First things first, Facebook videos are among the most efficient things you can do to raise awareness of your brand.
In fact, according to Buffer’s State of Social 2019 Report, “93.75% of businesses have chosen Facebook as the social media channel they currently use”.
We, therefore, understand how important it can be for companies to use it wisely and take advantage of any engaging features, like videos, the platform offers.
For that reason, we’ve created this post of eight Facebook video tips for increasing views.
These are some of the points we’re taking you through:
- The importance of keeping your videos short
- The use of captions in Facebook videos
- How and why you should promote your videos to your existing audience
- Whether you should be using vertical or other types of videos
Without further ado, let’s get right into our first tip.
8 Facebook Video Tips for Increasing Views
Tip #1: Use a Thumbnail That Draws Attention
Tip #2: Keep Your Videos Short
Tip #3: Experiment With Vertical Videos
Tip #4: Pay Attention to Your Copy
Tip #5: Use Captions
Tip #6: Use a Facebook Video Maker
Tip #7: Promote Your Videos to Your Existing Audience
Tip #8: Feature a Video on Your Page
Tip #1: Use a Thumbnail That Draws Attention
Our very first tip for engaging Facebook videos is to use a thumbnail that draws attention.
You might have guessed that one already, because we all know how much difference it makes to us, as users, when a thumbnail is more engaging than other video thumbnails on the screen we’re looking at.
In fact, an experiment on Facebook video thumbnails and whether they matter or not, brought the following results:
Image Source: AdEspresso
As you can see, one of the experiment’s conclusions is that the thumbnail can make a huge difference in the cost-per-action (CPA) of your campaign.
More specifically, it looks like the thumbnail image leads to a 2x difference on the CPA.
To make this point a bit more clear and show you how thumbnails, alongside great video content, can totally make a difference to the way you’re using your Facebook videos and Facebook video ads, we’re looking at a few examples.
Our first example comes from Neil Patel’s Facebook account.
Have a look at the thumbnails of his most recent Facebook videos:
Image Source: Facebook
Apart from the fact that he’s using the same color palette which totally works in terms of the brand consistency of his content, Neil also manages to create neat and engaging thumbnails.
More specifically, the thumbnails are simple and easy to look at while, at the same time, they’re given a bright orange color that definitely catches the eye.
Additionally, the text in this case fits perfectly with the background and also gives the viewer a hint of what the video’s about, thus making it more likely for the viewer to start watching it.
We also need to mention the fact that Neil is using pictures of him being very expressive on his Facebook video thumbnails.
This totally invites the viewer to engage with the video content on the social media platform.
Moving on to our next tip.
Tip #2: Keep Your Videos Short
One of the most important tips when it comes to Facebook videos is to keep your videos short.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to not bombard your audience with long videos that might make them feel overwhelmed.
Making your audience feel overwhelmed might negatively impact the customer lifecycle and you certainly don’t want this to happen.
Author’s Note: This applies not only to social media videos but to every other type of online video that exists out there.
The official Facebook video requirements state that the maximum length of a Facebook video can be 240 minutes.
Have a look at the board:
Image Source: Facebook
The fact that the platform gives users the ability to share long videos doesn’t mean that you should do it.
Unless you’re sharing something that’s extraordinarily unique, like a live concert of a well-known musician – which people would be more than happy to watch for hours – you should try to keep some balance in terms of the length of your social videos.
As people get more and more used to taking in short video content, like Facebook and Instagram stories that usually last for a few seconds, they’re less likely to engage with content that goes on for hours.
However, this shouldn’t mean that you’d be chopping your content down, thus minimizing the power of the valuable content you’re sharing.
It simply means that you can apply the short videos rule to most of your content and probably keep longer videos for other platforms.
Our example here comes from the Facebook account of Louis Vuitton.
Image Source: Facebook
As you can see, the luxury company posts short and sweet videos on Facebook.
I’ve highlighted the length of each video for you and we can see that all three videos last less than one minute.
The same company, however, is using YouTube videos when they need to post something longer.
Have a look:
Image Source: Youtube
Many of their most recent videos last for longer than two minutes, thus making it clear that when you want to share longer videos, Facebook might not be the right platform to use, but YouTube most definitely is.
Let’s get to our third tip.
Tip #3: Experiment With Vertical Videos
Yet another tip we have for you is to experiment with vertical videos.
As you probably already know, you can share different types of videos, including square, vertical, and landscape.
The following image shows what some of the different Facebook video ratios might look like:
Image Source: Facebook
Several reports and experiments are showing us that vertical videos are basically increasing engagement.
An experiment run by Buffer and Animoto in 2017 compared square vs. landscape video content in terms of their effectiveness and level of engagement.
The experiment showed that square videos were far more engaging than landscape.
