Video content has triumphed, becoming the main source of income for many content creators, in current times. YouTube is the perfect example. However, Facebook isn’t slowing down in providing its users with the necessary resources required to produce quality video content that is bound to yield good engagement, watch time and other desired results according to the set targets.
Facebook rolls out ‘Traffic Source Insights’ under Retention Insights’ section of Creator Studio.
This new tool is an analytics tool for videos on Facebook. Traffic Source Insights will provide a detailed overview of four important aspects of your video through which it reaches your audience: Shares, Recommendations, Followers and Paid.
The video Traffic Source Insights will show the amount of watch time a video is generating through these four aspects/categories – enabling the users to optimize their videos better, monetize and track performance using these detailed stats.
Traffic Source Insights in action:
Source: Facebook Blogs
This feature hasn’t made available for 100% of its users, but the company assures its accessibility to all in the coming times. Facebook said, “will roll out to 100% of our user base over the next few months”.
What more is that Facebook not only introduced and explained the usage of these video metrics under Retention but also gave general tips on how to effectively produce video content for Facebook and improve its performance using the insight data.
Firstly, let’s understand the four aspects as described by Facebook.
Followers: These are the people that Facebook defines as the ones that like or follow your page or “as your home base — your core video audience on Facebook”.
These followers see your published video content in various places apart from your page – which could be on their News Feed or Facebook Watch feature. So, in the Traffic Source Insights, the Followers’ views from wherever they see your content from, will be shown here. In a nutshell, regardless of where your content was viewed in Facebook by your Followers, their views stats will show in this section, collectively.
Shares: Facebook defined this very common feature as ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing; where your published video getsshared by your followers’ friends or by the pages they have liked or followed.
This metric shows the total views of your video content that was shared by people and pages other than your home-base.
Recommendations: This as we all Facebook users know, is the section where videos from pages or people we do not follow or liked show up – which would be the various discovery surfaces of Facebook that include News Feed, Facebook Watch, in ‘Up Next’ videos, and search results.
Facebook explained how to maximize your video in terms of quality and engagement in order to become eligible for the ‘recommendations section’ of Facebook.
Hence, this metric in the newly added insight section will show the views gathered from the videos organically recommended by Facebook (Which includes viewer’s that are not necessarily a part of your home-base)
Paid: This will show the views of videos that were boosted. Increasing watch time through boost is fairly simple. However, optimizing your video content for elevating its performance organically can be a challenge; although it has been considerably reduced with ‘Traffic Source Insights’ feature, which allows publishers and content creators to improve the areas of their videos that are in line with their customized goal(s) and strategies.
Facebook shared important tips and advice to improve your video performance on your desired metric/s.
Before diving into details, Facebook outlined the basic aims required in increasing the watch time of your videos and its overall traffic sources.
- Keep increasing your home base –Facebook advised optimizing for building followers by “leveraging our distribution incentives for intentional content”
- Aim for maximum shares –Optimize for shares so your content and brand as a whole can be discovered by potential followers and fans.
- Aim to get featured on Facebook’s organic surfaces – To achieve this, optimize quality and integrity signals.
Facebook further assisted with the information required to increase your video’s overall performance. Here are the key takeaways.
- To build your followers, keep optimizing your video strategy: Which is to keep posting videos regularly – as many as 1-2 videos per day, which, according to Facebook, will help with reach.
- Facebook also prioritize videos that are at least 3 minutes long and make people watch it completely. Three minutes long videos are also eligible for monetization using ‘In Stream Video Ads’
- Pages that are prioritized for distribution are the ones that retain viewership by creating good video content.
- For optimizing shares, Facebook informs that ‘share-friendly’ videos increase engagement in terms of discussions within the comment section, attract likes and reactions. A caution – it would be best if the engagement is achieved organically and not through click-bait techniques.
- For gaining Facebook’s recommendation in various areas of the app including the News Feed, Facebook Watch, and ‘Up Next’ sections – the ground rules are simple. Create high quality content that is engaging and bring users back to Facebook.
- Facebook acknowledges the ‘recent videos’ for News Feed, which are shorter in length; one to two minutes max. While for Watch and Up Next, videos that are longer (upto 3 mins) and inspire people to watch for longer and more following content, is featured in those areas.
Now, all of this can be achieved using the insights Facebook has added to the Creator Studio’s dashboard. Utilize the data available and strategize accordingly.
Source: Facebook Blogs
Facebook shared the things to avoid in order to “uphold integrity standards” and “platform policies”
These were the DOs Facebook shared, but let’s get to the DONTs that the social media and tech giant informed that is most likely to reduce the organic distribution of your video content while reducing your page or brand’s credibility, as well monetization rights.
Here are the key points to avoid.
- Sharing content that you didn’t create, isn’t unique but already exists on Facebook.
- Clickbait and ‘sensationalized’ content: Which is aimed to increase clicks and content that doesn’t provide any solid information.
- Videos that use static images, giving a feeling of slideshows or a presentation.
- Using ‘Manufactured Sharing Behavior’: This entails when a page’s content is artificially distributed through techniques like re-sharing within an established group or from a page that has no link to the content that is being shared.
- Call-to-action baiting: Asking people to share, comment, or react to increase its engagement and not allowing that to happen organically.
These tips and new feature is definitely going to change the route of video content creation and publication on Facebook in 2020. The strategies will be more refined, as video content has taken the top spot on consumer’s list.
Zubair is a digital enthusiast who loves to write on various trends, including Tech, Software Development, AI, and Personal Development. He is a passionate blogger and loves to read and write. He currently works at Unique Software Development, custom Mobile app development Companies in Dallas that offers top-notch software development services to clients across the globe.
