How to Promote Your Videos on Instagram? [Video]
Promoting your videos on Instagram can really help get the traction that they deserve. Instagram is one of the most visual social media platforms available today!
But how can you leverage the power of Instagram to promote your content?
In the latest episode of Animaker Genius Talk, we interview social media behavior expert Jasmine Star to find out her secret tips to promoting video content on Instagram.
Jasmine Star is an Instagram expert who is helping Entrepreneurs and business owners build their business and influence using Instagram and other social platforms.
Quotes
Now, Instagram I feel is perfectly suited for promoting your video content in a way it wasn’t before (6:16)
Videos in perpetuity will always do better on YouTube (14:13)
If nobody is knocking on your door you should go knock on other people’s doors on Instagram (20:36)
slow growth is good growth and a sustaining growth (22:36)
Notes
Tell us Jasmine, how you went from a full scholarship law student into a professional photographer and then into a social media influencer? (1:15)
Tell us the idea and thought process behind social curator (3:24)
What is the thought process and the vision you have for your personal brand and what do you wish to achieve with this brand? (5:09)
How do we promote our video content on Instagram? (6:13)
3 biggest mistakes that business owners are doing on Instagram (10:34)
For your video content, which content platform would you prefer? IGTV vs YouTube! (11:58)
Instagram Stories: How can businesses use Instagram Stories to build their business? (14:33)
Inside the Genius Mind
If you are just starting out on Instagram today, How will you go about finding your niche and the right audience? (16:07)
3 simple hacks that YouTubers can use to promote their YouTube channel on Instagram? (17:52)
You seem to be emphasizing a lot on having the perfect bio in Instagram for the sake of our audience today, can you tell us why you think this is one of the most important features of Instagram? (18:50)
How do you think business owners can leverage direct messages on Instagram to build their business? (20:14)
What is one piece of advice that you would like to give to all aspiring content creators who are starting out now? (21:35)
How to Promote Your Videos Using Facebook? [Video]
Promoting your videos on Facebook is one of the smartest ways to amplify the reach of your content.
But in the highly competitive and crowded Facebook world how can you get people to see your videos?
Check out this week’s episode of Animaker Genius Talk where we pick the brains of the Queen of Facebook Mari Smith to find out her secrets to Facebook Video Marketing.
Mari Smith is one of the world’s leading Facebook marketing expert. She is rightly called the “Queen of Facebook” and has helped thousands of small and large companies build their audience on Facebook.
Quotes
Smart marketers are riding the wave and are right in there creating great video content. – 6:33
Organic reach is so 2012. – 13:37
If you get more than 6% organic reach on your page you are an anomaly. – 14:50
Notes
Genius Journey
Share with us your journey of being just a simple Facebook user back in 2007 to being crowned the “the queen of Facebook”. – 1:06
There are a lot of Facebook gurus who are teaching businesses how to be effective on Facebook, but Facebook themselves reached out to you to help train business! That’s amazing! Tell us how that happened!? – 2:35
Picking the genius brain
Do you truly believe videos are the future of marketing? – 5:24
3 biggest mistakes Businesses are making on Facebook today – 7:38
How can businesses leverage Facebook watch as a means to promote their business? – 10:59
Is organic reach on Facebook dead? – 13:17
Is Facebook unintentionally becoming its own villain? – 15:34
Inside the genius mind
If you are starting out on FB today what the three things you would do to promote your videos and get maximum views! – 18:19
Your favorite Facebook feature that you would like for entrepreneurs and business owners utilize more? – 18:43
Do you believe Facebook watch will win against its mammoth competitors that include YouTube and Netflix? – 19:19
Do you still believe the competition between Facebook and YouTube is going to be that fierce? – 20:37
LinkedIn Video in 2019: The Ultimate Guide
Creating a marketing strategy without videos is like sending a paper plane into a war zone.
There’s no doubt that the war will be lost the very first day.
The same is true for your marketing strategy. You might have a lot of quality content but without videos, you won’t be able to get the most out of your content marketing efforts.
Why?
Because there is a major shift in the kind of content that people are consuming today!
What used to work before won’t work now.
Today people consume videos more than any other type of content. Given a choice, 72% of people would rather use video over text to learn about a product or service.
And unlike other forms of content, videos don’t tell, it shows. And that’s why videos are so powerful!
2015 was the era where video marketing began and since then it has seen YoY growth in terms of adoption.
Social media platforms have been leveraging video for years, and LinkedIn appeared to be lacking behind until it launched videos in 2017 and decided to go all-in on B2B videos.
In terms of engagement, LinkedIn videos outperformed text where LinkedIn members spend 3x more time watching video content over static ones.
Now 87% of businesses use video as a marketing tool and 83% of marketers say video gives them a good ROI.
