facebook video: insights, trends & best practices

FACEBOOK VIDEODATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS &

BEST PRACTICES

Mark Robertson

Carla Marshall 12/13/2016

Mark R. Robertson• 15+ years in internet marketing

• 10+ years in online video

• Founder of ReelSEO (now TubularInsights)

• Growth Marketing @ Tubular Labs

• Founder @ Little Monster Media

Carla Marshall• Editor in Chief @ TubularInsights.com

• Video marketing consultant

• 8+ years in internet marketing

• 5+ years in online video

• Video marketing consultant

TODAY’S WEBINAR PRESENTERS

@markrrobertson

WEBINAR AGENDA | OVERVIEW

1 Facebook VideoTrends

2 FacebookVideoInsightsBestPractices

3 FacebookLive Video Trends

4 FacebookLiveTips

5 TotallyTubular

6 Q/A

WHY FACEBOOK VIDEOFacebook Video Trends

@markrrobertson

FACEBOOK: #1 MOST POPULAR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM

Source: Pew Research Center – “Social Media Update 2016” Survey conducted March7-April 4 2016

@markrrobertson

MOBILE VIDEO IS EXPLODING

• 75 % of all mobile data will be video by 20201

• Mobile users are 1.5X more likely to watch video daily vs. Laptop/Desktop2

• 75+% of FB video watched on mobile3

Sources:1) Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast - Feb. 01, 20162) “Video in Mobile Feed” by Kantar Media - Facebook IQ commissioned research lab of 114 people aged 18-30 in UAE & UK who watch short-form online video

(<10min) including ads and non-ads at least monthly3) http://newsroom.fb.com

@markrrobertson

FACEBOOK VIDEO & WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION

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Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15 Mar-15 Apr-15 May-15 Jun-15 Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15

Growth of Daily Facebook Video Views (Billions) Sep 2014 - Nov 2015

Source: http://newsroom.fb.com

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you fast-forward 5 years and most of the

content that people see on Facebook and are sharing on a day-to-day basis

is video.”

- Zuckerberg told BuzzFeed News

• 8B Video Views/Day• 500M Watching Daily• 3X More Video Y.O.Y.• 53% of Views via Shares

@markrrobertson

FACEBOOK IS ALL-IN WITH VIDEO AND IT’S EVOLVING, FAST

@markrrobertson

WHY NATIVE FACEBOOK VIDEO?

• Native videos get much higher average # shares than any other post1

• In mobile, people spend 5X longer w/video vs. static content on Facebook & Instagram2

Sources:1) Steve Rayson @ BuzzSumo - “New Facebook Share Data Reveals Why Video Is Key To Your Content Strategy” July 2016 2) “Video in Mobile Feed” by Kantar Media - Facebook IQ commissioned research lab of 114 people aged 18-30 in UAE & UK who watch short-form online video (<10min) including ads and non-ads at least monthly

@markrrobertson

Facebook Views: 68% of Views in first 7 Days, 87% of Views in first 30 Days

FOR NOW (2016) - FACEBOOK VIEWS & ENGAGEMENTS HAPPEN FAST

Data via Tubular Labs | Videos Uploaded to Facebook on Sept. 30th, 2016

@markrrobertson

FACEBOOK VIDEO STRATEGIES

1. Use Facebook Video Features• Uploaded Native Video• Paid Video

• Live Video

2. Consider Nature of Platform & Consumption• Capture Attention Quickly

• Be Inspirational• Design For Mobile

1. Evolving Quickly1. Tips for Now

2. Ongoing Test/Iterate

BEST PRACTICES

FACEBOOK VIDEO BEST PRACTICES FOR PAGES

@markrrobertson

MOST IMPORTANT BEST PRACTICE = USE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Know your audience

• Interact with community• Test, Test, Test

• Inquire• Research

• Hypothesize

• Test

• Iterate

Image Source: Christopher Prince Boucher @ FollowThePrince.com

@markrrobertson

FACEBOOK PAGE BEST PRACTICES: THE VIDEO TAB

• Prominently Feature ”Videos” Tab

• Create Featured Video

• Create Organized Playlists

• Include CTA to “Watch Video” (Keep on FB if possible)

@markrrobertson

ENGAGEMENT PLAY – SHOULD YOU HAVE MULTIPLE FACEBOOK PAGES?

