Despite ups and downs in the past, Facebook is here to stay: Users are up to watching more than 100 million hours of video on the ubiquitous social platform daily, or 3 billion per month. That compares favorably to YouTube, the world’s leading video platform!
Facebook offer savvy marketers a number of great advantages:
- Potential exposure to millions of highly engaged users each and every day;
- Great opportunities for referral business from customers’ friends and family;
- A great forum for developing “viral” content to achieve huge traffic spikes;
- Good search positioning – Facebook videos are prominent in Google results.
Mobile is growing as a share of overall online traffic, and Google research has shown video content is particularly compelling for mobile users. In fact, 50% of YouTube viewership comes from mobile devices. No matter how you look at it, it’s time to embrace video content.
Facebook gives you an amazing opportunity to do so – but how can you take advantage of it?
Remember these best practices:
Kick Videos Off with Compelling Visuals
Visuals are important in two respects. On the Facebook platform, videos generally start to play automatically, but they are silent until the user un-mutes them. Strong visuals help grab attention and prevent viewers from scrolling by. Plus, better visuals – especially in the early seconds of the video – help content stand out.
Tailor Videos to Audience and Purpose
Like a landing page, a video should be laser-targeted to the audience and the intended course of action. The aesthetics, script, and soundtrack of each video should address the audience on its own terms. Just as importantly, though, each video should have a clear, individual purpose. A video promoting a new product should be distinct from one meant to generate subscriptions, and so on.
Keep Videos Short
How much is too much when it comes to a video? It depends! Mobile users love video content, but not everyone has unlimited bandwidth. Videos intended for B2B audiences can generally be a little bit longer than B2C, but should segue into detailed content in non-video formats, such as whitepapers. If you can achieve your video’s goal in two minutes or less, do it.
Prioritize Authenticity
Not every video needs to be a carefully choreographed piece with the highest production values from beginning to end. Especially when dealing with young consumers, connecting authentically can mean loosening up – recording a “behind the scenes” video on a phone, for example. Facebook’s new Live feature allows you to create and stream these ad-hoc videos easily.
Facebook and mobile both have tremendous marketing potential. Combined, they can help you build deep relationships and capture attention from a wide, engaged audience.