How to Get People To Watch Your Video on Facebook

It happens every day. People come to me and tell my agency that they want to go viral online. This used to drive me insane. Getting content to “go viral” online is complicated, sometimes expensive, and can be largely based on luck.

But, I get it.

The assumption is that you can post something online and within minutes you’ll quadruple the eyeballs on your startup.

In 2015 63% of global internet traffic consisted of video. By 2020 that number will climb all the way to 79%.

Brands get this. They know that they need to create video content for online consumption. The issue is that they’ve been creating video content (commercials) for television. With television taking it’s last gasps, there can be a steep learning curve as brands enter the digital landscape.

Here’s how you do it (at least on Facebook and Instagram). 

1. keep it short

According to L2 Intelligence Report Video 2016 June 2016, videos that were less than 15 seconds on Facebook generate 50% more engagement than those videos longer than a minute.

You may ask yourself if you should consider posting your brand videos on Instagram, and YouTube.

Well, consider this first, Instagram videos have increased 109% year over year. Facebook videos have increased 46% year over year, and YouTube videos uploads have remained flat.

The average duration of a brands YouTube video has decreased by more than 60 seconds since April, 2015. 

2. turn off the sound

2/3 of Beauty brand videos and 5/6 of luxury videos don’t have audio at all. They may have some background music, but other than that — nothing.

Our agency is drawn to video that place with time lapse, and slow motion. Leveraging powerful tools that can create visually compelling content like Flixel works well too.

Flixel is a magical tool for visual storytelling. They’re compelling, different and you can use them as ad units on Facebook also.

Wrapping it up. Focus on beautiful, short videos that will tell your brand story. Here’s the only issue. Simple is hard. Look for partners that can help extricate your brand’s zeitgeist, transfer that to video, and share with the world via Facebook or Instagram.

Keep the videos under 15 seconds, and stay off YouTube.