The Internet is an effective resource to improve your video or film production, stay up to date with industry developments and trends, and find valuable products and services. The ever-growing battery of websites for filmmakers covers all of these bases and more.
Of course, with such a huge pool of options, it can be hard to know where to start and which sites are worth following.
If you are looking for high quality video footage take a look at this popular Shutterstock offer!
To help you ensure the sites you're using to develop your video production career are serious, providing accurate and useful information backed by professionals and used by professionals, we have created the following list of the best filmmaking websites. Surf and explore these great online resources!
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Education, Information, Inspiration & Beyond
No Film School – The Best Community Platform for Indie Filmmaking
No Film School is an online community portal for independent creatives in video and film where you can learn more about filmmaking and connect with other video makers.
Founded and directed by awarded self-taught indie filmmaker Ryan Koo, this portal is oriented to beginners and students. It offers great independent filmmaker resources: all kinds of educational content, from a peer-to-peer point of view, in all the different aspects of video and film production.
Here's a bit of what you'll find on this site:
- Filmmaking techniques and production processes: guidelines, tutorials, and analytic perspectives, often with examples from mainstream productions
- Interviews with renowned professionals
- Inspiration resources
- Podcast: covering all the platform's topics
- Forum-like board for community interaction: ask questions, start discussions, and join conversations
It's a dynamic and interesting site full of valuable insights based on the premise of creatives learning from each other. You can join in for free and contribute to the community regardless of having or not formal filmmaking studies – there's “no film school” required.
If you're looking for the best and most complete of independent filmmakers' websites, this one is for you.
The Filmmaker's Process – Focus on the Art of Filmmaking
An online publication strongly focused on the artistic side of filmmaking, The Filmmaker's Process teaches you about all stages of filmmaking, from idea to final cut, going through screenwriting, shooting, and editing.
Created by cinematographer Robert Hardy — who was a regular author at No Film School for several years –, this site wants to be a source of knowledge for creatives who put emphasis on content in the art of film and video. Here you won't find gear reviews nor “how to use” gear tutorials, but you will find:
- Guides to plan, fundraise, structure, and produce your film
- Perspective articles on filmmakers' personal experiences
- Industry insights and inspiring ideas
- Weekly newsletter with new articles, plus curated content from the web, archive posts from the site, and other bonuses
Hardy's personal goal is not to pursue profits but rather to create content he can be proud of, developed in a more intimate circle than commercial. The purpose of his site is to turn every filmmaker into a “jack-of-all-trades of film”: to help you gain and improve skills in every step of film production — writing, shooting, editing, etc.–, to bring your ideas to life.
If you value the Artcraft in filmmaking and want an expert guide to strengthen this aspect of your career, The Filmmaker's Process deserves your bookmark.
Learn About Film – Learning Site for Beginners and Intermediates
Learn About Film is a great educational blog for entry-to-medium level video creatives that guides you through the process of getting started with the production and developing your first projects.
The site is the hub of film education consultant and trainer Tom Barrance, who exhibits a long list of renowned companies and institutions he has worked with, including Apple. He also offers his various courses, workshops, and publications here, to which you can sign up online, as well as his consultancy services.
What can you find in the blog?
- The basics of filmmaking: guidelines and how-to's to get started with video production (or improve a bumpy start)
- Raising up your game: educational articles to enhance your skill level
- Inspiration resources
- Mobile filmmaking: shooting film using smartphones, particularly iPhones, reviews on quality and possibilities of this method, how to exploit mobile devices in your video production
Berrence's perspective is that everyone can create a film, and his site aims at providing all film enthusiasts with tools to start creating content and improve the quality of their productions.
The most interesting is the amount of space he dedicates to mobile video. There are lots of pros embracing smartphone film and praising its possibilities, and the lower-budget factor in it makes it a good fit for beginners. Having an expert covering all aspects of mobile filmmaking can be useful.
If you're looking to expand your knowledge and get hands-on with video production, this blog is for you.
Videomaker – Digital Version of a Popular Publication
The web platform for a popular print magazine of the same name, Videomaker is a complete take on video production. From buying gear to the final cut, they have you covered in every instance of interest in video and filmmaking.
