You made a video! Now what? 7 places to share it

Video sharing sites are integral in the modern marketer’s tech stack. They make it easy to share video content, build an engaged viewership, communicate with your team, and interact with your target audience in real time with live video.  

Picking the right video sharing app is half the struggle though. How do you know which bells and whistles matter or which features are must-haves for you?

You can only effectively reach and convert the right viewers if the platform offers you exactly what you need — whether that’s an ad-free player that can accommodate your custom branding, robust backend analytics for measurement and performance tracking, or easy integrations with your top-performing channels from CRM to social.

To help you out, we’ll cover everything you need to know about choosing a video sharing platform, like each one’s best features, its ideal customer, and potential shortcomings of each tool. By the end, you’ll leave with a better idea of which platform is apt for your business or brand.

Sound good? Let’s go!

Before you get started

First, grab a pen and paper or your Notes app. Make a list of allllllll the features you’re looking for in a video sharing platform. Nothing is too small to consider, since this is the mechanism you’ll use to introduce your content, brand, or product to the masses. Here’s some food for thought to get you started: 

• Can you embed videos? 
• Can it handle a robust content library? 
• What social platforms does it integrate with? 
• Can you communicate with your team within the platform? 
• Help you drive (and track) conversions from videos? 

Once you have a list of what you need, you can choose a video sharing site that meets your requirements effectively. 

Keep these 7 best video sharing sites on your radar 

1. Vimeo

We’d be remiss if we didn’t drink our own champagne here. Vimeo is suitable for creators, video and event marketers, and filmmakers. This is thanks to the full suite of tools that it offers for video marketing, creation and editing, employee communication, and more.

You can use it for marketing and sales videos, internal team communication, and growing a subscriber-only over-the-top (OTT) channel. 

Important specs

• Maximum video upload file size for Vimeo is 250 GB.
• Video orientation: horizontal with video dimensions of 1920 x 1080p.
• Vimeo supports almost all video file types including MP4, MOV, WMV, AVI, and FLV.
• Live sessions hosted using Vimeo can last up to 12 hours. The platform also lets you go live on multiple channels simultaneously.
• It displays high-quality standard definition (SD) video, high definition (HD) video as well as 4K videos. 

What it’s great for

Vimeo is perfect for providing your viewers with a high-quality, totally ad-free video experience. Essentially, it’s great for:

• Growing site traffic and brand familiarity. Create a branded, embeddable video player with Vimeo that shows high-quality videos on your site. You can also automatically add captions to the videos you create with Vimeo — improving your content’s accessibility.
• Engage and convert customers better. Use Vimeo to create interactive videos including self-guided videos that prompt viewers to navigate through the content. You can also add informational overlays and sticky hotspots to your videos to engage viewers better.
• Building your bank of interested leads. Vimeo offers lead generation tools that let you not only collect interested viewers’ email addresses but also other details like their areas of interest. Vimeo also auto-syncs the leads with leading email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and Hubspot.

• Converting interested customers with video. Use Vimeo to create shoppable videos that link to products within the video.
• Educating and communicating with your team. Create, organize, and manage all internal content with Vimeo’s Video Library. Use the free screen recorder to create educational tutorials, onboarding videos, and briefing notes for your team. What’s more, you can host virtual town hall meetings with Vimeo. 

The video sharing platform’s shortcomings

Even though Vimeo offers exceptional video and sound quality and a full suite of video creation and distribution tools, some users say they’ve had trouble understanding pricing plans.

However, the thing is: pricing plans are confusing only because they’re diverse, customizable offers. This way, everyone — from small creators to enterprises and large teams — can use Vimeo at a price that suits their budget.

2. YouTube

YouTube is a great video sharing site for marketers and creators. Use it to reach adults (between 18-34) that make up about 68% of YouTube’s users.

The number of senior folks using YouTube is also steadily rising. One study even confirms that the percentage of Americans aged 50-64 using YouTube has increased from 70% to 83% between 2019 to 2021. This means you can reach these folks on YouTube as well. 

Important specs

• The standard aspect ratio for YouTube videos on a computer is 16:9.
• YouTube supports the following video file formats: MOV, MP4, MPG, AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4, and WMV.
• Video orientation: horizonal video for full videos and vertical for YouTube Shorts.
• YouTube video length is up to 15 minutes long. Verified accounts can, however, upload videos longer than 15 minutes.
• YouTube supports high video quality. The most common YouTube video resolutions are 1920 x 1080p and 1280 x 720p. It also accepts resolutions as low as 426 x 240p and as high as 3840 x 2160 (4K resolution) 

What it’s great for

YouTube serves as a website for video sharing for free. You can upload videos across all funnel stages and embed those videos on your website too.