Via Giphy
Enough of stats! Let’s learn how you can leverage the true power of videos on the world’s largest professional network.
Don’t worry if you are new to LinkedIn videos, I will cover everything in this guide.
And if you are already familiar with the basics, you can use the table of contents below to navigate between different sections of this guide.
LinkedIn Video: What You Need to Know
How to Use LinkedIn Native Videos
Let’s roll!
LinkedIn Video: What You Need to Know
Simply put, it is the feature provided by LinkedIn which enables users to publish video content in the form of native videos and Video Ads.
Before this update, the only way to share videos on LinkedIn was to upload it on YouTube/ Vimeo and then add that link to your post.
It was a two-step process, but now with this update, you can directly upload a video on LinkedIn.
So you might ask me “we are already using videos on all other platforms then why use videos on LinkedIn as well?”
Well, the answer remains the same whether it’s LinkedIn or other social media. For engagement, branding, sales, and good ROI.
Also, since LinkedIn is a B2B platform it’s a great place to showcase products to your clients or potential customers.
And as more than 80% of senior executives watch more online video today, it’s a great place to target these people and sell with the help of videos.
Moreover, videos can be consumed easily and in less time. And at professional platforms like LinkedIn where users consider time as money, videos have proven their mettle.
Out of 51% of video marketers who have used LinkedIn video as a channel, 84% found it to be an effective strategy.
So, before it gets too late, it’s better to ride the wave and get the most out of LinkedIn videos.
Now let’s dive deep into types of LinkedIn videos and see how you can use it to the fullest.
Types of LinkedIn Videos
Embedded Videos
Earlier when LinkedIn video functionality wasn’t available brands tend to embed their videos in their LinkedIn posts by just pasting the video link in the video.
The video link used to generate a thumbnail along with the description as shown in the image below.
Still, a lot of brands practice this and the major reason for doing so is to repurpose the existing video content which they have already created and posted on YouTube and Vimeo.
But even after the introduction of LinkedIn videos, even if this looks like an old school technique, it’s still a decent way of repurposing your existing content.
But there are a few shortcomings of using embedded video on LinkedIn which will impact your reach and engagement. The major one being there’s no autoplay option. Embedded video doesn’t autoplay and that’s why it will not elicit a high level of engagement.
That’s where LinkedIn native videos become your best bet for getting more engagements and reach!
Native Videos
Unlike embedded videos, LinkedIn native videos allow you to directly upload a video that’s between 3 seconds to 10 minutes in length to your feed.
And the great thing about the native video is that it will autoplay without any sound which proves to be an engagement magnet for the videos.
A recent study by Social Media Hub says that Facebook Native videos have up to 86% higher reach. This shows how powerful native videos are.
LinkedIn Video Specifications
How would you feel if you create an amazing video and then realize that the format and the size of your video are not supported by LinkedIn?
Well! You might end up acting like this panda!
Since I don’t want you to turn into a panda and act like him, I am listing down all the formats, sizes and recommendations which will help you create great videos for LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Native Video specifications:
- Video Length – 3 secs to 10 min
- File size – 75 kb to 1 GB
- Resolution – 256×144 to 4096x 2304
- File format – MP4, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, AVI, FLV, MKV, QuickTime, WebM, H264/AVC, VP8, VP9, ASF, WMV2, and WMV3
- Orientation: Portrait, landscape, and square
- Aspect Ratio: 1:2.4 to 2.4:1
- Audio format: AAC or MPEG4
- Video captions – SRT format
Pro tip – The best performing videos on LinkedIn are typically under 15 seconds. But while using native videos you should keep them long enough to deliver your message clearly. So, for creating a native video the recommended length is 15-90 seconds.
LinkedIn Video Ads specifications:
- Video Length – 3 secs to 30 min
- File size – 75 KB to 200 MB
- Resolution
- 360p (480 x 360; wide 640 x 360)
- 480p (640 x 480)
- 720p (960 x 720; wide 1280 x 720)
- 1080p (1440 x 1080; wide 1920 x 1080)
- File format – MP4
- Orientation: Landscape, and square.
- Aspect Ratio: 1:2.4 to 2.4:1.
Video ads created with a 1:1 aspect ratio should have a minimum resolution of 600 x 600px, and a maximum resolution of 1080 x 1080px.
- Audio format: AAC or MPEG4
- Upload Limit – 25 videos in Campaign Manager within 24 hours.
- Uploading devices – Desktop computer, not from your mobile device
- Video captions – SRT format
Pro tip – LinkedIn recommends keeping your video ads under 30 seconds for brand awareness and consideration goals.
And for demand generation, LinkedIn suggests creating longer videos.
