Vimeo or YouTube...what’s the best video platform for your business?
March 18, 2019
YouTube or Vimeo?
Which platform should your business use to share videos?
The simple answer? Both.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of each so you can choose the best platform for your marketing efforts.
Why Use Vimeo?
Vimeo is the preferred professional portfolio site for thousands of businesses.
The profile layout is pleasing to the eye with the focus exclusively on the video portfolio. There are no ads, pop-ups or other videos competing with your
company’s content. This keeps viewers from becoming distracted by that cute cat video or toy review lurking on the side bar.
As marketers, this layout is desirable because it keeps the attention where you want it: on your content.
Vimeo offers a free version with upload restrictions of 500MB per week and 5GB of total storage. For many businesses, this free version
doesn’t provide enough space, but additional storage is available ranging in price from $7 – 75 per month. The price of membership keeps the platform
ad-free.
The Vimeo community consists of more mature adults who offer constructive feedback via video comments. The site has roughly 170 million total users with
42 million residing in the US. The platform has deep roots allowing filmmakers, artists, and creatives to showcase their work. The majority of the
existing community continues to be these types of users.
Overall, Vimeo has a smaller online community, with monetized memberships — not ads, and offers a professional presentation platform for your company portfolio.
Problems with Vimeo
In the last six months, some users have reported their accounts being shut down without warning, claiming music copyright or other unstated issues. For
businesses with over 10+ years of work uploaded, this would be upsetting.
Aside from your account potentially getting deleted without notice, another concern is the poor search feature. Vimeo is notorious for having a less-than-helpful
search. When users arrive on the home page and type what they are looking for in the search bar, the likelihood of them finding exactly what they seek
is low. Entering specific and relevant tags related to your content can help, but after a few feeble attempts to track down what they seek, viewers
are more likely to give up on their search and/or bounce from the site.
We Recommend…
To avoid issues with search, provide direct links to a Vimeo portfolio of your company’s best work. Putting direct links on your website
and other marketing materials will walk your viewers directly to the videos you want them to watch. Also ensure your content, video banner, and video
thumbnails look pleasing to add that extra polish to your portfolio.
Why Use YouTube?
YouTube is the second largest search platform in the world.
Youtube’s 1.8 million monthly users are keen to the highly effective search features that allow them to quickly locate videos on specific
topics. Knowing that most users go to YouTube to find content is valuable to note.
With such a large user base, there is a much better chance you can attract interested prospects by placing videos on YouTube. The platform is free to watch,
and there are no upload limits.
The user base features a variety of ages, interests and maturity levels. Depending on your industry, this could mean that some of the viewers tuning in
to watch your content may not be the audience you’re looking for.
Overall, YouTube has a massive user base, is a free option to upload countless videos, and gives your videos a bigger stage to be found by prospective
customers.
Problems with YouTube
YouTube is fueled by monetized ad placement. Their main concern is keeping viewers on the platform for as long as possible, watching videos that they can
then serve ads to.
This results in a plethora of distractions. Instead of focusing on your videos, viewers are inundated with suggested videos on the sidebar, pre-roll ads,
and other distractions.
With 300 hours of content uploaded per minute, videos often get lost in the fray if not intriguing or specific with tags, titles, and thumbnails.
We Recommend…
Upload company videos to the platform and make sure you title, tag and meta tag the search terms you want to rank for.
For example, if ABC Staffing Company is uploading a promotional video about their services, it’s better to be found in a search for the topic rather than
the company name. Don’t title the video ‘ABC Company Promotion.’ Consider titling the video ‘Iowa Staffing Agency: ABC Company.’
The term ‘Iowa Staffing Agency’ is searched 70 times a month on average and could bring in interested prospects to watch. In addition to tweaking the title,
enter related search topics in the tags section of the video. This helps YouTube and Google suggest your video to other viewers looking for similar
topics.
Which One Should You Use?
Both. Put your best work on your Vimeo profile to show clients and also share your content on YouTube.
Whether you use Vimeo, YouTube or both — have a strategy in place. Send viewers to direct links on Vimeo and tag/title videos on
YouTube to get picked up in search. Using the strengths of each platform will increase exposure and get more eyes on your content.
Why This Matters to Marketers
As marketers, we want as much interested attention on our brand as possible. Leveraging and optimizing both of these platforms properly
can allow you to do just that.
Interested in more ideas on how to get your content in front of your audience? Check out our 5 Tips for Building an Effective Content Marketing blog post.
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