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A Quick Look At Facebook’s Difficult Relationship with Video Advertising

Gone are the days when advertising could be determined by a number of buys from a newspaper, magazine or even TV set.

Now in the 21st century, advertising has become that much more difficult to measure.

Add in modern technologies (for video in film and television), and you’re left with a cluster of extra, uncurated data and an immeasurable amount of potential eyes viewing your ad.

For social media (Facebook in particular), this poses a specific problem – especially when it comes to video ads.

Photo credit: clasesdeperiodismo via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

With such a wide scale, narrowing down who is watching what and for how long can be extremely difficult when it comes to Facebook video advertisements. What constitutes an actual view on Facebook is difficult to determine. Facebook admitted that it miscalculated average video viewing times (by inflating performance numbers) when it failed to factor in those who watch videos for less than 3 seconds. Mashable pointed out that “an average that doesn’t account for the total number of viewers, whether they’re engaged or not, is probably not much of an average” and that Facebook had set 3 seconds or less as the benchmark for audience engagement.

Clearly, this wasn’t the case.

With the rise of social media, engagement is equated with success. Often pitted against each other are YouTube and Facebook, which, when you really break it down, have entirely different ways of measuring audience engagement. For example, YouTube is able to know when a video plays, how long it plays for, and whether or not it is stopped. Though it doesn’t know (and probably never will) whether or not you are physically tuned in behind your screen, it is able to offer some helpful metrics to better determine viewership and engagement.

Another thing worth noting is that YouTube opens up a separate page for videos, whereas Facebook’s videos are embedded on the main page. This makes it difficult to really determine who is watching what and why. It’s especially difficult considering Facebook’s recent video feature that rolls viewer onto other related videos without their consent. Autoplay then becomes a weak indicator of actual audience engagement, further affecting tangible Facebook video ad results.

As a corporate company struggling to find a home for your video, it might be best to consider what sort of impact you want to have on your viewers.  Are you in it for the tangible, easier-to-understand results YouTube brings? Or do you want your video(s) to autoplay onto your viewers’ feeds? Do you care about your content being grouped with a potential competitor?

If the latter, consider the ways in which Facebook can better improve its video advertising strategy. For more information on how Facebook can improve, visit here.

Here at Key West Video, we strive to create the best in corporate video production. For more information on the services we provide, visit our website today!

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Should Facebook Give Up on Camera Apps?

For the past four years, Facebook has desperately tried to stay ahead of the game with new camera apps for its users. Time and time again, they’ve proven to be not so successful.

In a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is reportedly rolling out a new camera app specific to its almost 2 billion users. The camera app will run similarly to Snapchat’s format. When users open the app, it will automatically load to a camera setting. One suggested feature is to allow users to live stream through their cameras.

But why?

Well, one reason may be that Facebook users are becoming increasingly passive on Facebook. According to the report, users may check in to the app multiple times a day, but are posting less and less about their personal lives through status updates, photos or videos.

This isn’t the first time that Facebook has attempted to create a camera-like app for its users. In 2012, Facebook released ‘Facebook Camera‘, an app similar to Instagram that allowed users to share photos.

Later that year, it introduced Poke, an app that “poked” users by sending them photos, videos or messages. Extremely similar to Snapchat, “pokes” lasted for 1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds. Needless to say, the app didn’t last long.

In 2014, Facebook accidentally pre-launched Slingshot, yet another attempt to oust Snapchat. Slingshot was meant to promote interaction among its users. Users could send messages to each other of up to 15 seconds.  The catch? Well, in order for the recipient to open another user’s message, he or she would be required to respond with an image or video of their own to unlock the message. Users didn’t need a Facebook account to actually use the app. Facebook got rid of the app sometime in 2015.

Facebook’s last video attempt came in 2015 with Riff, an app that let users add their own video on top of friends’ original videos. There was no limit to the amount of videos that could be tacked onto an existing video, making the video entries almost endless.

You’d think that after four attempts, Facebook would call it quits. But who knows? Maybe fifth time’s a charm.

We at Key West Video believe in staying up to date with new social media trends, video production practises and innovative technology. Visit our website and contact us for a quote today!

 

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The post Should Facebook Give Up on Camera Apps? appeared first on Corporate Video Blog.

Should Facebook Give Up on Camera Apps?

For the past four years, Facebook has desperately tried to stay ahead of the game with new camera apps for its users. Time and time again, they’ve proven to be not so successful.

In a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is reportedly rolling out a new camera app specific to its almost 2 billion users. The camera app will run similarly to Snapchat’s format. When users open the app, it will automatically load to a camera setting. One suggested feature is to allow users to live stream through their cameras.

But why?