An internal study by LinkedIn found that long-form content drove as many clicks and views as shorter videos because they help tell a more complex product or brand story.
How to use LinkedIn native videos
Using native videos on LinkedIn is pretty easy. As easy as 1-2-3!
While uploading from the desktop you need a pre-recorded video and while using mobile devices you can upload a pre-recorded video or you can record a live video.
Now let’s quickly see the steps involved in uploading a video on different devices.
For Desktop
1. Click on Start a post or directly click on the video icon.
2. Select the video you want to upload.
3. Write a description for your video, along with relevant hashtags.
4. Click on the ‘Post’ button.
For Mobile
1. Click on the post button on Android/iOS (at the bottom of newsfeed) or video icon in the share box on iOS (at the top of newsfeed)
2. Click on the video icon (If you choose to click on the video icon instead, it will directly take you to the screen shown in the 3rd step).
3. Click on the red record icon to record the video. You can also toggle between front and rear camera by clicking the camera icon available at the top right-hand side corner of the screen.
4. Once you are done with the recording. You can also add stickers and text from the icons shown at the top right-hand side corner of the screen. Once you have recorded the video, click on the arrow located at the bottom right corner of the screen.
5. Now add a description and #tags to your video and click on the post button on the top right-hand side corner of the screen.
Tips
Just like adding icing to the cake can make a tasty cake delicious. Similarly, by following these recommendations you can market your video on a whole new level.
- As native videos play automatically, the first few seconds of your video are very crucial for user engagement.
So, while creating a video make sure you are able to grab the viewer’s attention in the first 10 seconds of the video.
- Storytelling helps to increase the watch time of a video. It makes people watch your video for a longer duration. So, it’s very important that you convey your messages in the form of a story.
- Use graphics, animation, and people in your video to increase the viewer’s attention span.
- Consider adding subtitles to your videos as the videos on LinkedIn will autoplay with the sound turned off.
Before creating a video it’s always good to decide on the objective of the video. It will be great if you can attach a goal to it because that will help you measure the performance of your video against your goals.
For branding:
• Position yourself as a thought leader
• Tell your brand story
• Share stories of customer success
For conversions:
• Show a quick demo of your product
• Give a sneak peek of your webinar
• Preview your event
As consumers are trusting videos for making a purchase decision, it becomes of high importance for a company to leverage that channel to increase sales and user engagement.
Don’t just think, start using LinkedIn video today! Try different strategies and see for yourself which strategy works best for your business.
Let me know what you feel about LinkedIn videos and your experience with it. Also, if you have any suggestions for the blog just drop a line in the comment section below.
How to Make a Perfect YouTube Channel: An Expert Guide
So you’ve finally decided to start a YouTube channel for your business or personal brand!
Smart choice! YouTube as a video sharing platform has over 1.57 billion active monthly users.
Obviously, your videos won’t be seen by all those users.
That being said, even if your videos are exposed to only a tiny fraction of that user base, it can provide enormous visibility to your business that no other social channel can!
But before you get started with YouTube Marketing, it is really important that your YouTube channel is “cooked to perfection” as it can make or break your audience’s experience when they visit your channel.
In this simple quick-start guide, you’ll be seeing:
- How to make a YouTube Channel
- How to customize your YouTube Channel
- How to upload your first YouTube video and optimize it for search
How to make a YouTube Channel
Google has made recent changes to simplify the channel creation process. Follow these steps to set up your YouTube channel is less than a minute.
Sign in to YouTube
Signing into your Google account will also sign you into all its related services. So quickly sign in to Google and head over to YouTube. This way you’ll automatically be signed into YouTube.
If you don’t have a Google account, you can create one using this link.
Go to the settings tab
In the top right corner of the screen, you’ll find your profile icon, click on it and then click on “Settings”.
Create your channel
In the ‘Your account’ section, click on ‘Create a new channel’
You’ll see a popup window with options to create a personal channel or create a channel with a business or other name.
If you straight away enter your first name, last name and click on the “CREATE CHANNEL” button, you’ll have your very own personal YouTube channel. Here, you can vlog about your daily life or post videos about your personal likings.
However, if you’re planning to create a channel to promote your business or personal brand, you should click on “Use a business or other name”.
Setting up a brand account lets you set up and manage a YouTube channel specifically for your business. Your brand account can even have multiple owners to manage your account.
Quickly enter your business name and click on ’Create’. That’s all, now you have successfully created a Youtube channel.
Next up you should verify your brand account by clicking this link. Verifying your account lets you upload videos more than 15 mins and adds more customization features.
How to customize your YouTube Channel
YouTube allows you to customize two key elements of your YouTube channel – About section and your channel art.
To get started, click on ‘CUSTOMIZE CHANNEL’ and select the ‘About’ tab.
