What is Vimeo and How Can You Use it For Marketing?

Carl Taylor | November 21, 2022

The growing importance of video content in modern marketing can’t be denied. And when it comes to promoting your video content, the reality is that you have other options to choose from.

Using video content for your marketing has become a powerful way to promote a brand. With it, you can increase the popularity of your business and spread your message to a large audience.

But to make it happen, you have to do it correctly.

This means creating quality videos with interesting content that’ll capture the attention of your target market. And it also means posting your video on the right platform.

When it comes to platforms for video content, the first thing that likely comes to mind is YouTube. It’s the top video-sharing platform right now.

But the fact is that there are other options available to you that you can use to promote your video content efficiently. And one of them is Vimeo.

Over the years, Vimeo has grown in popularity and has become the biggest competitor of YouTube. In fact, we at the Automation Agency have helped several businesses integrate Vimeo into their systems.

So, if you’re looking for an alternate video-sharing platform for your video content, keep reading.

In this article, we’ll discuss what Vimeo is and why you should consider using it. You’ll even get a few tips on how you can use them to promote your business online.

 

What is Vimeo?

Vimeo is a video-sharing platform with 230 million users from all over the world. It provides a safe space for businesses to post video content for their target market.

At first glance, it basically has the same general function as YouTube. But if you look at the details, you’ll notice that Vimeo surpasses YouTube in some aspects.

To start with, when you’ve lingered on the site long enough, you’ll notice that the Vimeo community is more active and engaging compared to YouTube. That means it’s easier to build a strong following and fan base on it.

Vimeo is also known for having higher-quality videos. This is probably why they’re more strict with the videos that get uploaded – a video has to be artistic and meaningful to the Vimeo viewing market.

Another noticeable difference is that Vimeo boasts of being ad-free. So, this begs the question:

How do they earn revenue?

Vimeo earns through subscription plans that target content creators and businesses. They also offer SaaS (software as a service) for additional profit.

Now, you don’t have to pay for a subscription plan to use Vimeo. But you need to create an account to access the basic features of the platform.

If you opt for a free subscription, you get limited access to their features, namely:

  • Total storage of 5GB
  • A weekly upload limit of 500 MB
  • A daily upload limit of 10 videos a day
  • The creation of 1 channel with 1 group and only 3 showcases
  • Minimal privacy controls
  • Basic embedding and analytics features for your video creations

Fortunately, you’ll be allowed to download video files and publish them on your e-commerce and social media accounts.

 

Why Use Vimeo?

Reason #1: Amazing Video Quality

If YouTube is all about quantity, Vimeo prides itself on the quality of its videos.

As mentioned, you can’t just upload any video on the platform. Vimeo has very strict guidelines about what’s acceptable in terms of video content and quality. Make sure each video you upload follows better encoding practices so that viewers will see it at the best quality.

Speaking of quality, both YouTube and Vimeo have 8K resolution. But Vimeo’s image quality is slightly better because it has a higher bitrate (the amount of information delivered per second).

This is because Vimeo doesn’t get as many video uploads per hour as YouTube. As a result, it doesn’t need to compress the video to save space as much as YouTube does.

Reason #2: Update and Replace Existing Videos

Vimeo has a feature that allows you to keep the original URL of a video even if you’ve updated or replaced it with a new one. This means the new video using that URL will also keep all the stats of the original video, such as the likes, comments, etc.

What’s more, all the embeds done using the original video don’t get affected. That means all the embedded videos on third-party sites will still be there. But the content itself will be updated or replaced, depending on what you did to the video that’s linked to the original URL in Vimeo.

Reason #3: Strong Privacy Controls

If your business has videos that should be accessed only by certain people, you’d want to restrict access to that. Fortunately, it’s easier to impose these restrictions if your video is on Vimeo.

The platform has strong privacy controls that allow you to set the availability and accessibility of your videos. It also allows you to customise the privacy settings. You can even have custom passwords, private links, or even a set limit of URLs with permission to embed your videos.

Because of this feature, you can encourage your target market to sign up first before giving them access to the video.

You can also take advantage of Vimeo’s pay-per-view feature. This allows you to create video-on-demand pages where your viewers have to pay before watching your video. In this case, you can keep 90% of the revenue.

Reason #4: A More Sophisticated Audience

If we’re being honest, YouTube has become somewhat of a video dump. It’s now possible to upload anything there, even substandard videos.

That won’t work with Vimeo.

As mentioned, they have strict guidelines when it comes to the quality of video content that will be uploaded. On one side, this limits the type of videos that users can find on Vimeo. This is probably why they have fewer users compared to YouTube.

