Videos are all the rage on Facebook, and these 10 best tricks to make your Facebook videos go viral might help get you that boost you have been looking for!

It’s time friends. Facebook is trying to stiffen the competition and we must rise to meet it. We are all trying to find new ways to beat the algorithms, come out on top, be seen, and make our hard work recognized! It’s an ever evolving door, one that just seems to spin faster and faster no matter what we do. The newest thing is Facebook video, and there are those that hit and those that miss. But after watching more than enough and creating a few hits and more than a few flops of my own – I think I have cracked the code! Get these 10 best tricks to make your Facebook videos go viral and see what you can do to make yourself the next Facebook cooking star!

10 Things You Must Know to Make Your Facebook Videos Go Viral - Make those videos shine!! You won't believe what key you've been missing out on!

Choose one shooting angle and stick to it

Want to make your fans dizzy in a hurry? Pick multiple camera angles in a short video. Simple is best, so stick to one angle for simplicity. Overhead, straight on, over the shoulder *wink and kiss* Doesn’t matter!

Now, of course there is a caveat to this – we aren’t octopus, octopi? We don’t have multiple arms, and we must reposition to get the gist of what we are making captured. The point is, minimize the number of times you do this. Is it absolutely essential that you shoot change from an straight on shot to an over head so you can see flour being poured into a blender, or will it be perfectly understood from it’s current location? Streamline. It also helps with your workflow.

Do what feels most natural to you, but just stick with it.

Know Your Blog Style and Shoot For It

Are you dark and moody? Light and bubbly? Shoot your video like you shoot your photos, and match your style. Along with shooting from one angle, in the same location, and using the same window for lighting no less – I shoot moodier videos!- develop that consistency which is key for building your style, and by way of that – your brand recognition.

Here is one example of my videos below. My window faces the south, and it’s dark and gray in Seattle giving me that glorious diffused lighting. Oh, I love it. What do you think? Add a reflector if it works for you!

One of my favorite bloggers for video consistency in style is Jess from How Sweet Eats. It’s just so her, her blog, and just freakin’ happy. Check them all out on her Facebook Page right now. See what I mean? So Jess. *Throws glitter in the air*

Use a Tripod

I spend every Sunday at Target like most people spend it at church – and that’s where I got my trusty tripod. Invest in a good one, but don’t go broke until you know what you need!! Mercy people, it’s a Facebook video. Be serious about your craft and hone it – just please do your research for what will best suit your needs, and don’t go broke doing it.

This one is great for my straight on angle shooting. It doesn’t do overhead, but that’s not how I choose to shoot. Again, do what is best for you! This one does what I need it to, it’s light weight and folds up fairly small – which is perfect since we live in a two bedroom apartment and not our dream sprawling farmhouse. A girl can dream. And maybe then, I will get my dream video set up. Until then, I’ll work on honing my video craft.

Pick music that fits your theme and blog

There are great resources for royalty free music for reasonable rates. I chose Pond5 for mine. It’s might seen expensive out of the gate, but I don’t intend to change songs every time I make a new video either. Royalty free music means you won’t get dinged by the Facebook Police for trying to upload a video with a copyright music on it and face getting that video rejected – especially once you put all that hard work into it! The worst!

Pick something that is upbeat, and matches your video’s speed, and mood. You don’t want a song better paired with a realtor’s home tour video, than it is along side a super fast paced cooking video. Just like text overlays on a photo – music overlays on a video have to match the style.

I love this video from Running to the Kitchen. It’s simple music that is beautifully timed to her video. Anyone else craving a smoothie?

 

Storyboard

I bet my high school English teacher is going to do a happy dance about two seconds after she reads this… If she hasn’t already clicked away because of my grammatical atrocities, and run on sentences. When you’re planning to shoot your video, write down an outline of the shots, style and movements you need to capture with each pass. Will you shoot one continuous video and just cut it down from there? Probably not, but if yes – you’re amazing.

Figure out what steps need to be covered, what ones can you shorten, or eliminate altogether? Streamline! Find a way to succinctly tell the critical steps. It will help you get your little video ducks in a row and lead to a faster turnaround time.

Minimize Your Movements

In short videos, you often have to compress it – meaning, speed it up – to fit all that content into a teeny tiny amount of time. When that happens you can looks like you have GoGoGadget Arms whisking like crazy!!

Exhibit A! All that whisking looks bonkers quick. Be conscious of your movements, and how they will look sped up when you make your final cut.

This video from Nutmeg Nanny is perfect for conscious movement. Brandy doesn’t flip her knife all over the place, she’s steady and simple. I love this to no end. Also, say it with me friend. Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries.

Add a Call to Action at the End of your Facebook Video!

Tell people to stop by your site for more! Facebook has a handy little button feature, that is easy to miss if you’re not looking for it.

10 Ways to Make Your Facebook Videos Go Viral - Make those videos shine!! You won't believe what key you've been missing out on!

In the pull down area, click “Call to Action” and select what action you want to promote. For me, it’s to help boost my Youtube channel. So I choose “Watch More”. 10 Ways to Make Your Facebook Videos Go Viral - Make those videos shine!! You won't believe what key you've been missing out on!

In the URL, enter the website you want people to go to. If you want them jumping right to your website, choose that!
10 Ways to Make Your Facebook Videos Go Viral - Make those videos shine!! You won't believe what key you've been missing out on!

Add in a description, and once your video is uploaded with a witty description you are ready to publish!

Join a Facebook Video Share Group

If you are making them, so are others! Team up and share them with your friends and create a sharing circle and rhythm to sharing your content to help build engagement. It helps! There is in face enough “likes” to go around.

Pick your most famous (and simple) recipes first!

You know how Tasty videos get so crazy popular? They are well, the easiest recipes under the sun! We all have those recipes, make ’em on video!

My first video was the next one you will see below in Tip 10. It wasn’t my most famous, and not my most simple! Big mistake. After I posted it, I went back to the drawing board and started again, rethinking what I had seen plastered all over the Facespace and where I could make improvements, comparing it to other high traffic generators and highly engaged recipe videos. And they were all the same –  simple recipes, with minimal ingredients.

It lead me to making my second video, the one right below, of my all time most popular recipe, Indoor S’mores! Duh, why didn’t I think about it first? No one hits the nail right on the head the first time! But it’s important to keep trying.

The added benefit of choosing your easiest recipes leads directly into the last trick for today – number 10!

Keep your videos to ONE MINUTE OR LESS! 

Well, plus or minus a little bit.  The point is, Facebook is all about the quick fix. We are scrolling while we’re on elevators, walking to our cars, or waiting for the water to boil on that pasta salad you’re making. Keep it short, simple and to the point. We have other funny cat videos to see and you need to capture your audience before they scroll right on through.

My first video for an awesome Taco Pull Apart Bread that I love so hard – but it was drumroollll – 2:38 seconds. Woof. It’s a simple and over the top tasty recipe, but it was bonkers on the time it took to watch it! No one would make it to the end!

Great video – maybe just not ideal for Facebook.

You made it – ten new tips! I hope you’ve all learned a few things to take with you today! Come back soon when I have some new tips and tricks to keep you going viral!

*Fine print* This post does contain a couple of affiliate links. If you purchase something, I might get a few pennies. Thanks for understanding.