Facebook cover images gave business the opportunity to present gorgeous header images that would represent their brands and be one of the first things users would see. This could help them make a good first impression and even give the user a little more information about them in an instant.
Now, Facebook cover videos take that opportunity to a whole new level. They’re more effective mediums for storytelling and brand-building, so this is a feature that businesses should be exploring and testing for themselves.
Not sure what video you want to use that can help you represent your brand and grab user attention quickly? We can help with that. In this post, you’ll learn not only about why you should be using Facebook cover videos, but also how to create them so that they’ll get you the results you’re looking for.
Why You Need to Be Using Facebook Cover Videos
Video’s effectiveness as a medium is so well known, we hardly even need to prove it anymore. They’re eye-catching and attention-grabbing, and they can convey more in ten seconds than you could ever hope to convey in twenty seconds worth of text. You can quickly portray a large amount of information in an easily-digestible and dynamic way, and that can be all the push users need to decide to explore the rest of your Page.
A well-designed, quality video gives your brand a more professional look by making you seem more credible and established. Whether you hire someone to create your brand’s videos or utilize tools like MakerMoon (which can help you make gorgeous Facebook cover videos in just a few minutes), having a gorgeous video cover will give you a competitive edge against other businesses in your industry.
If you’re still on the fence, consider the following statistics:
- 74% of total ad recall can be achieved in just 10 seconds of Facebook video campaigns
- 100 million hours of Facebook videos are watched daily
- 4x as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it
- 65% of video viewers watch more than ¾ of a video
Because your cover video is the first thing people see when they visit your page, it needs to be creative and attention-grabbing. In order to get the best results every time, remember to use the 5 following best practices.
1. Choose the Appropriate Looping Setting/Aesthetic
Facebook cover videos automatically play videos in a loop over and over. With this option, you can choose whether you want the end of the video to flow seamlessly back into the beginning (looping) or have a definitive end and beginning (non-looping).
When it comes to choosing if you want your Facebook cover video to be looping or non-looping, there are several considerations to keep in mind.
Non-Looping
Non-looping Facebook cover videos give you the distinct advantage of being able to use your last frame to display relevant information about your business. This can include your contact information, your logo, your website address, special offers, or a call to action.
While this could technically lead to a loop if you open with the same screen, in many cases it wouldn’t make sense. On MakerMoon, we call this the “exit” or “end” screen, where the video’s last frame is an “exit” designed to encourage users to act. This is the best way to encourage users to take some sort of definitive action and encourage them to contact you or scroll through your Page.
Choosing a non-looping video style can also give you more room to have a clear beginning, middle, and end to the video. If you’re utilizing storytelling (which can help build emotional connections and rapport between you and your audience), then choosing a non-looping video is the way to go.
Looping
Looping cover videos can be aesthetically pleasing and interesting, but you absolutely must make the conscious decision up front to include this in your design. Just as importantly, it should work with the purpose of your video and seek to achieve a desired effect.
You could, for example, have a Facebook cover video that has a shining or spinning logo, and that’s all you need. It’s interesting, it grabs attention quickly, and that’s all you need. A couple of great examples of this strategy can be seen here:
2. Consider Design Carefully
Design matters, whether you’re using one seamless video or several images combined to make a video.
You should incorporate your branding consistently, including logo and company colors. If, for example, your corporate color is light blue, choosing an image with several light blue details in it can make the video more aesthetically pleasing.
Transparent PNG logos will look much better and integrate more harmoniously in the background than those that are opaque, so utilize these when creating your videos.
If you decide not to go for a cover video and choose a cover image instead, you should follow a lot of these same principles. Make sure that you’re using the proper dimensions, and that no part of your cover image’s relevant content will be cropped behind a profile picture. This also holds true even if you’re just placing images into a video template so you’re still utilizing the cover video feature.
3. Be Deliberate About Dimensions
When you’re creating your Facebook cover video, you should always remember Facebook’s requirements and recommendations for things like dimension, time length, and usage.
These include:
- Facebook cover videos need to be at least 20 seconds and under 90 seconds (though if you have a 10 second video loop, just have it uploaded going through the loop twice)
- Recommendation of 820x462 pixels
- Required minimum size of 820x312 pixels
After you upload your cover video, make sure that it’s aligned and cropped well. Note that on desktop, the top and bottom portion of the video may be cut away unless they click on the video to view it in its full dimensions. Specifically, you’ll see 75 pixels be removed from the top and bottom of the video on desktop, as seen with one of our cover video templates here:
Because of this, you want to keep all your crucial design elements centered in your video so nothing gets cropped out of view. You will find more details about this on the following support page.
4. Keep it Updated
Facebook cover videos are automatically dynamic. Take advantage of that and shake it up even more by updating your cover video every so often with relevant new information.
With the cover video being front and center, it’s a great place to relay time-sensitive information. Whether you’re hosting an event or have a special offer or sale happening, use your cover video to let users know. Create a custom video to highlight this special event, and you can always change it back to the original cover video once it’s over.
Netflix frequently uses this strategy, updating their cover video to reflect new or soon-to-be-arriving shows that will be available for streaming.
While you can and should also share this information in your timeline posts, this will help prevent important events from getting buried deep on your Page where users can’t find it.
5. Prepare For Your Video to be Played Without Sound
Did you know that approximately 85% of videos are watched without sound on Facebook? Videos that go on autoplay do so silently, with users having to manually enable sound if they want to hear it.
As more users are going mobile, however, they don’t necessarily want to hear it. They’re watching videos on-the-go, and they don’t want to either try to hear a video in a crowded area, or bother others by having the sound playing.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t use sound, just that you shouldn’t rely on it. Use subtitles and captions if necessary to supply context if you do choose to have a voice over or video subjects talking.
That being said, underlying background music in your video can enhance your video’s performance. It’s a great way to convey emotions and set the tone, so it should support your message and fit in with the video and your brand. Remember, however, that music tastes vary from individuals and that it can be disruptive, so choose music that matches your branding and your target audience.
The sound feature is not yet available on MakerMoon. You can still add sound to any video you create using online tools like AddAudioToVideo.com.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that Facebook cover videos can be a huge asset to brands. They allow you to convey brand messaging, storytelling, and emotional appeals quickly and intuitively, giving first-time visitors a stronger first impression of who you are and what you can do for them. There’s a lot of great ways to use cover videos to do this, so use some creativity and apply our best practices above for best results.
Ready to make your next engaging Facebook cover video? Get started with MakerMoon today!