Facebook Video Marketing Trends for 2016

“In five years, most of [Facebook] will be video.” Mark Zuckerberg made this statement just last year, and today Facebook is generating an average of 8 billion video views a day. This includes over 100 million hours of video watched per day by over 500 million people.  Here are 3 facebook video marketing trends that can help your brand make the most of it.

3 facebook video marketing trends for 2016

1. 360 Video

We’ve already told you why virtual reality is vital to your marketing. Facebook video marketing isn’t waiting for VR headsets to go mass market. They rolled out their 360 video feature late last year. Since then over 150,000 videos have been uploaded.  You can view these videos on a VR headset, but that’s not the only way.  They are available on your desktop and mobile devices and the engagement numbers are huge. MediaShift did a case study where they uploaded the same video both in 360 and standard formats. The regular video received 237 views while the 360 received 13,455.

Facebook also provides content creators with new tools  for these new immersive videos. You can create what they call a “lean back” mode which allows you to guide your viewers through the experience.  They also are providing a “Heat Map” which shows you which area of your 360 video the viewer spent the most time watching.  Theses are powerful analytics that can help any marketer effectively shape their brand’s message.

National Geographic was one of the first companies to embrace 360 video.

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2. FACEBOOK LIVE

Live videos are more personal and the perfect way to relate genuinely with your consumers. The stats back this up. According to Social Media Today viewers spend three times as long watching a live video. People are also more engaged with live video. With users commenting ten times as much on live videos than on regular videos. Facebook has noticed this trend and is investing in the platform.

They have tweaked their algorithms to surface live video above higher in people’s feeds. They are also paying $50 million to companies and stars to produce live videos. In June the Wall Street Journal reported “In May, 44% of the top 500 Facebook pages maintained by media companies posted at least one live video on Facebook, up from 11% in January.”

For a great example just look at this personal and engaging video from Callway Golf.

3. NATIVE VIDEO

Here is the bottom line if you are linking your YouTube content on Facebook your chance for engagement goes way down. The reason is simple. Uploading a video to Facebook will auto play in a user’s timeline. A YouTube link will not.  What good is your eye catching, well produced piece of marketing if no one is seeing it?  Imagine how much more effective you are when a potential customer who would never click on a link is drawn into your video because it happens to be playing as they scroll. Just look at the reach Tasty has had by uploading eye catching videos to Facebook.

We hope you enjoyed these 3 facebook marketing video trends. Pennylane is a video marketing consultant. If you want to learn more or consider different strategies with using video marketing, contact us today to explore ideas to grow your brand.