Facebook can be a businesses best friend when it comes to marketing! Compared to other advertising options and can be a lot more affordable and you can see exactly who has seen your ad and what demographic they belong to. In saying this, Facebook is an over saturated market. So how do you make sure your video is seen?
FILM QUALITY
The quality of your footage will play a huge role in having your video seen. You don't need a whole film crew, your phone camera will be fine as long as you know how to use it. Make sure there is enough light and that everything is framed properly. Dialogue must be clear and music should not be over powering. Also DON'T SHOOT VIDEO VERTICALLY. PLEASE. Unless you're making a video for snapchat, your camera should always be shooting horizontally (landscape).
KEEP IT SHORT
When making a video for Facebook try and keep the time frame between thirty seconds and one minute, the social media attention span is short so make sure your videos reflect that.
GET EM ON THE HOOK
How many boring looking videos do you scroll past every day on social media? Think of what makes you stop and watch something and try to apply that to your video. Make sure something unusual or funny happens in the first few seconds so that people will stop scrolling and watch the whole video.
SUBTITLES
Ever notice that most Facebook videos have subtitles? This is because most people don't have the sound on auto play while scrolling through Facebook. It may seem like a lot of work to add in subtitles to your video but it will make a difference in the amount of people who actually watch it. Make sure the subtitles are clear and large enough to read off a phone screen.
THUMBS UP
Picking a good thumbnail is similar to hooking people in the first few seconds. It's the viewers first impression of your video and they will make the decision to stop scrolling or not in a split second. Make sure it show cases the best or most exciting or interesting part of the video (without and spoilers or giving away punchlines). Anything that might make someone double take.
USE YOUR STAFF
Use as many staff in your video as you can. Think of your staff, Mary and John. They have Facebook accounts, if they're in the video they are likely to share the video. Most of their friends and family also have Facebook accounts and would love to see Mary or John in a video. Then you have the friends and family of the friends and family of Mary and John who will see it because their friends or family commented on it or shared it. The post reach can grow exponentially and the more people you can reach, the better. Using staff will increase outside engagement, which means more views and more people seeing your business.
SHARING IS CARING
Have no shame. If you have spent time making an awesome video, tell people. Directly ask your friends and family if they can like and share it to support you - after all its free and takes about ten seconds. This will get the ball rolling and again, the more people who like or share it, the more it will be seen.
BOOST IT
It's an ad right? Put some money into it. You can go into facebook advertising and pick exactly the exact demographics you want to see your video. It's amazing. You can target your ad specifically to people over 30, who like cheese and live in Gore if you want. When compared to radio or print media advertising it's pretty affordable. Typically about $15 NZD for about 1000 more people reached. Boosting the post can be a great way to get your video seen and out there, but it works especially well on videos that are already doing well. You can boost successful posts for an even better success rate.
CONSISTANCY
So you've made one great video and it did well and you have a heap of new page likes. Great, but don't go back to half-assing your regular posts. In order to keep these new page likes you will need to be posting interesting things. Have a brainstorm about what you could post, even if you only post once a week and make sure it's as interesting as it can be. You could even come up with more video ideas and shoot them all in one go, then you'll have content for a while.
So those are our tips for marketing your small business through Facebook video, the Facebook algorithm is constantly changing and evolving. Start with this and see what works for you and your business. Did we miss anything? Be sure to comment if you have any tips to add!
Media Melt is a Video Production Company based in Dunedin, New Zealand. If you have any enquires, feel free to contact us here