When it comes to increasing your audience’s engagement on Facebook, there are numerous factors to consider. But if there’s one thing that trumps all others, it’s native video.
Among 10,000 high-engagement Facebook posts, native video and native photos generated 114,000 actions, including likes, comments, and shares. This means that they significantly outperformed all other post types, including links, photos, and text-based posts.
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What is Native Video?
Simply put, native video is video content that is uploaded directly onto a social media platform. This means that the video is hosted on the site, as opposed to being embedded from another site like YouTube or Vimeo.
Think of it this way: when you upload a video to YouTube and then post an embedded link to Facebook, you’re essentially borrowing YouTube’s platform to host your content. But when you upload a video directly onto Facebook, you’re using Facebook’s platform.
Why Does Native Video Perform So Well?
There are a few key reasons why native video gets more engagement than other types of content on Facebook:
Video Content is Stimulating
In general, videos are more visually stimulating than other forms of content. They’re also easy to consume––viewers can quickly get the gist of what the video is about without having to commit a lot of time to watching it.
About 65% of the population are visual learners, meaning that they need to see information in order to conceptualize it. Because it is engaging, video is an ideal format for social media content.
Facebook’s Algorithms Favor Native Video
You don’t even need to try to get your natively-embedded video in front of more users. Facebook will do that for you. Since mid-2016, the algorithm has been favoring native video over other types of content, meaning that your videos are more likely to show up in users’ News Feeds.
Additionally, Facebook will also autoplay native video on mute––something they don’t do for other types of content. This means that even if a user isn’t actively scrolling through their News Feed, they’re still likely to see your video and be drawn in by it.
Native Video is Better for User Experience
From a user perspective, native video is simply a better experience. Rather than being taken off of Facebook to watch a video, users can watch it right in their News Feed. This keeps them engaged with the platform and ultimately leads to more time spent on the site.
Fewer people will engage with your Facebook marketing campaign simply because you’re using off-page video content. If you use native video, you guarantee that your viewers have a better experience with your content.
You Have the Chance to Go Viral
If we’ve learned anything from TikTok, it’s that virality sells (quickly). And when it comes to native video, you have a much higher chance of going viral than with any other type of content.
This is because users are more likely to watch, share, and comment on a video that’s right in front of them––especially if it’s entertaining or informative. If your goal is to get as many people as possible to see your content, you must use native video.
Native Video is Made for Its Platform
Each platform has its own specific features, and users have come to expect a certain level of quality from the content they consume on each site. When you use native video, you’re able to take advantage of Facebook-specific features that improve the quality of your content.
Each platform has its own viewing and video ad specs. This includes things like vertical videos (which are optimized for mobile viewing) and in-stream ads (which are non-skippable and can be up to 15 seconds long).
By using these features, you’re able to create a video that’s specifically tailored for Facebook––and as a result, gets more views, engagement, and overall success.
How to Run an Effective Facebook Video Campaign
Now that you know the importance of native video, it’s time to learn how to run an effective Facebook marketing campaign. Here are a few tips:
Keep your videos short and sweet.
The average attention span is only eight seconds, so make sure your videos are concise and to the point. If you have a lot of information to share, consider breaking it up into a series of shorter videos.
However, there are some instances where longer videos perform better. For example, if you’re sharing a tutorial or an in-depth review, your audience will be more engaged with a longer video.
The key is to test different lengths and see what works best for your particular campaign.
Add captions to native videos.
85% of Facebook users watch videos without sound, so adding captions is essential. If you don’t have an eye-catching caption, your video is likely to be skipped over. Captions should be short, attention-grabbing, and relevant to the video.
Choose an enticing thumbnail.
Your thumbnail is like a movie poster––it should be eye-catching and give users a taste of what your video is about. The best thumbnails are bright, colorful, and have text that’s easy to read.
Use engaging visuals.
Remember, people are visual learners. Use outstanding colors, interesting graphics, and short clips to keep your audience engaged. Also, make sure that your branding is consistent throughout the video.
Test different types of content. Not all videos will perform the same––you’ll need to experiment to see what works best for your audience.
Multivariate testing is a great way to try out different types of content and see what sticks. This testing method involves changing one element at a time (such as the length, thumbnail, or call-to-action) to see how it affects engagement.
Summary
If you want to get the most engagement from your Facebook marketing campaign, you need to use native video. Since this kind of content is created by Facebook, for Facebook, it’s able to take advantage of various features that improve the quality of your video.
Since algorithms prefer it, native video is more likely to be seen and shared by users, increasing your chances of going viral.
To run an effective campaign, keep your videos short, add captions, choose an enticing thumbnail, and use engaging visuals. You should also test different types of content to see what works best for your particular audience.
Read also: 8 Tactics to Boost Engagement on Your Facebook Business Page