As of three days ago, my Facebook video page for Become A Blogger has been upgraded.

The result – Facebook Video LOVE!

Two weeks ago, I shared what I consider to be the Ultimate Facebook Marketing Strategy and in that post, I spoke about the importance of Video in your marketing campaigns.

01_19_Facebook-Video-Page_PinterestFacebook has made a clear statement that it wants to take the lead as an online video platform.

I first started noticing it when Facebook first announced that it was starting to autoplay videos (as annoying as that might seem).

Then, the video view count started showing up on videos.

A few months back, it was reported that direct video uploads surpass YouTube shares on Facebook for the first time.

And now – Facebook has completely revamped Video Pages if you have a Facebook page in a way that makes it look very similar to Youtube.

Just take a look at the new Become A Blogger Video Page on Facebook?

Facebook_Video_Page

Looks kinda Youtube-esque if you were to ask me 😉

What You Need To Know

There are two main features that Facebook has added to the video pages: The ability to set a Featured video and the ability to create playlists.

These aren’t new concepts. Youtube already does that. In fact, Youtube does it much better in that you can have one featured video for people who aren’t subscribed to your channel (unsubscribed trailer) and a featured video for subscribers.

However, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Featured Video

When someone comes to your page, you have the ability to set a featured video. If you go to your videos page, you will see something like this:

Facebook_Featured_Video

When you click to add a Featured Video, it pops up a lightbox window asking you to choose a video to feature.

Facebook_Choose_Featured_Video

Once you’ve selected a video, that video shows up in two places:

On your videos page as shown here:

Facebook_Video_Page

On your timeline page in the “About” section

Facebook_About_Section

This is a great way to welcome visitors to your Facebook page, invite them to like the page and send them to a squeeze page to subscribe to your email list to get a free gift.

In my case, I’ve chosen to send them to a Squeeze Page directly on Facebook so they don’t even have to leave Facebook to subscribe – Keep them where they are, but get them on your email list.

They can get there by either clicking on the “Start Here” tab on my Facebook page, or by going to becomeablogger.tv (which is the URL I use exclusively on Facebook. It redirects to my Facebook Squeeze Page).

Side note: I use LeadPages to create the Squeeze Page on Facebook

It’s also a good idea to be very thoughtful about what you include in the description of that video, because that’s prominently displayed on your video page. This is also a good place to invite people to like your page and subscribe to your email list.

In case you’re curious, here’s what I do with my featured video.

Creating Playlists

In my opinion, this is such an important feature. In the past, Facebook simply displayed a chronological listing of thumbnails from your videos.

This does absolutely nothing for people wanting to find specific videos because they aren’t organized in any specific way.

Now you have the ability to create multiple playlists on multiple topics as shown below.

Facebook_Video_Playlist

To create your first playlist, click on the “Create Playlist” button.

Facebook_Create_Playlist

You are then able to give the playlist a title and description.

Facebook_Video_Title_Description

Then you are able to select which videos should be added to a playlist AND choose what order you want them to be in.

Facebook_Select_Videos_Playlist

Once you have created one playlist you can add another playlist and even reorder your playlist by clicking on the pencil icon to the top right of the playlist section as shown below.

Facebook_Edit_All_Playlists

To edit a specific playlist, hover your pointer over the playlist and you will see an “Edit Playlist” button appear to the top right

Facebook_Edit_Playlist

This will give you the option to Change or Reorder the videos, edit the title of the playlist or completely delete the selected playlist.

Below the playlist section is the section that shows All Videos. This section also has some improvements in that it now shows the length and title of the videos in addition to the number of likes and views.

General Facebook Video Settings

So lets say you’ve bought into this whole Facebook video thing and want to use videos to market your blog on Facebook. Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Video lengths are restricted to 25 minutes. Unlike Youtube where you can upload that 6 hour presentation you did, Facebook caps it at 25 minutes. However, I would strongly encourage you to make your videos MUCH shorter than that. If they are instructional or educational content, I think 3 -5 minutes is a good target. However, we’re seeing now that shorter form catchy videos are doing very well on Facebook. I’m starting to see a whole lot of 15 second videos going viral.
  • Ideal dimensions are 1280px x 720px. This is considered to be HD (720p) video. When you upload a full HD video (1080p), Facebook actually compresses the video to 720p, and their compressors don’t do as good a job as most video editing programs. You should export your videos at 720p so that you can have more control over the quality.
  • Upload as .MOV or .MP4 files. These are the ideal file formats for Facebook videos.

What About Video Ads?

When I upload a video to Youtube, I have the option to monetize my videos with ads. That’s actually my biggest revenue source for my Biology Blog.

This is not available on Facebook and is one major downside that content creators see with even thinking about using Facebook Video more than Youtube.

However, there is speculation out there about whether Facebook is planning a video Ad strategy that can completely revolutionize the way online video ads are done.

Your Thoughts

So there you have it. Those are the changes to the Facebook changes. What do you think? Are they headed in the right direction? Will you be using Facebook video more? Let me know in the comments below.

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About the Author Leslie Samuel


Leslie Samuel a business coach for high-performing entrepreneurs. As the host of the Leslie Samuel Show, he teaches how to build an online business. "Changing the world one post at a time” is the mission he strives towards. As a former university professor, he has a passion for education. He's the founder of Interactive Biology, a blog and YouTube channel dedicated to making biology fun for students and teachers. As the head of training for the Social Media Marketing Society, he helps social media marketers get the training they need to stay on the leading edge of social media.

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