Marketing your products and services using video marketing strategies can be very productive if you use the right video sharing platforms.
Otherwise, your effort might result in a total waste of time, energy, and resources.
If you search Google for “video hosting platforms for business or marketing”, you will receive millions of results.
Hence, identifying the top video platforms this way can be daunting.
So, what is the trick?
You’ll have to consider some factors which are mainly your business needs to determine exactly which video hosting platforms are perfect for you.
Meanwhile, the hosting sites on which you share your marketing videos are as important as the message in the videos.
That makes it very important to read this post if you want to know the best online video platforms for marketing.
Table of Contents
- Why need online video hosting platforms?
- Audience targeting
- Increase in ROI
- Brand awareness
- Leverage third-party’s viral videos
- Best video-sharing platforms for marketing
- #1. YouTube
- #2. Vimeo
- #3. Facebook
- Facebook prefers longer videos
- Upload directly to Facebook
- Consistency matters
- #4. DailyMotion
- #5. IGTV
- #6. Vidyard
- #7. X (Twitter)
- #8. LinkedIn
- LinkedIn recommended video ideas
- #9. TikTok
- #10. Likee
- Conclusion on Video Sharing Platforms
Why need online video hosting platforms?
If you’re not sure why you need to host your videos on the platforms that I’m about to discuss, here are a few reasons:
Audience targeting
There are several online platforms or sites where marketers can share their videos but many of these platforms can’t give you the exposure you need to get your products through to the targeted set of people.
Some of these platforms are majorly for uploading movies and they focus more on people trying to entertain themselves online.
For instance, a professional video marketer would not consider uploading his videos to Netflix.
Though, Netflix is a good video sharing platform but wasn’t designed for marketers.
The purpose for which it was created was to entertain people and moviemakers use it to showcase their works.
However, that makes Netflix the best option for movie lovers, but not for product or service consumers.
Increase in ROI
Video marketing has proven to be a great way to invest and get a good return on investment (ROI).
To increase your ROI, you need to market your videos on good video-sharing platforms, such as YouTube, which allows users to expand visibility and produce maximum compensation on any amount spent to create their videos.
If you fail to get a good ROI from your uploaded videos, then you’re probably not hosting them on the right platforms.
Brand awareness
When people aren’t aware of your brand’s existence, they can’t patronize you.
To capture customer attention and get your brand known, then you need to start creating exceptional videos to market your products on the right platforms.
Since you aren’t the only one marketing such products, you must go for only the best platforms to overtake your competitors.
You can quickly sum up your audience by running a video ad in one of the videos that are already going viral on those video sharing platforms.
As people continue to watch this content, so does your brand awareness and sales (s) increase.
Video ads on platforms such as YouTube are very productive and have a high ROI.
So, you should really explore this post on the best video-sharing platforms to get your headway in online marketing.
There are several other reasons why you should start sharing your videos on video platforms.
But in order not to waste much of your time, we can stop the list here and go straight to the theme of this discussion.
Best video-sharing platforms for marketing
If you’re a goal-oriented marker, consider the list of the following top 10 best video-sharing platforms to host your next marketing campaign.
The platforms I’m going to discuss below have great SEO prowess and high ROI.
So, you need not worry about getting the results you aspire to.
Once your video content is optimized, it will definitely rank high on these video hosting platforms for business and you will see the results.
Meanwhile, your worries should rather be shifted to the quality of your video.
Because millions of videos are uploaded on a daily basis, your video’s quality matters to scrape through the competition.
For your video to rank well, you should know how to create a high-quality video and optimize it for SEO.
Now, let’s quickly have a list of the 10 best video sharing platforms for marketers in this order:
- YouTube
- Vimeo
- Daily Motion
- IGTV
- Vidyard
- TikTok
- Likee
#1. YouTube
Who didn’t know YouTube would top the list?
Well, I give it to you, you guessed right.
YouTube remains one of the best video platforms for any activity be it marketing, video games, entertainment, education or even streaming.
YouTube which is the largest video sharing platform and second most visited website after Google has allowed marketers to showcase their products and services to the world through videos without any restriction.
That is, you can post an unlimited number of videos on YouTube and nobody will stop you as the platform works that way for marketers and it is free.
YouTube allows you to host your videos by building your channels and optimizing your videos for the Google search engine.
With a strong subscriber base, you can easily get more views and feedback since your viewers can comment and like or dislike your videos.
Unfortunately, not every video gets to rank well on YouTube, which is why you need to check out this post to understand how you can set up your YouTube channel.
With YouTube, you can never get short of audiences, brand awareness, or good SEO ranking.
You can also promote your videos to get more views and also earn some extra income by monetizing your videos on YouTube.
YouTube is nothing but a blessing to all video marketers and I couldn’t help but agree with Robert Weiss who said,
A well-executed YouTube video marketing strategy will drive new business opportunities by improving your search algorithm rankings to catapult you ahead of your competitors and give you ongoing investment returns on your online video production.
#2. Vimeo
Vimeo is the second-largest video sharing platform and is similar to YouTube in all ramifications except for some little differences.
