Here’s a REALLY quick tip to dramatically improve your video views on Facebook….
Ready?
Don’t Do This…
Whatever you do, don’t post a link to a YouTube video on Facebook.
Why?
Because YouTube is owned by Google.
And Facebook and Google are long-time rivals in direct competition for eyeballs and ad revenue.
Facebook wants to keep you on Facebook, plain and simple.
Posting a YouTube video takes people OFF of Facebook and puts them on a competitor’s platform, so YouTube links just don’t get a lot of traction on Facebook.
Do This Instead…
Take your video file (the same one you uploaded to YouTube) and upload it directly to Facebook as a new post.
That’s it!
You can expect to see lots more views – several times more, usually – than you would see on a YouTube link posted to Facebook.
Again, Facebook is all about keeping people on Facebook. When you upload a video directly to their platform, the Facebook algorithm rewards you with extra reach, views and engagement.
Don’t Believe Me?
Try it!
In fact, go back on your FB timeline a year or more to a YouTube link that you previously posted, and upload the video file directly to FB as a new post today.
Now, wait a few days and check the “views” count on your native FB post, comparing it to what you usually get when posting a YouTube link.
Let us know (in the “Comments” section below) what happens…
About The Blog
Since leaving a white-collar marketing job in 1992, Dave Ruch has been educating and entertaining full-time in schools, historical societies and museums, folk music and concert venues, libraries, and online via distance learning programs.
Along the way, he’s learned a great deal about supporting a family of four as a musician.
The Educate and Entertain blog provides articles, tips, encouragements, and how-to’s for regional performers (in any region) interested in making a great full-time living in the arts.
This worked for me!
Thank you! 😀
(It’s also nice to be able
to explain this to other people —
and just plain understand
what’s been going on and why!)
Thanks for the awesome tip Dave!
No problem!
Thanks for the tips as always Dave.
I have one problem though. Maybe it’s because I live in an off grid island and only have cellular data. (no WiFi). When I load straight to Facebook, I have to compress the files so much, that they come out horribly. YouTube’s quality is just so far superior, from what I’ve seen. And so easy to use as well.
I’ll give it another try. Maybe they’ve improved things since the last time I tried it. My friend is getting a huge amount of traction on Facebook, but he is also paying to boost. Something I can’t afford to do at this time.
Charles
I haven’t run into that issue at all, Charles. I’d try it again, and even if it looks grainy on your WiFi connection, once the video is uploaded, FB will display it as uploaded to others.
I believe YouTube lets you download your videos. I’ve posted huge files to YouTube and then re-downloaded the smaller YouTube versions to use elsewhere. These are ones where audio and video quality don’t matter as much as they would for music. Maybe that’s something to try. And maybe it ends up too compressed. I dunno.
Dave, From March to mid-September, I uploaded 36 videos. I generally did one a week, though occasionally did two. I wanted to test the very theory you are talking about. I upload the exact same video simultaneously to YouTube and Facebook. I then kept track of the views. As of the end of September, my Facebook views were 23,199. My YouTube views were 1124.
Fascinating! Thanks for jumping with that. We do need to keep in mind that FB counts any kind of video play (including just a few seconds as someone is scrolling by) as a “view,” whereas somebody who clicked over to your YouTube video most likely watched more of it, BUT, those numbers are still pretty convincing. I wonder what you’d find if you dig into the video view analytics on both channels to see how many people watched to 25%, 50%, etc.
I tried it out one time posting live video on Facebook I had got great response it was one that guy he was a pastor used to promote honest he was like oh my God I got to let my friend hear you you can sing then other folks if they enjoyed it and I didn’t do anything else but I am trying to gsaet some praise and worship gigs open it up for local artists to professional artist yeah I like the information you’re giving the tips of real great I thought about it today doing a post with on my page and Facebook for churches that may need a praise and worship leader just someone to help but I’m going to be confiscated though I need to make some money real bad as well as getting myself out there thank you so much God bless you will be talking
As far as I recall, I have never linked to any of my YouTube videos on Facebook. However, every week, I make a short drum solo video, then post it directly to both Facebook and Instagram. As far as I know, this has not created any problems. But it would be helpful to know if there are ways to get more views of these. Thanks.
Thanks Dave. Useful info. Just commenting that although I have not read the user agreements in detail, I am told that you have to be willing to live with Facebook’s tighter fist on the video you post (with respect to ownership and difficulty sharing outside of Facebook). For this reason, I prefer to keep my creative efforts on Youtube, but can see a great benefit for FB live and FB upload for streaming concerts, interviews and quick marketing/advertising communications.
Thanks Tom, that might well be true. Best case scenario? Everything should be on YouTube to aid in discovery and give you a good way to share via email, on your website, and on other channels. Then, when it comes to sharing the same video on FB, upload it directly.
Thank you Dave!
So no youtube, eh? Then what are the other options? Sometimes i see people posting using a Vimeo video.
Hi Amy – you can certainly post a YouTube or Vimeo video in a pinch, but you just won’t get near as much engagement as if you uploaded the video directly to FB.
Great post, Dave!
Have you written about allocating $$$ towards different avenues of social media and google advertising? Would love to here your thoughts on this.
Thanks Lacy, and the answer is “yes” and “no.” I did write an article on paid Facebook ads, and I think a future article on google adwords vs paid social would be a great idea. I do have some experience with Adwords and some thoughts on when to use which. Thanks for the suggestion.