Creating killer video content has never been easier. In a sea filled with competitors, Wistia is a video hosting platform that stands out.
Digital marketing can be quite complex. After all, it contains multiple elements that can make the difference between success and failure. You can make it less complicated because you have plenty of freedom in terms of how you address your audience.
For example, you can opt to focus on video marketing. This type of marketing is always an excellent choice – if you execute it well.
With this route, picking the best video hosting platform is almost mandatory. But with so many options available, how do you know which platform is best suited for your needs?
Wistia can make answering that question easier.
Its main purpose is to help increase brand awareness, track performance, and simplify services. Best of all, the platform caters to a wide range of businesses across many industries.
In terms of digital marketing, you can think of Wistia as the equivalent of a Swiss army pocketknife for today’s video marketers. Its ease of integration, coupled with its host of features, makes it a powerful tool in your arsenal.
Let’s have a look at some of the best features Wistia can offer.
Why Wistia Is the #1 Choice for Many Businesses
Marketing Integrations
Wistia provides an exhaustive list of integrations, whether in terms of analytics, compliance, payments, marketing, and more. For marketing integrations, you have interesting options.
Emma, Campaign Monitor, AWeber – these are only three examples of marketing software solutions and integrations available on Wistia. And you can use these tools to create superior email marketing campaigns.
Why?
It’s because the platform makes it simple to add customised videos to your regular campaigns and track viewer engagement as the campaign unfolds.
Furthermore, the marketing automation options come in handy.
Using these tools, like HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Drip, and more, you can collect leads and import them into your CRM software. From there, you can automate and schedule specific actions based on the data obtained from the monitored video interactions. What’s also nice is that you get marketing integrations regardless of which payment plan you choose.
Also, Wistia’s Turnstile integration will allow you to leverage data collected from viewers to personalise your marketing strategies moving forward.
What’s truly special is how compelling the video thumbnails can turn out when you leverage the top email marketing tools.
For example, you may set your content to play anywhere in an email or send viewers directly to your desired landing page. Another option is to tease your audience and engage potential customers by setting up gated content, through a marketing campaign, that offers a sneak peek into your offer.
Of course, whatever you do, all actions and engagements are tracked – even when talking about individual viewers.
SEO-Friendly Video Embedding
A good video platform needs to make it easy to embed code. And the faster you can add videos to websites, the better.
With Wistia, you’ll find embedding videos a straightforward affair.
The platform offers Pop-over and Inline codes, as well as the ability to easily generate the necessary HTML code to create links to videos.
You can even quickly publish on popular social media platforms like YouTube or Facebook. It’s because adding a video is as easy as copying and pasting the generated codes.
The codes are also SEO-friendly, which means they work wonders in major search engines. SEO-friendliness, after all, is an attribute that helps boost visibility and ranking.
Wistia also ensures that video metadata is safe and sound at all times. As such, you’ll have a JSON-LD file added to your website’s header.
That file will contain essential data such as the title, length, description, thumbnail, and other elements that search engines factor into their ranking scores.
Custom Ad Audiences
Getting laser-focused with your ads can elevate your marketing campaigns further. Imagine being able to quickly reach both new and existing audiences with the right content.
Everyone has their own preferences, so you can’t engage everyone in the same way. Sometimes, you have to come up with smarter and more exciting videos, regardless of platform.
Wistia makes this easy by pulling information from valuable resources like Facebook, Google, and your own database. The viewer data then helps you craft the ideal message for every audience interested in your content. It can even identify ways to encourage people to watch some of your older material.
Of course, Wistia won’t force you to sacrifice control. You can still choose to host videos wherever you want as you leverage the reach of massive social media platforms.
What’s also convenient is the fact that you can use both broad channel data and individual video data. This means that you can identify viewing times, user locations, and other trends. Hence, your ability to customise an ad campaign is geared even more towards narrow targeting.
In-Depth Analytics
Can you get a detailed overview of your audience’s trends?
Things like drop-off rates, interactions, and replays can help you optimise your strategy. And tracking data and having it ready to send to a CRM will lead to better lead nurturing.
That’s exactly what Wistia can provide if you’re ready to use it.