Unlike YouTube, Vimeo has nothing less than 715 million views per month which is more business-oriented than the views on YouTube.
The platform has fewer brand advertisements, which therefore makes it a good way to parachute your ads and keep your audience focused on your videos.
To choose the best between the two platforms, consider your goals.
In summary, YouTube is great for generating leads while Vimeo is exceptionally good for promoting sales.
You can also get a premium account for more advanced benefits on Vimeo, such as extra bandwidth, customer support, data analytics, traffic-driven tools, and so on.
The Vimeo team can also help you create outstanding marketing videos to boost your sales.
However, you must know that you can’t upload more than 500MB of videos per week and up to 5GB for the premium members.
This makes YouTube more efficient than Vimeo since you can upload to YouTube without limits.
Apart from this, Vimeo remains the best alternative to get a business-minded audience among other video hosting platforms for business.
#3. Facebook
Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world with over 2 billion users who spend an average of 58 minutes per day on the platform.
Due to this large number of users, Facebook provides an opportunity for video marketers to reach out to a large audience without even promoting their videos.
Another advantage of using the Facebook video hosting platform to share your videos is its mobile-friendliness since 91% of all social media users now access their social links through a mobile phone.
All the videos uploaded on Facebook are optimized for mobile viewing and are mostly ad-free.
Moreover, for your videos to do well on Facebook, you need to consider some factors.
Here are some tips for you:
Facebook prefers longer videos
Marketers have realized that videos that are more than 5 minutes long tend to perform better on Facebook.
Their newsfeed algorithm ranks these videos higher than the shorter ones.
However, this doesn’t mean you should add irrelevant scenes to your video to prolong its length, thinking Facebook will rank crapped videos.
To leverage this platform, you must stick to quality and maintain your reputation.
Upload directly to Facebook
You should try to avoid sharing videos on Facebook through other hosting platforms such as Instagram or YouTube.
Facebook prefers ranking video content that is uploaded originally to the platform by the creator. That way, Facebook can maintain authentic video content.
Consistency matters
Facebook uses users’ recent activities to determine what kind of video to suggest.
For this reason, it’s very significant to be specific and consistent with your niche.
If you jump from one niche to another and your new video doesn’t match the interest of your target audience, then there is a high probability that Facebook won’t suggest the content to your target viewers.
Live video support on Facebook is also a good way to get engaged with your audience.
So, if you want to increase your brand awareness and earn as you go through ad monetization, then you should take advantage of the Facebook video hosting platform to achieve your goal.
#4. DailyMotion
Another reputable video hosting platform for business, which seems to replicate YouTube with its interface and graphical layout, is DailyMotion.
DailyMotion has about 112 million viewers per month and it is a good alternative to the use of YouTube.
The site upload policy is lenient and this allows users to upload any video of their choice.
Hence, this unguided uploading of videos has led to the presence of many pirated videos on this site.
You are allowed to upload only videos of high quality as a pro user which must be a maximum of 1080p and at most 20 minutes long to ensure the videos are good for mobile view optimization.
#5. IGTV
IGTV can never be strange to Instagrammers.
This sharing platform has proven to be the hub of brand influencers, celebrities, and many marketers.
IGTV was introduced in 2018 to enable Instagram users to post long videos of about 60 minutes and to increase their chances of closing up on YouTube as one of the best video sharing platforms.
Though, IGTV is still very new and not so crowded by many video marketers.
Hence, it provides a good opportunity for many marketers to utilize their existing IG followers and get more attention.
Before the introduction of IGTV, Instagram was known to be a tool for brand influencing and lead generation.
Therefore, IGTV was like icing on the already-made cake.
IGTV, however, has a great preference for videos of high quality as it looks to ensure that its users get only the best of the best.
And just like its parent company, Facebook, IGTV has exceptional mobile view optimization for mobile users.
You can promote your videos to get more likes as well as share them directly on your Facebook page.
IGTV also supports the live video feature and viewers can also add comments and react to your videos while they are viewing your live videos.
So, you can always interact with your audience without hassle.
Similar to Facebook, IGTV is effective in promoting brand awareness and generating more leads for businesses.
#6. Vidyard
Another great video-sharing platform for marketers is VidYard.
If you are a marketer, you must check VidYard out and start using it to share your videos.
This video hosting platform uses the latest video sharing technology to give you the best video features that will take your video marketing strategy to the next level.
The platform is designed majorly to assist businesses in getting productive results from their videos and get the full knowledge of how their videos turn out.
Vidyard also enables easier integration with social media links such as Facebook and to your website.
Another interesting aspect of this platform is its viewers’ management feature.
It allows creators to follow up with their viewers’ information such as the number of likes and video views and optimize this information with their CRM software.
You can also create videos using a specific customer’s name or brand name to personalize your video layout.
This helps to promote good customer relationships and you can easily appreciate your best viewers and customers with this feature.
VidYard might not be as popular as YouTube but worth trying out.
The platform is surely a meta-game in your video marketing strategy.
#7. X (Twitter)
A typical social media platform that is best suited for the promotion of videos and improving your brand awareness is Twitter.
