It’s a well-known fact that internet users prefer video content.  But did you know that recent studies show that videos are outperforming YouTube videos when it comes to audience engagement?  Facebook seems to have left YouTube far behind as videos posted on this increasingly popular social media platform receive much more engagement and a lot more comments.

A lot of time, creativity and money go into creating great video content and you’ll want to attract as much engagement as possible so it’s important to keep up with the latest developments and information shared on this topic.

Moving images, in other words, videos are undoubtedly the most popular form of posts and more brands are making use of its popularity.  Text or image posts are far less likely to engage your viewer for a longer period than video content is able to, as video content has the ability to not only attract more viewers but to also keep them focused on your post for longer.

It’s also a great idea to complete an accredited social media marketing course where you’ll learn much more about posting video content online and how to approach this on each separate platform.

Facebook comes up trumps for video content engagement

More and more brands are using Facebook to boost their reach and their video post engagement than ever before.  Almost every active user on Facebook has posted video content and by the same token, almost all users also enjoy and interact far more with video content on this social media giant.

And there’s a good reason for this, such as online users prefer to interact, comment and share Facebook content, especially video content.  The same can’t be said when it comes to engagement with videos uploaded to YouTube.

Studies show that users hop on to YouTube when they’re searching for something in particular, which are mainly ‘how-to’ videos or tutorials.  Whereas Facebook users see videos appear through their newsfeed, which is effortless and super convenient.

A brief history of posting videos

YouTube pretty much dominated the video space online before Facebook introduced the ability to post videos in 2013.  At the time YouTube ranked videos based on video ‘watch’ time, which reached more organic traffic.  Facebook has a very different approach when it comes to determining how many times a video has been viewed.  It all boils down to three seconds.  That’s the amount of time a viewer must watch a video in order for it to be deemed as viewed.

Since then Facebook has updated its algorithm to focus on watch time, thereby successfully continuing to dramatically increase video content with brands all over the world now making use of this effective advertising social media platform.

Benefits of posting videos on Facebook

The number of videos showing up in your newsfeed is increasing.  Great video content has the ability to instantly entertain, inform, and engage.  This is great news for digital marketing.  No doubt your brand will benefit too from this increased interest and engagement.

Let’s look at just a few benefits:

  • Newsfeed appearance – Your video will achieve a more organic reach on Facebook as they automatically appear in the newsfeed section.
  • Autoplay feature – This feature works really well as the Autoplay of videos is far more eye-catching than a static post.
  • Inspiring content – A lot of videos on Facebook contain inspiring and motivating content which is an effective way to subtly convey a message about your brand, service, and products.
  • Shorter length – People are always pushed for time these days and Facebook videos tend to be a lot shorter than YouTube videos which certainly is preferred.
  • Subtle encouragement – Facebook video viewers are encouraged to like, share, or comment as opposed to being asked to subscribe or watch another video like on YouTube.
  • Brand awareness – videos are so popular on Facebook that they have the strong capability of boosting brand awareness and creating a buzz around your brand.
  • Increased comments – The number of comments on average that a video post receives is far greater than on YouTube. This is great news as comments increase the likelihood of your video post being shared and liked.