Our Top Tips for Facebook Business Video Production
This week’s video production jargon busting blog looks at making business videos for Facebook. We’ve complied some of our top tips for you to think about when commissioning corporate video production for your social media pages.
You’re Making Video For Mobile
Most people are watching video content on their mobile. Despite changes Facebook have implemented, most viewers will still watch your video without sound. Therefore, don’t make graphics ‘I went to film school tiny’. Most certainly businesses don’t produce a Facebook video production around voice-over and stick on subtitles as an afterthought. Graphics should be used creatively, not in two places which are hard to read. If done well you can combine subtitles with voiceover if you get the placing right.
Short and Sweet
That subtitle in other words means don’t make the video too long. People could be sitting on the toilet and watching your video, or on the bus or in other in-between moments. What does this mean? It probably means your business video production should be short.
Lead With Awesome
You’ve got 2-4 seconds at the start of a business video to capture people’s attention as they scroll down their Newsfeed, so start with a bang.
Now there is a debate over whether you should have company branding, channel logo, series branding, etc, etc at the beginning or the end. The reason for this is, less than 3rd of viewers will complete a video, so you would want to put branding at the beginning to get maximum exposure. However, it may not hook your target audience, therefore, your message will get lost. One suggestion would be to use a pre-titles tease (think James Bond) to keep people watching.
Optimise for Platform
If most of your target audience are going to be viewing you business video production on a mobile, then its best to have it in the biggest size. The best size is 1:1 resolution commonly known as square video as it uses more of the screen than if its 16:9. What’s more is the battle against vertical video has been lost, so get on board.
Keep the Pace Up
The internet is faster paced than TV and you want to keep pace, so you don’t need to stop and explain EVERYTHING. Confusing people is less of a crime compared to boring them, audience are used to rewinding good video content and Googling words they don’t understand. People are brimming with entertaining distractions on their phone, so make your corporate video production the most entertaining, gripping video out there.
Give Them a Reason to Share
Traditional TV as well as Youtube is about getting people to click. The title and the idea have to make people think, “oh want to watch that”.
Facebook, however, is all about getting people to share. Think sharing is caring. A good example of the wrong attitude in the context of getting people to share content on Facebook is Netflix’s Hot Girls Wanted. The title and thumbnail might make people click on the link when at home, although they are not going to share that fact with friends and family. Viral media is different than traditional, immersive media, everything you consume is done publicly. In fact, it has been claimed that sex doesn’t sell according to research.
Netflix Hot Girls Wanted Documentary
Around 1% of an audience will usually share your video; consequently, its ability to reach an audience is down to these people. So, it comes down to the psychology of what makes people click share.
Here are some useful questions:
1. Will it make me look good? What people share with the world and how they do so reflects on them. If something is funny, some of it’s funniness rubs off on you when you share it.
2. Does it tell the world about me?
3. Does it deepen social connections? Perhaps it reminds me of someone specific so I want to @ them in the comments.
4. Is it useful such as: Life hacks, cooking recipes, and the way to hack King’s Cross Station.
5. Would this be good for lots of people to see: myth busting, highlights an important issue, tells the worlds about your problems or says something people need to hear?
6. Will it make people feel good? Peoples lives are hard and they look to their phones for comfort/ a little boost of energy. So does your corporate video production make them: laugh, motivate them, have a meditative chill, inspirational or give them warm and cuddly feelings? People will share videos that do this for them.
Promotion is Part of the Job
You can’t just post an hop for the best. A large part of a marketers’ job is emailing people, bloggers, influencers and telling them what a company is doing. Perhaps it is best to engage with these set of people before releasing the corporate video to create hype around it.
Start With an Audience in Mind
That means you need to know who your target audience is, how best to reach them and where you want your film to be shared. This is especially important if you have a small Facebook following. An exercise for this is to find a subreddit or Facebook group for your audience.
It is better to hit a niche and really entertain/satisfy them than try and aim for a bigger audience and give them something ‘half-baked’. Making a film for a specific audience means that it is more likely to increase share ability on Facebook and other platforms. This then gives it the necessary boost for it to be seen by a general audience.
Keep it Simple
We dedicated an entire blog post to this one section. Check it out here: KISS IT.
One good test is, when you are watching your corporate video production back, how much of it do you have to see before you decide to share it? On a good viral video, its usually long before the end. The idea or concept is simple, good and well executed.
Please comment below with your thoughts, views and opinions on this week’s Video Production Jargon Busting blog.
Get in touch with us if you require a helping hand on any upcoming video and photography projects.