Video Ads Are Coming to Facebook

• Entertainment,Marketing,Social Life
• Jan 8, 2013
• 0 Comments

Wake up! Just Another Sign That Video is Taking Over the Web

As reported in Adage last month, Facebook is set to unveil a new video-ad product in the first half of this year.

Insiders are saying that by April at the latest, it will offer video advertisers the chance to target video ads to large numbers of Facebook users in their news feeds on both the desktop version of Facebook as well as on Facebook apps on mobile phones and tablets.

Facebook is leaning toward capping the length of these video ads at 15 seconds. That decision could also mean that 15-second video ads would become more prevalent elsewhere on the web.

Video is Moving to the Web in Enormous Leaps

Millions are cutting the TV cord, and returning through the online channels and people are consuming Web and mobile video in increasingly staggering numbers. Now our social networks will be peppered with video pop up ads.

The question of digital video advertising is especially relevant now. According to Comscore, Americans watched an all-time high of more than 8.3 billion video ads in March, as they consumed almost 37 billion videos–some 21 hours per month of online video content.

The issue will only get more acute as video goes mobile . Cisco estimates that 70 percent of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2016, and it was already at 52 percent at the end of 2011.

So Why Do You Care?

Because if you’re not introducing video as part of your ongoing marketing strategy you’re going to be left in the dust.

Remember 5 or 6 years ago when little or no attention was placed on your online brand? You basically thought of your website as a digital business card or brochure. Then when you finally figured it out you rushed  to play catch up realizing the lost opportunities.  Don’t let that happen again. You need to be thinking of video with all your digital marketing right now.

Content – It’s Not One Size Fits All!

Digital video on the Web and especially on mobile is simply not the same medium as television, even if the content, in some cases, is exactly the same.

Screen sizes, the use of graphics and how you tell your story in 15 to 30 seconds or 2 minutes makes a huge difference in conversion if not considered and executed properly.

Blink and it’s gone

The 15-second commercial may be short, but it’s here to stay. The number of 15-second television commercials has jumped more than 70% in the past five years according to Nielsen (USA today, 2010). With Facebook now ready to launch 15-second video ads that number is sure to skyrocket. And we didn’t even talk about Youtube or Vimeo.

Check out these two 15 second spots. Both were very successful.

Great Video Tells a Great Story So Do it Right!

We’ve all heard the old “my friend’s son has a video camera and can shoot you something great” line. But guess what? Everyone will know it was your friend’s son that shot that video and that’s not how you want your message to come across is it? I’ll leave you with a ‘video with a dash of comedy’ that we produced for a client that needed to tell their story and differentiate themselves from the competition in the marketplace.