Facebook seems to be the center of our universe; if a business, celebrity or event doesn’t have a Facebook page it won’t get any traction or attention, so it’s vital that both your content and your profile page are as engaging and memorable as possible.
Facebook provides a variety of features to help you utilise their platform; however, one constant of your profile page which is often somewhat forgotten is the header cover photo feature – an image which sits at the top of the page alongside a profile picture. This cover photo can be used as a billboard or advertising tool by businesses and celebrities alike. New game releases, films, upcoming seasons of TV shows or fresh music albums will all have the official posters as their headers to further their reach. Celebrities will plug their brand with upcoming events and merchandise, and businesses can put up a billboard image of their product range or special offers.
The cover photo itself often gets forgotten or routinely updated without much thought. The drawback of the current cover photo feature is that for some of more virtual or interactive products the header is just a static, fixed image. Video Marketing is the best way to reach your audience. With more and more videos on Facebook grabbing our attention, a static image is more likely to get scrolled past or ignored on the profile page. However, Facebook seems to have picked up on this potential draw back and is making a new bid to help businesses entice more followers on Facebook.
According to Social Media Today, Facebook plans to release a social media update in the form of cover videos, which they are now testing on certain pages. Facebook stated:
“We recently started testing the ability on desktop to upload a video as the Page cover. Once a cover video has been created, video will render when people visit the Page.
By making cover video available, we want to help you create engaging interactions and drive more rich experience for your audience by letting you spotlight your creative content in one of the most prominent spaces: your Page cover.
The feature is still in early testing, but we expect it to roll out more widely soon.”
Not too long ago Facebook released a similar feature with profile videos, but a Facebook cover video will bring a new dynamism to the Facebook profile pages themselves. This social media update is bound to drive engagement stats up as videos are rapidly becoming the main content seen on Facebook news feeds and are shown to engage viewers more productively and successfully than static images. Rather than just posters for upcoming shows or films, clips of trailers can be used to further entice viewers.
You can imagine this being used very successfully by brands like Netflix and Amazon video, or by gaming channels such as IGN. But this update won’t just be for media companies – Facebook cover videos could be used creatively by a wide range of companies. Brands could show their best products in action to get viewers hearts racing; event venues could show their occasions in full swing to give a more vivid idea of the atmosphere. The cover of your page could become more than just a static billboard but imaginative and innovative social media advertisements and video marketing, which Instagram and YouTube already use with great success. Products and services are best show in motion, presenting a more interactive and engaging view of your brand to your audience immediately on your profile page.
Some lucky pages have already been given access to this feature:
Facebook cover videos must be between 20-90 seconds long and should be at least 820 x 312 pixels.
There’s no news as of yet when the official Facebook cover video update will come into play, but when it does its sure to bring a new, innovative way to present content.