Add a channel description
A channel description is an outline of what your channel is all about. It gives you an opportunity to show the readers why they should watch your videos and possibly convert them into subscribers.
A channel description appears in the about tab of your channel page and in YouTube’s search results. A good description tells the reader what the channel is about and how they would benefit from following you & consuming your content.
Also, including keywords in your channel’s description can help you rank higher in YouTube search.
To add the channel description, simply click on the button that says “Channel description” in the “Description” section.
Add your contact details & Location
This could come in handy for people who’re interested in your offerings and want to get in touch with your business. Add your email address and location so that you don’t miss out on these leads.
To add your email address, click on the button that says “Email” in the “Details” section
To add your location, click on the dropdown button right below the “Email” button in the “Details” section
Add links to your social channels
YouTube also allows you add links to other social channels. These links will display prominently as an overlay in the bottom right corner of your channel art.
To add social links to your channel, click on the button that says “Links” in the “Links” section
Add a channel art
YouTube channel art is similar to a Facebook cover photo. It appears on top of your YouTube channel and hence holds a lot of importance.
Creating a channel art can be initially tricky, but no worries, we’ve already put together a simple guide on how to create a stunning YouTube channel art.
Once you have created your channel art, simply upload it and adjust the crop to preview it for various sizes and click on select to finalize your channel art.
Add your channel icon
You can also add a channel icon to your YouTube channel homepage. If your channel is to promote your personal brand, upload an image of yourself. If it’s a business channel, you can upload your brand logo.
Since Animaker is a software product company, we have our logo as our youtube channel’s icon.
To change the channel icon, click on the edit icon, upload your brand logo, crop it to perfection and click on done to finalize your brand icon.
Now you have created a completely customized YouTube channel. One good example of a customized youtube channel is our own.
How to upload your first YouTube video and optimize it for search
Now it’s finally time to upload your first video in your YouTube channel. Similar to Google, YouTube search also works based on an algorithm, hence you have to optimize each and every video you upload to ensure that they get more visibility. With a YouTube dashboard, you can keep track of your channel performance.
To upload a video, click on the camcorder sign on the top right section of your YouTube channel and select a video from your local disk to upload.
While your video is uploading, you can optimize it for search by filling out the following fields:
Title:
The title of your video is very important. It should be compelling enough to visitors to click on watch the video.
You can also do a keyword research and include it in your title. This way it will also show up in Google results.
Description:
You can add up to 1000 characters of description for your video. But only the first 100 characters will be displayed initially. So keep the important words within the first 100 characters.
If you’re giving out links to a website or landing page, provide it in the beginning of the description.
Add Tags:
Adding appropriate tags for your videos will inform YouTube what your video is about and can broaden your videos reach.
Choose Category:
You can also pick a category for your video in the advanced settings tab and group your video with similar content in YouTube.
Customize your video thumbnail
According to YouTube, 90% of top performing videos have a custom thumbnail. This proves that thumbnails can play a key role in increasing your video’s click-through rate.
You can create a custom thumbnail by using any thumbnail maker out there.
That’s it! You’ve officially not only created a YouTube business channel, but you also know how to optimize your youtube videos for more visibility.
Video SEO: 9 Hacks to Push Your Videos to the #1 Spot in Search Results (2021 Updated)
Video SEO isn’t rocket science!
At the end of the day, it is just optimizing your video to get indexed and ranked on Google search results for relevant keyword searches.
To date, we’ve uploaded about 127 videos on Animaker’s YouTube Channel and almost all our Landing pages have a video embedded.
We rank for some of the most competitive video keywords on Google even today.
So how did we crack it?
All it took was a bit of side hustle aside from just creating & posting high-quality videos.
9 Hacks to Help Push Your videos to the No. 1 Spot in Google Search Results
#1. Optimize your video file even before uploading it onto YouTube
Just like on-page SEO and image optimization, YouTube will read the name of your video file to understand what the video is about.
This means you have to optimize your raw video file before uploading it onto YouTube. Here’s how you do it:
- Right click on your video file that is to be uploaded and click on get info
- Add related tags to your video to help YouTube understand it better.
- Under “Name & Convention”, give a suitable name for your video. A good Video name should contain the keyword you want your video to rank for.
- Give a brief description for your video in the comments field.
Now your video is ready to be uploaded. Once you upload the video to YouTube, the name of your video will automatically be taken as the title for your YouTube video.
#2. Optimize your video title for a long tail keyword
Sometimes, ranking no.1 for a very famous primary keyword can be hard as more authoritative channels might be creating videos targeting the same keyword. In that scenario, It is better to optimize your video for a long tail keyword that has lesser competition.
