By now you should have some idea of the importance of video in digital marketing. With video content making up 82% of all internet traffic, you really can’t go too far online without seeing a video (and we’re not just talking about those funny, adorable or cute cat videos!). If you haven’t yet, check out my post on the importance of video in digital marketing.
From a digital marketing point of view, video is currently outperforming text and images on all platforms. This is especially the case with Facebook. With over 1 billion video views a day and Facebook accounting for 60% of all global video shares, video marketing is BIG business.
If you want to get the most return on your digital marketing investment, you need to incorporate video into your social media strategy. In this post, we’re going to be examing my best practices and essential tips for looking at the biggest social media network of them all - Facebook.
- How to Make a Good Facebook Video
- Tips for Facebook Video Ads
- Catering to Mobile Users
- Facebook Video Length
- Adding a Call to Action
- Create Compelling Video Thumbnails
- Beware of Text in Facebook Video Ads
- Recommended Facebook Video Specs
How to Make a Good Facebook Video?
A good Facebook video consists of several elements. First off, you need to understand your objective - what are you trying to achieve with your video? Next, it’s vital to choose the right format for your video post to achieve your objective. Finally, your content should give people a compelling reason to stop scrolling and keep watching.
Outline Your Video Objectives
Before getting into the nitty-gritty of creating your video, you need to understand your overall objective. Is it to build awareness, get more likes or sell more products? Generally, your objective will fall into one of the following categories:
- Conversion - if you are looking to sell more products and increase revenue, then your videos need to be optimised to get viewers to convert to customers.
- Engagement - if you want to get more people to follow your page and interact with your brand, then your videos need to ask questions and encourage action.
- Reach - if you’re looking to build awareness and reach new customers, then your videos need to be engaging, interesting and highly shareable.
As you’ll see, different Facebook video formats are suited to certain objectives.
Choose Your Video Format
Once you’ve got your objective sorted, there are several video formats you can use to create your Facebook video, including organic and paid options:
- Native video (organic video shared to your Facebook page) for engagement
- Facebook stories (short videos that are only available to view for 24 hours) for reach & engagement
- In-feed video ads (sponsored videos that appear on people’s feeds in a variety of formats - carousel, collection, slideshow and instant experience) for conversion
- Facebook Live (live streaming of an event, product launch or interview) for reach, engagement & conversion.
If you’re looking to build your reach, a native video may not do the job on its own - you may be better off boosting it or investing in a Facebook video ad instead. Likewise, an in-feed ad may be overkill if all you want to do is increase engagement - a Facebook Live video might work better.
What Makes a Facebook Video Successful?
Successful Facebook videos share common elements that help them stand out from other content in people’s newsfeeds. Typically, good videos on Facebook are:
- Engaging - attract attention by asking a question or seeking viewer interaction.
- Entertaining - fun to watch which encourages viewers to share them with others.
- Inspirational - show viewers how to make their lives better and what’s possible.
- Educational - give viewers information and tips they can use right away.
Remember, to get people to take action, they need to be invested in your video. That means getting them to stop scrolling and start watching with striking visuals and powerful content.
Tips for Facebook Video Ads
Facebook video ads are a powerful digital marketing tool. If you want to use video in your Facebook advertising strategy (spoiler alert - you do!), here are a few tips to help you get the most from your investment:
- Choose a preferred audience for your post to increase the chances of your ad being seen by the right people.
- Focus on one key point to keep people interested and engaged in your video and to encourage them to share.
- Add captions to your videos to ensure that anyone, wherever they are, can understand your message without sound.
- Include keywords in your title to optimise your video for search and to improve discoverability.
- Tag relevant pages and people to increase the chances of your video ad being shared with more people.
Looking for more Facebook Ads advice? Contact Poppy Seed Media for expert support.
Upload your video directly to Facebook
Every social media network loves content created on its own platform but dislikes content shared from its competitors. Think about it. Why would you want to show content to your audience that only encourages them to leave your site and head off somewhere else?
Facebook’s algorithm is designed to reward shares of videos that live on their platform and reduce the reach of videos that live elsewhere, such as YouTube. If you want your videos to have more reach, upload them directly to Facebook so you get the benefit of their self-love.
Don't Overlook Facebook Native Video
Your digital marketing strategy doesn’t have to just revolve around paid ads. While Facebook does deliver better reach to paid posts, you can still use native videos to build organic reach for your brand and business page.
If you nail your objective, format and content, your Facebook native posts might even go viral. While no-one can deliver a viral post at will (we’d be sitting pretty here right now if we could!), there is one important way to increase your reach.
Catering to Mobile Users
In a recent global study, Statistica found that 98% of Facebook users accessed the network using a mobile device during April 2021. The same study also revealed that 81% of users only ever access Facebook using a mobile phone.
What does this mean for you? Your Facebook videos NEED to cater to mobile users.
Follow Facebook’s advice to ensure your videos are mobile-friendly:
- Keep your videos short (ideally 15 seconds or less)
- Grab interest by putting your most compelling content first (in the first 3 seconds)
- Use vertical or square video (avoid landscape)
- Showcase your product or brand straight away (before people scroll past)
- Design for sound off (use text, graphics and captions to convey your message).
