costs may decide that YouTube is better because it's free, regardless of quality.
Wistia: Made for Marketing Pros
- Allows you to embed keywords in videos
- Most comprehensive analytics
- Offers the best security
Wistia's niche is designed to meet the needs of online marketers. It provides similar features to Vimeo, such as a custom controls for the video player. It also allows you display your logo, which YouTube does not allow. Ultimately, one of its strongest benefits is that it runs better on mobile devices than YouTube. Like YouTube and Vimeo, it also offers a wealth of in-depth analytics that allow you to learn about your audience.
Another key advantage is that Wistia offers better tools for creating video sitemaps, which help search engines index your videos. Wistia also has an edge in customization when it comes to creating clickable text on a video that links to wherever you want your viewers to go. In terms of lead generation, Wistia is the superior B2B platform, as it provides users with a form they fill out, which then tells you exactly who is watching your video and when.
The real marketing advantage to Wistia is its ability to help you generate new leads through video. Using tools like the clickable text mentioned above, your company is able to navigate viewers to landing pages and other forms on your website in order to turn a simple viewer, into a lead. Some of these forms may be required in order for viewers to finish watching the video. While this may seem excessive to some, it has been proven to generate substantial leads when done properly.
On the downside, you are limited by the amount of storage capacity you purchase with Wistia. It's also strictly a hosting site that does not offer promotion tools and it is not a social media platform. The other main issue is that Wistia is the most expensive of the three.