This can help you in two ways,
- Weed out the competition and
- Rank your video for a very specific and highly targeted keyword
- This also helps improve your channel’s authority slowly. This eventually builds up to a scenario where you will start ranking for even some of the most competitive video keywords.
As you can see in the above image, one of our videos is ranking for a highly specific long tail keyword – “Create Animated Infographics for free”
If we had tried to rank for “Infographics” directly, we would’ve had a tough time ranking for that keyword.
So unless you’re a celebrity or already have huge authority and an active subscriber base, avoid optimizing your video for a short tail keyword at the beginning itself.
To know more about how to find keywords to rank your videos, click here!
Pro Tip: Adding a compelling Video title also plays a key role in increasing the CTR of your videos.
#3. Choose an SEO ready Video Hosting Platform
If your video’s objective is to drive traffic to your website and converts visits to leads, using YouTube or Vimeo to host your video won’t be a good idea, as most of the traffic goes to them rather than your own website.
If this is the case, you can go for a video hosting service like Show by animaker with automatic Video SEO optimization.
If you host your videos on Show by Animaker, It’ll automatically inject the video metadata into your web page’s header to direct traffic to your site.
The metadata includes the video title, description, and transcripts, all of which will help your video rank higher in Google.
#4. Write a detailed description for each of your YouTube videos
Longer descriptions will help YouTube understand what your video is about. This will also help YouTube to suggest your videos to people who are not exposed to your channel yet.
Here are a few tips you should follow while crafting your YouTube video description:
- Ensure your description is 200 words or more
- Write a unique description and don’t use duplicate content.
- Make sure to include the keyword you’re looking to rank for at least twice in the description. But don’t overdo it as it might penalize your video.
- You can also insert transcripts of your video in the description.
Pro Tip: YouTube will display the first 125 characters of your video description on search results. So make it compelling enough for people to click on your video. This will also improve the video’s CTR.
#5. Make your videos more accessible for the search engine
To make your video more accessible to YouTube’s crawlers, be kind enough to upload your own captions to your video.
Adding captions to your video will boost its SEO, by making it easier for Youtube to match it to the people who are looking for it on search results.
After all, YouTube does not have eyes to watch your video, it can however understand 90% of your video with the clues we leave for its crawlers. The more the clues, the easier it is for the crawlers to crack it.
This will not only help the search engine understand your video wholly, but also help your video show up in suggested searches.
#6. Ensure that people don’t bounce after watching your video
Session watch time is a very important ranking factor on YouTube. It is a measure of how long a viewer spends on YouTube channel after watching your video.
This means you have to make people stay on your YouTube channel for as long as possible after watching your video. If you do this right, YouTube will boost your channel’s videos as a whole as you are helping YouTube keep their users on its platform for a longer period.
Here are a couple of ways you can improve your session watch time:
Create a YouTube Video Playlist
This will naturally improve your session watch time when someone watches your video playlist.
Add an End Screen
Another way to encourage your audience to stay on your YouTube channel is by adding an end screen towards the end of your video, preferably in the last 5 – 20 secs of your video.
As shown below, you can use end screens to link to another video on your channel or ask your audience to subscribe to your channel.
#7. Your Landing Page and its featured video should be made for each other
It is no secret in 2019 that landing pages with a featured video will perform better than ones that don’t! But it is also important to make sure that the featured video is relevant to the Landing Page you’re embedding it on.
If both are talking about two different things then the chances of your video getting ranked at a good spot is pretty low.
Moreover, you have to ensure that even the landing page is properly optimized for SEO. This will increase your probability of ranking as high as possible in the SERP.
Here’s an ideal example of a Landing page where both the page and the featured video were done by following the best SEO practices.
#8. Use Custom Thumbnails – An automatic CTR booster
Adding a custom thumbnail can make your videos stand out and improve the CTR of your videos. The more CTR your video has, the higher it will rank on YouTube.
Moreover, 90% of the best performing videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails.
To stress the importance of Youtube custom thumbnails, we have recently built Picmaker, a free DIY tool you can use to create custom thumbnails for your videos within minutes.
#9. Make people link to your video
The key to getting your video ranked on top of Google search results is by building quality backlinks to your videos.
Building high-quality backlinks will increase your probability of ranking for a highly competitive keyword.
There are a lot of ways you can make that happen:
Promote your videos to your subscribers:
Whenever you launch a new video, announce it to your subscriber list as well. This will provide the much needed spike in video views.
If one of your subscribers, has a blog of their own, chances are they will embed your video on their blog. Each embed creates a backlink to your video.
Embed the videos on your blog:
You can also embed your videos on relevant blog posts on your website. This can have a huge dent on video views and expose your YouTube channel to your blog readers.
Leverage Social Shares
Aside from posting the video on your social channels, you can also post your videos to relevant groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. This will definitely boost your video views.
