Facebook Video Marketing: Why Your Competitors Are Doing It
Marketing is often visual. It’s hard to sell something through words alone. You have to show something people can see. This is why TV and magazine ads became popular. As the old adage goes, to see is to believe. There is no better way of letting people see you than through a video.
The good thing about Facebook is it allows you to post videos up to 45 minutes. You don’t need to upload videos that long, though, to talk to your customers or show how to get rid of mildew in the kitchen. While your friends are recording and posting videos on Facebook for personal fun, your competitors are doing so to advance their business. If you’re not doing it, you should be asking yourself why.
Why are businesses even bothering with putting up videos on Facebook?
- They want exposure. Who doesn’t want exposure? Even average Facebook users want that. For businesses, it’s even more important. With millions of people scrolling through their timelines daily, it makes a lot of sense to put your videos in their feeds. The reason videos are popular is because people tend to watch them more than read an article. People are more likely to check out a video of your brand than read an article about it.
- They want to connect to people visually. We still connect to people through textual content. We still write posts for them. But videos are really powerful ways to express your thoughts or emotions. It’s much easier to connect with your audience when they see you. Connection doesn’t happen on professional or commercial terms. It happens on the emotional level. People see your smile, the slight movements of your eyes, your gestures, and the manner of your talking. These little things are the ones that create emotional impressions on viewers. The emotional impressions act as catalysts to connections.
- Videos on Facebook are visible to search engines. It’s easy to dismiss Facebook videos to be invisible to Google. The contrary is true. Google actually makes these videos searchable. So write your video titles and captions carefully, making sure people will find it.
- Videos drive sales. The popularity of YouTube prompted other social media sites to incorporate video sharing. It means one important fact: People watch and share around videos. For businesses, the implications are direct. They have to create videos as part of their overall marketing strategy. It’s no secret anymore that video boosts conversions and drives sales. A product video on Facebook looks pretty much like an ad. Advertising on Facebook is on the rise. It’s a double-edged sword. It turns the wrong people off. It makes the right targets go to your site to check out your brand.
- Companies want ROI. You’re not putting your money on something that doesn’t work. When 3 in every 4 businesses say that video gives good ROI, it means video marketing must be the right thing to do. Today, there are various devices that can record decent videos. Video editing software is available, and there are free video editing programs out there. So you basically don’t have any excuse for not being able to show us demos or clips or happy events. Please! Many entrepreneurs post videos recorded from their smartphones.
- People trust you more when they can see you. Winning people’s trust is one of the most important missions of companies. Much of the time, they are working to win over your trust. When they write to you, they show you how much they know what they’re talking about. When they talk about their brands, they want you to trust them. But nothing builds more trust than videos. The reasons have been explained earlier. When people can see you, they can see a person whose facial expressions are familiar to everyday expressions they see. When they see your product, they get a detailed image of it that creates a visual impression on their brains — something text descriptions lack. Familiarity is what builds trust, and building trust is a crucial aspect of any marketing strategy whether you’re doing video marketing, influencer marketing, or social media marketing.
- Facebook loves videos. At least, that’s what the algorithm change implies. The algorithm update in 2016 intends to measure relevance of posts based on time spent on them and engagement. People spend more time on videos than on articles. Videos also create more engagement. The reasons again are because videos involve multiple senses. People tend to be drawn to them visually and emotionally.
- Videos explain things more clearly. Why read an article about removing carpet stains when you can watch a short demo? The video illustrates everything visually. Nothing is left to interpretation. Videos are a straightforward affair. You can post an explainer video on Facebook. You can create animations that simplify how your brand works for the benefit of your consumers. You can make amusing clips for entertainment and humor.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that when people share a video it is most likely because it moved them in some way. Maybe it made them laugh or feel sad. Facts alone don’t move people. It’s the emotional content and entertainment value in a video that mostly prompt sharing.
