How to use Vimeo for a succesful video marketing campaign

Vimeo is a video-sharing platform launched in 2004, around the same time YouTube was born. It was created by a group of filmmakers and is now home to more than 50 million users called “creators”. These creators are mostly independent filmmakers, animators, musicians, and other artists who share and promote their creative works.

Over the years, Vimeo has built its own solid following with over 170 million visitors and 715 million views per month. As it continues to rise to popularity, Vimeo is proving to be a promising social media marketing platform. Here are some points where Vimeo differs in approach from other video communities, and how businesses can take advantage of them.

 

Go for a more professional appeal

Since its users are mostly serious video creators, works uploaded to Vimeo are higher in quality in terms of aesthetics and content. Videos here are more refined than those of its more popular counterpart. As Business2Community puts it, “Vimeo screams professionalism in the same way that LinkedIn does.”

Engaging audiences with a well-produced video can help build a brand’s image. Consumers pay attention to good content, more so if it is presented excellently. This is Vimeo’s appeal over its competitors – it serves as an artistic portfolio that can be utilized to highlight a brand’s strengths and selling points.

Sure, the platform has less traffic and a smaller audience. But on the upside, it allows businesses to focus on what they really intend to market, as compared to YouTube’s anything-goes approach. This can be beneficial in the long run.

 

Be 100% ad-free

Vimeo does not run advertisements on their videos. This allows for seamless viewing of content and a lower chance of viewers being turned away by seemingly ubiquitous ads. This shows how Vimeo puts content and viewership above all.

Also, going by a no-ads stance omits the possibility of ads from business competitors being placed on a brand’s video. This can defeat the purpose of video marketing if competitors can advertise while potential customers are viewing one’s content.

 

Sign up for a cost-effective business account

Since Vimeo does not rely on paid ads, it offers premium video hosting services to its creators. These are the four basic options for accounts:

• Vimeo Basic: Free. Includes 500 MB of storage per week (Up to 25 GB per year).
• Vimeo Plus: $ 7 per month. Includes 5 GB of storage per week (Up to 250 GB per year).
• Vimeo Pro: $ 20 per month. Includes 50 GB of storage per week (Up to 1 TB per year).
• Vimeo Business: $ 50 per month. No weekly storage limit (Maximum of 5 TB).

Paying for a Pro or Business account allows creators to have fully-customizable settings. With proper use, these customization options can be geared towards improving brand visibility and building the brand image.

• Video branding

Paid accounts can add customizable Portfolio sites using their own branding and domain name. There are also customization options to match a brand. These include adding a business logo or image to the video player, changing the player colors, adding a custom outro, and choosing a custom URL and thumbnail for each video. These features make for excellent opportunities for branding and help improve brand recall.

• Professional privacy

Control the playback feature for videos. There is an option that enables video embedding on any website. This can help marketers achieve a wider reach by harnessing the potential of online social sharing.

On the other hand, restricting access and sharing options can also be a positive move in getting higher SEO value from a video. Keeping it to a single or few websites gives search engines fewer options in ranking pages for a video. This strategy helps a business place their content higher in search engine results pages.

• Advanced analytics

Vimeo’s analytics platform offers insights on user engagement and demographics. The analytics dashboard gives a detailed summary of impressions, plays, finishes, likes, comments, and most popular videos, among others. It also provides an overview of playback locations, devices used to play videos, and parts of videos that garner the most and least user interaction.

These data can help businesses better understand their consumers and build marketing strategies to suit their online habits and preferences.

Overall, Vimeo proves that video marketing is not all about broad audience reach and viral potential. It is proof that in online video marketing, content and execution can be mighty trump cards, too.