Your video distribution channels should be largely informed by your target audience: HR directors, for example, favour LinkedIn and Facebook, so Twitter and Reddit are probably going to be less fruitful.
Whichever channel(s) you choose, you’ll be able to create free organic posts and pay for ads. Though it’s possible to get great results with an organic strategy, it’s highly advisable to reserve some budget for paid advertising: it can have a huge impact on the success of your video.
That said, the distributions channels listed below all offer free and paid options, and have their own unique advantages and disadvantages:
| Channel | Pros | Cons |
| Broadcast – e.g. advertising | Wide reach. | Can be expensive –particularly at competitive times of day. |
| Demand side platforms | Can build an audience quickly. | Cannot ensure quality of engagement. |
| Email campaigns | A wide and personal reach – assuming you have the right database. | Requires an engaged database. |
| Email signature | It’s very easy to do. | Audience limited to your own email contacts. |
Targeting through Facebook ads is very detailed Ample demographic data for targeting | Haemorrhaging young users, who are increasingly moving to Instagram and Snapchat. | |
It’s an image-driven platform, so videos with good visuals will be particularly effective. Part of Facebook, so shares its impressive targeting capability. | Certain demographics are difficult to reach (e.g. businesses and professionals). | |
A strictly professional user base. Detailed targeting – if you only want to reach people with a specific rank or job title, you can. | A strictly professional audience – which can be a problem if your audience isn’t *strictly* professional. | |
| Post on your blog | Shareable. Drives traffic to your site. | Hard to get sufficient shares and views without advertising. |
| Posting as a guest blog | Potentially huge reach – if you manage to guest post on the right blog. | Research takes time, writing takes skill, and you may not have the internal resources for it. |
| Presenting your video at industry events | Can reach a niche and interested audience. | Events are busy, and have ample distractions for your targets. Getting noticed can be hard. |
| Press release | Wide reach – in theory. | Content must be newsworthy. |
| Allows a personal touch – you can directly respond to people who are looking at your product or service online. | Reddit doesn’t love marketing or marketers, so you can’t be blatant about it – it will likely need a particularly clever and channel-specific strategy. |
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