Video Marketing for Facebook in 2021

This article is part of our 2021 Social Media Video Marketing Guide Series.

If you haven’t started using videos in your social media campaigns, you’re missing out on big opportunities.

People watch more than 100 million hours of video on Facebook. 

Time spent watching video on Instagram is up more than 80% compared to last year.

We are creating a series of articles that outline a video marketing strategy for each of the 3 major social channels, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. 

In this article you'll find strategic tips to make your Facebook videos fun, emotional, and shareable.

The Value of Video Marketing

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of hours that people spend watching videos each day, video marketing can also help drive brand growth and solid ROI. Here are just a few of the findings from HubSpot and ReelSEO's recent video studies.

• YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-olds than any broadcast or cable TV network.
  
  
• YouTube does all this with just mobile traffic! 
  
  
• After watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to purchase a product online.
  
  
• Conversions may increase by as much as 80% with a video on a landing page.
  
  
• Visitors spend 88% more time on a website that includes video.

Dr. James McQuivey did calculated frames per second and length of video to find that the value of a 1-minute video is worth 1.8 million words.

Facebook Video is Fun and Highly Shareable

Think about the videos that make you stop and watch, and which ones made you go a step farther and share with your community. What about that video compelled you to share? What was the overall feeling of that video?

Thinking about sharability when you are planning out your videos for Facebook will help you tell your story with engagement in mind. 

Facebook provides incredible accuracy in their ability to target a specific audience with video advertising. Metrics such as personal interests, locations, website visitors and much more are all available as targeting options and will let you build your audience down to a granular level.

Facebook has begun to place a huge emphasis on video content in the algorithm they use to determine your newsfeed, which means more organic reach and growth for your brand.

On Facebook, video is king.

For Facebook videos in particular, here’s a quick cheat sheet for making the most of Facebook video:

• Use “square” or 1:1 format. Studies show 1:1 outperforms landscape videos by 30-35% 
  
  
• Add captions to your video! 85% of videos are viewed on Facebook without sound 
  
  
• Make the first 3 seconds count. Facebook’s Autoplay will count 3 seconds as a “view”, and the more views you get, the more new people your video will be shown to
  
  
• Use high-resolution 720p or 1080p HD. 720p format has a resolution of 1280 x 720 or an aspect ratio of 16:9 and 1080p format has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 or an aspect ratio of 16:9 
  
  
• Export your video in the format and resolution in which is was filmed 
  
  
• Write a compelling headline for your Facebook Live sessions to attract more viewers 

One of the hottest trends in video marketing right now is live video, particularly Facebook Live. You can use Facebook Live as a way to engage their audience through active participation – similar to a “live” television show.

When experimenting with Live video, try and aim to create additional ways for your audience participate in the stream. Questions are a great way to do that along with a host of other fun ideas specific to your industry or brand.

The Wrap Up

The key takeaway from all of this is that video marketing is an incredible way to create new and interesting content that will drive engagement. Now is the perfect time to begin experimenting with video and figuring out what your audience enjoys most.

Social video is continually evolving, so it's up to your marketing team to keep up.

If you’re interested in working with our marketing specialists to come up with a strategy for your brand, reach out today.