When looking for a video online, people either search for it on Google or head directly to YouTube. In most cases, the results returned will be very similar. Since Google owns YouTube, and they are the largest and second largest search engines online respectively, it makes sense that searchers will be directed towards YouTube. It’s undeniable that your business needs to produce video and be searchable for video content, but that doesn’t mean YouTube is the only hosting platform you should consider.
YouTube often leads viewers down a “rabbit hole” of videos unrelated to your product or service and can prevent leads from taking further action. Video hosting services such as Wistia help keep traffic on your videos for better lead nurturing.
Wistia is a video hosting service that works much differently than YouTube and can yield considerable benefits for users. With free and paid options, businesses of all sizes can host videos while fully branding the video player colour and call to action. It’s advanced video analytics enables you to understand how viewers interact with your video while keeping more of that traffic engaged with your content.
Both platforms provide a wide range of benefits and should be used collaboratively to provide the best results. The key is understanding when and how to use them. While all video content should be uploaded to YouTube to maximize search engine optimization, consider using Wistia for videos embedded on your website and other places where you need to keep the viewer’s attention.
YouTube vs. Wista: Comparative Strengths and Weaknesses
Digital marketing strategies continue to evolve and video is leading the way in this innovation. Videos are more ingrained in search engine results than ever before, which gives new opportunities for content creators producing information that’s not in text form. At the same time, website visitors expect high-quality visuals, and video marketing is increasingly necessary to draw and keep the attention of your audience.
When hosting your video content, where you host it can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful campaign. YouTube is not always the holy grail, and your business needs to understand when and how to use alternatives.
Consider the following strengths and weaknesses of each platform as you consider where to host your company’s videos.
YouTube
YouTube is synonymous with video hosting and for a good reason; it’s one of the largest and most widely used websites online. It continues to grow year-over-year and is increasingly important for digital marketing success. According to data compiled by Hootsuite,
- YouTube has 2 billion logged-in monthly users
- 73% of adults in the U.S. use YouTube
- Each visit to YouTube involves 6.5 pageviews, on average
- 70% of what people watch on YouTube is determined by its recommendation algorithm
These stats raise two very important concepts that digital content marketers must consider before hosting their video on any platform:
Strengths
- Reach and Discoverability: Between direct traffic and search traffic there are no video hosting platforms that remotely compare to YouTube. If your business takes the right steps to be found on YouTube, such as including keywords, maintaining accurate transcriptions, and categorizing your video appropriately, it could be found and watched by a large audience. With videos frequently promoted in Google search results, your ability to be found is much higher if implementing a strategy that includes regular uploading and maintenance of video content.
- Recommendation Algorithm: With YouTube viewers watching an average of 6.5 videos per session, there’s a chance that at least some of those videos will be recommended to the user by its recommendation algorithm. If your business creates great content that aligns to the interests of YouTube viewers, there’s a chance people will stumble across your video with little-to-no extra effort needed by your marketing team.
Weaknesses
- Player Branding and Embedding: One significant drawback of YouTube is the inability to re-brand the video player to offer your company’s branded colours to the play button and bottom toolbar. The YouTube logo is always present within the media player, and can at times seem like a less professional way to provide the video content.
- Recommendation Algorithm: The YouTube “rabbit hole” can be a real problem for video marketers since it implies that someone watches your video and begins to spiral down a loop of video content that might be interesting to them, but is ultimately unrelated to your brand. Just as easily as you were found for your video content, you could be forgotten without the viewer taking action. If the video is hosted on your website, this can be especially problematic.
Yup, the recommendation algorithm is a double-edged sword. It can be beneficial and detrimental depending on how it’s used, so ensure you’re using YouTube for the right applications and think about alternatives when you’re trying to maintain the viewer’s attention.
Wistia
As an alternative to YouTube, consider Wistia. Wistia is video hosting provider that offers some unique tools that are beneficial to businesses in some of the areas where YouTube fails to meet user needs. We often see companies elect to use Wistia or other similar hosting platforms for website videos where YouTube branding and video recommendations are less than ideal, but there are other applications too.
Strengths
- Complete Control Over Branding: Wistia’s video player branding tools enable content creators to choose the colour of their play button and bottom toolbar and assign a default thumbnail image to show when the player loads. This gives a very streamlined look that feels more professional and is better suited for owned media such as websites and social media.
- Gated Video Content: If the video content offers significant value to viewers, content creators can keep the video public but require the viewer to fill out their name and email address to continue watching. This gate can be positioned anywhere in the video, so you can get your audience interested in the content and then require they tell you about themselves to get the full-length video.
- Call to Action: While Wistia users can include annotations throughout the video to prompt viewers, there are additional functionalities for when a viewer reaches the end of a video. Video marketers can place a linked offer at the end of the video, or recommend content based on what the next logical step is. This is a great way to bypass YouTube’s recommendation algorithm and offer your audience other company-made videos that will bring them closer to purchase readiness.
- Analytics Export: One fatal drawback of YouTube analytics (however beneficial they may be) is that the data lives within YouTube and can be difficult to bring out and act on the insights. In Wistia, analytics can be exported for easier analysis via spreadsheet. Digital marketers may also use the data to import into marketing automation platforms or customer relationship management (CRM) systems where it can be used to drive an individualized marketing and sales strategy.
Weaknesses
- Limited Reach and Community: As the one downside to YouTube’s major reach, no other platform compared when it comes to having people find your content. Wistia alone is not going to generate many video views and should be considered a tool for when you need to keep your viewer’s interest solely on you. If you’re generating traffic to the video from other sources then it works well, but it won’t help draw additional viewers to your content.
B2B Digital Marketing and Video Support Services
Does your B2B company integrate video into it’s larger digital marketing strategy? Video is now essential to a strong marketing plan and is vital to gaining and retaining the interest of potential customers. If you’re new to video development or have created some in the past but want to consult a professional team of videographers about your upcoming video ideas, MoreSALES is here to help.
Contact MoreSALES to offload video content development activities and ensure your videos are positioned for success.