The same team ran a similar experiment two years later, in 2019.
This time they tested square videos vs. vertical videos.
They found that vertical videos outperformed the others because they simply are more mobile-friendly.
Having that said, it’s important to mention that the vast majority of users are not only using their phones to consume video content – which they most certainly do! – but they also prefer using it vertically.
Image Source: MOVR
This can be explained by the fact that vertical, or portrait orientation is the most natural position to hold your phones without having to use both hands.
The following graphic says it all:
Image Source: Wordstream
Given that users almost always hold their smartphones in the vertical position, it makes sense that businesses and influencers are using vertical videos when sharing video content on social media.
We certainly advise anyone who’s working with video content to provide their users with a full-screen experience that they can fully engage with.
This will make it more likely that people stay engaged with your content for a longer time.
Have a look at a vertical Facebook video coming from the Facebook account of ZARA.
Image Source: Facebook
Here’s another one, this time from the account of the well-known luxury company, Gucci.
Image Source: Facebook
Before we move on to the next tip we have for you, we need to highlight the fact that, if possible, you should be trying to create both landscape and vertical content.
What you could easily do after having created your video content is to work towards optimizing your content while also keeping in mind that a mobile-centric approach is generally trending.
Let’s now get to our next tip.
Tip #4: Pay Attention to Your Copy
Our fourth tip is to do with crafting great copy for your Facebook videos, also called video sales copy.
Your video copy is one of the first things a viewer sees about your video.
In other words, before they even get to watch your video content, the viewers will likely read your video copy.
When writing your copy, you should try to keep in mind that it might be that visual element that’ll invite and convince someone to watch your video.
To cut a long story short, before we get into some nice examples, simply remember that your copy has to communicate your message in a nice and understandable way.
This will make your video more appealing to a bigger audience.
Let’s see some examples.
Our first example of successful video copywriting comes again from Gucci.
Have a look at the following video:
Image Source: Facebook
As you can see from the copy I’ve highlighted for you, Gucci gives its viewers an attention grabber.
More specifically, the lines are short and concise and work really well in terms of creating a desire for the reader to want to know more.
The success of this originates from the fact that they invite viewers to press the play button almost immediately.
How do they do that?
By giving them a hint that’s not too detailed but is certainly detailed enough and implies that watching a video will give you access to some valuable information.
Our second example comes from Neil Patel’s Facebook account, the one we mentioned a little further up in this post.
Have a look:
Image Source: Facebook
Like the video copy we saw before, Neil is also using short copy that can give the viewer a clear idea of what the video is going to be about.
In both cases, the copy also implies that watching these videos will be beneficial for the viewer in terms of learning something new or solving a problem they might be facing.
Overall, “how-to” statements, like the ones used in both our examples, can be very efficient and persuasive.
These titles can be engaging in terms of giving the reader a reason to actually engage with the content and start watching the video.
This happens because such statements show that the person who made it probably knows something that can actually be useful to a number of people.
In other words, these “how-to” statements basically say – without actually being explicit about it – that the creator has knowledge about something that the readers don’t necessarily know or want to know more about.
Create some sort of mystery while giving a hint and showing that you know something that can make a difference in your audience’s work or personal life.
Let’s get to the fifth tip we want to share with you.
Tip #5: Use Captions
Using captions on your Facebook videos is yet another way to increase your views and make sure your content applies to more people.
Before we get deeper into it, let’s start by saying that using captions is very important because it basically helps you make your content more inclusive and accessible.
Captions can be extremely helpful for people who might not be native speakers of the language you’re using in your videos.
Facebook, like all social media platforms, is an international platform that’s used by people all over the world.
In fact, the following statistic will give you a pretty clear picture of the number of active monthly users.
Image Source: Statista
Given the popularity of the platform, which has dramatically increased in the past three years, companies should be doing their best to approach more people if they want to increase their audience and boost brand awareness.
To put it simply, you should always be trying to make your content relevant to most of these millions of people that are actively using the platform.
To show you how others are doing it, we’re using an example from a well-known company.
Adidas is posting lots of interesting, well-made, and engaging content on all their platforms.
What’s great about Adidas’s content is that it’s made so it speaks to anyone who’s interested in knowing more about the company and their products.
Even though the vast majority of what they’re posting is in English, to make their video content available and accessible to all, the Adidas team makes sure to add captions as well as subtitles in a number of languages.
Have a look:
Image Source: Facebook
The video I’m showing you might be in English, but Adidas makes it clear that they’re trying to reach out to anyone they possibly can.
A similar example comes from the clothing company ZARA.
Image Source: Facebook
What needs to be mentioned is that captions are also necessary for the deaf or hearing impaired.
You definitely don’t want to alienate big groups of people because your videos have no captions.
