The Best Online Video Tools And Look-For Features

Video isn’t a passing craze reserved for social channels. From sales and marketing to internal communications, video has proven its value. It can drive 96% more click-throughs on initial sales, drive greater ROI, increase employee engagement and improve productivity.

What video tool features will help your success depends on the balance you need between sales and marketing or team collaboration.

We’ve therefore shared what features to look for and what to expect from four leading tools.

Features To Look For In Online Video Tools

Most online video tools overlap somewhat on features but they often don’t cater to every single need. It’s a case of deciding which of the following are most important to you:

• Recording and uploading videos: The upload limits can vary significantly on free or low-priced plans.

• Embedding videos: Displaying videos instead of links can help improve sales and marketing emails.

• Screensharing and recording: Consider advanced functionality if communicating complex messages to people is essential.

• If branding and creativity are essential, check what level of customisation is available.

• If you’ll be embedding videos, instead of sharing links, look for in-video CTAs.

• Live streaming. Only one of the tools offered features that make it possible to run live, interactive webinars.

• Social media integration. Some tools save you time by integrating directly with your social media channels.

• With 85% of videos on social media played without sound, it's a useful feature for social purposes or when communication issues are common.

• Security: Password protection or privacy features are essential to most businesses but only available in paid plans.

• Analytics: Features range from simple view counts to engagement data.

VidYard

VidYard has a range of useful marketing and social selling features. It’s one of the only tools to push your videos directly to your social networks and add captions.

It’s not so great for collaboration as it doesn’t offer screen recording, sharing or live streaming. It’s also the most expensive of the tools for the premium features ($300 a month for the Team package which is up to 3 users), although its free plan packs a lot of useful features

Vidyard’s free plan boasts unlimited video creation and editing, uploads and hosting. It provides social networks pushes too, along with view notifications and total views analytics. You're limited to just five video embeds but for a free package that's a generous offering.

The Pro version provides up to 20 embeds and also allows you to add calls to action on the page, receive on-page replies and see performance data. Password protection is included too.

If you need video for marketing purposes, then the Teams package is a better option. It allows you to customise the branding, embed CTAs into the video itself and add manual captions.

Loom

Loom is an excellent all-round tool and one of the most affordable for its premium Business option at just $15 per month (then $12 per additional creator.) It is particularly good for collaboration and presenting, although it lacks speed for social and sales.

Unlike Vidyard, Loom limits its free users to just 25 videos a month. You therefore really need the Pro plan at least ($8), but for custom branding you’ll need to upgrade to Business.

Asides from custom branding, both plans offer unlimited video creations and uploads. Where Loom really shines is that you can record your screen and draw on it or emphasise parts with your mouse. While it's not live, it's still a great way to clear up any potential communication issues.

Loom also offers CTAs and, while it doesn’t embed videos or push them into social, you can create custom GIFS or images when sharing the links.

Vimeo

Vimeo offers the most advanced video editing features. It also enables quick publishing to social media channels too along with closed captions functionality. (Which isn’t surprising as it’s a video sharing platform in its own right).

Vimeo’s basic, free plan is probably the most “basic” of all the tools available. You can upload 10 videos a week but you’re limited to just 500MB, which won’t go very far for longer clips.

Its single user Plus plan is just £6 p/m but has plenty of great marketing and sales uses. As well as the ability to customise end screens and the video player, you can embed the videos wherever you want. You can also publish actively to social networks and analyse social stats and analytics.

The pro version at just £16 a month per user has a wealth of extra features - from customisable video templates, video chapters creation and branded showcase sites to unlimited use of its stock library of photos, videos and licensed music.

Creative teams can collaborate within videos and also create private videos. However, there’s no screen sharing ability, so it’s less suited to business collaboration.

The Premium level at £70 per month is where Vimeo really comes into its own. With this, you scan stream to multiple destinations and hold unlimited live events, with features such as live Q&A, graphics and polls and audience chat for user engagement.

CloudApp

CloudApp is perhaps one of the most versatile of the online video tools available, offering a strong a mixture of sales and internal communications. However, it's lacking quick-push social functions.

CloudApp not only offers screen recording and screen-sharing but annotation features too. You can also record web camera videos for use internally or externally too, when a personalised touch is needed.

One of CloudApp’s best features is the ability to create GIFs, which is a great way to get across your message quickly or add a bit of humour. You can easily customise your content and website domain to white-label your content. It also comes with easy embeds, even on the free plan.

The pricing is very reasonable too. The Pro version is just $9 a month and the Team plan is just $8 per user, with added software integrations and administrative features.

Mobile Video Effects & Captions Apps

If you’re planning to use your videos on social media or for entertaining marketing clips then there's a wealth of free/low-priced apps to try:

• Clips (iPhone): Features include cutting together short videos and photos and adding filters, emojis, automatic captions and music.

• Clipomatic (iPhone). Features include automatic captions in a variety of languages, along with filters, effects and caption styles.

• AutoCap (Android). This app specialises in automatic captions only but it also allows you to emphasise certain words to make it easily scannable for your audience.

As you can see, all of the tools have their strengths and weaknesses. With the low entry point, you may just find that you use one online video tool for sales and marketing and another for team collaboration. Whatever you choose, we hope to see you “in person” on social soon!