8 Ideal Facebook Video Marketing Practices

There is no doubt that video is a powerful medium for brands. That’s why all huge companies invest in video marketing on different social media sites. Smaller companies and entrepreneurs are following suit, including video in their marketing menu.

We’ve talked to marketers, and many of them agree that video is a compelling storytelling tool. Your Facebook friends use videos because showing an experience or telling a story is visually stimulating through them. There is just no other means of giving your audience the being-there feeling.

When it comes to advertising, nothing is more effective than video in catching people’s attention, keeping their focus, and engaging them.

One of the most effective places to do video marketing is where most people are. Where else can you find more people than Facebook? Facebook is an empire not just for ordinary people. It’s a hub for businesses. It’s an important venue for social media marketing. It’s a crucial site for influencer marketing. These activities involve video creation and sharing.

Ideally, videos should not only attract but also engage your audience. Otherwise, you’re wasting your resources. Question is, how?

1. Tell a story your audience can relate to

The power of Facebook video marketing rests on its highly personal nature. After all, most businesses begin as ideas that sparked from personal challenges. Hardly any business idea started as a need to save the human race from some form of damnation. You need to tell us your story. Make it authentic. Make it sincere. Make us listen to it.

Some marketers have a hard time doing this. They end up talking about their brand most of the time, instead of talking to their audience about how their brand may be able to help them. People pay attention to content they can relate to. This is why your first job is to understand your audience so that you can offer something that satisfies their interests. It doesn’t matter if your videos are artistically edited. If they fail to deliver a message that’s relevant to your audience, they won’t spark engagement.

2. Invest money in it

It’s okay to record videos via your smartphone once in a while. But your audience expects professional videos once in a while as well. Obviously, we like watching videos taken using a decent video camera or, at least, a DSLR. We love the crisp colors, the sharpness, the clear audio, and all the aesthetics that come with a decent video-recording gear. We love well-edited clips. It’s also about your credibility. Would you trust a brand whose marketing videos are all taken using a cheap camera?

3. Make your intro compelling

The first few seconds of your video should hook your viewer. People generally have short attention span, about 8 seconds in today’s digital era. Hook them within this first few seconds with something intriguing, interesting, or amusing. Otherwise, they won’t finish your video, and they’ll certainly miss the juicy parts of it.

4. Check your physical environment

People who look at videos are very visual. They look for aesthetics. There are two major factors that affect the aesthetic appeal of your videos. One is the technical aspects of recording. Two is the condition of the physical environment. So, look at your room or your background. Do an ocular check of the site or studio or room. See if it looks good on camera. Remove distracting elements, most especially trash!

Another crucial factor that affects the quality of your video is the light. This actually presents challenges for videographers, both amateur and professional alike. Outdoor light can be too harsh. Indoor lighting can be too dim. This is why controlling the light is important if you want to make your videos look professional and pleasing.

5. Vary video content

Each video will have a specific goal. One video may be for sales pitching. Another may be to illustrate a process using charts and diagrams or animations. On another occasion, you may be doing influencer marketing using a video. Keep a goal in mind in each of the video you’re making. This is why it’s necessary for you to create a video marketing plan, not only for Facebook but for other social media sites as well, especially YouTube and Instagram. Avoid recording videos or broadcasting live sessions randomly.

Creating variation in your videos also keeps your audience interested, as opposed to desensitizing them with monotony.

6. Write a script

Some of us are good at rambling on and getting away with lengthy talk. In marketing, it’s a practice that’s heavily discouraged. Why? First, you work with a budget. Second, you don’t want to finish your long exposition with zero audience.

Writing a script keeps your focus. You can plan your spiels better. A script encourages you to focus on your goal. You have a chance to remove the wordy clutter and come up with a clean transcript that’s easier to edit during post-processing.

7. Keep videos concise

Say everything in less than 3 minutes. Five minutes is too long. One minute may be too short. Two or three minutes is just the sweet spot, basically the amount of time people spend on something before they get impatient. Narrow down your discourse or sales pitch to one subject at a time. You’re not making a lecture or speech, are you?

8. Do A/B testing

This could be an article on its own. But to make things short, in the context of Facebook video marketing, it’s comparing your videos in terms of engagement and results to find out which approach works and which one doesn’t.