Last but not least, adding captions to your videos is really easy to do and you should definitely try to do it.
Creating great video content is one thing and making it as accessible as humanly possible is another – and they’re equally important!
Keep reading to find our next tip.
Tip #6: Use a Facebook Video Maker
Another tip we think is absolutely essential to share with you when it comes to creating your Facebook video, is to actually use a Facebook video maker.
First of all, a modern social media video maker can help you create great videos.
How?
By giving you access to a number of useful features, like premade video templates and visual elements you can add to your video.
These can help you take care of every single detail of the video creation process.
Such software can usually be used by designers and non-designers alike.
The fact that a social media video maker can be that simple and easy to use can basically help you save both time and money by speeding up the process of video creation.
By using a social media video maker, you can also maintain the core of your brand identity and generally produce content that’s more consistent.
That’s very important, especially if you’re doing Facebook video marketing efforts to boost your brand awareness, promote your website, or promote your products.
Moreover, having a video maker tool that your whole team can use can be very helpful in terms of working collaboratively, sharing feedback, and increasing your creativity at the workplace.
Author’s Note: You could consider running online training courses to train your staff on how to use a video maker or a video editing software.
This way, all your team members will be on the same page when using the tools available.
Let’s get to our second to the last tip.
Tip #7: Promote Your Videos to Your Existing Audience
Before we get to the last tip of our list, we think it’s absolutely necessary to mention the importance of promoting your videos to your existing audience.
Having an audience is a great privilege that you should definitely try to use when you want to get more and more people to watch your video.
First of all, your well-established audience is far more likely to want to engage with your content, right?
Right!
One thing that can be very efficient when it comes to promoting your Facebook, or other social media, videos to your audience is to share your videos with your email subscribers through your newsletter.
Alternatively, you could use a LinkedIn message automation tool to reach out to your LinkedIn followers.
Another thing you could do is to use Facebook Ads.
When using Facebook Ads, your page’s followers will be the first people to see and engage with your video.
Let’s see a few examples of companies that have been using Facebook video ads to raise brand awareness and also promote their content.
Author’s Note: To find our example we went through the Facebook success stories.
Our first example comes from the Greek yogurt maker, FAGE.
Image Source: Facebook
The company was looking to expand their audience in Greece, the UK, and Italy.
Have a look at the following results:
Image Source: Facebook
As you can see, around ten percent of the people that watched the video ad the company posted then went on to watch the full video.
That’s actually a big thing if you think that users usually spend only a few seconds engaging with video content.
The second example comes from the beer brand Desperados that’s owned by Heineken.
The company used tailored Facebook ads to promote their tequila flavored beer brand in Spain.
Image Source: Facebook
The one you see above is just an example of the company’s Facebook videos.
The results are impressive in terms of video engagement.
Image Source: Facebook
A forty-five percent completed view rate is definitely worth noting and highlights the potential of video advertising.
In terms of our tip – and after we’ve established the power of using video in your advertising campaigns – we think that focusing on your existing audience first can bring you closer to reaching your target audience and expand your audience in general.
Moving on to our final tip.
Tip #8: Feature a Video on Your Page
Our final tip for increasing your video views is to feature your video on your page.
In other words, use video to introduce your page visitors to what your business is all about.
There are several ways to do so.
For example, you might have a video that’s very important to your business because it presents your business or your team, or both, in a nice way.
On the other hand, you might have just posted a video that’s great at explaining one of your services, software, or products.
An example of this comes from the account of Mailtrap which is an email testing tool.
More specifically, when we speak of videos that might work perfectly as introductions to your services, we’re speaking of videos like the one in the red square:
Image Source: Facebook
A “how it works” video could feature perfectly on your page thus getting more and more people familiar with your content and products.
Additionally, there might be a video that’s simply well made and engaging and you think can help you get new customers in.
Any of these works!
As long as a video is important for your business, you should make the most of it by featuring it on your page.
After all, highlighting your most important videos can lead to getting more attention and views by anyone who’s visiting your page.
We’ll again use Neil Patel’s example:
Image Source: Facebook
As you can see, Neil Patel is using a video as an introduction to his page and other videos.
This is an engaging way of bringing people in but, most importantly, of keeping them on your page for long periods of time.
As simple as that.
Let’s wrap this post up.
Now Over to You
You’ve made it to the end of our list of eight tips that can help you increase your Facebook video views.
In this post, we’ve talked about several things that can help you increase your video views and, most importantly, get more people to know your company and products.
When creating your video we think it’s absolutely essential to think of inclusivity and try to make your video content accessible to all.
Additionally, we think experimenting with ratios and working on the length as well as the copy of your videos can totally bring you one step closer to creating engaging content that will get a large view count.
Good luck creating your Facebook videos!