Moreover, like with any other page on the internet, Google considers Social Buzz as a ranking signal to list videos as well.
Post your videos on Quora
If your video is a direct answer to a question on Quora, provide a partial answer in text form and then provide a link to your video. This can also help in driving more video views.
These are some of the steps we follow every time we launch a new video and things have worked for us pretty well so far.
Do you know any hacks that can boost a video ranking in search results? Let us know in the comment section below!
40 Explainer Video Examples to Inspire Your Next
Thinking about creating an explainer video for your business and looking for some examples to get inspired from?
Here are 40 best explainer videos worth checking out:
2D Explainer Videos:
#1. What is HubSpot?
By: Hubspot
#2. What is Dropbox?
By: Dropbox
#3. The Zendesk Omnichannel Approach
By: Zendesk
#4. What is Ahrefs?
By: Ahrefs
#5. The Future of Documents – PandaDoc
By: PandaDoc
#6. Introducing Infographic Video Maker
By: Animaker
#7. Dear Internet…
By: Medium
#8. Introducing Spotify Party
By: Spotify
#9. Duolingo Intro
By: Duolingo
#10. Intercom Overview
By: Intercom
Live Action Explainer Videos:
#11. Our Blades Are F***ing Great
#12. BriefMe – Just The Cream
By: BriefMe
#13. What is HubSpot?
By: Hubspot
#14. TripCase Travel App
By: TripCase
#15. Introducing Amazon Go
By: Amazon
#16. Home Alone Again with the Google Assistant
By: Google
#17. Need A Freelancer?
By: Fiverr
#18. Google Pixel 2 | Ask more of your phone
By: Google
#19. Final: Take Back Control of Your Credit Card
By: Final
#20. Meet Stitch Fix: Your Personal Stylist
By: Stitch Fix
Screencast Explainer Videos
#21. What is Slack?
By: Slack
#22. How To See Your Business’ Health In QuickBooks
By: QuickBooks
#23. What is Asana?
By: Asana
#24. Flock Vs Slack
By: Flock
Typographic Animation Explainer Videos
#25. How PayPal Works
By: PayPal
#26. Personal Finance Management With Mint
By: Mint
#27. Payment Basics: Payments 101
By: Braintree
#28.Evernote: The Evolution
By: Evernote
#29. Introducing Bélo:
By: Airbnb
#30. “Hey Mr.President!”
By: Upwork
#31. Domino’s People Powered Pizza
By: Domino’s Australia
Whiteboard Explainer Videos
#32. DC Home Buzz
By: DC Home Buzz
#33. Enterprise Feedback Management
By: Verint
#34.IDTechEx Company Introduction
By: IDTechEx
#35. Solar hybrid technology
By: Solarcentury
#36. HomeSquare Home Maintenance Services
By: HomeSquare
Stop motion Animation Explainer Videos
#37. Chipotle – Back to the Start
#38. What is Webiixx?
#39. Xbox 360 – Stop Motion Commercial
#40. Coinstar by PES
#41. GERA OutDo
13 Best Video Hosting Sites (Pros and Cons)
So you’ve finally decided to jump onto the video marketing bandwagon? While Youtube is great for starters, if you really want to up the game and generate leads for your business, it is good to consider other options as well.
If you are thinking of hosting your video on your own website, don’t!.
That’s a very bad idea for lotta reasons.
The best option is to find a good video hosting platform. And there are too many choices in the market today. It can be a herculean task to go to each website and compare them all.
But don’t worry, we’ve done the hard stuff for you. In this post, we have put together a list of 10+ video hosting sites by comparing their pros and cons so that you can easily choose the ideal video hosting site for your business.
Basic Video Hosting Sites
1. YouTube
Youtube is the most popular and obvious choice for many. If you are just starting to experiment with video, Youtube is the perfect place to start your adventure.
Pros
- Embed videos on your website for free!
- Free of cost
- Live streaming feature
- Reach a larger audience organically
- User-friendly Analytics
- Earn money by monetizing your channel
Cons
- Fewer customization options
- Youtube Branding
- Pre-roll ads
- Suggested Videos
Pricing
Completely free of cost.
2. Vimeo
Vimeo is very similar to Youtube but comes with more advanced features if you are willing to spend some money. The main difference from Youtube is that in Vimeo the quality of uploads is much better. It’s preferred by designers and artists alike.
Pros
- Known for quality videos
- Enhanced Privacy controls
- Custom Video Player
- Live Streaming Feature
- Advanced Video Analytics
- Collaboration
- Priority Support
- No in-video Ads
Cons
- Less Audience
- There’s an upload limit of 500MB/week in the basic plan.
