If you are looking to bolster your video marketing campaign you have to be smart - staying within the safe and well-known zone that Youtube provides will get you nowhere. To really become a video pro and reach a wider audience you have to try new things. Here are 7 alternatives to Youtube that you might wish to try.

(Taken from Pixabay, modified)

Facebook Live

Of course Facebook is where the largest volume of eye-balls for your marketing campaign can be found. A live video stream can be used to serve real time content to your customers that is bang up to date and relevant. This platform enables two way interaction with customers, who can respond either by commenting or asking questions about the video, and by letting you know their emotional reaction via an emoticon. Of course, this type of interaction is second nature given the amount of time people spend using Facebook socially. This wealth of feedback is invaluable in enabling you to understand your customers, and to create content which engages them. Facebook notifications mean that your customers will find out when you are live, and can tune in.

Instagram Live

The newly launched Instagram Live offers you the opportunity to serve live video streams to your customers. It is no secret that there is a huge trend towards unfiltered, real content and that this is behind the success of many a YouTube video. Viewers want to watch something that this ‘real’ and what could be more so than live video? Unlike other offerings in the live video space, Instagram Live content is only available to those who tune in, making it extra exclusive.

Periscope

Yet further advocates of live video are the team behind Periscope. The focus of this platform is to give viewers an insight into places, people and events that they would not usually have the privilege of seeing. This ‘inside access’ has the potential to be used by companies to make customers feel special. In particular Periscope push the fact that the service offers the opportunity “of discovering the world through someone else’s eyes”. There are broad ranging possibilities for companies to use this to further customer trust and understanding of their business.

Snapchat

According to recent figures (released in November 2015) from Snap Inc. there are now 4 million Australian’s using Snapchat every day. That is a pretty high number right! And the audience of Snapchat is young – users are most likely to fall into the age bracket 18-24, closely followed by 25-34 year olds. Of course an opportunity to target a large volume of young consumers is invaluable on any marketing plan.

(Taken from Pixabay)

Vimeo

Vimeo was the first platform to support high definition videos and as a result it is still associated with high quality content. The quality of video is superior to YouTube and it is a wonder that Vimeo is not as popular as YouTube really. Both sites launched around the same time and in addition Vimeo offers a less cluttered viewing experience, as well as additional features. It also appeals to those who are put off by Google-owned YouTube’s privacy policy.

Buzzfeed Video

We all know that Buzzfeed know how to create viral content. The phrase ‘click bait’ comes to mind and this is certainly the case for their video content as well as their more famous listicles. The tone of content on Buzzfeed is very light hearted, funny and of course there is a fair dose of cute in there too. Your company could do a lot worse than to bear these factors in mind when considering video marketing strategy. It is also worth noting that the audience of Buzzfeed is young and connected, and is made up of people for whom sharing content is second nature. Buzzfeed users will do a marketer's job for them, sharing content among their connections. The value of a personal recommendation to a piece of content is huge, it is certainly worth prioritising the ‘sharability’ of content when producing a video marketing strategy.

Dailymotion

This video-sharing website allows users to upload, search, watch and share video content from across the internet. There is functionality for users to be served personalised video content, tailored to them based on their previous viewing behaviours. There are also picks from Dailymotion staff members that are used to introduce viewers to something new. Becoming a staff pick would certainly boost a company’s marketing, putting their content in front of an inflated audience. A function that is liked by users is the ability to download content to view offline.

About Author

The article has been submitted by James Pointon, a blogger and Communications Expert at OpenAgent. James spends a lot of time with potential customers and understand the need for every business to reach a wider audience through smart and unconventional methods.