Twitter was created on the 21st of March 2006 and launched on the 15th of July 2006, currently has about 321 million active users.
It gives users a diversified method of accessing the platform, that is, through its website, mobile application, software that supports any of the popular Operating Systems, or Short Message System (SMS).
You can upload videos not more than 2 minutes long on this platform and engage your audience with them.
It’s highly recommended for you to try and keep your videos very short here. For this reason, demos and brand videos will do very well on Twitter.
To get more views on Twitter, you need to include your videos on your profile page.
Like other typical social media platforms, Twitter is also a good way to get more leads and improve your brand awareness.
#8. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is popularly known as a platform to get jobs and increase your brand awareness.
For this reason, LinkedIn remains one of the best video sharing platforms to consider for a business.
Previously, LinkedIn didn’t support video uploading for quite some time, but now the situation has turned around.
Video marketers can share their outstanding content on this platform to get more B2B or B2C audiences.
LinkedIn recommended video ideas
LinkedIn video hosting platform also makes recommendations to users on the types of videos they should share.
And this was classified into four video ideas below.
- Show it
- Transport them here
- Teach it
- Share it
- Show it
These are videos created primarily to showcase a new business idea, technology, or a new product.
You can create this kind of video if you regularly upgrade your products or try out the latest technology.
Such a video will help you to keep your audiences informed and ensure they don’t miss out on your new updates.
- Transport them here
This LinkedIn video type focuses on letting your audiences be aware of your recent company’s conferences, seminars, and workshop events.
It will give the viewers some information you might have forgotten to include in your videos, especially demos.
You can also transport interviews or a collection of pictures you have taken at different moments in your events to ensure your audiences are never left behind even if they weren’t at the events.
In a simple word, the idea behind the LinkedIn “Transport them here” videos, is to promote your interactions with your audiences.
- Teach it
As the name implies, this LinkedIn video type is generally meant to teach your audiences how to make use of products, especially new products.
As mentioned earlier, video is a sure way of passing information and sharing knowledge among people.
Just pick up your video recorder (smartphone or video camera) and give your audience a share of your vast knowledge about a product.
Such a video can help you to promote sales and generate leads.
- Share it
Similar to “Teach it”, LinkedIn “Share it” videos focus basically on giving out a quick update instead of teaching your audience how to make use of a product.
For instance, if you have just upgraded a product and you quickly want to give your audience the update on the upgrade and the features that make it superior to the older version, the “Share it” video is what to choose.
You can use this format to bring about anticipation and ensure your audience is informed about your new products early enough.
#9. TikTok
TikTok is a newly introduced social media platform that takes its source from the Chinese social media app “Douyin”.
The platform has significantly grown since its worldwide release in 2018 and supports only IOS and Android Operating systems.
With over a billion downloads surpassing the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube in 2018 and 2019, you should be assured of a wide audience when you use TikTok for business.
On this video platform, users can create short videos with a minimum of 3 seconds up to a maximum of 1 minute (up to 3 minutes for some users).
You can equally add background music to your videos on this platform to keep your audience entertained.
There are two other ways of creating a video aside from the normal video recording on TikTok.
These include:
- React feature
This allows users to create a video in reaction to a certain video which is shown in a mobile small window frame. That is, the frame can be moved around your screen.
This feature will allow your audience to react in real time to your video and ask questions about a product.
- Duet feature
This is a feature coiled from TikTok’s co-app, Musical.ly, to allow users to create two videos simultaneously.
You can use this feature to give customer support by answering your audience’s questions as if they are asking you in person.
This feature can be used for advanced “How-To” video creation.
You can also make use of the “live feature” on TikTok when you have at least 1000 followers and must be over 16 years of age.
For live feature users over the age of 18, you can send virtual gifts to your followers.
However, this is a good way to let your users test out your products for free and increase your brand awareness.
To get the full details, check out this post on TikTok’s marketing strategy.
TikTok is the best alternative to the use of IGTV and many influencers such as Charli D. Amelia and Avani Gregg are already leaving IGTV.
#10. Likee
Likee is the last but not the least of all video hosting platforms for business to be discussed in this post.
This platform which is similar to TikTok is based in Singapore and it’s available only for IOS and Android users.
Likee accepts recording of short videos up to a minute long. You can use it to edit and add 4D effects and some other special emoji effects to your videos.
This platform gives video marketers what is missing in other hosting platforms which are Augmented Reality (AR) features.
The AR features will enable your customers to get a dimensional view of your products and make your videos lively.
Conclusion on Video Sharing Platforms
That is the list of our exceptionally best video-sharing platforms for marketers.
If you’re a marketer and you really want to take your video marketing strategy to the next level, here is all you need to work with.
Explore this list to choose a video platform suitable for your business needs and begin to engage your audience with the best of your videos.
You might have been using YouTube, Facebook, and IGTV for marketing, but certainly not DailyMotion, Vidyard, and Likee.
You need to consider these platforms too to ensure you don’t leave anything on this page uncovered in your book of video marketing.
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