Uploading to Instagram, Facebook or YouTube?
You made a video. Great! But now the bigger question comes up:
Where do you put your video?
There are multiple platforms for you to upload your video, and the choice can be overwhelming. So in this post, I’m going to talk about uploading to each platform and a few tips and things to consider.
Note: We won’t be talking about advertising with videos in this post just because it’s a big topic. So, we’re going to save that for another post!
So let’s begin with…
Facebook is still one of the biggest platforms on the internet, and nowadays they are promoting a lot of video content on their page. I’ll admit that it’s a great place to upload your video.
BUT…
Facebook Pages do not get the same traction as anything else. As a matter of fact, Facebook Pages reach a very small percentage of your audience.
So the solution is Facebook Groups or uploading it to your personal profile.
I personally have not tested Facebook Groups, but Groups send notifications for every new post (as long as the user doesn’t disable it) and allow your audience to engage with the group. Your personal profile also gets you more traction and reaches more of your personal audience. I’ve personally started uploading all my videos to my personal profile over my page and I get more results.
The only downside to uploading a video to your personal profile is that it’s personal. If that’s not the audience you’re going for, consider building a Facebook Group.'
Instagram is the best visual platform out there. And now, they’re supporting video a lot more than before.
There’s three ways to upload videos to Instagram
1. Instagram Post
The classic way of uploading a video. You’re limited to 60 seconds but its reach is like a typical Instagram post.
One way to get around the limit is to divide your video into 60 second chunks and adding multiple videos to one post.
2. IGTV
IGTV is the dedicated video portion of Instagram, but it’s still being developed. In my opinion, I don’t get the same amount of traction as a regular post, but it does allow me to post videos longer than 60 seconds. Even better is that you can upload horizontal videos and it allows the user to make it fullscreen.
3. Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories allow for your content to be seen for 24 hours and have a time limit of 15 seconds. I use Instagram Stories for any small videos I create or any personal videos of me talking to the camera.
Instagram is getting better for video, and it’s one of the best ways to spread your video around. Instagram is one of my favourite platforms, and if you’ve upgraded to a business account, you can see detailed analytics of your video (which are so helpful)
YouTube
YouTube is the classic platform for video uploading, but YouTube has changed when it comes to video.
I’m going to make this sentence bold because it’s the most important part of this post: People go on Instagram and Facebook to socialize - people go on YouTube to watch videos.
What that means is that your audience will be more willing to watch long videos on YouTube compared to other platforms because that’s what they came to do. Uploading a 20 minute video on Instagram or Facebook doesn’t make sense because your audience came for short content that are easy to consume.
One of the biggest benefits of YouTube is that it’s evergreen. Your content lives forever and will get views over time. Compared to the other platforms, that’s a massive benefit.
The only downside is that, nowadays, it’s hard to actually get views. There’s so much content on YouTube that you’re competing with every creator. YouTube tends to favour videos over 10 minutes, but they also prefer to have an attentive audience. Keeping your audience longer into the video is better for YouTube’s analytics. So if you had to choose between a really engaging 3 minute video versus a boring 10 minute video, choose the first one.
Building an audience on YouTube is tough and requires consistency, but not impossible.
Closing Thoughts
All three platforms are great for video, but it’s best to choose your strategy. Facebook and Instagram are great for shorter videos with less complex content, but you have to have a great hook for them to be engaged. YouTube is also a great platform, but don’t expect people to flock to your video. YouTube demands consistency and engaging content.
Although we design our content for specific purposes, we know that videos can be used for multiple purposes. Whether you need help creating captivating and memorable videos or deciding where to upload it, we can help!