Over the past year, our options for sharing videos have more than doubled. With new platforms picking up heat and more established platforms taking steps to make it easier to share short video content and long video content, separately. We at Chtrbox love video because it’s quick and easy to consume and due to the ever rising internet speeds, it is easy to access too.
Today there are various video formats to choose from – IGTV, TikTok, Youtube and Instagram Stories to name a few. There are also a few newcomers like Trell & Firework which we haven’t covered here but will in a later post as they grow. If you are a brand that uses video content which platform should you prioritize? How do you make optimum use of your budgets? Good question, hopefully our breakdown can help!
IGTV
IGTV came as a shock to everyone when Instagram decided to step in and change the game. It is an extended part of the Instagram experience itself now. In the beginning, people were highly speculative about how this platform will make space in the user’s mind.
Pros
- Opportunity to engage with your audience for a longer time period
- You can share longer videos without having to send them to Youtube
- Link to your website, blog, product, etc can be added to it
- It is optimized for mobile viewing
- You can upload videos directly through the computer
- The series format is smart and very interesting
- It is easy to use and very intuitive.
- You can add your IGTV videos to Facebook very easily
- There is no limit to the length of your video.
Cons
- Good for long-form content but do people come to Instagram for long-form content?
- Though you can share the content to Facebook easily, the final analytics are both on the respective platforms therefore to know the final data you will have to add them up.
- You cannot embed the IGTV videos to your website, though that used to be an option before. You can, however, put it up as a Facebook post and embed that.
- It is a smart phone only platform, which can be limiting in certain ways depending on your audience
Instagram stories/ Facebook Stories/ Youtube Stories
We are combining them together as they all have more or less identical features. Stories are essentially short videos that have a shorter life span. They disappear after a certain period of time. On Facebook they disappear after 24 hours, on Instagram too they disappear after 24 hours unless you add them as a highlight and on youtube, they last for 7 days.
Pros
- Great for quick and easy content
- Great for reminding people to check out new content or an old content piece
- Great for making low-quality content that will disappear and not be permanent.
- Great way to engage with your audience by showing them minor content – Behind the scenes, updates on life or a project, etc.
- They currently have a good reach.
- Instagram has some great stickers they can help you ask questions, take polls, etc with your audience.
- You can add a link to it. For all the content creators out there without 10,000 followers, we know how difficult it can be to ask people to go to your platform. However, there is a hack to do that with IGTV. Check it out here.
Cons
- The fact that they only last for a limited amount of time is a double-edged sword.
- All of them have a time limit, each story on Instagram only lasts for 60 seconds. However, you can create a longer video from the platform and it will be automatically split.
- For Instagram, the stories can only be uploaded through
TikTok
The platform that seems to be all the hype right now and it is. TikTok is predominantly a short video platform. However, what are the pros and cons of using this format?
Pros
- It is rather easy to upload videos on it
- The platform is new therefore building an audience is easier than from established platforms
- It has a very young audience
- Easy to share the content on other platforms through TikTok
- The platform hasn’t matured yet therefore, various kinds of content can be picked up.
Cons
- The majority of their audience are young users
- Content is extremely massy and based on humour which may be difficult for every brand to work with
- Might not be the best call for website traffic as it doesn’t have as many ways to lead your audience to a different platform.
Youtube
Last but not the least platform – YouTube. Even after facing competition from several new platforms Youtube has been able to maintain its position of being the go-to video platform. It is a great platform to increase your SEO ranking and is extremely easy to use. You can upload videos of any size and quality. There is even a possibility to monetise your content on the platform which is a great boost for small brands and creators.
Pros
- It is a mature video platform, therefore, more reliable and dependable.
- Videos with well-done video SEO can easily rank on Google.
- It offers monetisation options.
- You can include several links in the description of every video you upload.
- It is easy to embed it on your website.
- The shelf life of the content tends to be longer.
- The algorithm pushes new content.
- The analytics are in detail and give you helpful information.
- There is useful information provided to help you at every step of the way.
Cons
- It isn’t easy to share the content on other platforms
- Though the platform prefers new content, it is not easy to build a huge base on the platform
- You are highly dependent on the changing algorithms.
Monitasation doesnt start until you have 1,000 subscribers.
As we can see, every platform has their own pros and cons and their own set of audiences. It really depends on where your audience is. If you’re targeting the youth then TikTok would be the best place to connect with them. If you’re targeting young adults with lifestyle products looking at Instagram might be a good option. If you’re looking at adults over 35 then Facebook will be a good option for you.
Therefore, know your audience and choose the right platform for you!