You might have read our comprehensive post about How To Tailor Your Video Content for Each Social Media Platform. The exciting thing about social media is that it’s always changing and evolving, so there are lots of new things to add about each platform.
Our last post focused on effective Instagram video marketing, and this one will focus on Facebook. We’ll dive a bit deeper, explore new features and changes to the platform, and showcase some great examples of brands that are winning in their Facebook video marketing efforts.
Important Facebook Video Features
our video content. In fact, this year it was announced that platform now sees 100 million hours of daily video watch time.
“We see a world that is video-first with video at the heart of all of our apps and services,” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO & Founder, Facebook.
Facebook has been making a huge push into video with the following new features:
Facebook Live: launch of a live streaming feature
Video Autoplay: videos uploaded natively to Facebook autoplay on silent
Promoted Video Content and Ads: option to promote photo or video content to sets of users or locations
Video Profile Thumbnail: users and brands now have the option to select either a photo or video as their profile thumbnail
How to Tailor Your Video Content for Your Facebook Timeline
Facebook is a very visual platform that works best for storytelling and community engagement. Engaging and easily digestible video content stands out on users’ newsfeeds.
If you take away one thing from this post, remember to always upload your video content natively to Facebook (rather than linking from YouTube or other platforms). Facebook gives algorithmic priority to video content, and especially to natively uploaded videos.
Videos now autoplay on silent, and while there isn’t a cap placed on the length, you might start loosing attention at anything longer than 2 minutes. It’s paramount that your content is very visually appealing off the bat, and that it makes sense with or withoutthe audio on.
To get your videos discovered by people outside of your follower list, you should leverage and experiment with popular hashtags that describe your content. You can also give promoted video posts a try, which we’ll look at in more detail further along in this post.
Pro Tips:
- Use Buffer or a similar tool to schedule your Facebook posts in advance to ensure that you’re posting consistently and keeping your followers engaged. Mix photo, text, and video posts to create variety and interest on your timeline.
How to Tailor Your Video Content for Your Facebook Live
This year Facebook released a live streaming feature called Facebook Live that allows users and brands to broadcast in real-time.
Facebook Live is meant for content such as behind the scenes, office tours, Q&A sessions. It’s a great way to engage with your followers and respond in a live format.
Pro tip: Create some anticipation and increase views by letting your followers know to tune in ahead of time (2-3 hours) before you start broadcasting.
How to Tailor Your Video Content for Your Facebook Promoted Posts
If you have some room in your social media budget, consider promoting some of your Facebook video posts. Promote videos that show behind-the-scenes footage, product launches or customer stories to raise awareness about your brand.
Pro tip: Stay away from overly “promotional”/”sale-sy” ad content. Keep your promoted content in a similar or complementary style to your regular posts, to encourage new followers and likes. Above all, your promoted video content should provide value and be interesting.
Brands That Are Doing Facebook Marketing Right
Staying on top of industry trends and following what other companies and competitors are doing to spark some great ideas of your own. Here are three accounts are doing something unique with their Facebook marketing efforts using video content:
Tasty (by Buzzfeed)
Tasty videos exemplify everything that’s awesome about native uploads and the autoplay feature on Facebook. Uploading short mouthwatering clips of simple and easy to follow recipes, they get millions of views and thousands of shares.
Lululemon
Lululemon has built a cult-like following using various types of content, especially video. Their Facebook marketing video strategy centres around sharing a variety of product-in-action, lifestyle (meditation, etc.), and of course, yoga videos (their bread and butter). Their content feels authentic and they do a fabulous job at replying to comments.
GoPro
GoPro does an amazing job at using a mix of professional and user-generated video content on their Facebook page. The shots they feature are full of excitement and action. Be warned, after watching, you might just decide to buy a GoPro and go on an adventure.
Summing Up:
Facebook has made a huge push into video in the past two years, as you’ve surely noticed scrolling through your newsfeed. As a marketer, you need to be aware of how Facebook uses and ranks video in order to get the best return on your content.
- Your timeline should have a mix of spontaneous and planned content, including video, photos, and text.
- Facebook Live is where you could engage more directly and authentically with your audience.
- If you have some room in your social media budget, consider promoted video content on Facebook in addition to posting on your page. Promoted video content should be especially engaging and provide value.
- Check out competitors and brands you admire for Facebook marketing inspiration.
We’d love to see what you’re up to with your Facebook marketing efforts. Share your profile below in the comments and we’ll take a look and suggest video content ideas. Are there any brands that you admire on Facebook?
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