Facebook has announced the longer a video is played, the higher it will rank in organic news feed. This change applies to organic posts only, not paid video advertising.
How It Will Impact Facebook Business Pages
If you use video marketing or vlogging, your content may achieve a wider organic distribution, provided your content is watched for longer. But before you storyboard the next War & Peace, consider how your video will appeal to your Facebook followers.
Can You Create Video Marketing On A Small Budget?
Yes! You don’t need a huge marketing budget or hire Martin Scorsese and a cast of professional actors to make a social media video. Of course, you want your video to portray your business professionally but you can create effective video content on a modest budget.
Video Marketing Ideas
Here are five video marketing ideas any small business can use for organic Facebook posts.
1. Behind the Scenes
Give your customers a back stage view into what goes on in your business. For example, if you run an events company, you could video the preparation that goes into managing an event, the inevitable dramas and how happy your clients are with the finished product. This photographer has created a behind the scenes view of a food shoot. It’s received more than 100,000 views on YouTube. Note: time lapse photography or editing is a good idea for behind the scenes – this video goes for 22 minutes and is too long for Facebook.
2. Storytelling About Your Brand
Stories of triumph, tragedy, tension and transition permeate every company and brand. In her book, Stories for Work, author Gabrielle Dolan discusses the science behind storytelling. There is good evidence storytelling helps companies, brands and individuals:
build trust and credibility
drive their customer’s decisions
create influence and make a lasting impact.
To be effective, stories must be purposeful and authentic. For example, a catering company could use video to show how it selects the freshest produce from the farm gate and turns it into nourishing food for its clients. This is a story of how the company values quality, freshness and cares about what it’s clients and their guests eat.
Source: Stories for Work, Gabrielle Dolan, 2017
3. Training
Train your customers on the best way to use your product. Or, provide professional development as part of your after-sales service to keep customers engaged. For example, a software company could provide video training on how to use new features as they are released. Or a physiotherapy clinic could provide its patients with exercises to practice at home.
4. Show Case Your Work
Use a video to show case your best work or celebrate a major milestone, like we did for The Print Council of Australia’s 50th Anniversary. Video show reels are particularly good for businesses that provide a service because video often tells the story better than words.
5. News Announcement
Are you moving location or introducing a new product range? Why not make a short explainer video? You can make a 30 second ‘whiteboard sketch’ video for less than $500.
Contact us today to discuss how you can use video marketing to engage your customers.
Michelle Le Cornu is the founder and director of Brainbox Marketing. Her goal is to make life easier for busy marketing managers and business owners by providing smart and reliable marketing services.