But at the same time, you can be assured that those who see your videos are part of a more sophisticated audience. Users who go to Vimeo typically look for something more professional. They come with a purpose and you can expect them to engage well with your videos.

Also, the people who watch videos on Vimeo expect to see short films, highly educational videos, and riveting and thoughtful content of the best quality. So, your comment section will likely be filled with engaging conversations and insightful interactions.

Remember, if you can put your video content on Vimeo, it will reflect well on your business.

People know that the platform is very strict when it comes to video uploads. That’s why if you passed their qualifications, that means you have high-quality video content, giving it a certain level of prestige.

Reason #5: Unique Customisation Features

With paid subscription plans, you get access to Vimeo’s incredible customisation features that aren’t available on other video-sharing platforms.

When you get a Vimeo Plus subscription, you can change the title, colour, and branding of your videos. This allows you to create brand-specific videos that your target audience can immediately identify with your business. You can also preset various embed types that’ll allow you to deliver different videos across your website.

With a Video Business plan, you can set up options to ramp up your lead generation efforts, such as customised CTAs or email capture. You can place these additions in the video directly.

Having a paid Vimeo subscription will also grant you access to advanced analytics that’ll give you insights on how to improve your video marketing. The higher the subscription plan, the more sophisticated the analytics capabilities will be – from custom reports and dashboards to engagement graphs. Certain subscriptions also allow integration with Google Analytics.

If you need help setting up Vimeo for your marketing, Automation Agency is here to assist you. Our Concierge Service has the expertise and experience in ensuring the platform meets your business’s needs.

 

4 Tips for Marketing on Vimeo

Tip #1: Use the ‘Show and Tell’ Technique

Don’t fall into the trap of overcomplicating your videos to make them look artistic.

Although the audience of Vimeo is more sophisticated and purposeful with their visits, they’re still impatient. That’s why if they don’t get the message at the end of the video, you’ll end up losing them as paying customers.

So, use the show-and-tell marketing technique on your Vimeo videos. That is, make sure you show the main point of the video and tell your viewers what it’s all about.

Tip #2: Brand Your Channel and Videos

Take advantage of Vimeo’s branding capabilities. With the right subscription plan, you can place your brand logo on the video. That way, your target market can immediately know that it’s about your business.

Keep in mind that branding your videos go beyond the logo.

Make sure you show the people behind the brand. That’s because when you humanise your brand through your videos, it’s easier for them to find a connection with your business. You’ll have a better chance of earning their trust and loyalty.

Tip #3: Use Vimeo’s Analytics to See What’s Working (And What Isn’t)

Analytics is an important part of any business as it gives you insight into what’s working and what isn’t. And with the right analytics, you can improve your video creation methods to ensure that your videos are reaching your intended audience.

While Vimeo offers advanced analytics, it’s only available for paid subscriptions. Their analytics will help you get insight into the demographics and user behaviour of your viewers. The data can be as detailed as knowing the likes, comments, number of plays, and even the devices used to watch your videos.

Despite the cost, you’ll find that this is worth it. The analytics will help improve your videos and in effect, get higher returns on your marketing spend.

Tip #4: Refine Metadata for Better Search Results

The metadata of your videos is still important if you want your target audience to find you. So, make sure your videos are optimised to appear in search results.

What’s tricky about Vimeo is you can’t bid or pay your way to rank better at search results. That means you have to make sure your video optimisation is on point.

That should be easy since Vimeo allows the customisation of videos. You can create customised titles and video descriptions plus choose a category so your audience can easily find your videos.

 

Leverage Vimeo for Your Online Marketing

Without a doubt, video content marketing plays a crucial role in helping businesses grow. But it’s not just the quality and content that you should focus on. It’s also important that you choose the right platform to share your videos.

Although Vimeo isn’t the leading video-sharing platform, it does have a lot of features that can benefit your video marketing initiatives.

To start with, you can get amazing video quality, strict privacy controls, incredible customisation features, and advanced analytics. So, make sure you learn how to take advantage of these features as you implement your video marketing strategies.

If you need further help, get in touch with our Automation Agency Heroes so we can help you start improving your video content marketing with Vimeo.

 

 

About the author 

Carl Taylor

Carl Taylor is the Founder & CEO of Automation Agency. For the past 10 years Carl has been building businesses and marketing them online through the use of Sales Funnels, Email Marketing Automation, Landing Pages, and Wordpress Websites. Carl is also a #1 author and highly sought after speaker and consultant whose work has impacted thousands of businesses across various industries worldwide.

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