Pricing
Free. Premium versions are available
3. Dailymotion
Dailymotion is the second biggest video sharing platform after Youtube. The only thing that sets them apart from YouTube is the maturity of content being uploaded.
Pros
- Fewer restrictions when it comes to uploading
- Unlimited Storage and bandwidth
Cons
- Video size can’t exceed 2GB
- Video duration can’t be more than 60 mins
- Analytics are limited, even for paid accounts.
Pricing
Free to host. You can also pay for increased exposure.
4. Facebook
Facebook is an ideal platform if you’re looking to generate some initial traction for your videos. However, if you want to keep building on that traction, you should be willing to spend a few bucks, since organic reach on Facebook is very limited.
Pros
- Mobile optimized
- Live Streaming Feature
- Analytics
Cons
- In-stream Ads
- Poor Organic Reach
- Videos won’t show up in Google search results
Pricing
Free to share your video. But you gotta pay to play with promoted posts.
Advanced Video Hosting sites for small businesses
5. Show by Animaker
Show is a video hosting platform that has the perfect set of growth tools to attract, engage and convert your viewers into paying customers. It is the world’s first video tool with built-in CRM. Thanks to its no-code integration, anyone from your team can use the tool effectively without guidance
Pros
- Customizable video player with 5 Themes
- Automatic SEO optimization
- Built in Video CRM
- Advanced analytics
- Growth tools
- Video first Marketing tools
Cons
- Not a good fit for personal use
Pricing
Free. Premium versions are also available.
6. Wistia
Wistia is undoubtedly the most popular video hosting site. But does their product live up to the hype? Of course, it does! Or they wouldn’t be in business for so long!
Pros
- Customizable video player
- Automatic SEO optimization
- Lead Generation tools
- Advanced analytics
- Unlimited users
Cons
- Limited 3rd party integrations
- If you exceed the bandwidth, things can get expensive.
Pricing
Free. Premium versions are also available.
7. Sprout Video
Sprout Video is a great competitor to Wistia and is an ideal video hosting site for businesses of all sizes. They are less popular as they don’t have a free plan.
Pros
- Advanced Security Features
- Flexible pricing plans for teams of all sizes
- Advanced analytics and engagement data
- Geo Restriction feature
Cons
- There’s no free plan
Pricing
Only premium plans are available. But they do provide a free 30 day trial period.
8. Brightcove
Brightcove is an ideal video hosting & publishing platform for Enterprises. It is an ideal solution to create internal training programmes for your enterprise.
Pros
- Advanced video management features.
- Create video portals for training and communication programs.
- Monetization and Advertising capabilities.
Cons
- Requires coding to set up.
- There is no free plan.
Pricing
No free plan. But you can get a 30 day free trial on the premium version.
9. Vidyard
Vidyard is yet another great video hosting platform worth checking out. They provide more 3rd party integrations and are ideal for lead generation and customer engagement.
Pros
- A/B testing feature for thumbnails
- 3rd party integration possibilities
- Create Video Hubs to showcases all your videos in one place
- Automatic SEO optimization
Cons
- No free trial
Pricing
They do not have any pricing plans mentioned on their site. You can only request for a custom quote.
10. Vzaar
Vzaar addresses the video hosting needs of e-learning companies, publishers, and enterprises. It’s Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) protection enables secure video streaming and prevents unauthorized downloads.
Pros
- Secure video streaming
- Bulk uploading
- Fully Customizable Video Player
- Advanced Security
Cons
- High cost
- Not so user-friendly analytics
Pricing
There’s no free plan. But you can get a 10 day free trial on each premium plans.
11. Viddler
Viddler video hosting suite allows you to create customized training programmes for your company. It comes with an interactive player so that you can keep your staff engaged by effortlessly adding questions to your videos.
Pros
- API to build your own Customized Training Suite
- Supports both Flash and HTML5
- Analytics to gauge employee engagement in training programmes
Cons
- No free trial
- Not suited for marketing
Pricing
They do not have any pricing plans mentioned on their site. You can only request for a custom quote.
12. Viewbix
Viewbix is not essentially a video hosting service but it lets you add interactivity to your videos. Apt for monetization and advertising.
Pros
- No coding required to setup
- Supports all devices and screens
Cons
- Relies on 3rd parties for video hosting
Pricing
Get a free demo or contact them to know their pricing
13. Video Press
Video press lets you easily upload videos and share it in your WordPress blog. So if you have a blog and a WordPress editor, this can come in handy.
Pros
- Responsive video player
- Easy to use
- No additional charges for bandwidth usage
- No caps on the number of video plays
Cons
- Beta Custom Video Player
Pricing
VideoPress is included in WordPress.com and Jetpack paid plans.
Have you come across any other platforms to host videos that are worth a mention here? Do let us know in the comments below, let’s keep the list growing.
