Introducing Part Two in our four part series with Andrew Cross of Walker Sand Communications. In this session Andrew discusses his career path and what he has learned during his years working in public relations.

There are tons of video platforms out there. Of course, the most popular one of all just so happens to also be the Internet’s second-largest search engine. However, I propose that YouTube is actually not the best video hosting platform for your marketing needs.

Rather, Wistia should be your go-to when it comes to hosting your video content.

Lead generation and conversion is one of the most common goals for video marketing campaigns. With your videos, you are trying to increase the amount of interested people in your target audience who may very well one day use your services. You want to convert these leads into customers.

Wistia does a terrific job helping businesses collect useful information from their potential leads. Wistia Turnstile is a tool developed by Wistia that asks viewers for their email on the video page (also their first and last name if you wish). It’s a clickable call-to-action that is easily inserted into every video. Wistia recently did research on video forms and found that 43% of videos with forms in the first 20% of their duration lead to a conversion, so it drives more traffic to your sales page or any other place you would like to direct your viewer.

Those emails aren't just lumped into one huge pile of addresses, either. Wistia gives you the option to integrate their email forms with your email marketing service of choice (Mailchimp, AWeber, Constant Contact, etc.). This means you can then target based on where the customer is in the buying cycle, which you can determine based on the video they entered their email address from! Someone who gave their information while watching a video guide you created probably is still in the beginning stages. However, a lead who entered their email on your company explainer video is probably further along.

But having the option to gather lead information doesn't do much if the videos themselves aren't doing very well, does it?

Luckily, Wistia has a plethora of analytical options for its users to evaluate their videos’ effectiveness. Trend information is easily accessible, from ones pertaining to your account to a single project to the media level.  Engagement graphs show how the audience as a whole has seen your video. Quite literally, these graphs show where in the video your audience engages (rewinds, pauses, fast forwards, etc.). Similarly, heat maps show a graphical representation of a single viewing session. This can give you a better understanding of how a certain viewer or demographic views their videos.

All this information can help you better optimize your future videos and guide you in making better ones in the future!

What’s a good video platform without functionality, though?

While YouTube is the juggernaut of the video platforms, it’s not without slack. YouTube has become a bit notorious for the increased ad presence on videos hosted by them. We recommend keeping your videos on YouTube for SEO purposes and reach, but using Wistia for direct hosting and sharing.

Wistia’s SuperEmbed Builder is another unique aspect of the service that separates itself from a functionality perspective. With it, you are able to alter the size, color, and add social sharing links, among other things. This comes in really handy when you want a custom style to match a certain page or the branding that your company is already intimately tied to.

If your business is foraying into video marketing (which it most definitely should), you should definitely give Wistia some consideration. Your sales numbers will thank you.