Should I host my own videos?

Hosting your own videos is tricky business.

Hosting videos is extremely server intensive and expensive

Massive Video Server

It can be done and many cloud data centers can help you with setting up a nice size VM with plenty of memory and tons of internet bandwidth. So that part can get knocked out pretty quick, and if they offer a scalable solution you can just keep making the VM and storage larger.

But video hosting and streaming is more than just servers, memory and bandwidth. What formats will your videos be created in and what formats will you convert them into for streaming? How many bit-rates should you support? Do you need a global content delivery network (CDN)? Do you expect lots of simultaneous viewing? Do you want to capture leads in videos? Are you prepared and staffed to monitor/test performance across devices and browsers (hint not all videos play on Apple). Hosting your own video is possible, but there are many very affordable options you should consider before doing it yourself. Check-out the following video hosting providers: TogoTiki , Brightcove, Vidyard

When should I use YouTube in my video marketing strategy?

YouTube is a powerful “free” video hosting platform and the number 2 search engine behind Google (its parent). But it could be costing your business lots of money. Its business model is to use your content and then sell ads around it. It wants to keep viewers on YouTube so they watch more ads. All of this is fine and can work to your advantage, if you plan for it. Planning means knowing “why”, “where” and “when” to use YouTube. Creating videos can be expensive and time consuming, so you want to get a good ROI for the effort. It is a great place to run an engaging and fun video ad so that people are thinking about you. But make sure to include enough information to get them to your site.

Once you get visitors onto your site you want to keep them their as long as possible. This is when we highly recommend using Togotiki for hosting your videos and 360 virtual tours.

What is the difference between video marketing and video hosting?

Video marketing is the usage of video content to promote your product or service. You can use a wide variety of video genres to support this marketing effort. Some of the popular genres are: explainer videos, how to videos, and testimonial videos. Video hosting is about how you deliver the video to the viewer. Unlike pictures or text on the internet videos are large files and bandwidth intensive.

You have three basic choices when it comes to video hosting.

1) You can go with free hosting providers like YouTube that insert ads in and around your content,

2) you can build/rent your own servers video hosting servers,

3) you hire a video hosting service provider like Togotiki or Brightcove.

A popular solution is a combination of options 1 and 3 above.

Using free providers for awareness and search opportunities but then channeling customers toward you privately hosted videos that can be delivered ad free and branded to drive conversion and loyalty.

Blog Post Title

What goes into a blog post? Helpful, industry-specific content that: 1) gives readers a useful takeaway, and 2) shows you’re an industry expert.

Use your company’s blog posts to opine on current industry topics, humanize your company, and show how your products and services can help people.