Founded by film enthusiasts Matt and Patrice York, Videomaker is one of the biggest national consumer magazines dedicated to video production, and it's been around for over 30 years. The website hosts the digital version of the publication and features a lot of free content:
- How to make a video: guidelines, tutorials, etc.
- What's happening in the industry: news, opinion posts
- Gear and software tools: extensive reviews, product comparisons, usage tutorials
- Inspiration resources
- Free detailed reports on different filmmaking topics – downloadable upon free registration
In addition, they have a number of video courses that you can stream with a paid membership, and they sell a variety of books and eBooks, instructional videos, webinars, and workshops.
Backed by their long presence in the industry and with such valuable resources, the Videomaker site is great to get learn more about making videos. Whether you are a newbie, a semi-advanced, or a pro, their site is worth checking out.
Learning DSLR Video – Filmmaking from a Learning Filmmaker
Learning DSLR Video is a video blog by a semi-pro filmmaker for semi-pro filmmakers. As the name indicates, it's focused on video shot with DSLR cameras and offers a peer-to-peer approach to learning and improving in this kind of film production.
Dave Dugdale, the founder and publisher, defines himself as an advanced amateur filmmaker, and his goal with the site is to share his knowledge with viewers, as well as his progress and experiences in the process of learning filmmaking techniques.
Interestingly, Dave is technically a hobbyist: he's an audio engineer, completely self-taught in video making, and does not do client work. He does take on projects and assignments for third parties, but as only compensation, he requires full creative control and permission to use parts of the material in his courses. That's right, Dugdale sells various video courses on his website, each dedicated to learning and improving shooting with a specific DSLR camera.
But the free video blog is very resourceful on its own. Dave's video entries are very useful and the bonus of audiovisual approach to learning is refreshing. The one thing missing here is news coverage, as Dugdale has no interest in the latest camera developments. But he offers:
- Videos of him at work: learn from action watching a filmmaker's shooting, behind the scenes from projects, and more
- Gear reviews
- Tutorials and how-to's
- Experiences and opinions as a learning creative
- Interaction: in his videos, he answers questions and covers topics suggested by viewers
If you'd like to learn along with a savvy amateur, and you prefer audiovisual content over written articles, then Learning DSLR Video is worth your while.
The Beat by PremiumBeat – By the Stock Audio Experts
This blog is hosted by the stock audio company Premium Beat. But don't be fooled by this: The Beat is not just for audio, it covers all aspects of filmmaking, and you'll find top-notch content to develop skills and stay informed.
The quality of the content and the wide range of topics they include make them a very popular online publication, followed by many amateurs and pros alike. They arrange the site in categories for video production, video editing, motion graphics, and more. In all topics, they cover both video and sound elements. Here's what they do:
- Tutorials: shooting, editing, and post-processing
- Reviews: Gear, software, and services
- Interviews with professionals
- Opinion, analysis, and comparative articles
- Industry news
- Compilations of content that are free to download
If you want to stay up to date with the filmmaking world and improve your shooting and editing skills, The Beat has you covered, as much for video as for audio production. More about this company and its service? Check out our full PremiumBeat review.
- 10% OFF on PremiumBeat Royalty Free Tracks
Film Riot – Learning Through Humour
Film Riot is a web show to learn filmmaking while having fun. Every episode/video presents valuable tips and information on video production and editing, with a twist: the comedic and entertaining style of host Ryan Connelly.
Connelly is a formally instructed filmmaker and producer. Along with a team of experts, they give life to this web series that teaches you video production and marketing strategies and entertains you at the same time, an approach that can be a more effective way of learning for some viewers. Here's what they do:
- Honest reviews
- Fun tutorials
- Opinion and experiences
- Interactive spaces: they run “challenges” involving the audience
Film Riot is a great site to follow if you want to absorb professional knowledge on filmmaking while being entertained. These are videos to watch relaxed and have fun.
Cinema5D – The ultimate gear review site
Cinema5D features comprehensive reviews where you can see cameras and other gear in action in real-life film projects, conducted by consumed professionals.
