How Facebook ranks your video content.
Earlier this month, Facebook announced?a series of changes to the way it ranks videos ?and determines how they are distributed – and ultimately how often your brand content is seen in the feed.
In this article, I am going to help you find out a little more about the changes and how you can maximise your brand, business, organisation or institutions?Facebook video marketing strategy.
What are Facebook’s new video ranking factors?
The changes fit into three key categories: loyalty and intent, video and viewing duration, and originality.
Broadly, you can now see a focus on quality over quantity and overall the strategy for Facebook video is becoming more akin to what works on?YouTube.
Loyalty and intent
The algorithm is prioritising video content where users are engaged for more extended periods of time and come back again and again to watch more.
The key is to create content that pulls people back to the news?feed.
Video length
Videos should keep viewers watching for a least a minute, and moving forward they will actively add more weight in rankings to those videos that are at least three minutes?long.
Original content
Original content will be favoured over unoriginal or repurposed content from other sources with “limited or immaterial added value”.
Creativity is key here.
They will also limit “sharing schemes” which distribute clickbait video from online content mills and monetisation for these kinds of unoriginal content will be?discouraged.
How do you act on these ranking factors to create winning videos?
Overall these ranking factors are all about quality over quantity and using your video content to build your brand.
However, there are tweaks that you can make to ensure that you stay at the top of your audience’s?feeds.
Get creative
I hope that you are already creating original content for your brand.
It is vital to ensure that your marketing team or external video agencies/production partners are producing relevant content that builds your brand reputation rather than sharing content from other outlets or videos that are not adding?value.
Storytelling in longer videos
With social video, we usually think of shortform content, but Facebook is encouraging longer videos with at least one minute with a view to prioritising content up to three?minutes.
Your videos for Facebook can be more like the content you are sharing on YouTube.
Use the time wisely to tell a story and engage your audience.
I often suggest for Facebook videos starting with an emotional hook, then introducing more factual content and then finishing on an emotional?CTA.
Emotional storytelling?will not only help your brand in terms of the Facebook algorithm but also elicit behaviour change in your audience.
Focus on quality, rather than clickbait
Rather than creating clickbait content, focus on building your brand with quality, engaging content that is being actively viewed by the?audience.
Use video rather than slideshows
It is also all about video rather than using image-based slideshows as replacements for video.
Ensure that you have the skills in-house or seek the advice of an external partner to get your video content up to?scratch.
Optimise your content for Facebook search
In order to optimise for search, write clear titles and descriptions for your posts and include a few relevant tags.
The copy works in tandem with your video content to add context and encourage people to click.
As well as helping more people see your content in Facebook searches, they may also appear in the recommended videos Facebook show to people in News Feed and Facebook?Watch.
Facebook Hub Content
I would advise developing a video series which is shared at the same time each week and encourages viewers to return regularly to watch more.
This change to the algorithm is prioritising hub content that develops a community for your brand and pulls them back each?week.
Hub content should not be directly promotional but designed to be useful and interesting for your audience.
However, ensure that your video is branded so that you get the maximum benefit from it.
STILL NEED MORE HELP?
Reach out to me and the team at?APV !?
We’d love to talk to you about how you can better develop Facebook video content for your brand, business, organisation or institution and to find out more about the story you are looking to create and share with your audience!
Thomas J Elliott is the Creative Director for?APV ?an advertising agency specialising in video and animation with offices in Wan Chai Hong Kong.?
He is a winner of numerous international awards for video and animation and the author of five books on visual content.
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