Let’s break down YouTube’s use cases:

• Growing brand awareness and community building. Create videos to grow an engaged following. You can also use it to retain customers by uploading product-led videos that educate your audience on how to use your tool (useful for SaaS marketers).
• Creating video content across the funnel stages. Use YouTube to create playlists of videos from different funnel stages. For instance, educational videos for the top, case studies and comparison posts for the middle funnel stage, and content answering FAQs for interested buyers toward the bottom of the funnel.
• Availing lots of monetization options. This one’s a use case for creators with at least 50,000 subscribers. You can sell your merchandise or create exclusive content for a subscription fee. 

The video sharing platform’s shortcomings

With over 150,000 new videos uploaded every minute, YouTube’s crowded. Besides a creative strategy, you need a strong grip on YouTube SEO to get your videos to rank on the platform and grow your following.

That said, it’s important to be aware that creating and growing on YouTube is playing on rented ground where you’ve little to no control.

The YouTube player also doesn’t allow branding, which contributes to a negative viewer experience.

When these viewers watch YouTube videos embedded on your site, they also have to bear with frequent ads, some of which tend to be unskippable. This puts you at risk of losing engaged viewers. And when they’re done, YouTube’s algorithm recommends related videos on other channels on their platform. Thus, whisking away your site visitors.

Lastly, YouTube’s in-built analytics don’t give an in-depth look at who is watching your embedded videos. You also can’t understand much about how viewers are engaging with your video content, leaving you with scarce data to optimize your video creation strategy.

3. TikTok

TikTok is best for new creators wanting to overcome the getting-started-with-video curve.

It’s also a helpful platform for marketers and brands committed to building an engaged community and driving traffic to their long-form video content.

Use it to reach an active audience between the age range of 18-24, TikTok’s biggest chunk of users. 

Important specs:

• The maximum length of video you can upload on TikTok is 10 minutes.
• TikTok supports the following video file formats: MP4 and MOV files.
• Videos you upload should be up to 72 MB in Android and 287.6 MB for iOS.
• TikTok video dimensions are 1080 x 1920 with an aspect ratio of a standard smartphone screen: 9:16.
• Preferred video orientation is vertical. Horizontal video is also allowed though.

On top of these specifications, it’s important to keep in mind that this video sharing platform offers lots of in-app video editing features. These include a bank of filters and royalty-free music that make it easy to make videos — even for starters. 

What’s it great for

TikTok is great for creators and brands across all industries. In comparison with YouTube, it’s relatively new, therefore, not as saturated — leaving lots of room for growth.

The platform is, particularly, great for:

• Testing content ideas. Engaged users and short-form videos requiring less investment in terms of production make TikTok the perfect platform for testing ideas.
• Learning what resonates with your target audience. Create short videos to understand which video hooks, editing effects, pattern interrupts, and more garner the best engagement.
• Sharing top-of-the-funnel content. This way, you can move interested leads deeper into the funnel by encouraging them to watch your long video content or visit your website.

• Collaborating with creators and brands. Marketers can pair up with niche TikTok creators and influencers to reach a wider audience — even grow sales. On the other hand, creators can learn to monetize their TikTok presence with opportunities like brand endorsements and sponsorships.
• Engaging your community. Features like Duets and challenges are effective for engaging your target audience, even growing brand awareness. 

The video sharing platform’s shortcomings

Although TikTok offers opportunities to grow brand awareness and engage your audience, it’s limited in terms of the content formats you can share.

Meaning: you’re limited to creating max 10-min long video or going live. It doesn’t let you build a linkable video content library or interactive videos — video types dedicated to improving your customers’ experience with you. 

4. Twitch

Twitch is among the best video sharing apps for marketers interested in streaming live such as hosting live classes and live talk shows.

Over two-thirds of Twitch users are under 35 years of age. So if your target audience falls under this age bracket, Twitch is the place to be. 

Important specs

• Maximum broadcast length on Twitch is 48 hours.
• Twitch video resolution is 1920 x 1080.
• It supports the following video file types: MOV, MP4, AVI, and FLV.

To upload a video on this live streaming platform, you need to be a Twitch Affiliate or Partner. Remember though, if you’re a partner or affiliate, you can’t simulcast or live stream to multiple platforms at a time. 

What it’s great for

Twitch is helpful for:

• Building and engaging with your community in real time. This offers you the opportunity to learn more about them and create content that they’re looking for.
• Growing on a platform that’s not as competitive as TikTok and YouTube. Apart from the gaming niche, Twitch isn’t a fiercely competitive space. This improves your chances of success on the platform provided your audience is here. 

The video sharing platform’s shortcomings

As with YouTube, live streaming on Twitch is growing on a third-party site. Sure you can embed your live streams on your website, but there’s little control you get in terms of where your content lives.

Twitch is also not the right platform for you if you’re looking to edit your live streams and upload them as on-demand videos.

For creators too, Twitch offers few monetization opportunities at the time of writing this. 

5. Instagram

Instagram, another one of the best video sharing sites, is great for marketers (especially in the retail and DTC space) and creators trying to reach millennials and Gen Z — the majority of Instagram users.

