Which is Better for Your Business and Influencer Marketing?

Everywhere you look in 2020, video is taking over the web. From six-second TikToks to YouTube channels with over 100 million subscribers, people just want video. According to a recently updated survey of over 3,000 consumers by HubSpot, 54% of consumers want more video content from the brands they love. You just can’t beat video for engagement, conversions, and brand awareness!

But where should you be sharing your videos? IGTV or YouTube? With all the social media available these days and all of them following the consumer trends, you have several choices when it comes to posting your video content. We’ll take a look at the pros and cons between two of the top video platforms, YouTube vs. IGTV, to help you make your choice. 

Video Length

Your second consideration should be the length of your videos. (We’ll talk about your first consideration in a moment.) IGTV limits your videos to 10 minutes, so if you’re going for a lengthy instructional type or a feature-length entertainment piece, you’re going to want to go with YouTube.

If your account is verified, you can post videos that are up to 12 hours long (Upload Videos Longer Than 15 Minutes). However, if your aim is to fish followers and leads with fun and informative shorts, IGTV might be your best bet. 

Sharing Capability

You’ve probably seen YouTube videos scattered all over the web, shared on social media and embedded in blog posts. Google isn’t worried about losing its position as the world’s biggest video platform, so they’ll let you share your videos all over the place.

IGTV, on the other hand, isn’t as interested in losing control of the content. They also don’t allow you to share YouTube videos to their platform. When it comes to sharing, Google FTW!

Searchability

Because Google owns YouTube, YouTube videos more frequently appear on the first page of search results and it’s easy to search YouTube itself for practically anything. You’ll never see any Instagram TV on Google’s search results, but that’s actually not because of Google!

IGTV only allows their content to be accessed on Instagram, so you can only be discovered or find new content when searching on Instagram itself. This makes searching IGTV for content more difficult than searching YouTube. You can’t just type in keywords or topics. You have to search specific users or hashtags to find related videos. 

Analytics

When it comes to analytics, it’s another no-brainer. Google has entire products dedicated to providing accurate analytics to help you adjust and improve your marketing.

The same goes for YouTube. They show you the in-depth engagement stats you can use to tailor your campaigns. IGTV provides enough analytics to show trends, but they don’t go much deeper. Depending on how much insight you need, either one could work for you. 

Audience

Your first consideration should be your audience. Where are they? What do they do? Who is your target audience? The other factors don’t matter nearly as much as making sure your content gets to the people you need to see it. Before you make any decisions, find your niche audience and build a home there. It’s always possible to branch out in the future.

All of these together will help you understand which video marketing tool is best for you and for your business! Check them all out now!