Using Facebook For Video? You Should Be

by Lily Bradic

​When it’s time to upload a video, most brands head straight for YouTube. And, while there are plenty of good reasons to use the Google-owned video giant, there are also several equally good reasons not to. It’s all about engagement.
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Reasons to choose video marketing on Facebook instead of YouTube.

​Likes and Shares 
While a video uploaded to YouTube stands more chance of going viral across multiple platforms, a Facebook video could be just what you need to boost your page engagement. Native videos are directly hooked up to the Like and Share buttons, making it easy to get the engagement you want. Share a YouTube video on Facebook, and you’re more likely to get a thumbs-up on YouTube — which is great, but it won’t help you in the fight against EdgeRank.

Auto-Play 
Facebook’s auto-play feature for mobile devices only works with native videos. Assuming your followers haven’t all disabled the feature, this gives you a great opportunity to grab their attention as they scroll through their news feed. But, if you’re relying on this, you’ll want to ensure that your videos are short — preferably under a minute long — as not many people are likely to sit through a six-minute video on their iPhone unless they’ve specifically sought it out.

Previews 
Videos uploaded directly to Facebook appear like this:
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Whereas YouTube videos appear as links:

The first is certainly more appealing (and that's not entirely because of Robert Downey Jr — it's because it looks like a lot less effort to watch.)

Audience Involvement
Think the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge would have been so successful if users had to upload videos to YouTube, then share them on Facebook? Or if the videos didn’t auto-play on mobile? It’s not likely. If you want to get your audience involved with sharing your videos and creating their own responses, Facebook is undoubtedly the best place to do it.

We’re not saying YouTube is a waste of time, because it definitely isn’t — Facebook videos may have a 40% higher engagement rate, but the option of using captions, video descriptions, and in-video hyperlinks means you’re likely to get more conversions from YouTube.

Does your brand use YouTube, Facebook, or a combination of the two? Leave a comment to let us know!
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