Led by three professional film directors and cinematographers, the site is specifically focused on gear reviews for the most relevant cameras in the market. It has lots of content on the topic:
- Reviews: details, pros, and cons, gear in action
- The latest news and tech developments
- Opinion articles
- Interviews with pros
It's the place to go to before investing in new gear, as you get not only expert considerations on the different options but you also get to see exactly what kind of content you will be able to produce with each device.
If you're thinking about adding gear to your equipment or you want to know what camera you need to shoot the footage you envisioned, this site is a must.
Creative Live – The Interactive Educational Platform
Creative Live is a platform that hosts a battery of educational resources and a blog full of articles for creatives in many disciplines, including video and filmmaking. It's a great site to broaden your creative reach and expand your career goals.
Creative Live is led by co-founder Chase Jarvis — awarded director and photographer– and it's conceived to bring resources that help creatives unlock their potential. It combines audio, audiovisual, and written formats and includes A-class professionals and personalities who take part in the content and share their experience and expertise.
They have a wide range of free resources:
- Live streaming, participative videos: real-time lessons where you can interact with the instructor
- Blog: Tutorials and guidelines for beginners
- Inspiration, insight, marketing, career planning, and self-promotion tips
- Podcast
- Recorded classes, seminars, interviews, and more
Besides this, they have a whole set of premium resources: there are dedicated classes, courses, and workshops for every creative field and every possible topic, from inspiration to money-making.
Whether you seize all the free material or you go for a premium course, Creative Live is a great site to explore and expand your career's boundaries.
Phillip Bloom – From the Mind of a Renowned Professional
Renowned director and filmmaker Phillip Bloom‘s personal website is a rich source of knowledge and information for beginners and experienced video producers, where you'll get first-hand tips from an awarded professional.
Besides hosting reels and other samples of his work (and booking details), Bloom's site hosts one of the best filmmaker blogs around, where he shares:
- Highly detailed reviews on different cameras and other gear
- Professional tips for shooting, editing, releasing, and promoting productions
- Life experiences as a professional in the film industry
This is a great site to keep an eye on if you want the opinion and advice of an expert and consummated professional when making further moves in your career.
Hybrid Sites: AI video-generating apps serve both as inspiration and sources for footage content you can download and use!
Stock Resources: Footage, Audio & More
This is a list of the best stock media resources. If you want to really get into buying footage online the best way, visit our Definitive Guide to Buy Stock Video like an Expert!
Extra Resources: Tools like Topaz Labs Video AI are a great resource to edit your videos and make them look professional quickly and effortlessly. Explore that and more AI video editing tools!
Shutterstock – The Most Popular
One of the most popular stock media agencies, Shutterstock is a must-have in every creative's websites list.
With a very strong name in the industry, Shutterstock's site hosts one of the largest stock media resources libraries, including footage, music and sound effects, and images. They sell Royalty Free licenses for all their content, with different terms for each media type.
Stock footage here can be bought a la carte or with packs, as well as with the new Shutterstock video subscriptions. And music and sound effects are bought on a per-file basis. Their prices are super cheap, and they've millions of options in every media type, category, theme, or subject imaginable.
The best feature of its website is its intelligent image analysis technology that uses computer vision to analyze the visual components of images and videos. This allows them to provide a reverse image search tool, as well as much more accurate keyword search results and content suggestions. The site also displays galleries for trending, popular content in every category to help you discover new content that suits your needs.
In addition, Shutterstock also owns and manages related stand-alone companies, like Rex Features for Editorial stock imagery and Premium Beat for exclusive Royalty Free music.
This company has one of the most complete and convenient offers. Their site is very user-friendly, straightforward and easy to use, and with very useful functionalities.
To learn more about Shutterstock's offer, read our full Shutterstock review. If you want to start licensing great and cheap content, sign up for free at Shutterstock. And you can save more money with our special Shutterstock Coupon Code with 15% Off!
Pond5 – An Integral Service for Video Creatives
One of the first companies that launched focused solely on stock footage, Pond5 has grown to include different media types, aiming at being a one-stop-shop for video makers.