Following these steps will help you grab the attention of your viewers, wherever they happen to be, the second they see your ad or native video.
Facebook Video Length
How long should your Facebook video be? Well, that depends on your objective and video format. In general, short videos are more effective on Facebook, particularly for in-feed video ads and Facebook Stories. However, longer videos are recommended for native videos and for Facebook Lives, to give your audience enough time to jump on to watch.
You may have heard that videos get shown organically to more people on Facebook when they are at least 3 minutes long. But that doesn’t mean every video should be longer than 3 minutes!
In the end, Facebook video length will come down to the purpose of your video. A quick promo ad for your latest offer will be much shorter than a “how-to” tutorial.
These days, attention spans are short so it’s best to make your videos as short as possible to encourage click-through and shares. Facebook recommends that business owners keep videos on their pages to around 15 seconds, with the most important information included in the first 3 seconds. Your value NEEDS to be front and centre, especially when engaging new audiences.
Adding a Call to Action
A call to action (CTA) makes it easy for your audience to take the next step and should be part of every video you share on Facebook. With video, you can include a CTA in three different ways to encourage your audience to take action.
- Include a CTA in the copy of the Facebook video post (e.g. visit our page for more information or call us to book your spot).
- Include the CTA in the middle of the video, using voice over or text overlay (e.g. a caption saying discover more tips here [link]).
- Include the CTA at the end of the video, as a static image (Sign up at [link]).
Whichever method you choose (hint: you can use more than one for your Facebook video!) adding a call to action will help your audience know what to do and increase the chances of them moving from prospects to customers.
Need help creating your call to action? Give the team at Poppy Seed Media a call.
Create Compelling Video Thumbnails
An important part of Facebook digital marketing that is often overlooked is the video thumbnail image. Having a striking and compelling thumbnail image is crucial to getting people to stop scrolling and start watching your video. Facebook can choose an automatic thumbnail for your video but you can also add your own for greater impact.
To do this, upload your video and choose Edit Video from the Media section. Select Thumbnail from the left side menu. Click Manual, choose Upload and then Save. It’s recommended that your custom thumbnail image is the same aspect ratio as your video and include your logo. The recommended size of a Facebook thumbnail is 1280 x 720 px.
Beware of Text in Facebook Video Ads
Before creating an amazing thumbnail image for your video, there’s one more thing to note. If your Facebook video thumbnail image consists of more than 20% text, your video ad reach may not be as good as it could be.
Previously, if more than 20% of text was detected in an image, a Facebook ad wouldn’t be approved at all, as it was seen to impact the overall customer experience. However, Facebook has now removed this rule. Instead, the network now encourages people to reduce the amount of text, explaining that images with less than 20% text generally perform better.
While Facebook no longer applies penalties to ads exceeding the 20% rule, it's still a good idea to stick to the rule to maximise reach for your video ad.
Recommended Facebook Video Specs
To keep things as simple as possible, we’ve put together this handy list of Facebook video specifications. Refer to this list when planning your next Facebook video.
Shared Post Video
Recommended Length: at least 3 minutes
Min length: 1 second
Max length: 240 minutes
Max File Size: 4GB
Format: MP4, MOV
Resolution: 1280 x 720 px
Frame Rate: 30fps
Facebook Video Ads
Recommended Length: up to 15 seconds
Min length: 1 second
Max length: 240 minutes
Max File Size: 4GB
Format: MP4, MOV
Resolution: 1080 x 1080 px
Frame Rate: 30fps
Facebook Story
Recommended Length: up to 20 seconds
Min length: 1 second
Max length: 2 minutes
Max File Size: 4GB
Format: MP4, MOV
Resolution: 1080 x 1080 px
Frame Rate: 30fps
Facebook Live
Recommended Length: at least 10 minutes or more
Min length: 1 second
Max length: 8 hours
Max File Size: N/A
Format: N/A
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 px
Frame Rate: 30fps
Conclusion
Facebook video marketing is a lucrative, while complex, area for business owners. While it can take time to understand the different video options and formats available, the return on investment from Facebook video marketing is well worth the learning curve (trust me on that!).
If you’re keen to invest in Facebook video marketing but you’re not sure where to begin, it’s best to engage an expert marketing team to help. My team and I Facebook marketers are here to help you every step of the way. Get in touch today to see how we could help supercharge your marketing with Facebook video.
Author Bio
Michelle Trimble is a degree qualified marketing specialist who is passionate about breaking down the barriers business owners face when it comes to digital marketing!
After nearly 10 years working in the industry, Michelle decided to start Poppy Seed Media with the mission to provide more accessible marketing services.
Every business has the right to incredible marketing!
Michelle has provided marketing training to hundreds of individuals, working with businesses around the world to improve their overall strategies. Outside of the working world, Michelle is a mum to three young boys and loves any opportunity to get outside and enjoy the fresh air.
If you would like to book a free discover session with Michelle, please reach out.
