This week Facebook made another announcement regarding changes to how they interpret engagement with video content on the site. While other recent changes took into account time spent on a story as a signal someone may have enjoyed a piece of content, this week’s update looks at how we interact with videos in the news feed and gathers insights from it. Here’s what you should know and how you can take advantage of it.
Going Through Changes
Surveying users, Facebook found that many don’t always take the time to ‘Like’ or comment on a video but they still did enjoy it or find it interesting. While you might not actually take the time to perform these actions, they can tell you were interested in it in other ways.
Actions like turning the volume on, displaying the video full-screen, and enabling HD video are all indicators that someone is engaging with a video. They may not be clicking the ‘Like’ button, but these actions show they have an interest in what’s being shown, so Facebook is now using them as indicators of engagement with a piece of video content on the platform. Viewers taking these actions should expect to see more of this type of video content on their own feed in the future, thanks to these changes.
What Does It Mean To Marketers
With these changes to video measurement, marketers should think about how they can get people to show engagement with their content not just by ‘Liking’, commenting, or sharing it but how they can get them to take these other actions too.
Think about how you can encourage people to carry out these actions with your videos. You can do this in one of two ways.
The Message Copy
Viewers can be encouraged to carry out the desired action using the copy included with your video content. Maybe tell them, “You’re going to want to hear this!” or other wording suggesting they turn on the volume. You could let them know, “Watch it in HD to get the full effect.” The same can be done with full-screen video. Encourage viewers to watch it at full-screen to really see all the action as they should.
The Video Itself
You can also use the video to encourage viewers to take action. Crazy things happening in video are boring to watch without the volume on. Give them a reason to turn it on. Seeing people talking without the sound is boring too. Give them a reason to turn it on without being so visually boring that they just breeze by. Show action that they’d want to see at full-screen and in HD. Draw viewers in so they’ve got to see it at its best.
Grab Your Viewers
Facebook video is already huge and it continues to grow fast. These new inferred engagement actions make it even easier for marketers to get points (and increase reach) for their native video content. While we shouldn’t forget the more important goal of getting shares and comments on our videos, we should think about these new actions too. By understanding how we can use these new changes to gather more reach and better Facebook marketing success, we can continue to slay it on social. Start recording your next video now.
