Online Video Hosting: Why Wistia?

In Blogging, Video by Brian Town

For so long people and businesses alike have been using YouTube for both personal and professional use. Recently Michigan Creative Video found Wistia, and we love it. Wistia is different from YouTube in a lot of ways, and we will be using it a lot in the future, but we also will not  be abandoning YouTube any time soon. Being the second most popular search engine, YouTube gives our videos and our company a lot of really great exposure. However, Wistia has a few advantages.

Instead of ending with “suggested videos” to watch next, like cats in water (as funny as those videos may be!) like YouTube does, Wistia ends with a call to action. So, instead of taking viewers away from your website and on to different things, they are given the option to go directly to your site. Take our latest video for Kerkstra Precast Concrete, for example. Instead of ending with other concrete videos from completely different companies, we are able to give our audience the option to go directly to the Kerkstra site.

 

Wistia also send you analytics, to show you how your videos are doing. Chris Savage, Co-Founder and CEO of Wistia, says, “Successful video marketing starts with understanding what keeps your audience engaged”. This is a great point: Understanding why your videos are (or aren’t) doing well is a key component into producing great content in the future. Wistia’s analytics provide you with the opportunity to see what you should do the same, and what you should change, in future videos.

 

All in all, both Wistia and YouTube are great for video hosting, but Wistia has some clear advantages in some areas. It’s opportunity for exposure may not be as great as YouTube, but some of the advanced features it can provide definitely give it somewhat of a leg up on the second most popular search engine!

~ Alli

Brought to you by Michigan Creative Video