YouTube vs. Vimeo: Which is Better for Business?

How many of you have ever “YouTubed” something? When it comes to online video marketing, YouTube seems to be the leader of the pack, but what about the other online video platforms, like Vimeo? When looking at a video platform for your business, it’s important to know the pros and cons of each and decide which platform better suits your business’ goals. Our Raleigh internet marketing team has put together some of the difference between YouTube and Vimeo to help you decide which platform is right for your business’ online marketing campaign. First, we’ll start with the pros and cons of using YouTube for your business.

The Pros of YouTube

• YouTube is the largest platform for online video sharing with more than 1 billion unique views per month.
• Google owns YouTube, so of course, YouTube videos get ranked in the Google search results.
• YouTube is free to use with unlimited uploads, hosting, and bandwidth.
• Interact with your audience through comments and add annotations as a call-to-action.

The Cons of YouTube

• Competitor’s content and ads can be displayed throughout or near your video the whole time.
• YouTube is designed to keep people on YouTube, making them less likely to visit your company’s website.
• Public content can’t be moderated or controlled as easily as private content.
• YouTube gets blocked by many businesses so you can’t reach professionals while they are at work.

Now, let’s take a look at Vimeo for your business.

The Pros of Vimeo

• Viewers see no ads.
• Vimeo provides higher quality videos.
• Vimeo’s audience is more niche than YouTube’s very broad audience.
• Password protection is available for your videos so you can share them with friends or family before setting them public.

The Cons of Vimeo

• Vimeo gets a way smaller amount of traffic than YouTube, with only 70 million unique views.
• Free accounts only give you a few features. A paid account for a business starts at $17 a month.
• Limited uploads.
• Rumor has it that Google favors YouTube videos to Vimeo videos in the search results.

So what does our Raleigh internet marketing team recommend using? It depends on your business’ goals for online video marketing. Weigh the pros and cons of both and try them both out. Figure out which platform you like better. If you plan to upload a bunch of videos, think about how YouTube might be better with its unlimited uploads. However, if you prefer higher quality videos and a smaller, niche audience, then Vimeo might be the way to go.

Tags: Digital Marketing