Pond5's site is the home of a very large collection of over 5.5 million stock videos, plus libraries of stock audio and images. All their assets are available under Royalty-Free license. You can buy items from the whole library on-demand, and you'll find a simple price structure. You can also get a membership for a periodic download allowance from a curated collection of 200,000 clips, plus bonus selections of music and images, at very affordable prices.
They have a very edgy and functional website. They provide an advanced search engine with lots of filter options, recently improved with the addition of computer vision technology. The new intelligent feature analyzes images to deliver more accurate search results and suggests similar content, making it easier to find great videos that meet your needs.
With a broad offer in terms of content, prices, and buying options, Pond5 earns a place in our list of the must-know websites for creatives, as you can certainly find valuable resources on their platform.
To learn more about this agency, read our full Pond5 review. Sign up with Pond5 to buy great content for your projects!
Storyblocks (previously Videoblocks) – Unlimited Downloads, Unbeatable Price
Sustainedly increasing in popularity and success, Storyblocks Video is a stock footage service that revolutionized the industry with its unique offer: a flat-rate membership plan that gives you unlimited downloads from their wholly-owned collection of stock videos.
That's right: by hiring a monthly or annual subscription, you get unlimited downloads from a library of over 1 million footage clips. At very low prices –under $200 for a whole year–, this offer is hard to beat. All the clips come with a Royalty Free license that allows flexible usage.
Storyblocks' website is modern, visually appealing, and easy to use. Their search engine lets you find lots of options for your particular needs, and the homepage shows the featured content of the month to invite you to discover the current and most popular footage.
With a great offer for large volume buyers, simple licensing terms, and a highly functional website, Storyblocks is well worthy of your browser bookmark.
Read our full Storyblocks review for more details on their offer. Join Storyblocks today to download amazing content at a low cost. And now you can get even lower prices with our Storyblocks Promo Code to get 57% off on your Annual Membership!
Plus, here you can see how Storyblocks compares against Envato.
Storyblocks Audio (formerly Audioblocks) – The Audio Service by Storyblocks
With the same buying model that the footage division, Storyblocks Audio offers unlimited downloads of music and sound effects files for a flat periodic fee.
Originally Videoblocks expanded to serve creatives in all their stock content needs and launched Audioblocks, a stand-alone website that hosted a library of over 100,000 Royalty-Free music and sound effects tracks. Down the line, the company unified under the Storyblocks brand and continues to offer its dedicated media libraries. Audioblocks became Storyblocks Audio.
They sell monthly or annual memberships at super low prices (less than $150 for a whole year!) that give you unlimited downloads from their collection.
The page is super simple but functional. They have a search engine, plus a showcase of tracks in different genres and types. You can learn more about Storyblocks Audio's offer here.
If you want to get super cheap stock music tracks, join Storyblocks Audio now!
iStock – Exclusive Content and Affordable Prices
One of the top stock imagery agencies in the industry, iStock is known as the pioneer that inaugurated the microstock model and one of the few offering exclusive content. Owned for years by the renowned stock photography company Getty Images, they are very reliable.
iStock sells Royalty Free stock footage (with this iStock Footage Promo Code) and images, therefore, none of their content allows exclusive usage, but they have a large collection of content that is only available on their website, making it much less widely used in general. Plus, this exclusive library features higher-value videos and photos at very affordable prices. For those wanting a better deal, they also have a large selection of non-exclusive content at lower price points. Their footage can be bought à la carte with credits, and their images are available both à la carte and with subscriptions.
Their website is neat and visually attractive and is very easy to navigate. Whether it's browsing their galleries and categories for trending content or using their advanced search engine, it's very simple to find content that meets your needs.
For more information on iStock's offer, check our full iStock review. If you're ready to buy great stock videos, sign up for iStock for free. And now you can seize the chance of our special iStock Coupon Code to save 15% on your purchase!
Getty Images – The Most Renowned with Premium Content
Prestigious, reliable, and with a strong global presence, Getty Images dominates the stock media market. They are a traditional, “old school” agency that modernized and now hosts most of their huge collection of media content online, on their own website.
