Once you have a finished video you’re proud of, your aim is probably to get it out there, shared and seen. Carefully choosing where you upload your video will ensure you not only reach the maximum number of people, but the right people.
The best place to upload your videos will differ depending on the type, quality and duration of your content, the type of audience you want to reach, and what your aims for your video are. So to help you decide what’s best for you, let’s look at the main players (pun intended)…
Which video sharing platform?
YouTube
YouTube is of course the leader of the pack when it comes to video sharing. There are many reasons for this:
- It’s bloomin’ massive
- Compared to other video sharing sites, it has by far the most videos and the most users
- It’s free and you can upload unlimited video
- It’s easy to use and upload your own content
- It’s owned by Google, which means having your video on there will mean that you are likely to appear higher up in Google searches
- You can create your own channel and build up a fan base who will become a ready audience for any future videos you make
- It can make you money if you monetise your videos and turn them into ads.
- You can embed YouTube videos on your website, meaning that you don’t have to host them yourself
You could be forgiven for thinking that with the billions of videos on YouTube, your video could get more than a little lost in the crowd. But the reality is, the sheer amount of users YouTube gets means you can still be easily found. It’s easily searchable, so as long as you use good keywords and descriptions, people looking for what you offer can find you in seconds.
Vimeo
Vimeo is a good option if your customer’s viewing experience is important to you. Viewers don’t have to sit through pre-roll ads, and the quality is better due to better encoding technology. Vimeo is the place for high quality videos, the favourite for short films and documentaries, and is generally held in much higher regard than YouTube (think quality content rather than oceans of You’ve Been Framed style footage).
Of course you won’t get the reach and unlimited uploads for free that you get with YouTube, but if quality and user experience are important to you and your customers, then it’s a very solid option.
With way more than a billion users, Facebook is a great option if you want to create a video ad campaign and reach loads of people. The more views, likes and shares you get, the more people Facebook will show your video to, further increasing your reach. Using their targeted paid for ads you can expand this reach even further.
But the way you share on Facebook is key.
The thing about Facebook is, once you’re locked in to that newsfeed scroll, they don’t want you to click on an external link and leave. Facebook want you to stay in Facebook. You can never outstay your welcome.
So what does this mean? It means that if you write a post on Facebook with a link to a video that you uploaded elsewhere, on your website or YouTube for example, Facebook isn’t going to like it. Your video is then likely to reach far fewer people than if you upload directly to Facebook. So as much as you might not want Facebook to be the boss of you, if you really want to reach far and wide with your video content, it’s best to play by their rules and upload directly to Facebook.
Other social media platforms
If you regularly use other social media platforms, such as Twitter or Linkedin, a similar premise applies. Essentially it comes down to this: do you want to make it easy for your customers to watch your video? If the answer is yes, (which I’m guessing it is!) then the fewer clicks they need to make to watch your video the more likely they are to watch it. As daft as it sounds, there’s too much content in the world for us to spare too much time clicking away to other websites.
So what to do?
Although your individual circumstances and aims for your video will dictate the best route for you to take, for most people the best approach will be to upload your video to YouTube so it’s easily searchable, but also upload directly to each of your social media pages for your online campaigns.
Test it out
If you can spare the time, it’s a good idea to test out your video sharing strategies. Use the built in analytics tools on Facebook and Twitter for example to monitor your posts and learn what works, then use what you learn for future uploads.
One further thing
Something else to think about is that different platforms are better suited to different types or lengths of video. For example, you might want to upload a short teaser film on Twitter to pique your viewer’s interest, but upload the full length version on YouTube. This works particularly well if you want to take advantage of your social network but have long video content (Twitter’s video duration is limited to just over 2 minutes). You can find out more about the best durations for your videos in our blog post here.
Hope that helps! Of course, if you want to chat about how we can help you with your video needs for your business or charity, just get in touch!
