In recent years, platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn have clearly shown an intention to prioritize video in their respective news feeds, to align with their competitors TikTok or YouTube. However, recently, social media manager Marie-France Gosselin has identified a very different trend on Facebook, backed by statistics.
The consultant opened the debate on LinkedIn last June:
“I’m upset right now. Meta has been telling us to create video content for years because this type of content supposedly ‘performs better’ both in terms of community and advertising. Guess what? Static content performs better, and BY FAR, on ALL my clients’ accounts.”
By “static” content, she means text posts with photos or photo carousels. And her point mainly concerns “organic” content.
“I don’t do advertising content, I only handle organic strategy,” she clarifies in an interview. “In this type of content, I sometimes also amplify organic content using engagement campaigns. I see the difference both when I don’t amplify this content and when I do amplify it. It’s a bit frustrating.”
More than just intuition? The consultant presents some statistics to support her point: her static campaigns get 3 times more views than those based on videos. She’s not the only one to have noticed this “anomaly” either. Kim Boutin, a communications consultant, agrees.
“I also notice that Reels perform less well lately. At first, I thought it was just temporary, but it’s become too frequent for my liking. I wonder… Could using an editing app with external music displease Meta?”
A strategy that’s not new
Let’s remember that Meta’s video pivot goes back several years; already in 2017, we can find articles detailing all the algorithmic changes to Mark Zuckerberg’s platform to prioritize video. Last May, a marketing consultant quoted on AdAge continued to assert that “Facebook prioritized short-format video content” to “compete with TikTok.”
“Meta has been saying this for years,” notes Alexandra Philibert, social media manager. “It’s always ‘This is the year,’ but nothing really happens. The only places where I see video content perform on Facebook are for accounts linked to TV shows. It’s very niche. For the rest, static content has always proven to be more performant, regardless of my client. After that, I go with balance and what works with the targeted community.”
Marie-France Gosselin reaches a similar conclusion:
“Personally, I still try to maintain a good balance between both formats. The fact remains that video content is more sellable than static content, even if I can present better statistics using only static content.”
She adds this final piece of advice:
“In my opinion, the only way to know what works on platforms is to do the work yourself and do your own social media monitoring. Listening to advice from Instagram’s President has rarely helped me!”
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