I. Introduction
And so here we are! We have finally arrived at another period with Meta’s exciting updates for the Facebook platform. One of the major focuses of these exciting updates revolves around enhancing video capabilities. For a lot of marketers out there, this can mean an enormous boost of advantage for exploring and engaging with dynamic videos for users.
Video is becoming a staple in innovative brands and an integral core of every marketing strategy across social media, specifically for Facebook marketing. According to Sprout Social, 93% of social media marketers who use video say it’s a vital component of their strategy, while 54% of marketers say that video is the most valuable type of content for achieving social media marketing goals. Additionally, 95% of users retain messages watched on video in contrast to only 10% read in text.
With the rolling of updates, Facebook continues to be a one-stop-shop for people to enjoy video content and for marketers to advertise their campaigns. Let us dive in and take a closer look at understanding Facebook videos in the context of providing engagement and effective marketing solutions on the platform.
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Understanding Facebook Videos
The video keeps getting better. In Facebook, this has been seen as a mission statement for both the platform and the marketers. Before we delve into Meta’s rolling update for the platform, we must understand how Facebook videos were made and posted in a typical fashion.
To capitalize on the platform’s potential, vast marketers must devise, strategize and utilize Facebook features. Without any careful consideration of any step process of creation and publication, video content will fall short of reaching marketing goals at best.
Creating Facebook Videos – The Fundamentals
Defining Your Objectives
In the first process, we must define our objectives. At its very best, the most common goal is to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your website. No content can ever be conceived, nor produced without having a sense of knowing and understanding your objective to illuminate the pathway direction. Establishing objectives will serve as a powerful guideline for any future video content to come.
Knowing Your Target Audience
Secondly, we must know our target market or audience. Audience research is a crucial step in the process to understand the target users’ preferences, behaviors, and interests. When you have enough information at hand, you can use them to tailor your video content to resonate with your target viewers.
Knowing the Best Facebook Feature for Your Video
Thirdly, using Facebook features that are beneficial for video content is an essential step in the process. The possibility of gaining suitable outcomes is likely when we know when and how to use available features. For example, you can use Facebook Live for real-time engagement through hosting live videos. Live videos often receive direct interaction from viewers through comments and reactions and are ideal for building anticipation and encouraging viewers to tune in.
Another example is Facebook Stories which are excellent for unveiling newer products, flash sales, quick updates, or announcements. And then there are Reels, which is a new way of creating short, entertaining videos by adding effects and music, similar to TikTok. Reels exist indefinitely on your feed, unlike Stories that disappear after 24 hours. Reels are intended for discoverability, whereas Stories suit for connecting and informing the audience who already follows you.
Prepare Your Equipment & Tools
Fourth, is production and editing. Now that we know the available features at hand, we arrive at the technical standpoint of gathering the necessary equipment and tools for editing and arranging your video. While there are no exact rules or guidelines for production and editing (and it is not our main topic), ensure that your video is of high quality with clear audio. Pay attention to lighting and framing to boost your video’s visual appeal.
Optimizing Your Video for Facebook
Fifth, keep your video concise and optimized for Facebook. Aim for a certain length based on what type of video or Facebook feature you want to utilize. As a rule of thumb, shorter videos tend to perform better on social media with eye-catching thumbnails. In fact, Sprout Social reported that at least 66% of consumers consider short-form videos as the most engaging type of social media content in 2022. Don’t forget to add captions or subtitles to make your video more accessible, even without the presence of sound.
Facebook’s Video Algorithm
According to YANS statistics, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are the most promising social platforms to launch video marketing campaigns. 84% of video marketers are using Facebook as one of their main video marketing channels. So what made it all possible? Algorithms.
An algorithm is a compilation of rules through code forums to determine decisions or criteria for what users want to see on a platform. Each platform has its unique algorithm, and in the context of Facebook and social media, the goal is to make a type of content appear more visible to a user. Something relevant and meaningful for each user tends to be more visible than others.
Facebook’s algorithm has evolved over the years in a direction where it augments machine learning and sophisticated artificial intelligence systems to determine suitable content for each user and find more similar likable posts. It also made it more possible to curate and display personalized advertising encounters based on user interaction.
Thanks to the user-centric model and the complexity of sophisticated algorithms with machine learning mechanics, the platform can capture a user’s taste/preference for predicting the type of content that will display in their Feed. While it is certainly far from perfect, the algorithm remains superior in providing what users often want.
So, how do you make your video rank higher?
The most possible answer is prioritizing what matters the most for your intended target audience. The algorithm assigns an invisible relevancy score to a piece of content which will determine its likelihood to be visible and encourage a positive response from the user. Therefore, your video should reflect content that provides an answer or appeals to a particular user/audience. It could be a tutorial, a funny short clip, or highly informative content about how your product can answer their problems.
While “meaningful” content based on the platform’s algorithm may remain vague, we must remember what we can know about our target online audience through insights and data before we can provide interesting and accurate information. Keep your video relevant at all times.
