It is often common among small business owners and enterprises to discuss where they should be publishing their videos online. While YouTube and Vimeo are both popular for this purpose, it is important to understand what the pros and cons of either platforms are.
YouTube as a Video Marketing Platform
The YouTube community boasts of an astounding 450 million people looking for entertainment and information. A video uploaded on YouTube has much at its disposal to go absolutely viral when compared with other video networks. The main goal of a video uploaded on YouTube is to elicit as many clicks and views as possible.
Before uploading a video on YouTube, you should bear in mind the type of audience you want to target with your film. YouTube caters mainly to commoners who are not professional film making. Also the discussions and comments on YouTube can often get frivolous and too trivial. This puts Vimeo at a better level when being compared for professionalism among audience.
Vimeo As a Video Marketing Platform
Vimeo consists of a meager 14 million users, who mostly are college students and people who are well-versed and knowledgeable in the art of film making. Most of the users of Vimeo are artists and designers too. Vimeo exudes a professional ambiance. The discussion and comments (or feedback) on Vimeo are a boon to the aspiring film maker and can be enriching if taken constructively – with a pinch of salt, of course.
Pros and Cons of YouTube as a Tool for Content and Video Marketing:
. YouTube caters to 800 million visitors per month, giving you a huge platform to excel at video marketing. As 75 hours of video is uploaded per minute, it takes a little more than just uploading your video to go viral – it should be promoted in an organized manner. This is a definite downside, but the audience it garners is a definite pro.
. Services rendered by YouTube are absolutely free and as it is managed by Google itself, the search results can be absolutely spot on. There is no limit to the number of videos that can be uploaded, but the length of the videos is limited to 15 minutes.
. Instead of content marketing, businesses can profit from advertising on YouTube as a proxy to television advertising, provided you have the wherewithal.
. YouTube doesn’t part with its brand value and the logo it endorses. The videos you upload always display the YouTube logo, which could prove detrimental to your brand. This surely can be categorized as a downside.
Pros and Cons of Vimeo as a Tool for Content and Video Marketing:
. Vimeo is still developing and establishing itself with only 60 million visitors per month, dwarfing it in comparison with YouTube. This means that there is a less possibility of the video going viral- enlisting this to be a downside.
. The quality of the search results do not match up to the standards set by Google’s YouTube, but the interface is good and there is no restriction to the length of the video that can be uploaded.
. Vimeo caters to creative people like film makers, film enthusiasts, designers, artists and the like. This is a pro for businesses focusing on B2B outreach.
. Vimeo’s player is not designed to go with the brand. If offers a complete customization of its player – you can embed your logo and brand on the player itself, unlike YouTube. This can definitely be considered as an upside.
What Must a Business Choose?
Online video viewing is synonymous with YouTube. The strategy employed in the promotion of videos can play a vital role in their success. Considering the tags or the right keywords a video is associated with also plays a major role in helping it appear in a whole lot of search results. Being a featured video too accounts for the placing in search results. On Vimeo, one has a fat chance of being directed to the exact search results which means, your prospective viewer will have to be directed to your video through an external link. This can prove to be a handicap or an impediment to the success of your video. Google on the other hand can favor YouTube links to be displayed in a variety of search results, thus, meting out step motherly treatment to Vimeo.
Succinctly put, the ultimate choice for content and video marketing depends solely on the objective you want to attain- the critical acclaim on Vimeo or the likeability of random viewers on YouTube. If you are looking for popularity among your customers, YouTube is certainly the better alternative. However, if you are looking for a professional and business feedback or taking up a B2B endeavor, Vimeo can be a better option.
