Videos are one of the most shared post types by brands on Facebook. Since they are very popular with the users, they have the potential to become viral, to create buzz, and build high brand awareness.

As you know, Page admins have two options when posting videos: to either upload them from computers natively via Facebook or to post a link to your videos on YouTube. According to our study, most page admins choose to do the latter. They posted 3 684 YouTube links compared to 458 Facebook videos towards the end of January (from January 22nd to January 27th 2013).

Videos Are Usually Liked, not Shared

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Although YouTube links have been posted about 8 times more than Facebook videos, it’s surprising to see that both of these options generated a similar number of interactions and mainly a similar share of Likes, Comments and Shares, as you can see in the graph below. Also notice that Likes were the most frequent type of interaction (not Shares) and that Facebook videos generated double the amount of Comments that YouTube links did. Why do you think this is the case? Let us know in the comments section below!

And What About Engagement?

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To our surprise, Facebook videos achieved a 40% higher Engagement Rate (0,25%) than YouTube links (0,151%) in the studied period. They could be performing better because they are not only limited to Facebook posts; they are also available in the Fan Page video gallery where users can interact with the videos whenever they feel like it. In addition, Facebook videos are easier to consume on mobile, because you can play them directly from the mobile newsfeed; you don’t have to be redirected to YouTube, which can even fail due to connectivity issues.

But there are a number of advantages whichever path you choose.

The Benefits of YouTube Links

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• YouTube is the most popular video-sharing website that can aggregate, not only your videos, but also data concerning its views and shares.
• You can share the YouTube link anywhere that supports your online exposure, unlike Facebook videos which cannot be shared outside of the social network.

The Benefits of Facebook Videos

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• Your Facebook fans can be tagged in the video.
• Your Facebook videos suggest that users Like your Page via a button directly in the video.

Which option do you prefer and why? Are Facebook videos suitable for the needs of businesses or are they intended for casual, personal rather than for content creators?

Also check out if shortened URL links work better than the longer ones on Facebook in on our study here!