This company was one of the first to unify stock photography archives and collections in one global service. While still better known for photography, they have a very big collection of stock footage and stock music and sound effects.
They are traditional and work with Rights Managed licenses, which makes their prices higher than the other options, but also enabled the possibility of acquiring exclusive use rights. However, they include Royalty Free licenses, to a part of their library, at a lower cost. They sell content on-demand mostly, with other options subject to private contact with a company representative.
Their website is modern and features lots of compelling imagery from their vast collections. Their media is arranged by type in easy-to-localize labels. They have an advanced search engine that simplifies the task of finding the right images in such a large pool of options.
Learn all about this agency in our full Getty Images review. If you want premium content that is hard to find elsewhere and a renowned company backs that, then Getty Images is for you. Don't hesitate to visit the Getty Images website to browse and download great footage. And now you can buy content easier and cheaper with our special Getty Images Promo Code to save up to 30% with Ultrapacks!
[wpsm_afflist cat=”Getty Images” ]
Adobe Stock – Perfect Fit for Creative Cloud Users
Seamless integration of millions of stock videos and images into Adobe Creative Cloud's applications, that is Adobe Stock, a super useful service for all creatives using Adobe's cloud platform, that lets you find, license, and add footage and photos to your work in a few simple steps.
Almost two years ago, Adobe acquired the established stock imagery agency Fotolia. Adobe Stock service integrates millions of Fotolia assets –stock footage and images– into Adobe's Creative Cloud platform. You can access the stock imagery collections right within your application's library (After Effects, Premier, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.), where you can search, select and add content to your work without ever leaving the app's interface.
Adobe Stock sells stock videos a la carte. For stock photos, they also have subscriptions available. Both buying options are at very affordable rates. Adding that all their content is sold under Royalty-Free license, it turns out to be a great deal for buyers: you get high-quality content with flexible usage rights for a very low price.
The service has its own stand-alone website, which hosts their entire collection, including the latest addition of a Premium stock photography selection that is available a la carte only. They have a good functional search engine, and they feature their best videos and images in galleries to be discovered. But the ultimate value in Adobe Stock is its integration with Creative Cloud's software applications, making it the perfect fit for any creative working with those apps.
Learn more about their service in our full Adobe Stock review. If you want to buy and use great stock videos right from within your editor, you must sign up with Adobe Stock now!
Video Hosting Platforms: Marketing and Promotion
Youtube – The Most Popular Video Platform
This one hardly needs a presentation. It'd be surprising to find someone who uses the Internet who wouldn't know or wouldn't use Youtube on a daily basis. Youtube is, in short, the largest video hosting platform in the world, it's also a social network where people interact with each other in connection with the videos they post and watch. And, not less important, it's free.
Google owns Youtube. That says it all regarding its relevance. But there's actually more. YouTube is also the second-largest search engine in the world, only surpassed by its parent company, which is still the strong N1. Some numbers to visualize its size: 100 hours of video is added to the platform every minute, and viewers watch 46,000 years' worth of video every week!
This is the go-to video-sharing and video-watching site by excellence. People use Youtube to watch anything, from mainstream music videos to funny fails and cat videos, from movie trailers to product reviews and demonstrations. Youtube users are from the most diverse backgrounds and use it for the most diverse interests.
For this reason, it's a perfect place to promote your content and a must if you are into video marketing. This platform is a great resource to:
- Shape your brand (or name) and create awareness around it
- Make your work reach greater audiences through collaboration with influencers
- Open up to new business opportunities
It's key to remember that people use Youtube for entertainment and information, not to buy things. But if you focus on storytelling and produce compelling, visually powerful videos and you share them on this site, it can be very beneficial for you.
If you use video as part of your marketing strategy to promote a product or service, Youtube is a great place to post great, honest testimonials, reviews, and other content that can grow your brand's awareness.
If you're a videographer wanting to reach larger audiences for your creative videos, collaborating with relevant influencers can help you get more people to discover your work, get interested, and follow you.
