Facebook’s cover videos and what they mean for brands

Facebook has recently introduced its newest feature – Video Cover Photos. In place of a static image, you can now upload a short, muted video loop as a cover photo. But how does this new feature work and why should brands want to implement it into their pages?

How it works.

Uploading a video as your cover photo can be done in five simple steps:

1. Click ‘Share a photo or video’ button on the top of your page’s timeline
2. Click ‘Upload photo/video’ and choose your selected video. Videos should be between 20 – 90 seconds.
3. Add in your update, and then enter the video tags and video title
4. Choose a thumbnail by clicking the arrows on the video preview or click ‘Add custom thumbnail’ and choose a special cover
5. Click the ‘Publish’ button

Why Should Brands Care?

Brands may be asking why this new feature is important for them and their audience? As a statement from Facebook said, the cover video was designed specifically by Facebook to drive more engagement, “…by making cover videos available, we want to help create more engaging interactions and drive more rich experiences for your audience…”  Utilizing the cover video feature can not only help increase engagement but help enforce your brand’s key messages to your target audience. A well-crafted video can provide a reason for new consumers to stay on your page. For example instead of using a static picture of food, a restaurant can create a cover video of their food being made, enticing people to want to try the restaurant and to book a reservation.

Who is using cover videos?

At this time only a few brands have started to take advantage of the cover video with Narcos, the Netflix series being the first brand page to implement the new feature. Other notable brands that have updated their cover photos to cover videos include Orange is the New Black, Mercedes-Benz and the NBA. Since the feature is so new there aren’t many statistics on the success for brands using cover videos. At On Q, we believe as the feature continues to roll out many more brands will be implementing the feature and seeing added engagement with their followers.

The cover video is available to most brand pages on Facebook with plans to expand to all users soon and can only be used on desktops at this time.

Want to learn about other social media updates? Check out our YouTube live blog post talking all about the video platform feature and how going LIVE is something brands need to include in their social media strategies.