Embrace Facebook.
Not only is it the hub of sharing for many branded videos, it’s also thriving as a video showcase. Consumers are leading the charge as they view,
share and post more videos.
The number of video posts per person on the social network jumped 75%
worldwide in the last year, and 94% in the United States. Facebook said that the number of videos in the average newsfeed is up 3.6 times year over year.
In the last six
months, the social service has been averaging more than 1 billion videos viewed each day, with more than half of regular Facebook users watching a video a day. Not surprisingly, much of this
activity is occurring on mobile phones, since the bulk of Facebook interaction is on a small screen -- two-thirds of Facebook video views are mobile.
The good news for brands
is that consumers are watching branded video and ads on the social medium. About 76% of Facebook users say they find the videos they watch on Facebook, which underscores Facebook’s critical role
in the discovery of branded video today.
These findings dovetail with other reports indicating that nearly 20% of Internet users share video ads regularly. About 61% of Americans share
video ads on Facebook, marketing firm Unruly has said.
Together, these findings emphasize the importance of creating video ads and video content that will be compelling in the
mobile news feed.
Facebook offered a handful of its recommendations for video. First, the thumbnail itself must be compelling, and the first three seconds need to be strong
enough to keep the viewer interested.
Brands should also use video that can work well without sound. While that might seem counterintuitive in a sight-sound-and-motion medium,
remember that many people watch videos on their mobile devices throughout the day, sometimes with the audio off. Brands may want to consider overlaying text on the video.
Finally, Facebook advises optimizing video for different screens, devices and speeds, given the myriad of ways that consumers are now accessing video and their news feeds.