Overall, you can always land new PR or business opportunities, Youtube's social networking puts your work, your name, and your brand out there and at the reach of many other creatives and companies. The business opportunities that may come through Youtube connections are wide and very interesting.
A big plus is that you can track your results using both Youtube and Google Analytics tools, to refine and improve your video marketing strategies.
Clearly, Youtube is a must in your video hosting list.
Vimeo – Increasing Popularity, Premium Features
Starting as a simple video-sharing platform, Vimeo has turned into a more business-oriented site, with paid video hosting and bonus services, and is gaining popularity. Although not yet comparable to YouTube, it's a valuable place to showcase your videos. Every day more and more brands and creatives are joining, and there are good reasons for it.
While many users still have Vimeo as a site to watch and exhibit visual content, share it, and comment on it –and there's a Basic member account that allows you to do all this for free– there are a lot of people using it for business-focused purposes.
Vimeo has different premium plans that give you useful resources to host and promote your videos, such as:
- greater video hosting allowance
- enhanced account security
- advanced statistics
- higher personalization
- better customer assistance.
Their prices are cheap compared to other professional services. Their Pro and Business plans have great advantages for video marketing and brand reach, and the Business plan includes the option to sell videos from the platform, a valuable bonus for creatives.
While the best features are not free, Vimeo offers you great resources to promote and monetize your video productions at a fairly low cost.
Wistia – Robust Sales-Driven Video Hosting for Marketers
While not as well known as Youtube or Vimeo –mainly because of the lack of social networking and its massivity–, Wistia is a robust and complete video hosting service for video marketing.
Unlike the other options in this section, Wistia was created with marketers in mind. Another clear distinction is that Wistia hosts your videos, but you publish them from the platform onto other Internet locations (like your website), rather than on theirs.
Their free service is very limited and more intended to test the waters. But if you're serious about your video marketing goals, their paid options have great value. They aren't cheap, but the prices are very reasonable against the benefits of their paid features. Wistia offers you:
- Top-notch video hosting (upload limits depending on your plan)
- Advanced analytics to measure your videos' performance and refine your production and strategy
- Customizable video player: you can embed sharing icons, calls to action, and other additional
- Step-by-Step video tutorials
- Constant and comprehensive support
If you're in video marketing, Wistia is certainly worth a look. Their video hosting is great, and their bonus features exceed by much those of YouTube or Vimeo.
You can embed Wistia videos everywhere and track their performance with advanced stats. Even better, you can edit your videos without changing their code, simplifying the task of refining content according to stats. It's a perfect fit for those wanting to sell products or services via video, but a great resource for all kinds of video marketing in general.
Give Wistia a look!
Vidyard – Video Hosting and Marketing Integration
Vidyard is a video hosting and analytics service that is highly integrated into main marketing platforms. It's a video hosting for marketers and brands, and it aims at helping you “turn your viewers into customers”.
While similar to Wistia in core purpose and some features, Vidyard adds deeper integration with the main marketing software tools in the market, allowing you to get more detailed statistics and metrics for your video's performance.
The service is paid under a tailored subscription model, where the final price will depend on your particular needs. They have, however, a 14-day free trial for you to test the waters.
Here's what you can do with Vidyard:
- Upload your videos, customize the player, and share it to multiple video channels (including some of the ones in this list)
- Perform A/B testing on content to refine your video production according to your marketing goals
- Optimize your video's audience reach and engagement levels with SEO tools and Calls to Action
- Get advanced analytics to fine-tune your strategy
- Integrate your video hosting and stats into main marketing platforms: Salesforce, Hubspot, and more
- Additionally, use video for company communication, staff training, and other educational purposes
As you see, this is a very complete solution for video marketing that simplifies knowing what to produce, where to post it, and how to present it to reach the viewers you want to reach.
For video marketers, Vidyard is definitely worth checking out.
Vine – Innovative, Viral & Fun
Owned by Twitter (you'll read about them below), Vine is a mobile video-sharing platform and one of the fastest-growing digital media websites in the world.
This platform innovates with a twist in content: they host videos that are only 6 seconds long.
