One of the latest features Facebook has rolled out is Cover Videos. We can see some great examples of pages like Netflix’s Narcos, Fusion Guitars and Hager Group where instead of a still image cover on the page, we can have a video instead.
Many of us might feel that Cover Videos are out of our reach — the time and effort to design and edit a video feels overwhelming especially if we don’t have any video footage or expensive video editing software.
However, you can create really simple video cover images using free tools online, and, even better, you can do it all in about ten minutes. Here’s how.
What are the requirements for a Cover Video?
Facebook tells us that a Cover Video needs to be:
- Cover videos should be 20–90 seconds.
- Cover videos recommended size is 820 x 462 pixels.
What free tools can we use to create a Video Cover?
To create a Video Cover, we do need two things: video footage, and a tool to resize our video to Facebook’s specifications. Luckily for us, there are free tools that already exist online to do this.
Finding Video Footage
If you don’t have video assets already, there are plenty of free, creative commons stock video sites online. You don’t want to end up in hot water by using videos which belong to someone else, so using creative commons videos is a great alternative to copyrighted content.
My favourite site is Pixabay, with stock videos which look pretty ace. You might be familiar with Pixabay for amazing stock photos, but they also have videos and animations too.
Just search the site for a video representative of your industry and download it. For this example, I searched for someone typing at a keyboard (because keyboard cats are way too hard to find.) ;)
Things to keep in mind when searching for your Cover Video:
- Without additional editing software, your cover video will not have any additional branding like your logo. So: ensure it represents your business.
- Secondly, Facebook’s cover videos need to be a minimum of twenty seconds — make sure the video you choose is at least 20 seconds. The one I chose happened to be 35 seconds. Perfect!
- Finally, remember that Facebook Cover Videos are long and thin, whereas most videos online are designed for in more of a boxy rectangle of 16:9. When selecting your video, remember that only a thin section will be seen, such as the top, middle or bottom — not the whole thing.
When you select the video to download, you choose what size you want. Make sure you download anything bigger than 820 x 462 pixels.
Editing Video Footage
Because we’re not doing anything whizbang with editing software, all we need to do is resize these videos to be the right size that Facebook needs. Remember that the video size needs to be at least 820 x 462 pixels for Facebook to accept it.
The site ezgif.com actually has heaps of options for editing videos online, not just creating gifs.
All you need to do is head to ezgif.com, select ‘Resize video’, and enter the width of 820 px width, then download the video. It will now be the required size so it will sit nicely on Facebook.
Upload to Facebook
Now your video should meet Facebook’s requirements: it is at least 20 seconds long, and has a size of at least 820 x 462 pixels. All you need to do is switch your Cover Image for a Cover Video.
If you’ve not done this before, ensure you’re signed into Business Manager if needed, then hover of the top left-hand corner of your cover image. You’ll see a dropdown menu giving you the option to upload a photo or video.
Upload the video, and drag it on the screen so it sits nicely within the frame, and then hit save.
And that’s it! You’ve created a Facebook Cover Video, using free, creative commons videos, edited and uploaded in a few minutes. You can see my new Facebook Cover video in action here.
Do you have any other tips or tricks to create simple Facebook Cover Videos? Let me know in the comments!
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