Videos Are Booming – Are You Keeping Up With The Trend?
According to one of the longest-running studies in the social media industry, marketers are planning on increasing their video marketing efforts across different social media platforms. The expected increases in video marketing include:
● YouTube – 71% increase ● Instagram – 69% increase ● Facebook – 68% increase ● LinkedIn – 45% increase
With videos being so popular, Facebook is introducing a video ranking structure that will re-prioritize what videos are being shown to users. These changes include:
1. Loyalty and Intent 2. Video and viewing duration 3. Originality
You’re probably thinking these changes don’t sound new. However, Facebook is strengthening these influencing factors to make sure their video distribution algorithm is showing valuable videos to the end user. This change will apply throughout various Facebook placements, including: News Feed, Facebook Watch, and their “More Videos” recommendations. So, what does strengthening these factors look like?
Loyalty and intent: Facebook will give priority to videos people seek several times and return to watch other videos from the same publisher/creator. Seeking in this case means people use Search or visit your Page directly to view your video.
Video and viewing duration: The average attention span per user is around 8 seconds, shorter than the attention span of a goldfish (I’m sure you’ve heard that before!). Facebook wants to ensure the viewer has their attention on your video for at least one minute. The longer the watch time is, the higher ranking your video is! Facebook encourages videos that maintain user engagement for 1-minute, and to qualify for revenue, videos should be at least 3-minutes long. That’s right, 3-minutes! So, really give your video some thought and creativity because 3-minutes is significantly more than the average 8 second attention span. Additionally, design your content in a manner intended to flow well with ad breaks (within the 1 minute and 5 minute mark of your video).
Originality: Don’t repurpose video content, and avoid sharing videos from Pages that take part in sharing schemes. To ensure your video originality, review Facebook’s meaning of limited originality of content which will cause your video content efforts not to be monetized.
How can you optimize for distribution and monetization?
Within social media ads you have the option to use still images and slideshows, but you should not use these. Even though these options are available, as a general rule of thumb, Facebook prefers an original video that maintains a watch time of at least 1-minute, high resolution, bit-rate, and show motion and movement. Videos that are 3-minutes long and adhere to their Content Guidelines for Monetization, are more likely to generate revenue, according to Facebook. Videos should typically be at least 3Mbps if shooting at 720 pixel resolution and 30 frames per second, or at least 6Mbps if shooting at 1080 pixel resolution and 30 frames per second. Additionally, to earn revenue:
● Ensure ad breaks fit with your overall video message. Ad breaks interrupt your video, so you need to ensure your video is engaging enough to incentivize your viewers to stick around during the ad break. ● Use automatic placements. ● Increase your brand awareness and partner with other brands, advertisers, or sponsors for branded content. ● Use the branded content tool. ● Apply to be a Brand Collabs Manager. ● Create a playlist or organize your videos into themed series: Publish on a weekly or daily basis to encourage your fanbase to regularly visit and watch the next video
● Engage with comments or messages. ● Track performance through the Facebook/Instagram Creator Studio. ● Share the link to your content across all online mediums. ● Put the video description to good use! Think of how people will search for your video and input those keywords in the text description. ● Don’t provide instructions to get specific answers, allow for open conversation-starters.
Creating the right video content and implementing it effectively can be tricky, so if you need a team of digital marketing gurus, contact Télia Agency to schedule a free consultation.
