Facebook is rumoured to be planning video ads to rival YouTube. Adrian Moxley, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of visual classification company WeSEE looks at that the social network need to do to ensure it can compete with Google and please users at the same time.
As Facebook looks to launch video advertising in users’ news feeds in the coming months, the message from consumers is loud and clear: video ads on Facebook need to be relevant and short if the social network doesn’t want to risk pushing its user base away.
We did a quick straw-poll of 100 consumers and over two-thirds of people said that receiving irrelevant video ads on Facebook would make them inclined to use Facebook less. Facebook and the brands using the Facebook video ad service must consider carefully how they are determining what is ‘relevant’ to each user without being too intrusive.
Many users post photos and videos without any words to describe them and these posts can offer a real-time insight into the user’s interests and activities. If Facebook could identify what kind of visual data interests consumers, the relevance of their video ads could be greatly enhanced.
After relevance, the next most important factor is length. Facebook has stated that each ad will be limited to a maximum of 15 seconds of airplay and this is supported by our own findings which revealed that 30% of consumers say they would watch a video ad about a topic they have recently posted about, if the video wasn’t too long.
The same number again would watch the first part of a relevant video ad, then skip it. Advertisers must resist the temptation to just re-use ads designed for TV, which would typically be longer that 15 seconds, and ensure they have a dedicated campaign if they are to make Facebook video ads a success.
By Adrian Moxley
Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer
WeSEE
www.weesee.com