• Top publishers create multiple pages by topics/verticals:• >focus of page = > performance of relevant posts• More targeted audience interests

• BuzzFeed has >90 Facebook Pages• Buzzfeed Parents

• Buzzfeed Weddings• Buzzfeed Geeky

• Unilad has >20 Facebook Pages

• Tasty has pages for geography/language

@markrrobertson

ENABLE PAGE MULTIPLE PAGES = ENABLE PAGE CROSS-POSTING

POSTING SCHEDULE & FREQUENCY

@markrrobertson

SCHEDULING: UPLOADING BEST DAYS & TIMES

Answers:• The best days/times to post:

• Wednesday

• Late afternoon -> Late night

DataviaTubularLabs:FacebookVideosUploadedSept.2016>500KTotalViewsUptoDec.11,2016(excludingLive)

late night 12AM-3AMearly morning 3AM-6AMmorning 6AM-12PMafternoon 12PM-3PM

late afternoon 3PM-6PMevening 6PM-9PMlate evening 9PM-12AM

@markrrobertson

DIVERSIFY SCHEDULE & TEST FOR BEST DAYS/TIMES

When is Your Audience Most Active On Facebook?• In Facebook, go to ”Insights” & click on ”Posts” = data of when your viewers are online.

@markrrobertson

FREQUENCY: MORE MAY BE BETTER! – TEST UPPING FREQUENCY

• Total interactions/day increase linearly with posts per day• Negative feedback doesn’t seem correlated to posting more frequently

• Some post 30-40 X/day w/less negative feedback vs total engagement.

Source: Dennis Yu @ Social Fresh “3MythsAboutPostingTooMuchContentOnFacebook: 2/2015

FACEBOOK VIDEO: METADATA

@markrrobertson

FACEBOOK VIDEO METADATA: WHAT WE KNOW!

Source: Mark Robertson & Tubular Labs - Top 25K Most Engaged Facebook Videos in Q3 2016

@markrrobertson

FACEBOOK VIDEO METADATA: WHAT WE KNOW!

Video Titles:• 57% of top 25K Q3 2016 videos had NO video title

• little correlation to performance in FB

• 33 Characters Average

Video Description/Message:

• 96 characters average

• 19.40% contained emojis

• 48.89% contained Hashtags• 67.24% contained outside links

Video Title? LikelihoodRelatedNone 0.77Yes 0.83

BUT… • Titles may have an affect on related videos

• May be important for Facebook search in future

• May be increasingly important for web search

Source: Mark Robertson & Tubular Labs - Top 25K Most Engaged Facebook Videos in Q3 2016

@markrrobertson

MY ADVICE? LEVERAGE ALL PLATFORM METADATA FOR VIDEO

• Title – for future discovery• Keep Short & Relevant

• Post Message/ Caption

• Enticing• Include Strong CTA to Watch

• Include mentions to pages, celebrities, etc.…

• Tags

• Add @People/@Pages• Location

• Date/Time

Tags CC Others

Yes (Optional)8tagsmax

Yes (Optional).SRTrequired

ThumbnailsLocation@Friends@Pages

Title Description SocialMsg.

Yes(Optional)65charmax

Yes (Optional)63,206charmax480shown…

FacebookVideoMetadataOptions

FACEBOOK VIDEO FORMATTING

@markrrobertson

SHORT FORM CONTENT – MAKE THE FIRST 3-10 SECONDS COUNT

Source: Facebook Marketing Science Analysis of 173 Nielsen Brand Effect Studies, March 2015

• 65%whowatchfirst3sec.ofavideowillwatchfor>10sec.• Bestperformingvideosrangebetween30sec&2min• 1:24=Averagedurationofvideosinmyanalysisoftop25KQ32016

@markrrobertson

DIMENSIONS – THE RISE OF VERTICAL & 1:1 (SQUARE) VIDEO

Analysis via Mark Robertson - Data via Tubular: Top 25K Most Engaged Videos (non-live) Uploaded Q3 2016

@markrrobertson

75% FACEBOOK VIDEO VIEWS ARE MOBILE: TALLER = MORE EXPOSURE

16:9 3:4 1:1 Vertical

@markrrobertson

WHAT IF YOUR VIDEOS ARE 16:9?

• Try Borders w/Text Overlays

@markrrobertson

As much as 85% of views happen with sound off, according to multiple publishers.1

EMBRACE THE SILENCE:

Source: http://digiday.com/platforms/silent-world-facebook-video/

@markrrobertson

CAPTURING THE VIEWER: EMBRACE THE SILENCE WITH TEXT IN VIDEO

• Use Big Font Text Overlays

• Use Text Cards to Advance Narrative

Source:Refinery29“USINGDARKPOSTSTOA/BTESTVIDEOSONFACEBOOK”

STUDY:A/BTestofTextOverlays

@markrrobertson

EMBRACING THE SILENCE: TRY CLOSED CAPTIONS & SUBTITLES

One client in a study by 3PlayMedia saw an increase in watch time of 25% with CC

Source:Facebook

@markrrobertson

FACEBOOK CLOSED CAPTIONS TIP

• <5 Min? Automatic with Paid Promotion

• Have a transcript? 1. Let YouTube do the speech-to-text

1. Download the SRT from your video.1. Also tools like Downsub.com

2. Re-Upload SRT to Facebook Video

@markrrobertson

RECAP = CAPTURE ATTENTION ASAP FOR VIEWS & ENGAGEMENT

• Dimensions: • Test Various Aspect Ratios

• Drive Immediate Interest:• Use Compelling Opening Shots

• Use Strong Visual Cues• Text, Title Cards, Supers, Brand Assets• Clear CTA to “Watch” In Post Copy

• Embrace Silence:• Subtitles/CC & Text Overlays

• Quality audio still important

• Important sound bites after 3 sec.• Most users will not rewind

A FEW EXTRA TIPS

@markrrobertson

CUSTOM THUMBNAILS STILL IMPORTANT

• Remember: auto-play often disabled + thumbs show in videos tab/library

@markrrobertson

IT’S SOCIAL = INTERACT!

