When it comes to Facebook, video marketing is the way to reach and engage users. Not to mention, that as more people watch visual content on their mobile devices, marketers have an opportunity to leverage videos to share their messages with their audiences more effectively. But not just any video will do the trick. While advertisers are rushing to create more video content, it’s equally important to think and plan how to make it engaging, shareable, and mobile friendly.
To help you, we’ve gathered some of the best functional tips for your Facebook videos to drive more views, better engagement and more shares on Facebook.
- Be Square:
Last year, Facebook revised its creative guidelines and shared what makes videos work on its platform. One of these was to adopt square dimensions or 1:1 size to make the most of mobile screen.
With more than 92% of Facebook users using their mobile devices to access the social media platform every day, and video consumption increasing to 223% on mobile devices since 2013, its important that advertisers take note of 1:1 format.
Square videos help content marketers and social media managers to easily use the same content on both Facebook and Instagram. But what really works wonders for them is the amount of space a square video takes, right in the middle, the 78% of the screen is dedicated to the video on mobile. [1]
Here’s an example of video content that Sony is posting:
Colgate uses both horizontal and square formats. Here’s one that uses 1:1 dimensions:
- Hook ‘Em Fast:
If you can’t grab your viewer attention in the first three seconds, the engagement rate of the video will be very low. Facebook automatically plays videos now in newsfeeds. What does this mean?
Basically, when Facebook auto plays a video, the initial few seconds are where you can hook a viewer. There are a few hooks that are tried and true that you can incorporate them into your own videos.
Thumbnails:
When uploading your videos on Facebook, you should add a thumbnail. Facebook offers you a choice between using a custom thumbnail, or one of the auto – generated thumbnails from the video you are uploading.
Here’s how it looks:
If you are worried that you haven’t added thumbnails to your previously uploaded videos, then don’t worry. You can add or edit them at any time.
Here’s how you can do it:
A Teasing Post Copy:
A video with an interesting and engaging status can get twice as many views. Invest the time to compose interesting, funny or engaging status updates that will encourage your audience to view the video.
Sometimes the title of the video shown on the thumbnail itself can convince the viewer to watch the video.
Dig Right In:
Don’t spend time in creating the story to attract attention. Just go into it. The first frame alone should be enough for introduction. The second frame should be tell the viewer what it is all about.
Add Captions!
When we talk about more engagement on mobile, we are talking about 85% videos that are never played with their sound if users don’t have their headphones or their device is on the silent mode.
This means that it will be the visuals that they will be focusing on. This is where captions come in handy to get your message across. All you need to do is add a SRT file whenever you are uploading a video to Facebook. You can also add an SRT file to your previously uploaded videos.
Video marketers are using creative ways to get their point across without the noise. BuzzFeed videos have a nice, big text overlaying images and clips in their videos which means even without the sound, the user can easily understand what the video is all about.
- Keep It Simple
“There are five reasons why people share your videos,” says Jonathan Perelman who was at BuzzFeed overlooking their video content[2]. These are
- They want to be social.
- By sharing a video, they want to show their support or concern about a subject.
- Simply to show off to their friends and colleagues online.
- Have a social proof that they were the first ones to see the video or the content it is sharing.
- Share funny videos and tag their friends for a good laugh.
Think on these five things, as to why your audience will want to watch and share your videos. Keep the message simple so that if you want to, you can explain it in one sentence. If it takes more than one sentence, the idea is more complex than you want it to be.
Remember you have 60 seconds to share what you want as that’s the average attention span of users online.
- Go Native:
Videos that are directly published on Facebook have more engagement compared to those that are shared through other channels like YouTube. In fact Facebook itself has been pushing content creators and celebrities to post video content on it as it promises more organic reach to videos compared to any other format.
According to one research, it was revealed that an average video posted natively on Facebook has approximately 477% more engagement compared to those that are posted through links.
So post your videos directly to Facebook and track the engagements separately with other platforms that you are using.
- Be Facebook Savvy:
When content is being published online, many community managers publish videos with same dimensions and same post copy. If you want more engagement online, it’s highly recommended that you create Facebook specific copy.
Facebook allows you to use 400 letters before the text is truncated, however the full character limit is 63,206. Use this limit to create an engaging copy that encourages the viewer to click on the video and watch it.
So what works? Shorter copy or a longer copy? It depends on the niche you are working on. For instance on a B2B Facebook page it is better to write longer copy, geared at decision makers that want more information. If you’re working on a product that is geared towards Millennials, a shorter copy might get more play, as this audience will more likely click on a video with copy thats funny, direct, or poses an interesting question.
How has been your experience on Facebook?
A quick look on Facebook will reveal that videos are the thing. They’re a quick way to get information across while also connecting with viewers, and ultimately, driving more traffic to your site.
But to create a video that strikes the right chord, there’s lots of important factors, and you might need some help. If you are interested in talking about how your business can leverage videos online, get in touch with us today!
[1] https://blog.bufferapp.com/square-video-vs-landscape-video
[2] http://tubularinsights.com/buzzfeed-video-strategy/
