If you manage Facebook for a business, I suggest you jump on the video bandwagon and add “lights, camera, ACTION!” to your vocabulary. The latest news in the highly competitive world of social media platform popularity is that Facebook recently changed their algorithms (shocking news, right?) to make video marketing a priority.

Currently, I manage seven different business pages for clients and monitor several more. That being said, I am on social media a lot. In the past few months, I have noticed – and enjoyed – the increase in native Facebook videos on my newsfeed. A “native” Facebook video is one that is uploaded directly from a camera to a Facebook post instead of shared on Facebook through another source such as YouTube or Instagram. Curious about this phenomenon, I did some research. Below are the top five reasons – in order of importance from my personal preference – on why companies should incorporate native Facebook videos into their social media strategy.

1. Proven results. Socialbakers, one of the world’s largest social media management and analytics companies, determined that video posts have a larger organic reach than any other type of posts. They found that out of 670,000 posts by 4,445 brand pages, video posts had an organic reach of 8.71 percent, while text-only posts had 5.77 percent, followed by link posts with 5.29 percent and photo posts with 3.73 percent. With Facebook algorithms changing often, it’s vital to diversify your business’ page with posts that offer high organic reach to ensure online visibility.
2. Auto-play is hard to avoid. When you post a video directly through the Facebook video tool, it will automatically play (sans sound) when viewed in a newsfeed. Not only are more people likely to pause and watch the video, but it also increases post engagement. In the first quarter of the auto-play feature being enabled, native video plays on Facebook increased by 134 percent with a 58 percent increase in engagement (while YouTube and others saw no change), according to Contently.
3. Tell the story of your message easier. Which are you more likely to remember – a 250-word Facebook post or a 20-second video? You can only say so much in the text of a Facebook post, making it hard to tie your brand story to a specific message. However with video, you have the ability to tie your brand messaging (logo, colors, etc.) into the specific idea you want to promote through the use of sound and images.
4. Build your brand personality. Highlighting various aspects of your company through video is an excellent way to show off the personality of your brand. If you are proud of your company’s culture, showcase it by featuring employees at work, going behind the scenes of your facilities or showcasing customer testimonials.
5. Boosted video posts = name-your-own-price for an online commercial.Through the Facebook Ad feature, you can boost native Facebook videos to specific target audiences. This is helpful for small businesses that don’t have the budget for traditional TV advertising or don’t want to commit to a digital advertising plan. In addition, you can start and stop a Facebook Ad and check its progress using the analytics tool as often as you’d like.

Now that you have been convinced to incorporate videos into your social media plan, the next step is to decide what type of videos to create. Take advantage of the increased organic reach and engagement by making your videos entertaining and informative. For ideas on video content, check out this article from Social Media Examiner on ways to best utilize native Facebook videos.