The platform allows users to transform video data into BI (business intelligence) data. And it does so by integrating Medialytics, Google Analytics, and other advanced video tracking solutions.
You can even generate video heatmaps. It’s a fantastic feature that breaks down videos into several parts. In doing so, you can identify what people watched and skipped.
It can boost your conversion rate if you deliver more engaging content to your audience. And Wistia does a great job at helping you understand how your target audience interacts with your content, whether it’s on your website or on a third-party site.
Prioritising the Playback Experience
You can’t have a top video marketing platform without a reliable player behind it.
As it stands, Wistia’s player can offer a superb viewer experience across all platforms. It supports adaptive streaming in HLS and it’s very easy to implement. Mobile optimisation is no issue either, as the Wistia player is responsive and can scale to fit all mobile devices.
Furthermore, by going with the inline playback route, Wistia thus directs the audience’s attention towards the content.
Wistia is nothing if not highly customisable. If you want to use unique brand colours or controls, you can create a tailor-made video player for your audience.
For even more convenience, you can even add elements such as CTAs, passwords, or chapters.
The flexibility to adapt to any environment makes Wistia’s player a top feature.
Video Management Made Easy
The straightforward layout of the platform is a significant advantage if you don’t have video marketing experience. You can quickly organise your videos into various projects and there’s no limit to how many files you can add to a category.
Also, you can use the drag and drop feature to move files around. Wistia provides you with helpful prompts, depending on what video editing software you use.
This comes in handy when exporting files, as every software may need different processes.
But remember that the platform isn’t limited to video file formats. It can also host pictures, documents, and audio files as needed.
Thus, you’re not as limited in what you can do as you may think.
Free Training and Education
Your video marketing campaigns will only get better as you discover how to use the full potential of Wistia.
The platform offers three ways for you to gain the knowledge you need.
First, you can access the blog and go through the various articles posted there by developers and marketing experts.
Second, you can subscribe to receive updates from Wistia twice a month. These could bring with them anything from tips to news about the platform.
And as part of your free training and education, you can always browse the platform’s help centre. You can learn about creating and distributing a podcast.
You’ll find information on embedding videos and how to share them with your ideal audience. There’s also a reliable API library you can check out to identify new ways to scale your marketing and brand.
But if you prefer course-style lessons, Wistia offers a class called Guide to Video Marketing. It’s a 10-chapter class on everything related to video marketing, from starting your first video, developing your strategy, to measuring your success. You can also pick up some tips from the shared success stories in the final chapter.
Also, you can connect with other Wistia users on social media. The community is growing fast and it’s loaded with people who can steer you in the right direction.
Of course, when learning isn’t an option, that doesn’t mean Wistia isn’t for you. At Automation Agency, we can assist with technical and design tasks and automate your Wistia integration.
Competitive Pricing Plans
Wistia has a set of standard features that are available across all plans:
- Easy embedding and sharing
- Interactive video tools
- Basic integrations
- Video analytics
- Customisable player
However, you also have the Pro and Advanced memberships to choose from, aside from the platform’s free version.
When branding becomes necessary and you want to handle multiple videos, you should consider opting for the paid plans.
You’ll have access to more free episodes monthly, as well as some premium integrations with HubSpot, Pardot, or Marketo.
Is It Right For You?
You’ll often hear that businesses shouldn’t go after a one-size-fits-all video marketing solution. Yet, it’s hard to argue against the powerhouse that is Wistia.
The versatility of the software, from the available integrations, customisation, and optimal analytics tracking, makes Wistia a top contender. It also doesn’t call for advanced video marketing skills and offers a great deal of support along the way.
Wistia’s price plans offer enough incentives, especially to small businesses looking to pare down their marketing expenses. Thanks to its simplicity and ease of use, the complex nature of the platform isn’t as evident.
But make no mistake – Wistia caters to everyone and everything from small businesses to large enterprises.
Regardless of your unique demands and preferences, you can use Wistia to tailor your video marketing strategy and content for targeted audiences.
Setting up a video marketing campaign can still take its toll if you don’t automate various tasks. Scheduling a call with our Concierge Service here can help you get some of that time back. Allow our expert teams with years of Wistia integration behind them to optimise your strategy and streamline the necessary processes.
