Want your Facebook video to go viral?
Hoping to increase your Facebook video views?
Here are 10 hacks to boost virality!
While there are no guarantees to make Facebook video viral, we can guarantee that these 10 tips will greatly improve your chances.
If you use Facebook for business at all, you simply must post video! So make them the best they can be to grab more eyeballs.
How to Make a Video Go Viral on Facebook
According to AdWeek, Facebook has proven to be the giant of social media, with 22% of the world’s population having a presence on the platform.
A recent survey by TechCrunch shows that more than 100 million hours of videos are watched on Facebook daily, and the numbers are not slowing down.
However, the odds are that you have not been gaining much traction with video content on Facebook.
Let’s change that!
Follow these 10 hacks to more Facebook video views. Be sure to Pin the infographic at the end as a reminder.
1. Don’t Link to a Video on Facebook
It might seem tempting to just copy and paste a link to a video directly to your Facebook Page. This would even be easier to post to multiple locations on Facebook.
The problem with a link is that it is not shareable material. People are less likely to click a link versus an actual video that has been uploaded.
According to AgoraPulse, a test conducted on two videos posted on Facebook revealed some amazing stats. One was a Facebook native video – meaning that it was uploaded directly to Facebook.
And the other video was a YouTube link that was posted on Facebook. What was the result of the experiment?
Here’s what they found:
- Shares: The Facebook native video performed better with 50 shares, while the YouTube video link got only 4 shares.
- Reach: The Facebook video that was uploaded directly reached over 19,000 Facebook users, while the YouTube link only managed to reach a bit over 3,000 people.
- Comments: The Facebook native video accumulated 47 comments, compared to just 2 comments for the YouTube link video.
- Likes: The native Facebook video received 185 likes against 26 likes for the YouTube video link.
You should need no further proof of the enormous power of Facebook native video over YouTube links!
Note: Don’t download others’ videos to upload on Facebook. Use videos you created or have rights to use.
2. Use Facebook Featured Video
Similar to featured photos, Facebook has an option for you to add a featured video to your page.
The likelihood that someone will click and share your video is higher when the video is being featured in your About Me section.
Check out how easy this is to do in the video below.
3. Create a Facebook Playlist
Playlist is a feature that allows you to group together similar videos.
This makes it easier for you to stay organized and keep your viewers interested in relevant content. Your viewers will appreciate you saving them time looking for specific content.
Learn all about setting up Facebook Playlists to get more video views in this awesome video.
4. Use Video for Your Facebook Cover Photo
Similar to adding your video to your About Me section, adding your video as your cover photo will make it so your video is the first thing your followers will see.
This means there is a higher chance of your followers clicking and engaging with your video.
5. Create a Facebook Ad Campaign for Your Video
If you’re running your own page on Facebook, you will have the option to boost a post. Boosting a post allows your video to be seen by a larger audience.
You even have the option to edit location, gender, age, and other demographics. This can be used to not only enlarge your audience, but also target it as well.
6. Create a Custom Video Thumbnail
Whenever you’re scrolling through YouTube, you almost always decide what to click on based on the quality of the thumbnail.
So, take some extra time in creating your thumbnail to ensure it will attract viewers.
When you upload your video, Facebook will pull 10 frames you can select from to be your thumbnail.
If your experience is like mine, these will all be yucky. So upload your custom thumbnail OR choose the exact frame you want as your thumbnail. See screenshot below.
Check out this video, and also our related article.
7. Keep Your Facebook Video Short
Shorter videos have always done better. Remember Vine?
Most of the viral videos from Facebook have not been longer than two minutes in length.
If your video is too long, you run the risk of people scrolling by before the video has ended or gotten to the good part.
8. Share and Embed Your Facebook Video Everywhere!
Be sure to spread your video on all your social media platforms.
Also, if you run a blog or a website, be sure to embed your video on those pages as well.
If the video is also on other pages, more people are going to view your video.
How to embed a Facebook video:
- Open Facebook on a computer.
- Go to the video you want to embed.
- Click and select Embed.
- Copy the code that appears and paste it on your website or web page.
That’s it!
9. Use Square Videos for Facebook
Make sure your video is in square formatting.
Most people scrolling through Facebook are doing so on their mobile devices.
In fact, a study by Venture Beat reveals that Facebook mobile users have surpassed one billion daily users, which points out that over 92% of users access Facebook through mobile devices.
Square videos look more appealing on the mobile version of Facebook, and take up 78% more space in the Facebook news feed.
10. Keep Sound in Mind
Everyone loves funny banter, but most of the people scrolling and watching Facebook videos are doing so without sound.
This is why many of the videos you see now have captions.