Well, one reason may be that Facebook users are becoming increasingly passive on Facebook. According to the report, users may check in to the app multiple times a day, but are posting less and less about their personal lives through status updates, photos or videos.

This isn’t the first time that Facebook has attempted to create a camera-like app for its users. In 2012, Facebook released ‘Facebook Camera‘, an app similar to Instagram that allowed users to share photos.

Later that year, it introduced Poke, an app that “poked” users by sending them photos, videos or messages. Extremely similar to Snapchat, “pokes” lasted for 1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds. Needless to say, the app didn’t last long.

In 2014, Facebook accidentally pre-launched Slingshot, yet another attempt to oust Snapchat. Slingshot was meant to promote interaction among its users. Users could send messages to each other of up to 15 seconds.  The catch? Well, in order for the recipient to open another user’s message, he or she would be required to respond with an image or video of their own to unlock the message. Users didn’t need a Facebook account to actually use the app. Facebook got rid of the app sometime in 2015.

Facebook’s last video attempt came in 2015 with Riff, an app that let users add their own video on top of friends’ original videos. There was no limit to the amount of videos that could be tacked onto an existing video, making the video entries almost endless.

You’d think that after four attempts, Facebook would call it quits. But who knows? Maybe fifth time’s a charm.

We at Key West Video believe in staying up to date with new social media trends, video production practises and innovative technology. Visit our website and contact us for a quote today!

 

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Twitter and Facebook Fight for TV Spots

In a quest for more visual representation, Facebook and Twitter have set their eyes on the big screen – television.

Facebook Live, Facebook’s newest feature, is set to deliver live stream video for its users – on TV. According to the New York Post, both Facebook and Twitter have begun approaching television execs and programmers to implement this live stream service.

Facebook Live, operating similarly to YouTube, stream and share live video on one’s feed.

Though much is still being discussed behind closed doors, it’s clear that there are a lot of possibilities for Facebook Live. One may be that Facebook, like YouTube, is working on a system to monetize its content. Another is that it’s possible Facebook may even provide a bundle of programming to its users.

The motivation? Well, some might argue that both Facebook and Twitter bring a more youthful, user-friendly demographic to TV. This is an obvious incentive for television programmers. Since the rise of streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Shomi and Amazon, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach younger, targeted demographics.

When it comes to the ad world, this could be especially good news. We all know how much time and effort is spent on social media online – if there is a larger platform, this could be a “holy grail” for television programmers and advertisers alike to reach desired audiences.

But is the incentive high enough for those behind TV? Neither Facebook or Twitter heavily rely on monetization, making it difficult to determine whether TV execs would want to take that risk. Nevertheless, Zuckerberg has publicly made it known that Facebook is focused on creating its own content for monetized consumption.

Another interesting thing to note is that Facebook is also not interested in the rights for existing or new television programs. That means creating, generating and sharing entirely new and organic content, specific to its brand.

Likewise with Twitter (which used Meerkat to broadcast its live content to Twitter followers and now Periscope to stream live events), it is also interested in widening its scope to the new forum.

At Key West Video, we view ourselves as avid consumers of all things media – both online and onscreen. For more information on some of the services we provide, visit our website.

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Facebook Introduces New Business Video Tool

Facebook has added yet another feature to cater to its small business market.

Its newest tool, Your Business Story, allows small companies to create their own marketing videos. Through this feature, they are allowed to virtually introduce themselves.

Though not a full-on short video, it serves more as a photo slide show accompanied by music and the option to add a short description.

It’s an interesting combat to Google’s photo and video editing features (not to mention YouTube).

What’s important to note is that Facebook already serves as an online social media hub for most online interactions, making it an ideal place to create and share content. This serves as competition to subdivisions of Google (aka YouTube) who also service photos in slide show format with music.

And apparently it’s doing quite well. According to Dan Levy, Facebook’s VP for small businesses, more than 1.5 million small businesses are uploading videos on Facebook each month.

A lot of it has to do with Facebook’s ‘autoplay’ feature, which plays content automatically as a viewer scrolls down his or her news feed. But a second feature, and probably worth paying more attention to, is its prioritization of videos in the first place.

Not only are top commented photos showing up high on our news feeds – we’re now getting a mix of highly viewed video as well.

However, a new feature in a competitive marketplace doesn’t come without its own set of criticism. YouTube vloggers have denounced the feature, arguing that, due to its autoplay feature, Facebook has a lower standard for what actually constitutes a genuine ‘view’. Facebook considers anything over 3 seconds a legitimate ‘view’. This is comparable to YouTube, which requires a viewer to watch the video for at least 30 seconds.

Nevertheless, Facebook continues to rack up its viewership.

Here at Key West Video, we do a lot more than photo slide show video. Check out our website for our portfolio and a quote today!

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