Video marketing for Facebook is like Cinématographe for the Lumière brothers — it’s a new opportunity for business expansion.

At the first screening of The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station in 1895, it’s said that someone even ran away from the theater because they thought the train would run them down. Some doubt the veracity of the story.

Still, the fact remains that it took less than 40 seconds for the Lumière brothers to create hype over their film. What a successful video marketing campaign, wasn’t it? But today, if you use video content to advertise products on Facebook, you have half that time to catch your customers’ attention.

Why Video Marketing on Facebook?

Videos are meant for advertising. They take on the salesperson’s job. Now small retailers and well-known brands can show products online by creating different kinds of videos: reviews, explainer videos, instructions, recommendations, unboxing videos, etc.

For online advertising for eCommerce, Facebook may work better than YouTube. According to , each year people watch:

Last but not least, Facebook video ads have no disadvantages, even when it comes to their price. The average cost of a Facebook video marketing campaign is quite reasonable compared to on the platform.

Facebook Video Marketing Tips to Boost Your Sales

If you need a few Facebook video marketing ideas, read the recommendations below.

Tip 1. Make Your Video Content Short to Catch Attention Quickly

The perfect length for a Facebook video ad is 15 seconds. Note that you should fit an intriguing visual story in this time. What do people do on Facebook most of the time? Of course, they scroll their news feeds. The less time they spend on scrolling, the faster they end up browsing all posts published recently.

Only big companies can upload minutes-long commercials to promote well-known products like iPhone or GoPro. Why? Such companies have large audiences and the budgets to bring their big ideas to reality. If you’re only starting your project and want people to know about it, you should make your videos as short as possible.

Tip 2. Design an Eye-Catching Thumbnail to Spark an Interest

Video creators on YouTube get their millions of subscribers partially thanks to attractive thumbnails. In combination with a provocative headline, a well-designed thumbnail evokes viewers’ interest and creates the atmosphere of mystery. When users click on a video and solve the mystery, they may become subscribers.

Here’s some psychodelic thumbnail experience from the most popular guy on YouTube:

In the case of Facebook video marketing, remember that your thumbnail isn’t just a poster for your video. The perfect thumbnail for a Facebook video is clickbait that should intrigue but not mislead — don’t give false promises to your viewers.

And don’t upload thumbnails that have nothing to do with the topic of your video. If you decide to add some text, Facebook recommends adding minimal text to the thumbnails.

Tip 3. Publish Video Ads at Scale to Expand Your Online Presence

Large-scale content production is the cornerstone of Facebook video promotion. Sometimes, retailers sell hundreds and even thousands of products. In the context of video production, these are huge numbers. But even if your business doesn’t offer such a big catalog, you still have to make video ads at scale to drive leads and boost sales.

Naturally, you may start comparing image ads and video ads in your head. It seems that videos are hard to produce. But we’re successfully busting this myth at Softcube. Our neural network can create in the shortest possible time, significantly lowering their cost.

Tip 4. Record Facebook 360 Videos

Diversity is the key to successful video marketing on Facebook. The social media network offers a few video ad formats you can test and use simultaneously. 360-degree video is one of them.

It creates a totally new watching experience, especially with VR glasses. Customers will be able to see your products from any side they want. In combination with an engaging cinematic background, 360-degree videos let viewers evoke the feeling of personal presence.

In a 360 sales video for Facebook marketing, customers will be able to fully view a promoted item in action. All you need to do is showcase your product from any convenient angle to provide viewers with a lifelike experience.

Tip 5. Take Advantage of Live Video Streaming

Live streaming has one unique advantage among other video formats: when broadcasting in real time, marketers and advertisers can establish contact with their customers who are excited to share their feedback in person.

This format is perfect for highlighting different sales and special events. Keep in mind that you can also stream 360-degree videos. Before you start broadcasting, Facebook recommends that you:

Tip 6. Showcase Your Products With Carousel and Collection

Carousel and Collection are two ad formats that offer extraordinary ways of using short video for Facebook marketing campaigns.

Using this ad format, you can show up to 10 separate video ads at once. Every ad in a Carousel has its own description and link. Carousel is a handy tool for displaying several products at once, for instance during a sale or after a product release.

Today, users buy mostly from their smartphones. Collection is a Facebook ad format that improves the mobile shopping experience by displaying a product video clip as an ad cover, followed by a set of product images.

Tip 7. Drive Leads from Instagram

Along with Facebook, Instagram is a perfect extra source for boosting your sales with video ads. This is the case first of all because the platform has over 1 billion active monthly users. Here are two other interesting statistics for you:

Instagram Stories let advertisers create unique content, and all recorded videos or images disappear in 24 hours. You can intrigue your audience with a special Stories video and promote a limited-time offer, for example a 50% discount promo code.

Tip 8. Add Tags Before Publishing

Tags are a powerful weapon in Facebook video ads marketing. Adding tags to your Facebook videos makes sense because tags help users find the content they want faster. The question is, which tags should you use?

First, enter tags that describe your video. For example, shoes, clothing, sale, special offer. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and imagine what they could type in to stumble upon your video.

Second, tag Facebook pages your business can relate to. For example, tag your partner, the company that helped to create this video, and globally recognized brands that you like or follow online.

Final Thoughts

Facebook video ads are worth trying — first of all, due to the diversity of available formats. You can stream live, make 360-degree videos, slideshow videos with Carousel, show products in detail using the Collection ad format, and upload video to traditional ad posts.

Don’t forget to create your videos at scale and design top-notch thumbnails for them. Remember about their quality and tags, and maybe try to find new customers on Instagram.

You’re also welcome to test our artificial intelligence and get ten free video ads for your Facebook ad campaign right now.