Best Practices in Social Video: Using Facebook for Business
Marketing
On Facebook, the consumption of information, particularly that of video is much more passive. Facebook averaged 8 billion average daily video views in 2016, but we watch videos of nieces and nephews, bratty huskies, cats, and celebrities in carpool karaoke. So how can B2C and B2B businesses fight for attention?
While social video is a key aspect of building relationships on social media, on Facebook you have to be particularly sensitive to what you’re interrupting and keep this front of mind when developing your social media strategy. To interrupt without ire on Facebook, we need to produce innately shareable social video while optimizing this content for seamless consumption and interaction.
How to Tell Better Stories through Facebook Social Video
Know Your Audience
Generally, Facebook has more traction with women, particularly in the 18 to 29 age range, followed closely by those aged 30 to 49. Education, income, and location are varied with no identifiable advantage for certain types of businesses here. Also, Facebook is the favorite social network of grandparents. Internet users in the 50-64 age range, as well as 65+, are more active on Facebook than Twitter.
Keep in mind that getting more specific with your audience parameters is even more important if you plan to utilize both organic and paid social video.
Know Your Tone
Facebook is overwhelmingly personal and thus engagement comes at a premium. A sense of community and mutual interest are vitally important. Local businesses thrive on Facebook; in fact, of small business owners and marketers who plan to spend money on social media in 2017, two-thirds plan to promote video on Facebook—more than any other channel.
Consider the local news stories you actually stay up to watch. The firefighters who raised money to give fire victims Christmas after a tragedy. The blind dog and the deaf bunny who help each other navigate their farm. These types of stories are uplifting and show a perseverance of spirit. Or in simpler terms: They make us sad, and then they make us happy. These types of stories are shared and re-shared continually on Facebook. It’s time to take your social video viewer on an emotional journey.
But what if you’re a multinational corporation with a global reach. Can you crack the code? Yes. Now answer this question: How are you helping the community and championing the causes your audiences care about? It can be tough, but users need to invite you to be a part of their everyday by not only liking, but following your page. Legitimize your brand by actively participating in your audience network regularly and then create a conversation (using video) around the things your followers care about. Your business can champion a movement.
How to Optimize Social Video on Facebook
| Facebook Video | |
|---|---|
| Counts as view | 3 seconds |
| Autoplay default? | Yes |
| Autoloop? | No |
| Audio state default | Muted |
| Maximum length | 2 hours or 4GB upload |
| Public view counts? | Yes |
| Metrics dashboard? | Yes |
| Favors native video? | Yes |
Upload Native Video
Video is winning in the Facebook news feed. Facebook video reaches approximately 22% of your fans, while an embedded Youtube video reaches only 13%. Photos have been slightly deprioritized, reaching only about 12% of your brand fans. Autoplay is only available for native video on Facebook and Twitter, so when we consider that native often gets a higher organic reach on these networks, it’s because content can freely flow. There is no click to engage as there would be with a video on YouTube or Vimeo.
The difference between non-native and native video can be seen above.
Optimize for Autoplay
Three seconds counts as a “play” in Facebook video metrics, which when paired with autoplay, can be concerning for businesses looking to measure video engagement.
How can you create a more engaging video and get audiences to watch past the three-second mark as they scroll through newsfeeds? Optimize your video lead-in and waste no time. A compelling video intro is essentially the new thumbnail. You need to jump right in with interesting images and people right off the bat.
Your video should be interesting whether sound is on or off. Utilize all the elements that make video visually stimulating: flashes of motion, people in varied environments, color shifts, and unique camera angles.
As far as the ideal Facebook video length, consider that 40% of your audience will watch until the end of a 1-16 second video. This number drops to 18% when video length increases to over 30 seconds.
If you’re utilizing both an organic and paid social video model, know this: Facebook video ads might not autoplay. There are a variety of factors that can impede this, including slow bandwidth on mobile phones. You’ll need to choose a thumbnail—potentially one that has copy used on screen within it.
Utilize Copy Appropriately
Some viewers disable autoplay in their feeds, and so you’ll need to solicit a click on your shared or promoted social video. Optimize the copy that surrounds the video by setting the stage for what the audience about to consume.
The intelligent use of copy with Facebook social video doesn’t stop there. Put words in your actual video. Most videos are consumed initially with sound off (some remain muted throughout the play) and words are part of an interesting video lead-in. Well-crafted copy gives the viewer instant relevance and understanding.
Furthermore, words flashing across the screen add emphasis to your messaging. Just look at the visual dynamism present in many video infographics. This technique can be used in a variety of video formats.
Add a Video Greeting to Your Facebook Business Page
Unless a prospect knows you well, they’re often not going to visit your branded Facebook page. When they do arrive, steal a tip from your SEO manager. What were they searching for to get to this point and this place? Greet them with a video that speaks to these needs.
Facebook admins can “pin” a video post to the top of the page. You can change this out every so often for promotions but do this sparingly, as this video greeting sets the tone for your Facebook business page and can leave a lasting impression with your visitor.
As you integrate video throughout your page, treat it as a website. What types of personas are visiting your page and what areas of content will be most interesting to them? Then answer these needs with video.
Whether it’s light-hearted, sad, uplifting, or maybe even enraging, the most popular videos on Facebook are eliciting a reaction. No other medium speaks to raw emotion in the way that video does. Audiences on Facebook are looking for a personal connection and thus are the most natural consumers of your most thoughtful and creative stories.
Optimizing for maximum visibility, use social video on Facebook to find advocates who will spread your story organically—generating the type of buzz you crave from this marketing channel. It can be done with a company vision, audience insights, and social network know-how.
