Facebook Cover Videos

When Facebook first rolled out the option to post videos as the Cover for Pages, it had a few kinks to work out. It seems that all fan/business pages have the video option now and the upload is easy.

I tried it again and it worked quite well. Here is the video Cover that I posted on my Catholic Web Solutions Facebook Page.  If you wish to hear the audio, click play, then hover over the lower right-hand corner and unmute the sound.

What I learned in creating and posting this Cover video

Facebook has some specific requirements for these video Covers

The video

• has to be between 20 and 90 seconds
• should be at least 820 x 312 pixels. For best results, upload a cover video that’s 820 x 456
• can’t be deceptive, misleading or infringe on anyone’s copyright

I found the sizing somewhat challenging–as the recommended size of 820X456 is not a normal video size and I was not able to produce a video that exact size. The closest I got was 820 X 461 pixels.  The video area will only be the size they stipulate, but we can reposition the video to display what we want.  Given this situation, I recommend placing text closer to the center of the video rather than too high or too low which could result in the text be cutting off based on your positioning.  Just so you know, the reason Facebook has this size requirement is to accommodate desktops and mobile devices.

I have two reservations about this option:

1) There is no description with the video.  In other words when people click on the Cover Video, the video plays.  With image Covers, when you click on them, you are taken to an area where a description can appear. I could not find a remedy for that.

2) The “new cover” page announcement that goes to followers timelines when we change Covers does not appear when the change is a video.  However, that can be remedied, by finding the video in your video library, clicking on it and choosing the option to create a post with this video.  Thus you can make your own announcement.  Which I did.

Another FYI:  If you have provided audio with your video, the default presentation is silent.  On a desktop the viewer has to unmute the sound to hear it.  On a mobile device, when a person clicks on the video, the audio is heard.

While video is usually a plus on social media and marketers are rushing to create their Facebook Cover Videos, I am still deciding whether there is any real advantage to the video Facebook Cover for ministry pages. However, I am going to give it a try for awhile and see what happens.  I would love to hear what you think and if you have tried the video Cover yet.

In case you are interested, you can find Facebook’s Directions on how to upload a Facebook Video Cover, here.