Video Now and Future is a series about raising the bar on mobile video creativity. We're partnering with Facebook's product teams, video experts and Creative Shop to bring you our newest insights on mobile video. In this first post, we share our strategies for making mobile videos that move people.
Mobile is one of the biggest phenomena in modern history, rivalled only by video. Combine the two, and you have a technological upheaval. People can watch anything, at any time – so they're only going to watch videos that are immediately interesting and reward their time. If advertisers want to reach people, they need to earn their attention.
That's why we're building more engaging in-feed video experiences, and helping businesses use them well. You've probably already started to see playful new video styles in your feeds.
Mobile video is huge. Here's how to create for maximum impact.
Researchers at Facebook and beyond have found that mobile activity is strikingly frequent and fast:
- People scroll through mobile News Feed 41% faster than desktop News Feed1
- Almost half of American adults check their phone at least 30 times a day2
- People can remember what they see on mobile after only a quarter of a second or less3
In this environment of fast, high-volume video watching, we want to help you make better creative decisions and stronger connections with people. We have outlined our core recommendations below.
Capture attention quickly.
People make speedy decisions about what they want to watch, and this is especially true in mobile feeds. The faster you capture attention in video adverts, the better.
- Consider delivering your message in 15 seconds or less. Cut the fluff and get to the point faster. Some of our most successful advertisers have consolidated their video messages to under 15 seconds. By matching people's attention on mobile, you can increase how often your video adverts are watched all the way through. You'll also be able to use all of our advert placements, such as the new in-stream adverts and Instagram Stories adverts, which are both capped at 15 seconds.
- Start with your most captivating elements. Hook people right away with great thumbnails, vivid backgrounds and stunning product shots.
- Incorporate your brand message and identity early. If your brand is tied to a recognisable celebrity, character or symbol, let people know right away. Put your hero front and centre.
- Use engaging post copy. Strengthen your visuals with funny, provocative or surprising copy.
Build for sound off. Delight with sound on.
Videos in mobile feed have traditionally played silently by default, but we've been testing and slowly rolling out a sound-on experience. Early results have been positive, including more video watch time – but people continue to watch without sound in some situations, such as when they're in a public place. Your video adverts should communicate clearly without sound, but get better or funnier with sound on.
- Tell your story visually. Sight and motion are the heart of feed, so make the most of them.
- Use text and graphics. Words and symbols can make your message easier to understand when someone is watching without sound.4
- Add captions. Try our auto-captioning tools or upload an SRT file to your video advert. Internal tests showed that adding captions to video adverts increased video view duration by an average of 12%.5
- Include a sound file. People expect to hear audio when they turn on their volume. We ran tests in multiple countries to understand how people approach sound in feed, and early results suggest that 70% of mobile video watching is done with sound on.6
Frame your visual story.
TVs and desktops may use horizontal frames, but industry research suggests that mobile phones are used in portrait mode 98% of the time6. As people spend more and more time on mobile, how do you make the most of a smaller, vertical frame?
- Use vertical video. Most people hold their phones vertically, so horizontal videos don't maximise the screen space. Try using taller videos with 4:5 or 9:16 ratios. We recently worked with ten global advertisers to test the impact of vertical video adverts against horizontal and square ones. Seven of the ten tests showed that vertical video adverts drove an increase in brand lift and up to a nine-point increase in advert recall.7
- Highlight the key elements. Keep your product front and centre and visually emphasise the qualities that make your brand valuable.
- Create visual surprises. Even in a small frame, what optical illusions or unexpected events can you include?
Play more.
There's no one-size-fits-all way to make great mobile video adverts – different audiences respond to different things. That's why we recommend an approach of curiosity and playfulness.
- Experiment to learn. You can test an almost limitless number of variables in your adverts, from different video styles to fresh copy approaches. Strategic experiments can lead to great ideas and better performance.
- Make it as short as it can be, and as long as it needs to be. People move through content quickly, but they're willing to spend more time with videos that resonate with them. Tell your story as quickly as you can whilst still getting your core message across. On mobile, you can do so much in less than 15 seconds; challenge yourself to be brief.
- Push the boundaries of mobile formats. Different forms of video can attract people's attention – like Canvas, our full-screen experience that serves fast-loading, microsite-like experiences. Don't be afraid to try something new.
- Use the Creative Hub. In the spirit of playing more, we encourage advertisers to test and learn how to map video elements to people's behaviour. Creative Hub can help you experiment with adverts, preview them on mobile and share them with colleagues and clients.
Test, iterate and learn.
Finally, keep practising and improving. Where traditional brand advertisers used to test just a few pieces of creative, today's best-performing video advertisers use thousands of video variants and test them on a much more frequent basis. Facebook VP of Core Adverts, Mark Rabkin, recommends testing and measuring adverts on a weekly cycle rather than the former standard of every six months. The more you know about your audience, the better work you'll create.
