Facebook’s mission to become the king of online video means now is the time for brands to capitalize on the latest Facebook video tools.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in April 2015 that Facebook video views jumped by one billion per day since January; making the new total approximately 4 billion video views per day. He even placed a big emphasis on video during the opening keynote address at the tech giant’s annual F8 developer conference, stating “In five years, most of the Facebook will be video.”
This may not come as a surprise though since rumors have been swirling for awhile now that Facebook’s focus on video content now poses a major threat to the reigning king of online video: YouTube.
Facebook has established itself as a major player in the video world, and it fits in nicely with its overall strategy heavily focused on mobile and advertising. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg recently reported, more than 75% of Facebook video views come from mobile devices. This surge has created a prime opportunity for marketers and small businesses to take advantage.
Facebook users are now seeing more videos in their News Feeds, and the Autoplay feature means marketers can grab the attention of viewers with a more eye-catching post. The problem is, with all the new Facebook video features being released, how do marketers know which ones to pay attention to and start using now? Here’s a roundup of the best video tools Facebook has launched so far, and a look at what we can expect to see next.
Drive Game Installs with Desktop Video App Ads
With more than 130,000 Facebook-connected desktop and mobile games launched last year, this new type of video ad strives to help app developers and marketers build, grow, and monetize their games. This new addition to the Facebook Power Editor and Ads Create Tool makes it possible to generate video ads that will play automatically in News Feeds. Marketers can also create a call-to-action over the video pop-up, and have an end card that will appear after the video with options to replay it or install the game.
Video Metrics for Page Insights and Ads Reporting
Facebook’s new suite of video metrics is aimed at encouraging more brands to upload videos directly to the site. The latest metrics include:
- Total views
- Unique views
- Average duration of video viewed
- Audience retention graphs
- Filter by length of time a video is viewed
As a bonus, Facebook advertisers will be able to breakdown viewer information by demographic. So if your campaign targets men aged 18-35, you’ll be able to see exactly how many views you achieved in that segment.
Autoplay Video Ads
Last December, Facebook announced each 15-second video ad will start playing without sound as it appears on screen and stop if people scroll past. If people tap the video, it will expand into a full-screen view and sound will start.
Compelling sight, sound, and motion are key components of engaging marketing campaigns and visuals help brands increase awareness and attention for a piece of advertising over a short period of time. Facebook reports autoplay videos are ideal for marketers looking to make a large-scale impact and they work because fans are seeking unique high-quality content in their News Feeds.
What’s Next: Facebook Cinemagraphs
What are cinemagraphs? Not exactly a still image nor a video, cinemagraphs are basically an image with an area of movement looped and Facebook has reportedly pitched them to advertisers as the next big thing.
“You’re going to start seeing a ton of these on Facebook,” an advertising executive told AdWeek after viewing a guide produced by Facebook called “Hacking Facebook Autoplay”.
Currently, Facebook does not support animated GIFs in the News Feed, however cinemagraphs can be loaded as “videos”. Since natively uploaded Facebook video content auto plays, this could be an interesting new tool for marketers who lack the resources to produce high-quality longer video content. Cinemagraphs are much more interesting than static image posts and much more eye-catching.
We can expect to see more of this and other captivating new video formats in the months to come as Facebook continues to march on with its mission to become the king of online video.