Introduction
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 2 billion active users. It’s a great platform for sharing all types of content, including videos.
There are several benefits to publishing videos on Facebook:
- Reach a large audience: With over 2 billion active users, there is a good chance that you will reach a sizable audience
- Engage with your audience: People are likelier to watch a video than read an article or post, which allows you to connect with them on a deeper level
- Build brand awareness: A well-made video that is properly promoted can help introduce people to your brand who may not have heard of it before
But with so many videos being published every day, it’s important to make sure yours stands out from the crowd.
7 Tips for Creating Effective Facebook Videos
Create Short Videos
Keep in mind that people have short attention spans when watching videos on Facebook. The average video is less than 2 minutes long, so make your videos as concise as possible.
There are a few things that make engaging videos stand out from the rest. While there is no definitive way to create an engaging video, following these tips can help you create videos that capture your audience’s attention.
Be Unique
Don’t try to conform to what everyone else is doing in content marketing. Instead, focus on being creative and unique in your video content. This approach can help differentiate your brand and attract viewers who crave something fresh and exciting. Remember, successful content marketing involves providing value and building relationships with your audience, so strive to create videos that engage and delight your target audience.
Make Use of Contrasting Colors
One of the ways that designers have been able to engage viewers for centuries is by using contrasting colors in their designs.
By using different colors throughout your video, you can keep viewers engaged and on their toes as they watch your video unfold.
Keep It Short
When it comes to creating engaging videos, shorter is usually better. This is because short videos are easier for people to understand and watch than long videos, which can quickly become boring or overwhelming for someone trying to pay attention.
Shorter videos also tend not to lag or buffer as much as longer videos do, making them more user-friendly overall when watching online content.
Make Sure the Video Is High Quality
If your video looks like it was filmed on a potato, people are going to click away from it pretty quickly. Invest in decent equipment or hire a professional to get the best results to edit Facebook videos.
Your potential target audience is already used to high-quality content from all of their favorite content creators. When you want to engage them with your content, you need to create your content to cater to the standard they have come to expect over the years of video content consumption from various video sources.
Use an Engaging Thumbnail Image
The thumbnail image is what will show up in people’s feeds before they click on the video, so make sure it’s something that will grab their attention and make them want to watch.
A still from the video can work well, or you could use an eye-catching graphic with text that gives viewers a taste of what the video is about. Use a Facebook video editor and view the edited content on various screens as well to ensure the experience is similar across the screens.
Create an Attention-Grabbing Headline
Your headline should be clear and concise, and it should give viewers an idea of what the video is about. A good headline will entice people to watch even if they’re not particularly interested in the topic.
When creating a title for your Facebook video or live stream, there are a few things to keep in mind.
- Your title should be clear and to the point
- It should also be reflective of the content of your video
- It should be catchy and engaging to encourage people to watch
It is also important to use keywords in your title so that people can easily find your video when searching for related topics.
That being said, here are a few tips on how to write a catchy headline for your Facebook video or live stream:
- Keep it clear and to the point
- Make it reflective of the content of your video
- Use keywords to make it easily searchable
Use Tags and Keywords Wisely
Just like with written content, using relevant tags and keywords will help Facebook algorithmically surface your videos to users who might be interested in them. Do some research to figure out which keywords and tags are most relevant to your video using a Facebook editor.
Here are some tips for choosing the best tags for your videos:
- Use strong, keyword-rich tags that accurately describe your video
- Include both general and specific keywords in your tagline and the titles of your videos; this will help people find and watch them more easily
- Use different tag lines for different types of content (e.g., news, tutorials, reviews); this will keep your audience organized and make it easier for them to find what they’re looking for
- Use a mix of male and female pronouns when naming tags—this will help viewers find related content more easily on Facebook Watch
- Be sure to include a description of the video under each tag so people can understand what it is before THEY click on it
- Include a call-to-action (CTA) under each tag if you want viewers to take any specific action as a result of watching the video (e.g., sign up for a mailing list or download a white paper)
- Use hashtags throughout your video content—including in the titles, descriptions, CTA buttons, and even in the audio/visual elements themselves
- Enable Public Profile Visibility on your videos if you want people to share them with their friends on Facebook
Share Your Video on All of Your Social Media Platforms
Don’t just rely on Facebook to promote your videos—cross-promote them on all your social media channels for maximum reach. Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube are all great places to share your videos.
Having a broad range of sources to find your target audience reduces your reliance on just one service. This makes it easy for you to reinvest your resources on other platforms in the event you lose access to your target markets on that particular platform.
A great example would be Apple’s nixing of Facebook from tracking Apple users’ activities on their iPhones. This led to Facebook losing out on many key customers from the Apple ecosystem.
However, since Facebook also had an Android as well as their official app and website, they could sustain the unfortunate purge by refocusing their resources on other favorable platforms.
Monitor the Analytics to See How Your Video Is Performing
Once you’ve published your video, keep an eye on the analytics to see how it’s performing. Facebook Insights will show you things like how many people have viewed the video and what percentage of them watched it till the end.
If your goal is to get more shares and likes from your followers, the best place to do that is on your Facebook page. So, once you’ve published your video, monitor its analytics. That way, you can see what types of videos do and don’t resonate with your audience.
Then, you can duplicate the success by re-purposing your most popular clips.
Conclusion
Now that you know the benefits of publishing videos on Facebook and some tips for creating effective ones, it’s time to start making your own! Keep these things in mind as you do, and you’ll be well on your way to success.