Video marketing has always struggled with the perennial issue of how to reach a large target audience. The current era of the social media marketing that has been brought forth solves that issue extremely well. Although having humble beginnings as a simple photo-focused digital platform, Facebook, along with its rapid increase in users, has emerged as an enormous platform for video marketers to exploit.
With innovations coming in every day, and a readily available target audience that stretches to over a billion-plus people who watch over 100 million hours of video a day, Facebook is where it’s at. It’s simple too. All one needs is some good equipment, creativity, and a great and reputable video editor to create effective marketing content on the platform. However, it can be a rather daunting task to get right without sufficient knowledge and experience. To help you get started, here are 10 simple yet proven expert tips to improve your Facebook video marketing strategy.
1. Make your objective clear
With video marketing, efficiency is paramount. To help you with achieving this, you first need to be sure of what you aim to do with your video. Whether the video is to create brand awareness, generate engagement, increase views, etc., can change the style of video you require and how you present the content.
So before making your video, make sure you have a clear idea of the objective you want to achieve with the content so you can curate your work accordingly.
2. Have an attention-grabbing opening
With Facebook videos, the most important part is the first 3 seconds. If you can’t hook your viewers within that timeframe, then your entire video might as well be worthless. To do this, you need to create a video that can capture and inspire an audience even without sound.
There are several techniques you can employ to achieve this effect, some of which we’ll discuss below. The point is, a clear, concise, and inspired introduction can make all the difference for your video, and as such, is the part you should employ most creatively.
3. A Great Thumbnail
A simple, yet crucial part of your video is to make sure your video has an attractive thumbnail that draws viewers to watch your video. Custom thumbnails that best represent or tease your content can go a long way in capturing attention and is a part you ought to pay attention to. A dull or irrelevant image can greatly detract from your ad campaign and put your marketing strategy at risk.
With thumbnails, the most engaging and clear graphics always work best, and many video editors offer great options to create custom thumbnails suited to your needs.
4. Make your Video work without audio
As ironic as it may seem to create a video that has no audio, 85% percent of video watchers on Facebook watch them with the sound off, which is a testament to a trend in their consumption habits.
With this fact, it’s safe to presume viewers dislike videos that start in a startlingly loud manner and prefer to watch videos without sound. Thus, it’s worthwhile focusing on ways to make your video work without sound. The most proven way to do this is to include closed captions in your video.
5. Keep your videos under 90 seconds
In video marketing, one of the golden rules is to keep the content “Short and Sweet”. Nowhere is this strategy more relevant than in social media marketing, where marketers are competing for the attention of viewers who generally have very little of it to spare.
Ads generally work best when they’re under 15 seconds long. This number can change depending on the style of content, however, try your best not to exceed the 60 to the 90-second mark.
6. Get Straight to the Point
One of the best ways of hooking your viewers in, while also saving on time, is to simply get straight to the point of the video rather than trying to fluff the video with secondary content. One of the best ways of doing this is to just tell your audience what they’re in for, through teasers or concise introductions. Doing this can serve as a great segue for the rest of the video content.
7. Have a clear upload schedule
Making use of the scheduling function for your content can go a long way in boosting your video’s accessibility and reach. Facebook functions in a way that the time and day you choose to upload can have a great effect on how far your video ends up going. If you can schedule your uploading process to best fit around these peak hours, you can go a long way in expanding your network and reach.
8. Use Animations in your content
Animations are great tools to make your content a lot more consumable and effective for achieving its purpose. They’re fantastic ways to cover topics without overwhelming viewers, and while they may seem difficult to learn or implement, having a good editing tool in your belt can go a long way.
9. Optimize for Mobile
Facebook mostly consists of mobile users, and as such, if you want to properly market on Facebook, your videos need to be mobile-friendly. Square and vertical videos are great formats to post your content in, as they’re easy to consume on mobile devices.
10. Use Call-to-Actions
Call to action, or CTAs are the best tool to help convert your marketing campaign into business. Facebook has curated options to include calls to action, and they’re a great tool to explore as you can simply add them to your conclusion or elsewhere to be able to generate traffic on your website/product page.
To Sum Up
Facebook Videos have rightfully taken their place as some of the most effective tools of social media marketing with the massive potential for outreach. To fully exploit this potential, you need to know how to curate your content the Facebook way. While this may seem like a difficult task, the 10 expert tips we’ve provided above are a great starting point to improve your Facebook marketing strategy.
