There's a war raging between Facebook and Google-owned YouTube, and some shelters and rescue groups may find themselves caught in the crossfire. Here's what they can do to fight back!
Facebook's making no secret of the fact it wants to dethrone video-sharing giant YouTube. It's also no secret they have a long way to go. One step they're taking along the way is reducing the reach of shared YouTube links on its social platform, and giving greater reach to videos uploaded directly to Facebook by pages.
In fact, even when pages share video originally uploaded to Facebook by a different page, those posts are getting much greater reach than any other content, such as a photo shared from one page to another.
"It's not just organic, or unpaid, content, either," social media consultant Christie Keith told Maddie's Institute. "When pages pay to promote videos uploaded directly to Facebook, they'll get much better reach at a much lower cost than promoting other kinds of content."
This is especially important, said Keith, for posts promoting fundraising campaigns or pet adoption.
Some pages are actually getting pop-up notices when they try to share YouTube links encouraging them to upload the video directly to Facebook instead:
"Obviously," Keith cautioned, "that's only a good idea if it's your own video you were trying to share. But my recommendation to shelters and rescue groups right now is to upload to YouTube and Facebook, then share the YouTube version across other channels like Twitter."
Although it's possible to embed Facebook videos on a blog or website, right now YouTube's embeds are more robust, said Keith. "That might change, but for now, stick with YouTube anywhere other than Facebook. But on Facebook, native video is the way to go to get the greatest reach and engagement — which is what it's all about if you're trying to find homes for pets!"
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