Some of Vine's impressive metrics show that over 8,000 videos are watched and shared every minute, with around 100 million new clips being uploaded every month.
The 6-second length can be a limitation for some, but for many others, it triggers creativity, leading to very innovative and engaging productions. Plus, being so short, Vine videos are much more likely to be viewed, especially on mobile devices. They are a very effective way to reach and engage massive audiences.
A big plus is that these short clips are a great fit for tight budgets, and have the potential to reach massive audiences:
- Vine is mobile-first and realistic; not overly staged videos are the style that works best with them
- The clips are easily shareable on some of the most relevant social networks like Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr
- These factors combined make Vine videos easy to go viral and increase the author or the brand's popularity.
With such a huge and fast-growing user base and being a creativity-stimulating platform where you can host and share low-cost videos for free, Vina has already attracted lots of brands and creatives who are exploiting the site's opportunities in video marketing and promoting their creative work.
If you're up for the challenge of exploiting creativity in 6 seconds, Vine is for you.
Facebook – The N1 Social Network
The king of social networks is a must-have for any serious business. Whether you're doing commercial or promotional videos for your brand or you're promoting your work and skills as a videographer, a Facebook fanpage that people can follow and where they can interact with you and share your content is almost indispensable.
Facebook is one of the most participative social networks, and its massive base of 1.39 Billion active users per month is there waiting to be amused by your content. This platform offers great resources for video marketing and content promotion:
- It gets search engine visibility: Facebook videos appear as search results in Google, so there's a door to expose your content to millions of Internauts
- It has great exposure within the platform itself: with such a huge base of active users, your content can reach millions of people just by being posted and shared
- It is highly interactive: Facebook is one of the most participative social networks, and you can connect with potential or existing clients, make contacts, receive feedback, and more
- It is easy to share: there's great viral potential on Facebook. The videos are so easy to like and share that if you have compelling content, it can explode around the web easily
On top of that, Facebook also offers a boost in conversion rates for your business. And the best of all: it's free to open a profile and a fanpage, and to share content.
We'd be surprised if you're not “on Facebook” already, but if you've not tried it to boost up your video productions, you should!
Snapchat – The Young's Favourite: Instant, Mobile & Creative
Snapchat‘s instant nature it's its most well-known feature, as well as its popularity amongst teens. But in reality, this video and photo messaging application has a lot more to offer, and lots of people are seizing the opportunities it opens related to video sharing and marketing.
While this platform targets heavily on millennials, and it's super popular in this segment, older users have caught up in the latest years. More importantly, Snapchat is mobile-first, and that's where the consumer market and people's attention is at. If you use it right, you'll be at the front of the most active market segment.
Snapchat enables users to create and share 10 second long videos –just a few more seconds longer than Vine– that are available to view repeatedly for 24 hs, after which, and just as with the messages, they disappear. But here are the features that offer greater marketing value:
- Stories: This function enables stitching videos together in a longer storyline, where you can use each 10-sec clip as a “scene.” This gives you room to innovate with creativity, and it's still “short and sweet,” the kind of content that works best for mobile users (Snapchat's core user base).
If you use it wisely, Snapchat stories can really get you on the map: the app's configuration displays your content in full screen (though portrait format), and being so short, you have higher chances of users viewing the complete videos. - Curated Channels: Snapchat curates its own channels around a specific event or theme, collecting clips from its users. Having content featured in a Snapchat channel is the perfect opportunity to gain greater exposure, which can translate into more followers to your profile and more awareness of your brand or work.
Overall, it's important to know that Snapchat, just like Vine and other mobile-oriented platforms, is all about spontaneity, humor, and personality. You don't need big budgets or overly-thought concepts. This is a great advantage if you're short on money to invest and lack time.
Put your creativity to work and make the world know you via 10 seconds Snapchat clips!
Instagram – The Artsy Visual Platform
Another of the social network giants, Instagram, the amateur-artsy, mobile-focused platform, is one to keep an eye on since they added video hosting in 2013.
The massive weight of Instagram in the social networking space can be explained just by saying it appealed to Facebook, which acquired it a few years ago. With a user base of 500 million users this year, its titanic size is stated.