Additionally, with the advent of Reels and Stories, Video on Demand, and Live video, Facebook has further expanded the optional avenues for content creators and marketers across the network. It means that compelling, original video content is highly favorable and recommended. Ensure it captures your brand’s voice and optimize it for mobile viewing.
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Why Does it Matter?
With 3 billion active users worldwide, it’s hard to ignore that Facebook is a social media giant, which marketers can benefit from. In the Philippines, there were at least 87.4 million users, which accounts for more than 70% of its entire population as of January 2023, according to NapoleonCat.
The use of video is a game-changing strategy, and diving into perks lets us understand its impact on our marketing effort. Not to mention that traditional Facebook marketing in the Philippines also relies on producing meaningful and relevant video content to boost their social media presence. According to Sprout Social, half of social media users highly prefer video over other types of content. Here’s how using Facebook videos can leverage your marketing efforts:
Enhanced visual storytelling
Storytelling is one of the main cornerstones of effective marketing to develop and deepen the connection with your audience. It is fundamental to building human experience, humanizing your brand to make it relatable, and driving more conversion and engagement.
Mobile-friendly advantage
According to YANS, 500 million viewers are watching 100 million hours of video content on Facebook daily, and 65% of these views come from mobile devices. Facebook also recognizes the need for a mobile-first approach to align perfectly with the mobile-centric habits of users. With this, videos are optimized for mobile viewing, making them more consumable and accessible for smartphone users.
Better engagement and reach
Videos have the unique ability to capture the audience’s attention and retain them longer than text or images. Thanks to Facebook’s Reels, Stories, Live, and Video on Demand, users have plenty of ways to consume video content. When used correctly, your published video can translate into a higher engagement rate and better reach, ensuring that your message is broadcasted to a larger audience on the platform.
Expands creativity
Facebook videos foster boundless creativity for marketers and content creators alike to capture their audiences’ attention, and notice the diverse range of styles and formats. From short, hilarious clips to more infotainment approaches, live or animated, there are plenty of ways you can experiment and deliver the message. The creative freedom ensures that your content remains relevant, fresh, and engaging for intended users.
Cost-effective marketing
Creating and publishing videos on Facebook does not necessarily require a massive budget on your end. With the advancement of technology and the advent of AI-powered tools, it’s accessible and affordable to produce videos in just a short amount of time, making it cost-effective marketing. Additionally, videos posted on Facebook (and other social media platforms) can reach your target market at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising methods.
4 New Video Editing Capabilities
Meta’s newly announced updates for Facebook make the platform align competitively with TikTok and YouTube, thanks to the new editing tools and features to be ported to Meta Business Suite.
Seamless Editing
If you are thirsting for higher-quality video products, Meta’s new update lets you access audio, music, and text editing features available on Reels. These new tools made it easier to layer and time creative elements for crafting more intricate and inspiring Reels without heavily relying on third-party apps, reducing the time consumption needed. The tools for seamless editing are also available for video on Feed.
More Clip Editing Tools
It’s simple to be creative with your video with the latest clip editing tools allowing you to speed up, reverse, or replace clips. Now, it is a game-changer for the platform since it opens up a whole lot of possibilities to be creative with your video content. Gone are the days when videos on Facebook were more predictable.
Enhanced Audio
Audio is a secret ingredient to quality video content. It is easy to undermine audio with all the captions and subtitles around to help us understand a video without hearing anything. However, the experience is not complete. With the latest updates rolling in, you can now experiment with mixing sounds into your video. Explore and add music and audio clips, record voiceovers and add them to your video to minimize unwanted noise.
HDR Access
To further amplify the video quality on the platform, Meta has decided to bring the ability for users to upload HDR videos for Reels and be able to play back them in full HDR. For those who don’t know, HDR (High-Dynamic Range) video provides a more enhanced picture quality, providing realism through introducing a wide range of color palettes and better bit depth. It also has a significant improvement in highlighting the contrast between bright and dark levels. It is Meta’s first attempt to bring true HDR support to their apps.
3 New Features For Simpler Navigation
Apart from video-editing features, Meta’s also added more updates to simplify exploring and engaging with videos. Here’s what you need to know:
One-stop shop video tab
Meta has decided to finally rename the Watch tab into the Video tab to become a one-stop shop by unifying all its video experiences into a single tab, from Reels to Live content and long-form videos. It also improves the ability to discover more topics and trends to serve more content that users will find interesting and enjoyable. The shortcut for the Video tab will appear at the bottom of the app for iOS and the top for Android.
Highlighted recommended reels
Reels are effective for discovering more content creators on the platform. With that, Meta has decided to throw another addition to the Video tab with a new horizontal-scroll reels section for recommended reels, serving as a section for highlighting recommended reels.
New layout
Improvements in navigation are not possible without defining the layout. The new layout adds more ease in discovering video content along with features users use the most.