11 Best Royalty Free Music Sites for Your Amazing Videos!
As a company that makes video marketing simpler for individuals and companies of all sizes, we know how important a role music can play in a video.
Coupled with the right soundtrack, your video can do wonders. Music videos evoke specific emotions in your audience and grip them from start to finish.
Ignore the music, and your audience will ignore your video.
That said, hiring a commercial music producer or having an in-house music production team to produce hit tracks for your videos can make things very costly.
Additionally, some of the music tracks you find online are not copyright free; the last thing you want is having your video taken down for using someone’s music track without their permission!
To ensure you avoid all this, we have found a few websites out there that provide royalty free stock music, you can download your preferred music tracks for free or a one-time cost and use it in your videos for commercial purposes.
Royalty-free Music Sites for Videos
1. Artlist
Artlist is a Royalty free music platform that offers access to unlimited downloads of over 22K quality songs and 27K sound effects that are updated daily. Songs are categorized and curated by modes, genres, video themes, and instrumentals. You can choose any of these subscription plans from the social creator, creator pro, or teams that fit your creative needs.
Pros
Uncomplicated music licensing – one universal license for all the music tracks on Artlist. Use the music tracks anywhere, forever.
Advanced filtering options such as the ability to filter music tracks based on the type of instrument used.
Cons
No free downloads available, though, you get 2 months of unlimited music downloads for free if you’ve enrolled for their newsletter prior to acquiring the annual license.
Visit Artlist
2. Premium Beat
Good choice if you’re looking for high-quality music tracks for your videos. Backed by Shutterstock, Premium beat offers a diverse collection of royalty-free music from a variety of artists and genres.
Pros
Wide range of music filtering options (by genre, mood, artist, etc)
All music tracks have the same price tag of $49
Cons
There are no free music tracks.
2. Audio Jungle
AudioJungle hosts a collection of close to a million music tracks and sound clips. They constantly update their collection every week so you never run out of choices.
Pros
Music tracks available for as low as $5
They even have a monthly pricing plan
Cons
There are no free music tracks
Some music tracks are overpriced
3. Bensound
Bensound offers a diverse collection of both free and premium soundtracks. Their free licensing option even lets you use their soundtracks on online videos if you credit them in your description.
Pros
Free tracks are available.
They even have a subscription-based pricing plan.
Cons
The collection is less when compared to other sites.
4. Filmstro
Filmstro offers royalty free music in over 65 different categories. The cool thing about Filmstro is that it lets you create a customized soundtrack by changing its momentum, depth, and power.
Pros
Customization features
Affordable monthly subscription plans
Cons
Only 5 free tracks in the trial version
5. Purple Planet
Although not so famous, purple planet hosts a good collection of downloadable stock music. All their music tracks are free to be used for non-commercial purposes.
However, you can also pay a one-time fee if you’re looking to use the music tracks for commercial and broadcast purposes.
Pros
Unlimited free downloads
Cons
Lacks options to filter music tracks
6. YouTube Music Library
Even Youtube has its own free repository of high-quality music tracks and sound effects.
Pros
Music tracks and sound effects can be searchable and filtered based on genre, instrument, mood, duration, and attribution.
Cons
Some tracks require attribution and hence you should credit the artist in your video description.
7. StoryBlocks Audio
Storyblocks partners with some of the best artists to create original tracks, helping companies like National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and MTV make video soundtracks. It offers flexible pricing plans and constantly upgrades its library.
Pros
A large collection of music tracks and sound effects
Cons
The basic plan comes with only 5 downloads/month
No Free downloads available
8. Free Stock Music
Whether you’re looking to spice up a home movie or polish a professional video, Free Stock Music has a music track for all your video creation needs.
Pros
Formats available in MP3, WAV, & AIFF.
Free sign up
Cons
Lacks options to filter music tracks
9. Epidemic Sound
Epidemic Sound has curated a large collection of royalty-free music, spanning from genres like “Action & Adventure” to “World”, allowing users to download diverse and high-quality soundtracks.
Pros
30-days free trial
Custom Pricing Plan
Cons
Separate Pricing for licensing
10. Soundstripe
Soundstripe partners with many artists worldwide to produce songs that you can filter by mood, genre, pace, instruments, key, vocals, duration, and beats per minute.
With a Soundstripe account, you can download royalty-free music, follow artists you like, and even create your own playlists.
Pros
Robust Filtering and Curated Playlists
No separate pricing for licensing
Cons
There’s no free plan
11. Josh Woodward
Josh has a humble collection of 200+ music tracks across a variety of genres. He has made his entire collection available for the public to use for free.
Pros
Completely free to use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes
Cons
A very limited collection of music tracks