There’s no denying it—video is increasingly part of running a business. It’s an engaging way to capture the attention of both employees and customers and a preferred form of communication for many. By 2020, it’s projected that online videos will comprise over 80% of all consumer internet traffic.  Whether you’re creating videos that are consumer-facing or enterprise videos, or both, it may be time to consider a video hosting platform.

Public vs. Private

The first, and biggest, question you’ll need to answer is public or private? Where will you keep your videos? Options include dedicated streaming services, video sharing sites, video-specific hosting platforms, and traditional web hosts that offer support for video. If you’re looking for something free, YouTube and Vimeo are available. YouTube has massive potential reach with over a billion users and sometimes it feels like the platform has just as many ads. Vimeo doesn’t do ads, but it represents a much smaller community. If you’re choosing between these two platforms, there’s a lot more to compare.

If you’re going to pay for a video hosting platform, you have a lot of choice. Here are just a few of the things you want to consider when weighing options:

• Security
• Searchability
• Storage
• Ability to update and replace videos
• Analytics
• Video player features
• Interactive and customizable components

Here’s a comparison of Wistia, Vimeo and YouTube to give you a better idea of what could best suit your needs:

Security

Your business-related videos can be housed on your servers or they can live in the cloud online. Security is an important consideration when you’re evaluating video hosting platforms. Using a free service can increase your security risk. Public platforms have settings to protect against breaches, but how secure are they? Be wary of posting any videos that have sensitive or proprietary information on a public platform. Some would even argue that you should NEVER host your own videos. For sensitive material, you can limit where and how videos can be viewed with secure online video platforms.

Analytics

When you’re sourcing a video hosting platform, analytics is probably something you’ll want to evaluate. Keeping an eye on who’s watching your videos and how they’re watching them is valuable feedback. Data such as how many people are watching, how long they watched and whether they shared a video can help guide your future video projects. Different analytics will reveal different things, based on your goals. Check out the blog we wrote on analyzing video analytics.

Software Integration and Video Hosting Platforms

You already have systems in place that help your office run smoothly. Introducing a video platform that doesn’t integrate with these systems can cost time and money, not to mention cause a lot of frustration. Here are some of the things you may want your video platform to place nice with:

• CMS: SharePoint, WordPress, Jive, Sitecore, Drupal
• CRM:  Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce
• Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
• LMS: Blackboard, Moodle, Desire2Learn

Ease of Use

To make a video platform truly useful, it needs to be easy for everyone. If you need to be part of the IT department to upload or play a video, things are too complicated. How easy is it to categorize, organize and search? If you expect employees to use the system for more than just click and play capability, you need to be sure the learning curve isn’t too steep.

Organized Video Library

Keeping all your videos together in one safe, secure, searchable place is a good idea. You’ll get the most out of your resources with a good set-up. Whether you’re looking to make your first video or add to your library, Key West Video can help. Call us today for a free quote and we’ll work with you to make a product worthy of a platform.