Blink and you’ll miss something important!
That’s how fast changes are sweeping through the rapidly-evolving world of video content marketing. From conventional broadcast commercials to direct response advertising, video marketing campaigns are proliferating.
Hot to capitalize on opportunity, brands are jumping onto the video bandwagon in a big way. Large and small, companies are grabbing hold of every channel; leaping onto every platform capable of delivering video content to an adoring public. It’s a feeding frenzy, and everyone has a huge appetite.
One of the favorite video content marketing destinations for brands is Facebook. Once upon a time, the social media behemoth limited its scope to message-posting and networking. Then the Facebook folks saw the writing on the wall. Developers quickly leapt to the chalkboard and devised an expansion plan – And voila! – Facebook went from message zone to major outlet for video marketing campaigns. Just like that!
Unfailingly synced with worldwide trends, Facebook (along with other prominent social destinations) is concentrating the bulk of its video marketing savvy on the mobile sphere. The popularity of smartphones and tablets demands it. Facebook is simply going where the eyeballs are. And thus far, the going has been good.
In luring productions to its shores, Facebook recognizes that video content marketing can take many forms. It’s all part of the widespread experimentation rippling through the marketing world. Online video is an old medium on a new playing field. Brands are still figuring out what works best. Sometimes they fumble the ball. And sometimes they score. It’s all in a day’s work.
As part of the process, brands have come to realize something about videos displayed on mobile devices – they’re in a class by themselves. Therefore, savvy marketers are differentiating mobile video productions from video produced for other digital outlets and broadcast TV. This special treatment reflects a universal understanding that mobile audiences have a unique set of expectations.
Facebook has taken this mobile-specific specialization into account every step of the way. Fortunately, this attentiveness has paid generous dividends. Facebook mobile video views are soaring … and in all probability, they’ll keep climbing in the coming years. With such a stellar track record on the books, the social powerhouse has become a major player in the world of mobile video marketing campaigns.
Clearly, Facebook is doing something right. But video expertise didn’t just drop into its lap. Months of trial-and-error, development, and learning have contributed to the platform’s formidable knowledge base. Drawing from this knowledge, Carolyn Everson, vice president of global marketing solutions at Facebook, recommends the following for the platform’s growing legions of video marketers:
3 Tips for Video Marketing on Facebook.
#1. The Split-Second Hook
What works with broadcast TV works with Facebook mobile video marketing – blazing speed. Only more so. Basically, a video production has mere seconds to hook an audience. An infomercial or broadcast commercial has a ten second maximum; three seconds is the limit for your average time-crunched mobile video audience. “We typically advise clients to think about what we call the three-second audition, which is what happens in those first few seconds to create thumb-stopping content,” said Everson.
#2. Sight Over Sound
Apparently, many mobile video aficionados are incurably visual creatures. Which explains why such a large chunk of that audience watches videos with the sound switched off. Given this widespread preference for soundless viewing, brands should consider video marketing campaigns emphasizing readable text and graphics — as opposed to audible sounds and music. Audio still has its place, of course. The trick is to decide when and where to incorporate it. Experiment and you shall discover the answer.
#3. Flash Viewing
Ideally, your Facebook mobile video should last about as long as it takes to read this sentence. Which is between six and ten seconds. Or at max, three times as long as the hook. Not that longer video productions must be dropped from the plan. Everything has its place. Again, experimentation can show you the way.
Would you like to learn more about video content marketing on Facebook, or about any other DRTV topic? Reach out to IDR for additional information and answers to all your questions. You’ll discover why we’re Orange County’s premier producer of TV commercials, infomercials, and online videos for a wide range of businesses, organizations, and brands.
Source: http://www.onlinevideo.net/2015/07/facebook-offers-brands-3-tips-on-marketing-with-mobile-video/
