How To Create Professional Facebook Videos In Minutes For Free
Video gets the most reach and engagement on Facebook. I recently co-lead a webinar with my friends at BuzzSumo – they analyzed over 800 million Facebook posts in 2016. Videos get a much higher average number of shares than any other type of post.
Yet, after studying 16 million posts (and 100,000 brands), my friends at Buffer discovered that video is largely underutilized on Facebook.
On Facebook, video gets three times as much engagement as any other kind of content, but in the 7 posts that brands share on Facebook per week, far less than 1% are videos. Of the remaining 99%, 80% are links and 19% are photos. ~Buffer
Folks, there is a HUGE opportunity for you as a businessperson/marketer to tap into the power of video in 2017! You need to be creating more awesome, eye-catching, thumb-stopping video content to reach and engage your audience on Facebook (and Instagram!).
Free video creation tool by Adobe
Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a professional videographer, buy a ton of the right gear, or even look perfect on camera! Okay, while all that can certainly help(!), you can also augment your video content production by using the right tools. Look no further than Adobe Spark Video – it’s free.
I’ve been a big fan of Adobe Spark since it started rolling out in beta last year. This desktop and iOS 3-in-1 app allows you to easily create stunning GRAPHICS (even add animated effects on iOS), compelling VIDEO, and web PAGES.
Now, as from today, Adobe just announced that Spark Video now supports video clips to help you engage, motivate, and inspire your audience.
Spark Video helps anyone create compelling animated videos in minutes. Easily add and trim video clips to make your videos stand out on social. Pick from over 25,000 beautiful iconic images or add your own photos to highlight what you have to say. Select the soundtrack that works best. Then Spark automatically adds striking cinematic motion to your story — no design experience needed. Share your video to make an impact: Persuade, inform and inspire your audience. You can even access, edit and share your video from a browser using Adobe Spark for web. And did we tell you it’s all free?
Free live training
Tune in to a fun and helpful live video training I’ll be hosting on my Facebook Page at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK on Thursday, December 15th, 2017! I will be broadcasting using Facebook Live on my page via the BlueJeans Network onSocial multi-party video conferencing app. Along with showing you exactly how to easily create fabulous videos with Adobe Spark Video, I’ll be bringing on a few special guests to share how the use of video is helping them grow their reach, engagement and profits, too!
Example videos
Here’s a quick and simple example of a video I created using Adobe Spark Video, using my own images and video clips from my iPhone 6 Plus, and uploaded to Facebook:
And this yummy video also shows off the video clips new feature in action – check out the short recipe video an indie print publication uses on social media to drive traffic to its subscription page (shot on iPhone 6s, edited with Adobe Spark Video):
Why should you create and share videos?
Consider these additional stats:
- 79% of all global consumer internet traffic will come from video by 2018. Source: Cisco
- Social Video generates 1200% more shares than text and image combined. Source: Brightcove
- Including a video on a landing page can increase conversion by 80%. Source: Adobe
- 96% of consumers find videos helpful when making purchase decisions. Source: Animoto
- 4x as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. Source: Animoto
- In the last month alone, over 3 million small businesses have posted a video on Facebook, according to Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.
Engage and wow your audience on social
Whether you’re looking to increase your followers, launch a new product, grow your business, or support a cause, video is the most engaging way to communicate on social. Create and share compelling videos will help expand your reach and inspire your audience to take action.
Create professional videos within minutes
As mentioned above, you don’t need to go to massive effort to product fabulous videos. Now, you can easily combine your existing video clips (taken on your smartphone!), photos (yours or free stock images easily findable inside the Adobe Spark app!), and fun icons into an engaging video. Make sure you design for “sound off” given the fact over 80% of videos (ads in particular) are watched with sound off. So, add text overly. Easy peasy, no design expertise required.
Design for sound on or off
Ideally, you want your video watchable whether the volume is enabled or not. Select just the right music from a wide variety of free soundtracks that Adobe Spark gives you, or bring in your own personal music, or use your own voice to make your point. You can also adjust the volume of your video clips so key moments stand out. And, with the text overlay element, your videos will be perfect for sound on or off.
Give it a go! Head over to Adobe Spark on desktop. Or, for iOS users, just download the app.
Disclosure: I am a Brand Ambassador for Adobe Spark.
