Success with Video: Facebook vs. YouTube
Hi WA Friends,
I hope you're well and enjoying your time here.
I'm wondering what your thoughts and experiences are on the traction you get with video on Facebook vs. YouTube? I realize that YouTube is the video king and has been for a long time ... but that seems to be changing.
With Facebook getting ready to unveil it's "Watch" feature, I've heard many predictions that Facebook may take the lead spot in the video space before long.
Personally, I've had exponentially more traction with my videos on Facebook than I have on YouTube. It's easy to understand why: Facebook already has established relationships and on-going conversations. Effective video seems to slide easily into that flow.
YouTube, meanwhile, is a destination, and it's a constant struggle to title and tag and keyword your way into algorithm relevance. I've found it to be an up-hill climb.
In either case, I'm committed to a long-term strategy with both. I'm curious to see how it all develops and changes, and interested to know what your experiences have been so far.
Thanks for reading!
Best wishes,
Kevin
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They are definitely both important, but one is for search marketing and the other is going to be more of a social marketing play.
So they both have different purposes and you are likely going to be able to "double dip" and leverage videos on both (in the same way that you can do so now).
I can assure you though that Google Is never going to rank Facebook videos in their search as it would take away a lot of their revenue and hand it directly over to a competitor.
Thanks for the note, Kyle!
You've summed up why I view them differently, and thanks to WA, I see how the YouTube model may have more "legs" in the long-run. But for the short-term, I definitely see more traction on Facebook. I approach them each differently, at least for now.
It will be interesting to see how the landscape continues to change as generations move into prime consumer age with no history of paying for cable, either.
... but that's another matter altogether :)
KB
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Ey there Kevin, a couple questions for ya'. Are you using FB videos to sell products on a FB business page or are you using FB vids to direct folks to your website? Just wondered what you're trying to convert with your FB vids?
The reason I'm asking is because I've been looking at FB and it's possibilities lately and am looking forward to some more interaction on this post!
Hi Randy,
Thanks for the note. I've just been brand-building and practicing to this point, really. I do a weekly video blog and also post my weekly podcast as a video file on YouTube. When I started uploading the video blog (usually 3-5 minutes) directly to Facebook, I started to see a lot more interest. I push it to both YT and FB, but I upload, tag, title and categorize them separately.
I am in the midst of building an online coaching community and will be using Facebook for that. I've built much more of a following there than on YouTube and have learned that my target market is used to Facebook.
Having said that, I see that some of the older videos (stuff I posted a year ago or more) on YouTube are starting to creep up in views. And if you're going to share or embed videos, it's much more convenient to do that from YouTube, I find.
Holler at me if I can help or share my experiences - past, present or future - with you :)
Best wishes,
Kevin
Well thank ya' Kevin! that is all very interesting. I've been using YouTube along side of my niche site for quite a while but recently had started wondering how to use FB also.
This does give me a little direction and I'll definitely give ya' a shout when I'm ready to get into FB vids for sure!!!
Thank you so much partner!!!
Randy