Hands on with Facebook’s new Video Covers

In April, several news outlets reported that Facebook were testing video cover images for brand pages. All of them cited Netflix drama, Narcos' use of a looping video showing piles of cash as their example.

Keen to get in on the creativity ourselves, we found that one of our clients Facebook pages was had the option enabled (the only page out of around 20+ that we manage) and got to work on a video to test it out for ourselves.

The page in question is for a magazine & figurine partwork, based on the well-known video game series, Assassin’s Creed. Magazines & figurines are released fortnightly - each one focussing on a key character from the Assassin’s Creed world.

How to know if your page has video covers enabled

The only indication that our page was “video cover ready” was the standard camera icon that appears to the top left of a cover photo (when logged in as a page admin) had changed to an animated icon that cycles between camera and video camera icons (see below).

When clicking on the icon, I get an “Upload photo/video option” instead of the normal “Upload Photo” option.

So what’s the point?

I hear you, the benefits aren’t hugely obvious. It’s a great opportunity to be creative and showcase your video skills. And it’s a nice fit for brands that are promoting “complex” offerings, e.g. multiple products.

For us, it allowed us to show multiple figurines, while mixing in some of the great cinematic sequences that Assassin’s Creed is famous for.

Our first go

Here’s our first go at a Facebook cover photo: https://www.facebook.com/assassinscreedcollection/

Tell us what you think!