Facebook's News Feed algorithm favors video heavily - provided that it's Facebook-hosted video. Recent data indicates that the average video post on Facebook generates 135% better organic reach than the average photo post, while the platform serves more than eight billion total video views, overall, every day.
Facebook's looking to compete with other video services like YouTube and live-streaming app Periscope. And when you consider the overall popularity of video, it's no wonder Facebook wants a piece of that pie.
Working with this, here are some tips on how to easily, and cheaply, create video content to post and/or broadcast on Facebook for maximum reach and engagement.
1. Tease Rollouts, Upcoming Events, Sales Promotions
You don't have to be a video professional - or have the budget to hire one - to start creating and posting awesome teaser videos on Facebook.
Using a tool like Slide.ly Promo makes it incredibly easy to look as though you've got a large dedicated video budget. It uses an extensive library of more than two million stock videos, and includes a wide selection of fully licensed music to add to the video. All you have to do is pick the video footage and soundtrack, then enter your text as needed throughout. When you're happy with it, download the finished product, and upload it to Facebook.
Feast Seasoning Co. from Slidely on Vimeo.
This type of solution is perfect for making quick clips to use as general branding ads, to build anticipation surrounding a sales promotion or to announce the rollout of a new product.
2. Record Conversations with Influencers
If you ever have a chance to speak with influential figures in your niche - be they your mentors, participants in mastermind groups, or quick encounters at conferences - consider recording your conversations. You can use apps like Screenflow or Call Recorder for Skype to capture virtual meetings, and the camera on your smartphone to capture face-to-face events. Then, use software like iMovie or Movie Maker to edit the raw footage.
With those video editing tools, you can do everything you need - delete, splice, adjust audio, add text and images, add branding and more. Then, you can upload it to Facebook to share with your audience.
As a bonus, you could write a post on your blog with more information about the event, with a summary of the content of conversation, or a transcript. Then, link to the blog post from your Facebook video post and embed the Facebook video within your post.
3. Record Webinars and Use Short Clips as One-Off Quick Tip Videos
Any time you record a webinar, regardless of the platform you use and the number of attendees on the live webinar itself, you can re-purpose the recording. Webinar platforms like ClickMeeting offer this as a built-in feature.
You can then use basic video editing software to break down the webinar into multiple shorter clips. You can use these as a series of quick-tip videos you post on Facebook once a week, or even once a month, depending on how many tips you can get out of a single webinar.
Do this for every webinar you host, and you can build up quite a library of video content on Facebook in no time.
It takes little additional effort and gives you yet another way to re-purpose your content assets.
4. Get Different People from Your Company Working and Talking on Camera
Go around the office with a camera and invite people working in various departments to discuss what they do and their roles in the company for a few minutes. Splice it into multiple videos, or post the whole thing... and interview different people every week.
Sit down and talk with everyone about your plan to get more of them on camera. Some people may not want to appear, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with having a smaller group of faces that appear more often.
Brainstorm ideas for what you'd like to cover, and develop an editorial calendar of sorts, then determine when each person will be available to record their video.
If you can, record several interviews at once, so you always have video content ready to go.
5. Hack Facebook Live with Non-Live Countdowns
Facebook's algorithm gives preferential treatment to anyone who's using the Live feature, meaning that live broadcasts will naturally have a boost in their reach.
But there's also additional benefit - if your Live post reaches more people, and they then respond, either by viewing or engaging in another way, your subsequent posts, even posts that aren't video at all, can also see a boost in reach, as the algorithm considers past post performance as a ranking factor.
Take a look at what Buzzfeed did after the 2016 presidential election.
Given the increasing difficulty in organic page reach, brands are coming up with innovative ways to make the Live boost work for them.
Facebook has, however, caught on to the Pages that are using Facebook Live to run polls with the use of Reactions to vote, and as such, it has made this practice against the terms of service. But nevertheless, it's worth considering how you can utilize Live as a means for boosting your overall Facebook reach.
6. Forge Co-Marketing Partnerships
Reach out to other brands that are related to yours and see if you can come up with a mutually beneficial agreement where you can both entertain and educate your audience with each other's videos.
Co-marketing partnerships enable you to make your marketing more cost effective, because you can pool together your resources - including budget and talent. You have a shared audience of similar people, many of whom are already highly qualified as potential customers.
Plus, you can band together to give away co-branded products, run contests, and more to keep your customers happy.
As you and the partner brand help each other out, you're creating a positive long-term relationship for your respective companies.
Making Social Video Work for You
Video can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. Considering the majority of audiences would rather watch a video than read an article, it's the way of future.
Getting used to including video in your strategy will better prepare you for shifting consumer demand.