The final efforts of video production for marketing purposes will shift to how the video will be distributed. Choosing the right distribution method is crucial to reaching your target audience. No one platform is the best for all types of videos so choose judiciously. Because of the abundance of websites where you can upload your videos, the selection may seem daunting, but fret not, here is a guide to the primary choices available right now.
- YouTube
The web titan is obviously the first thing that comes to mind. It boasts of the highest number of viewers as well as videos uploaded; hence it is undoubtedly the most popular video destination in the world.
Uploading of videos in YouTube is free and very simple so here you’ve covered the cost effective aspect. What’s more, YouTube is owned by Google so you are assured of its quality and features and perhaps an influence in their search engine. Youtube channels also enables users to generate a fan-base and provides useful statistics. Lastly, it allows ads and links to be placed on your videos.
On the other hand, because of Youtube’s large domain, your video might get lost amidst the millions of videos uploaded regularly. Your chances of standing out in this venue is not very high. YouTube is also infamous for the notorious comments of viewers and some businesses do not want to associate themselves with its content. Nevertheless, because of its dominant standing, posting marketing videos in YouTube is almost obligatory. To expand your horizon though, you may cross-post in another portal and your website.
Vimeo
Vimeo is more selective in the videos allowed for posting. The website shies away from television clips, video game footage and music video, and focuses on art and quality videos. This narrowed content aids in building a community that share common interests and paves the way to creating long-term relationships with a common audience. The guidelines of Vimeo also strictly prohibits personal attacks and insults so unlike YouTube, there is almost no possibility of receiving crass comments.
On the flip side, the focused content and numerous restrictions might hinder the content of your video to be posted. Also, because of their smaller audience, your video might not easily find viewership and commercial content is not allowed. Lastly, only the basic account which allows 500MB of upload is free and beyond that, you have to pay.
Metacafe
Metacafe promotes original, short-form video content but they do get 40 million visitors monthly. Because of the short content (a Metacafe video averages only 90 seconds), full-length movies, television episodes and news stories are not allowed. They’re not as strict as Vimeo though; any kind of user is allowed to sign up and they let the community of users on their own when it comes to using the site. The highest rated videos also get a cash reward and they have a zero tolerance policy for defamatory material and comments.
The downside of this site is its content limitation, both in length and genre. They also seem to focus more on video game content. Compared to Youtube, their audience size is still relatively small.
These are just among the video platforms you can use. When it comes to marketing, do not limit yourself on just this list. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can be used to spread the word about your video marketing and access your desired audience.