How to create a Facebook video

Create a video for Facebook

Facebook video parameters

The file itself must not exceed 4 GB in size. Its duration ranges from one second to 240 minutes. It is advisable to add captions and audio to your video, but it’s optional.

A Facebook video can be square, horizontal, or vertical.

It supports the following video aspect ratios: 16: 9 (widescreen), 1: 1 (square), 4: 5 (vertical), 2: 3 (vertical), or 9:16 (full portrait).

Square videos are suitable for both smartphones and desktops.

Facebook itself recommends posting videos with the highest available resolution. It is also advisable to download MP4 or MOV formats.

How to draw viewer's attention to a Facebook video from the first seconds

When a person scrolls through the Facebook feed from their smartphone, they usually do it very quickly, so you need to instantly grab their attention and engage in your content. Here are some tips on how you can do it:

1. Get a person interested. This can be done using a question, action, or statement.
2. Add your brand name or logo at the beginning of a video.
3. Create short videos. As they are better able to convey your messages to the audience.

A Facebook video should be interesting even without a sound

Users do not always turn video sounds on by default. Most often, they start watching it without a sound, so the video should engage a person, even being «mute»‎.

First, you need to add a text to your video. With its help, a person will understand what it is about. Also, use visuals. They will help convey the main idea of the video.

Follow the trends

You should follow popular content that appears on Facebook. See what other bloggers post, what resonates, and what fails. For example, the panoramic videos were previously popular, but now everyone uses square videos. It's easier to watch them on your smartphone this way.

Square videos for Facebook are more suitable for smartphones and take by 78% of space on the social network in the news feed.

Trends are changing regularly, so it's important to follow them. This will help you understand what is the most popular now.

Why posting videos on Facebook

Facebook video increases your engagement and drives more growth. The thing is, Facebook itself loves videos. Also, the social network thoroughly monitors what exactly a user does with a video on Facebook. For example, how often one watches it, how long, on what screen, whether one rewinds a video on Facebook or not.

Therefore, the more often you post a video that your subscribers like, the more people will see it due to Facebook algorithms.

Content is king

Think like a viewer and ask yourself a simple question: «‎How will I benefit from this video?»‎ You need a well-unleashed idea, otherwise, nobody will watch your video. You should always know what your audience wants, see what content is the most popular among your target audience, and start promoting it.

What is the best Facebook video format

When a person is searching for a video on Facebook, they are not going to look for how to hammer in nails properly or how to fix a boiler, unlike a YouTube video.

For Facebook videos other formats are relevant. They need to be bright, engaging, and motivate reposting a video.

Use your previously created content

Take the content that you have previously created only in a different format and drag it into the video. Here's how you can do it:

1. Convert in the video your already created useful content that you had previously posted in the text or audio format.
2. Shoot your podcasts.
3. Create a video from presentations.

Keep your Facebook videos short

Facebook loves short videos. They appeal to the social network more. Most viral Facebook videos are less than two minutes long.

The longer a Facebook video lasts, the more likely it will be seen by fewer people.

However, it is important to remember that it is better not to make very short videos for Facebook either. Short videos less than 15 seconds long perform poorly, because users do not expect value from them and therefore quickly scroll through them.

Create Facebook-video playlists

When a person opens a tab with a video on your page, they immediately have access to all your uploaded videos. Therefore, create an order and a convenient interface, so that a person does not get lost and does not close the page due to annoyance.

It is better to group your videos thematically. You can create several different playlists that group your videos by category. This will make your search much easier.

Create your promo Facebook videos

Using your ad account, you will need to set up targeted ads for your Facebook videos.

Many people will watch your video with its help. You will also be able to indicate which people should watch them: their residence, age, gender, place of work, interests.

Thus, not only many people will watch it, but also you can be sure that exactly your target audience will see it.

Use analytics

Facebook shows analytics for your videos. This will help you figure out which videos you need to create next time. These parameters are need to be taken into account when creating a video:

1. Duration of video views.
2. A total number of views.
3. A number of unique views.
4. Particularly, a number of natural views, particularly — due to advertising.
5. How many people watched 95% of the video. This will help you understand what your audience retention rate is.
6. Find out when users stop watching a video. This will help you find out what length of videos is best for your viewers.