1. Comment first on your video to encourage more

2. Like others’ comments3. Respond to comments

= >2 MORE views & >3 MORE Interactions

@markrrobertson

BEWARE: LICENSED MUSIC AND OTHER LICENSED CONTENT

RightsManager.fb.com

TEST, MEASURE & REPEAT

@markrrobertson

FACEBOOK PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

Focus on:• Interactions vs. Views

• Shares/comments = powerful engagement metrics

• Average % video watched

• Also – study negative feedback• Hides of posts, spam

reports, unlikes

@markrrobertson

EMBRACE PAID MEDIA – BOOST & TARGET VIEWS

• Many Facebook video publishers leverage paid promotion to test, drive views, & expand reach.

• Tips:• Start Video Ad Boosting when engagement

ratio >2-4% = Cheaper• Look into FB Dark Posting for A/B and

Multivariate Testing

• Ad thumbnail must have less than 20% text

• BONUS:• Add CTAs

@markrrobertson

A/B & MULTIVARIATE TESTING TECHNIQUES

1. Segmented Audience Posts (Organic)• Downsides

• Manual measurement & comparisons• Start over when winner is determined

2. Unpublished, Paid “Dark” Posts• Provides views, interactions, expanded

audience, and social proof• Tips:

• Use Power Editor to create unpublished posts• Run in Mobile & Desktop News Feeds Only

• Upside vs. traditional video ads:• Shows in news feeds and not on publisher

page until published• Winner when published, keeps all views,

interactions

FACEBOOK LIVE VIDEO TRENDS

@Carla_Marshall - @TubularInsights

WHY FACEBOOK LIVE VIDEO?

• Facebook Live – officially launched to all users in April 2016

• Facebook Live Videos are watched 3x Longer than regular videos

• Facebook is giving greater prominence to live video:

“We're making a small update to News Feed so that Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in News Feed when those videos are actually live, compared to after they are no longer live.” (Facebook 2016)

Source: http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/03/news-feed-fyi-taking-into-account-live-video-when-ranking-feed/


FACEBOOK LIVE ENGAGEMENT

• Facebook has stated that Live Videos are considered a separate type of content < BIG clue to video publishers

• Facebook Live streams also generate 10x more engagement (comments, shares, reactions) than standard Facebook videos

Sources: : http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/03/news-feed-fyi-taking-into-account-live-video-when-ranking-feed/http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/04/introducing-new-ways-to-create-share-and-discover-live-video-on-facebook/


FACEBOOK LIVE ENGAGEMENT

• Top 10 news creators on Facebook who uploaded video content between July 21st and October 21st 2016 –Tubular compared the performance of their non-live vs live videos.

• As a whole, these creators’ Live videos generated a higher engagement than their Non-Live videos. We found that:

• Live videos averaged an engagement rate of 4.3%, compared to the 2.2% of Non-Live videos.

Source: Tubular Labs


FACEBOOK LIVE – BEST DAY TO STREAM (VIEWS)

• Based on 46.1K Live videos streamed between Sep 9 2016 and Dec 8 2016 with >100K Views

• Streams broadcast on Wednesdaygenerated the most views



FACEBOOK LIVE – BEST DAY TO STREAM (ENGAGEMENTS)


• Streams broadcast on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesdaygenerated the most engagements



FACEBOOK LIVE – BEST TIME OF DAY TO STREAM (VIEWS)


• Streams broadcast between 9pm and 3am UTC (1pm and 9pm Pacific) generated the most views

UTC time zone • Late night - 12am to 3am

• Early morning - 3am to 6am

• Morning - 6am to 12pm

• Afternoon - 12pm to 3pm

• Late afternoon - 3pm to 6pm • Evening - 6pm to 9pm

• Late evening - 9pm to 12pm



FACEBOOK LIVE – BEST TIME OF DAY TO STREAM (ENGAGEMENTS)


• Streams broadcast between 9pm and 3am UTC (1pm and 9pm Pacific) generated the most engagements

UTC time zone • Late night - 12am to 3am

• Early morning - 3am to 6am• Morning - 6am to 12pm

• Afternoon - 12pm to 3pm

• Late afternoon - 3pm to 6pm

• Evening - 6pm to 9pm

• Late evening - 9pm to 12pm



FACEBOOK LIVE – WHAT TYPE OF CONTENT IS DOING WELL?