The key to Instagram is that it's visual first: here, it's all about the images and the videos. From the beginning, it became a reduce for artists, primarily amateurs, and enthusiasts, and the platform is now known for its focus on the artistic side of image sharing. Another main point is that it's oriented toward mobile users, tapping into a huge consumer market.
These characteristics were not ignored by many brands, businesses, and professional photographers who have exploited Instagram's marketing powers for a while now.
Instagram videos were initially up to 15 seconds long, but this year they extended the length to up to 60 seconds. So now you can add creative value to your one-minute clips. Plus, you get to add popular Instagram filters to your video. This will let you:
- Tap on a massive user base from an artistic perspective: in Instagram, beautiful visuals are highly appreciated, and you can explore your creativity
- Humanize your brand: this platform is about visuals and people being connected. The best-performing accounts and videos are those that present a more human, natural take on brands and artists
- Connect with your audience: Instagram is a social network, and interaction can lead to greater popularity for you and your work
One very relevant advantage in Instagram videos is their full integration with Facebook. Facebook users can watch Instagram videos without exiting the parent company's interface, and they can like, share, and comment directly within that platform, helping you increase your visibility there too.
If you want to expose your brand or your productions to Generation X'ers and exploit your artistic streak, Instagram is worth a try.
Periscope – Live Streaming Gone Mobile
One of the most popular live video streaming applications, Periscope is owned by Twitter and adds integration to that massive social platform. Live streaming has very useful features for gaining exposure for your videographer career or for marketing brands and products through video.
The best about Periscope is that it simplifies livestreaming, and takes it into mobile space. Of course, there are other options to stream video live, including YouTube and Facebook features. But Periscope is easy to use and mobile-ready, which makes it a valuable tool to have in your video promotion arsenal.
With Periscope, you can broadcast video live to the public or make private broadcasts for selected users. After the transmission, the video is available on the platform for 24 hrs, and can also be saved and shared across the Internet. With livestreaming, you can add value to your brand or video production business by:
- Giving a face to the name: you can show yourself and your personality and let viewers know how you and your work are connected
- Pitch your brand or yourself as a creative: you can tell viewers what you want them to know about you or your business directly without leaving it to interpretation
- Interact with the audience via video: you can do FAQ sessions and use other resources to connect with the viewers in real-time and by video
Plus, the big bonus of Periscope is that it's fully integrated with the parent company's platform, Twitter. Its users can see Periscope videos without leaving Twitter's interface, and this lets you tap on your existing follower base with live streaming, boosting up your account's performance.
If you have skills and ideas to work with a live video stream, you should give Periscope a try!
Twitter – Massive Social Reach & Useful Integrations
With a spot at the podium of the most popular social network platforms, Twitter is famous for adding the instant factor to social content sharing and for limiting posts to 140 characters, challenging precision, and creativity. Since they added image and video support, the potential for increasing the visibility of video has been triggered.
Twitter has around 313 Million active users per month, and sites with embedded tweets receive over 1 Billion unique visits at the same time. It's a massive audience to tap into with great content. Just as with Facebook, sharing, liking, and interacting with content is super easily done, and that adds to its potential to grow your work's exposure. You can share videos on Twitter:
- Via Vine (integrated and owned by Twitter)
- Via Periscope: live streaming (integrated and owned by Twitter)
- Adding it to your tweet as media from local storage
For videos added directly to Twitter, they host clips from 1 and up to 80 seconds long. Once you've added the file from your local storage, the system enables you to edit the length to your preference.
However, it's worth exploring Vine and Periscope's potential (both listed here) in connection with Twitter to seize the exposure and awareness possibilities in such a huge platform of users.
If you're not using Twitter for video sharing, it might be the right time to start.
Those were the 30 best websites that you and every filmmaker should know about. Whether you want to improve your skills, grab inspiration, be up-to-date with industry developments, get complimentary resources to add production value or showcase your work to the world, this list's got you covered.
Have we missed one? Feel free to tell us in the comments which websites do you follow in your film making activities!
