As many of our readers have noticed over the past few weeks, Facebook videos now include a feature which lets you become a fan of a Facebook Page while watching the video. The power of this feature cannot be understated as a video which includes a call to action, is much more valuable than a video by itself. If you want to drive new fans to your Facebook Page, this feature combined with high quality content is priceless.
Have you ever watched a YouTube video which prompts you to subscribe to the user’s channel? If you follow YouTube at all, you’ll notice how a large percentage of the top channels encourage users to “Subscribe”. Those subscribers are essentially the equivalent of Facebook fans. However the majority of videos that you see shared on Facebook Pages (including our own videos) fail to include a call to action.
If you want to dramatically increase the number of fans you have on your Facebook Page, there is a simple method for doing so:
- Develop extremely engaging video content (funny, thought stimulating, etc). If you don’t have the creativity to come up with “viral content” that people will share, take some of the top viral videos on youtube and other sites and compile them into one with segments from each (make sure you aren’t violating copyright laws).
- At the end of each video, prompt the viewer to become a fan and explain to them how to mouse over the top of the video (as pictured above).
- Share the video and encourage others to share the video as well.
I cannot emphasize how powerful this promotional method is. While I discussed the power of Videos in our “30 Days to 3,000 Fans” guide, at the time Facebook had yet to add a feature which lets users become a fan directly from the video. My guess is that thanks to this new feature, you will see many more Pages posting videos that encourage viewers to become fans.
While I occasionally see interesting videos pop-up in my news feed, the majority of them come from YouTube. This in-video fan feature also provides a significant incentive for brands to develop creative videos, something that I’d expect to see more of over the coming months.
Note
Many commenters have said that they can’t see the link. If you are the page administrator and/or a fan of the page, you will not see the link. The link is only displayed for non-fans and those who are not page administrators.
wow, very nice, i’ll have to look into it for my fan page!
Great Stuff!
Thanks for the tip. First rate.
Great tip but *how* do you actually embed the link into the video? I’ve searched for this but haven’t found an answer. Thanks!
Does anyone has a link or other resources to more instructions on how this integration is done?
@Magnus - Upload the video to the Page you want to promote.. the rest is automatic
Actually, you can’t turn this feature off even if you want to (if the video is uploaded to a Page rather than a personal account)
@Nick - Great post brotha…
I knew about this already, but you always look at things in a different way than me and your posts always get me thinking…. keep the goodness comin! 
peace
I uploaded a video to my fan page but nothing was overlayed on the top of it. Curious!
Hey Nick…thanks for the post…
I’ve not seen it automatically coming up for any videos which I’ve uploaded for clients on their official fan pages…It’ll be great if there is some more information on this in terms of execution
My company also run few fan pages and we uploaded various of videos to our client’s pages, for some reason the overlay option was not published on the layout of the video.
I spoke with some people from facebook which declared that only sponsored videos have this option.
Sponsored videos cost minimum 25,000$ per month. Small - Medium brands are not able to pay this amount
Any ideas?
I’ve uploaded a video and the new feature is not available.
In my opinion they’re still testing this option, and you should mention that not even your videos show the “become a fan” button, I’ve seen your page right now, also the video for which you made the scrennshot .
The link in not showing for our videos either
Let us know if there’s a fix.
Thanks!!
Thanks Nick! Can you confirm whether or not this is a “paid feature” only? Also, are you able to retroactively ad this to videos that you posted several months ago? I’m not seeing this feature on any of our videos currently. And I don’t have a new one to ad at the moment. Thanks!
UPDATE: I’ve uploaded a video to one of my fan pages and wasn’t presented with any options for adding the overlay link. What am I missing?
It’s sponsored video ad units only, Nick. I’ve confirmed from Facebook.
Dave,
I confirmed with Facebook that it’s not. I’ve also viewed it myself on AllFacebook videos.
Best,
Nick
Hmm Nick you sure are right re: AllFacebook videos. Any other unpaid examples?
Okay, here’s the deal people… I tested this and have an answer as of time of publishing this comment. You know Social Media, it could be different by the time you wake up.
ANSWER:
It’s not only paid. But it’s not as great as this post makes it sound.
The ‘Become a Fan’ button DOES show on Page videos, but (in my test) only when you click-thru to the video’s OWN LINK. In other words, it doesn’t show when played ‘inline’ on the news/live feed. This kills its visibility.
Furthermore (as if that weren’t bad enough, sorry-jaded), it also doesn’t show unless you hover over that section of video.
NOTE: I had to login to my wife’s account and view it as her to see it as well.
ATTENTION FACEBOOK: We want the feature this post alluded to.
NICK: I still love your content. Thanks for your hard work!
-Joshua
Nice post! I was searching for the past one hour how to add a “become a fan” button in fb videos. You save up my time! Thanks~
Thanks so much for the tip on the video! I will have to post a video now to one of my fan pages, which incidentally we were blessed and lucky to get 1000+ fans in just the first 4 days it was up! This video idea will definitely help to increase it continually until we hit our goal of 10,000 fans in 30 days!
All the best to you guys and gals!!
http://facebook.com/365olympiawa
365 things to do around Olympia WA Facebook Fan Page
Great information. I just embedded my first video as a sticky on my site. Stop by and let me know what you think. http://www.islandconsultingcorp.com
Thanks!!
Wayne
any help with suggesting this page to your friends would be great!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brendan-Martin-Music/110763428951376?ref=ss