Over the course of the last few years, YouTube has emerged as the undisputed king of video sharing. Millions of clips have been uploaded to the site since its launch in 2005. YouTube has become a major venue for mainstream artists and would-be Internet celebrities from around the globe to advertise their many “talents” to the masses. Marketers have begun to use the site quite effectively as well.
YouTube is, in many cases, the first stop for marketers looking to launch viral campaigns. Ray Ban, Nike, Dove, Ecko, and Burger King are just a few of the brands that have flocked to YouTube to launch big budget viral marketing campaigns. However, the site can seem crowded, cluttered, and a bit overwhelming. In addition, YouTube is often criticized because of the low quality of the videos submitted; hence, the question beckons, is there an alternative to YouTube? Ladies and gentlemen, meet Vimeo!
Vimeo was launched in 2004 as a video-centric social network site that has garnered a very artistic, high-brow following. Artists from around the world who aspire to be serious filmmakers and future Pixar innovators upload videos to the site in droves to the tune of 13,000 clips a day in an attempt to have their work seen, heard, and noticed.
So, how can Vimeo be used as a social media marketing tool? The uploading guidelines for Vimeo explicitly state that there is “no commercial use” allowed on the site. It would seem all hope is lost when it comes to using Vimeo as a marketing tool, but not so fast. There are significant exceptions.