Important specs

• Instagram Reel length ranges between 15-90 seconds and live video length is maximum of 4 hours.
• Video aspect ratio is 9:16 and 1.91:1 with a minimum video resolution of 720p.
• Maximum file size for up to 10-min-long Instagram videos is 650MB. For videos as long as 60 minutes, the maximum video file size is 3.6 GB. 

What it’s great for

Much like TikTok, Instagram is a platform for growing brand awareness and sharing top-of-the-funnel content. Monetization opportunities for creators are similar as well — brand sponsorships and influencer partnerships.

Let’s break down what Instagram is good at:

• Creating interactive stories. Add stickers, questions, and polls to your video Stories to get more people to engage with you — even encourage sales.
• Funneling followers to your website and long-form video content. Create Stories and Reels to drive traffic to your website or OTT, on-demand video channel.
• Encouraging people to shop from you using Instagram Shops. By setting up Instagram Shopping, creators and marketers can tag their products in their videos to prompt viewers to buy from them within the app.
• Showing the human side of your brand. Use Stories and go live on Instagram to share behind-the-scenes content and more. 

The video sharing platform’s shortcomings

While this isn’t a shortcoming given the nature of Stories, but they’re ephemeral. That is: your video Stories disappear after 24 hours unless you save the story as a highlight on your profile.

Reels, the video format that the Instagram algorithm currently favors, don’t offer much in terms of driving people to your website. This makes Reel content good for brand awareness, but it does little to encourage direct micro and macro conversions. 

And as with YouTube and TikTok, all the video content you build on Instagram is on rented land — at the mercy of the Instagram algorithm in terms of how it performs. 

6. Dailymotion

Most Dailymotion users fall in the 25-34 age bracket, making it a useful video sharing platform to reach this segment. Unlike Vimeo and other video sharing platforms, Dailymotion doesn’t offer much scope for solo creators for growing and monetizing their audience. 

Important specs

• Maximum video upload file size is 60 minutes and 2GB. You can upload only 2 hours of video per day.
• Accepted video file types on Dailymotion include AVI, MP4, FLV, DV, 3GP, WMV, and MPEG.
• Dailymotion live streams run for 10 hours maximum with the video sharing site supporting adaptive HLS streaming. 

What it’s great for

Dailymotion makes it easy to share your videos on social media and embed them on your site. You can also use it for the following:

• Offering a branded viewing experience. Dailymotion lets you create a virtual jukebox where you can include your selected videos for viewers.
• Reaching a niche group of viewers. Dailymotion has groups. Use them to submit your videos to quickly target specific viewers 

The video sharing platform’s shortcomings

Dailymotion limits the content you upload to two hours of video per day. Each video can be a maximum of 60 minutes long.

This can be limiting for marketers and filmmakers in video production. In fact, in contrast, Vimeo lets you upload unlimited videos with 25GB per file size.

Dailymotion users also complain about the slow buffering of videos on the platform and the slow loading platform itself. What’s more, the plethora of ads that show between videos negatively impacts viewers’ experience. 

7. Wistia

Wistia is best for B2B marketers using video for marketing, sales, and customer support.

Important specs

• Maximum video file that Wistia supports is 8 GB with video resolution that is 640px and 3840px wide
• Wistia Live lets you host a maximum of 2 hours of live sessions and webinars.
• The recommended video file type is MP4. But it also supports MOV, MKV, M4V, MPG, AVI, F4V, VOB, MOD, 3GP, and WEBM. 

What it’s great for

Wistia offers you full control of your player, the videos your niche audience watches, and who in your team views your analytics. Here’s what Wistia is great for in detail:

• Creating a branded video player. You can also use Wistia Channels to control the video content your audience consumes.
• Growing website traffic and conversions. Embed your Wistia videos on your website for an ad-free viewing experience that encourages conversion and retains your site traffic (unlike YouTube).
• Optimizing your video strategy. Wistia offers comprehensive video analytics showing how your videos are performing including how viewers are interacting with them. It also lets you A/B test videos. 

The video sharing platform’s shortcomings

Although Wistia offers marketers more control of the video experience they offer, its users complain about its high pricing. Some also note that the file structure makes it a tad bit challenging to find videos. 

Wrapping up: What is the best video sharing site for you?

To recap, let your goals help you decide which video sharing site is best for you.

TikTok and Instagram, for example, are best if you use them as channels to drive traffic to your website. Similarly, YouTube and Dailymotion are great for tapping into preexisting traffic to grow brand awareness. 

But if you’re looking to embed videos on your site using a branded player that provides an ad-free experience, then Vimeo is your best bet. 

Vimeo is also great for building your own video content library while retaining site traffic, learning from in-depth analytics, and driving conversions from your video content. 

Want to grow a community of loyal and high-converting viewers without having to rely on third-party algorithms?

Try Vimeo for free today and grow better with video.