The use of video has become one of the most effective ways for companies to drive engagement with its consumers within recent years, creating a great system for companies to increase their audience across digital platforms. Whilst YouTube is still seen to dominate the video platform landscape, there are many great competitors out there, all of which allow users to create monetised content through which they can aim to drive sales and produce a wider customer base.
However, despite their being a wide variety of options available, content providers must still consider what strategies they need in place to ensure they do not fall victim to a third-party platform changing its algorithm to meet its own needs; causing a decrease in the amount of potential business. This was seen in recent updates to Facebook’s news feed that caused publishers relying on the site’s traffic to be dramatically impacted; it’s also not hard to find the similar stories of content creators on YouTube losing monetisation due to updated term and conditions for use of the site. The best way for content creators to combat this issue would be to begin working from their own video platform and progress from there. This approach gives companies the ability to make their own decisions on how videos are monetised, and also allows more control throughout the entirety of the process; often proving more successful when compared to publishing content to external video platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo that are not always reliable on producing the results you’re aiming for.
The goal for all companies should be to regularly produce content that their consumers want to see. Whether this comes in the form interviews, product demonstrations, or even live streams, the aim of content production should be to provide customers with interesting and useful information, as well as an insight into your business, that cannot be found elsewhere. The use of a personal video platform would also allow your business to surface content from your own website and social media accounts; giving you full control over how videos are displayed, who has access to them, and what should be included in the surrounding content.
Owning your own platform can provide you and your business with great opportunities, such as paid partnerships and sponsorships with other brands keen to be associated with content that targets a similar demographic that they may want to reach. While this may not work well for all business types, this can be a great opportunity depending on the goals that you have for your company and the service or product that you provide. Whether this is a path that you pursue is, obviously, your own choice completely, but should be strongly considered within varying circumstances.
While the idea of managing your own video platform may seem like a good idea for most businesses, does the cost of setup and management ultimately outweigh the resulting benefits? Is content better served on third-party platforms that have a better reach and do all the technical work for you? It may be surprising to most that the ownership of such a site is cheaper than we think. Vimeo, for example, provides geo-targeting, unlimited live streaming, and multi-casting to social platforms for less than £1k/year.
Overall, producing video content to be published online is a great way to engage consumers and work towards building a larger customer base. However, it is encouraged that businesses consider the benefits of posting to a personal site, or whether the use of third party sites is the best choice for you.
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