Choose the best platform to host your video

Matt Cooper, CEO of Visually, reveals the pros and cons of the main video platforms for B2B marketers

Earlier this year YouTube launched a very public celebration of its 10-year anniversary. It had much to be proud of; over the past decade, it has provided a platform and audience for some of the most iconic videos to emerge on the web, everything from the humorous (Charlie Bit My Finger, David at the Dentist) to the politically impactful (the death of Neda Agha-Soltan in Iran, police misconduct in the US). Part of its success derives from the fact that it’s been the dominant online video platform for most of those 10 years. Other than Vimeo and a few smaller players, YouTube was the only place to upload your video if you wanted it to actually be seen.

That scenario has changed drastically within the last year or so. Nearly every major social platform, from Facebook to Instagram to Twitter to Tumblr, has launched a native video tool, and many are starting to see strong adoption. Facebook recently announced its native videos are being viewed four billion times a day and live Periscope streams of the Mayweather Pacquiao fight were watched by tens of thousands of users.

Suddenly, marketers have a bevy of platform options for distributing their video content. But how can you choose which platform to upload to? Many of these tools have different audiences and varying capabilities. And while nearly all of them boast millions of users, such as Instagram, Vine and Periscope, many of those viewers aren’t necessarily in the market for B2B products and services. Below, I give you a rundown of the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of video platforms that are best suited to B2B marketing.

YouTube

YouTube still has the most robust offering of any platform. Its videos are easily embedded on any website (in case you want to craft a landing page around it), and it has both reliable servers and strong analytics reporting. Because it’s owned by Google, not only does it have top-notch internal search and discovery mechanisms, but YouTube videos are also prominently displayed in Google search results. This makes YouTube especially appropriate for evergreen and explainer content. So if you’re trying to succinctly explain your product’s offerings to a potential client and simply want to shoot him or her a video summary, YouTube is likely the ideal service.

However, the platform is weak when it comes to video discovery. Though it does have social media components that allow users to create profiles and follow other users, most people discover videos when they’re embedded elsewhere. In fact, recent studies have found that the majority of people who visit YouTube do so to locate a video they already know exists, not to discover new videos. This can be a problem if you’re looking to get your video seen by a lot of people very quickly.

Vimeo

Vimeo is very similar to YouTube in terms of capabilities, but has a much smaller user base. However its users are passionate and influential. You’ll notice that a lot of documentarians and filmmakers will upload their short films exclusively to Vimeo; that’s because it has a much slicker design aesthetic. If you have a luxury or premium brand that’s extremely design conscious, you may want to skip YouTube and go with Vimeo, especially if you’re less concerned with audience size and more focused on the quality of your audience’s user experience.

Facebook

Facebook is the largest player to elbow its way into video. With 1.4 billion users – many of whom log in every day – no other platform can touch it in terms of sheer audience size. It also helps that Facebook engineers have prioritised video in the newsfeed algorithm and instituted autoplay to encourage viewing.

If your company already has a substantial Facebook fan base, then uploading videos natively to the platform is a no-brainer – in fact you’ll likely see some of the highest engagement in your page’s history. If your company doesn’t have many followers, however, then getting your video to spread may require you to spend money running targeted ads in the newsfeed. Also, while it’s not uncommon for B2B companies to market themselves on Facebook, bear in mind the overwhelming majority of users are more likely to visit the site to keep abreast of friend and family news rather than find out about the latest enterprise software.

Hangouts on Air

If you want to experiment with live video, you might want to try Google Hangouts on Air. It allows multiple people to participate via their webcams and it can be watched live by an infinite number of people. Many not-for-profits and other organisations host virtual panel discussions on Google Hangouts by arranging for a host to interview several experts on a topic. Any video you broadcast is also automatically uploaded to your YouTube account so it can be watched by others later on.

Keep in mind, however, the more people you invite to participate, the more opportunities there are for technical difficulties. All it takes is one bad internet connection from one of your participants for the discussion to go awry.