In my earlier post about learning to live with Facebook’s new algorithm, I mentioned that directly uploading a video to Facebook will get your content more organic reach (more viewers) than sharing a link to the same video hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
Recently, Facebook sweetened the deal for us even more. Now when a Page owner uploads a video, he or she can also include a link to an actual action, as shown in this screenshot:
The options for the text that appears on the button are somewhat limited, but I still think broad enough to fit just about any action you want. And a bonus for ActionSprout users…the action can link directly to an ActionSprout action!
So…how will you be using this feature?
Ed. note: this feature had previously been available in ads/promoted video posts, but Facebook’s been rolling it out to organic Page posts as well — if you don’t see it yet, wait a few days and check again.
Why are they adding this feature? We can only assume it’s to give Page owners an incentive to keep their content within Facebook, part of the company’s overall plan to keep us wedded to the platform. Plus, certain YouTube accounts (including verified nonprofit accounts) have long included the option to have a call to action float over the video, and this new feature may be designed to capture those folks who’d otherwise have been posting a YouTube link to Fb specifically FOR the call to action.