Why Uploading Your YouTube Video to Facebook is a Bad Idea!

3 min readApr 27, 2017

You may or may not be aware, but there is currently a war going on between Facebook and YouTube. It’s the battle of the video, and the latest statistics show that Facebook is now winning the battle with views. Saying that a “view” on Facebook is only three seconds, and a “view” on YouTube is thirty seconds, so yes, there are more views on Facebook, but who is the real winner? I will leave you to answer that one.

There has certainly been a shift in the way that we consume video on YouTube. I remember the day when I would be looking for “You’ve Been Framed” or “Candid Camera” type videos on YouTube. Back in the day, it would be the place that I would watch cute puppy videos or stories that pulled on my heartstrings, but all that has changed. Those types of videos will still be there, but we tend to consume them over on Facebook nowadays.

What style of videos work well on YouTube?

I recently conducted a poll to find out exactly what type of videos people consume on YouTube nowadays? The majority of reasons were:

How to (a real mix of software, household chores, recipes, etc)
Game cheats (I was surprised by this).
Movies, trailers
Music
Product reviews (box opening was very popular).
Regular YouTube shows (Youtubers).
Interviews
Advice

So the shorter videos, such as “funnies” did not even reach the top 10.

Why should you NOT post your YouTube videos onto Facebook

As previously mentioned, Facebook does not like YouTube (owned by Google). Therefore anything that you post to Facebook that takes its audience away from its platform will not be seen in a good light. The Facebook algorithm (known as Edgerank) will simply give any YouTube link less reach.

Should you only post funny videos to Facebook?

No! All of the videos mentioned above for YouTube should still be created, but the native file (MP4 or .wav file) should be uploaded to Facebook directly. I know this means double the work, but if you have put all that effort into creating a video then you want as much exposure from it as possible.

A few tips Facebook video:

Always upload a call to action with each video
Always add captions to your video. There is a feature within Facebook to do this (click here to find out how). Many people watch Facebook video in silent mode, so get more exposure by uploading captions. (I personally use the captions feature in Camtasia Studio).
Add a custom thumbnail. I have found that a custom thumbnail with a big play button in the middle works best on Facebook. Whereas a professionally designed thumbnail works best on YouTube.
Add links in your description
Schedule your video to be posted at optimised times. (Check your insights to see when is the best time to post).
If the video is relevant, then share the link to your Groups and personal timeline. (right click and copy video URL).

A few tips for YouTube video:

Create consistency in your brand. ie: Your channel art, logo, custom thumbnails all feel the same.
The title should ideally be under 80 characters, and front loading keywords into the title works better than backloading.
Always add a link to your website in the description.
Add subtitles or captions to your videos. You can activate this within YouTube, or add them before you upload the file.
Use annotations sparingly. There is nothing more annoying than being distracted by constant annotations.
Add a minimum of five tags/keywords to your video. These words should also appear in the description. Cap the keywords at eight.
Distribute your video to as many places as possible.

Summary

In summary, Facebook and YouTube have very different audiences. Not only do I constantly see YouTube links on Facebook, but I am also seeing Facebook live streams on YouTube. If you are going to live-stream to Facebook and want to publish the content to your YouTube channel, then you will have better results if you use software such as OBS / Joicaster to live stream to both channels simultaneously.

Remember, it’s all about the algorithms. Play the game and you will be successful. Good luck!

Originally published at www.green-umbrella.biz on April 27, 2017.