Do you really need to set up your own YouTube or Vimeo account?
Both platforms are free, but it means more for you to manage. In this blog, I share when you should set up your own accounts, and when it’s okay to use someone else’s.
If you are just starting out, maybe you’re working with a videographer or a friend who has offered to host your video on their account. This might be a great idea, or it may not be such a good fit for your business.
This is what you need to know about each platform before you decide:
Vimeo
Vimeo has free and paid account options to choose from. Here’s the rundown:
- It’s easy to set up an account and sign up for a professional plan.
- If you have a lot of videos, it’s best to have your own paid account.
- The free account limits the number of HD videos you can upload in a week – plus, it’s always nice to have your own videos altogether on one account, and if you ever need to make any universal changes to descriptions or contact email details, for example, you can do it quickly, all at once.
- If you only have a couple of videos, it’s OK for someone else to host them – for example, if you just have an “about” video or a couple of testimonials on your website.
- Your videographer or marketer can customize the look to match your website – they can hide their channel name and the Vimeo logo, customize the color scheme, and set what happens at the end of the video.
YouTube
All accounts are always free, customization options are limited, but YouTube is the second most popular search engine. Here’s what else you need to know:
- Setting up a channel is a lot more complicated and there are a lot more options than Vimeo. However, because it’s a search engine there are a lot of little things you can do to make it easier for your ideal clients to discover your video.
- Ask your videographer about whether they will be doing SEO to help your video find its target audience.
- YouTube rewards channels that regularly post videos about one topic – active, targeted channels.
- If you’re only posting one video, it will probably perform better on an active channel with a lot of similar videos.
- If your videographer works with lots of similar clients, it may work best to post all the videos at the same time each week to make it more likely that your video will be found.