You don’t have to caption every word, but you can always use it to highlight what is happening.
Watch the video below to learn how to add subtitles and captions to your Facebook videos.
Bonus Tips!
Here are 4 additional tips for you from Moss Clement at Writers Per Hour.
Grab Viewers’ Attention in the First Few Seconds
You need to hook users right from the intro by crafting an irresistible introduction for your content.
People are always busy with little time to spare. If you can’t grab their attention within the first few seconds of the video, they’ll bounce.
So, make sure to create an eye-catching video that will grab your target market’s attention in a second or two.
Optimize Your Facebook Video for Search
Although Facebook is not Google, the good news is that it encourages users to write a descriptive title for your video to make it searchable.
The giant platform is attracting an average of 8 billion video views each day, according to TechCrunch.
If you optimize your video with a descriptive title, this will boost your Facebook video’s visibility!
You can easily add your title when your video is uploaded on Facebook. Use relevant keywords and keyword phrases.
Use the description section to craft outstanding copy with a blend of keywords. The character limit allows you to include plenty of copy to make your target audience click and watch your video.
Finally, don’t forget the tags.
All of this is found on the first screen after you upload your video. See it below: it’s called Video Details.
Add Call-to-Action
Call to action is a phenomenal way to boost clicks and conversion as it moves your target market to take action.
A recent study by AdRoll revealed that a call-to-action on your Facebook page can dramatically improve clicks by more than 280%.
Unbounce also pointed out that more than 90% of users who read your headline read your call to action copy as well.
Apply the same strategy to your Facebook video. If you’re talking in the video, mention a call-to-action: tell viewers what you want them to do.
Also at the end of the video, give a call-to-action, or have a text overlay or a static page with a call to action.
A simple call to action can make your video go viral in minutes.
Get Influencers to Share Your Video
Why do you need influencers in your industry to share your Facebook video?
Because they’re experts in your niche who have built trust with their audience. The audience you want to reach!
As a result of this trust, they influence their audience’s behavior.
Here’s the result of an analysis by BuzzSumo on the average share of content based on the number of influencers who shared the content.
They found out that if one influencer shared your content, it resulted in over 30% more social media shares.
Then if five influencers share the same content, the number of social media shares quadrupled.
This research is actually based on written content, but the same concept is applicable to video content.
Of course, it’s not easy to convince an influencer to share your video. Yet people like to share content that features them or in some way involves them.
So look for different ways to collaborate with influencers in your video. An interview can do the trick! Then, reach out and ask them to share it with their audience.
The best and easiest way to do this is to use BuzzSumo to observe top performing Facebook videos. Identify influencers who shared the videos, connect with them, and build relationships.
Building relationships with influencers will set you up for the long run.
Then create your own unique version of the video and reach out to the influencers to share your video.
Examples of viral Facebook videos
There are remarkable examples of social media marketers whose Facebook videos have gone viral. We hope these inspire you!
How do you get people to talk about something that’s ordinary, ugly, and boring?
Benjamin V. Wong, a photographer known for his photographic stunts, created “Mermaids Hate Plastics: Pledge to Re-use.”
That video has reached 37 million views, 125k likes, and 299k shares.
Here’s how he made it happen:
For a simpler example, Karen Cheng’s video for the book, “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” has reach a whopping 30 million views, 134k likes, and over 519k shares.
These two marketers have something in common – they know how to make video content go viral on Facebook.
And now, you do too!
Conclusion
Facebook marketing is all about video in 2020, and going forward.
We recommend you create videos, and use these tips to increase your reach and engagement – and your chances of going viral!
Thanks to NoHatDigital for these valuable viral video tips and infographic
Repin the infographic to refer to often. You need these tips to make Facebook viral video!
Joel Malabon says
Thanks for the No. 1 Tip, now i understand what’s happening to my posts!
Louise Myers says
Yep, that one is critical! Glad it helped.
Crissy says
Great tips, Louise! My Facebook page is the weakest platform for my blog. I’ve often wondered how video and other tactics could help boost my engagement. I’m going to implement some of these tips! Thanks!
Louise Myers says
Terrific, best of luck!
Moss Clement says
Hi Louise,
The guest contributor did a great job putting this post together which also included an infographic, amazingly great.
However, I have also learned that improving the product/video quality increase can help it go viral, as well as inviting others in your network to share the video with their audience.
Another idea which is very important is to identify types of videos that go viral. Being able to identify these types of videos, and then create your own version of it will definitely go viral.
Lastly, ensure to upload or post your videos on Mondays or at least Tuesday to give it a whole week to gain traction.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Louise Myers says
Thanks for the great tips, Moss!