Users Can Write Comments Without Switching Apps
Meta is further bridging together Facebook and Instagram. Now, users can watch Instagram Reels on Facebook. Creators who do not have an active profile on Facebook can expand their reach to the platform. On Facebook, users can also write comments on Instagram Reels without switching between apps by adding their Facebook and Instagram accounts to the Accounts Center. In case you aren’t in the know, the Accounts Centre is a hub for managing Meta accounts for connected experience.
What Do the Updates Mean to Marketers & Users?
Meta has started rolling out changes in the platform with all the latest features and modifications that we have mentioned will be pleasant for content creators and marketers. We can expect Instagram marketers to gain access to Facebook audiences as users can enjoy the best of the two platforms with videos. The overhaul updates also signify much higher discoverability potential for newer content—which means more opportunity for brands to reach targeted markets.
The Video tab now serves as the primary hub for relevant, top-performing content through its algorithm. We can also expect more users to be pulled and hooked with matched video content on both Facebook and Instagram, which can rival TikTok. The push for a broader range of video content into a single hub alongside trending topics for users to explore, mixed with human and machine curation facilitates a seamless, unified, engaging experience. Marketers now also have more focused avenues for showcasing brand stories and offerings. With video at the core of Meta’s update and focus, it empowers an efficient way of producing and delivering enriching content through the social media landscape.
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Utilizing The Features Effectively For Marketing
Now that we have the basic knowledge of the latest updates that Meta is rolling out on the platform, it’s time we dig into the proper way to utilize these changes to your advantage amidst the dynamic threshold. As marketers or content creators, we need to strategize how to adapt and maximize the impact of our produced content. According to a report by HubSpot, 36% of marketers say the primary goal of their company’s video marketing efforts is to increase brand awareness and reach new audiences.
At the end of the day, you want to calibrate and tune your video content with the latest updates to ensure that you achieve these primary goals.
Harness video tab for comprehensive content
With the Video tab now the central hub, we can capitalize on the opportunity to publish a curated collection of videos that best represent our brand’s ethos. The series of videos should collectively tell the story of a brand or promote the product/service, and this can be done depending on the style, format, and approach that will help viewers understand the message.
For example, you can produce Reels and Stories for your Facebook marketing campaign announcing a new product and to promote Live Stream events for the unveiling. In that manner, we utilize a significant portion of available features on the platform through organized and planned content with consistent information, message, design, and theme.
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Invest in short-form video content
As we have mentioned before, short-form video content always wins since most viewers have shorter attention spans. With that, you need to be more direct in what you want to communicate with your audience. Otherwise, you will lose them. As a guideline, stories should be less than 20 seconds in length and less than 30 seconds for reels. On the other hand, Videos on Demand should be more than 3 minutes, but not exceeding 10 minutes. Live Video, of course, is a different story.
To help shorten your video content, you need to condense your brand’s message and offerings into bite-sized information that you can present in less than 30 seconds. Make them straightforward and concise as possible since you want to make every second count.
Collaborate with influencers
Collaborating with influencers is worth investing in if you want to catapult your brand’s visibility or product promotion. Some firms or organizations running their social media marketing in the Philippines heavily consider collaborating with popular influencers to boost attention to their brands. Influencers can create a buzz in their pool of followers, which helps drive engagement, build credibility, and extend your reach. Nevertheless, before you attempt to make partnerships with local influencers, it’s best to identify their niche alignment. You want to see if their content aligns with your brand’s niche and value as this will make it easier to build a connection between your brand and the influencer’s audience and relate to the message.
You can engage influencers for the following types of collaboration:
- Product reviews
- Tutorials/how-tos
- Contests
- Takeovers
Ride on trending topics
One easy way to ensure your published video content remains relevant is to harness trending topics. You can position your brand and post content at the forefront of discussions that capture your audience’s attention so you can be one step ahead of the social media marketing competition. To tap into trending topics, you can consider using timely hashtags and keywords and incorporate them into your new video content.
You can also look at your competitors and or other inspiring content on trending sections and use them as references. Social listening is also another way to tap into topics gaining traction within your industry and engage with the community, which can greatly benefit your Facebook marketing campaign.
Take advantage of user-generated content
User-Generated Content (UGC) encourages customers/audiences to create their own videos showcasing their experience with your product or service. UGC helps add authenticity to your brand and increase engagement, which makes it an effective strategy. So, how do you encourage followers or audiences to generate content?
- Create contests that relate to your brand, products, or services
- Showcase or highlight customer stories and testimonials about their experience with your products or services in your video content to build trust
- Collaborate with users to co-create content
Conclusion
Meta’s update signifies a remarkable transformative shift in how content is produced and consumed fast-paced. Sharing and engaging across the platform is the name of the game in social media, and as a marketer, you need your brand to reach more through captivating visuals and narratives. The promise of a curated world of videos makes it more call for a creative approach to connecting with your target audience seamlessly.
If you want to experience a top-notch social media marketing solution in the Philippines that meets your business goals, contact OOm PH or call us at (02) 8283 3168 to improve your social media or online marketing performance.
