An introduction to Facebook live marketing for Dummies
Thinking of new ways to have a great conversation with your followers and connect to them into a whole new level?
How about doing this in real-time?
Ever heard of Facebook Live Marketing?
Facebook Live lets you connect with your fans, friends and followers by sharing real-time video of what you’re seeing and doing. In fact Cisco predicts that between 2017 and 2022 live video traffic will increase 15x, which is currently happening right now that people are locked in their houses and are bored to death.
It made its debut August 5, 2015 in its early stages with selected accounts including Dunkin’ Donuts, Tastemade and The Young Turks news network.
Here’s one of the first videos ever created in Facebook Live a day after its launch date by a comedian named Ricky Gervais.
Fast forward to 2021, it’s now available to all users provided that you have a video camera, an Internet connection, and a Facebook account.
So what is Facebook Live anyway?
Facebook Live allows you to show your expertise in real time, take people behind the scenes, and much more.
Facebook Live lets you livestream events, performances and gatherings on Facebook. Viewers can watch from a phone, computer or connected TV. Reactions, shares, comments, and other interactive features enable you to engage with your audience. Live streaming on Instagram is separate from live streaming on Facebook. -Facebook
This is a good news for marketers and business owners because of high engagement and significant long term gains in social marketing.
Simply put, engaging conversations with your followers can be capitalized. They can also share the video with their friends and family, potentially increasing its reach.
So how exactly can a business incorporate Facebook Live Marketing in their tools to increase engagements?
Here’s what you need to know.
Provide a behind-the-scenes experience to customers
“Customer experience is everyone’s business” is a mantra that I often hear from customer experience leaders. Of course, it’s true.
Give your customers a peek behind the curtains of your business. By showing “behind the scenes” content, your prospective customers will be enticed to your products or services because they will know what you’re offering is a value for money.
Show to your customers that your pair of shoes is handmade or your beer is “pure”. But giving customers a peek behind the curtain doesn’t have to end with physical products. The “behind the scenes” strategy is applicable in quite a variety of industries.
Below is an example of a behind the scenes LIVE.
Product-oriented business can share sneak peeks of new products with their followers via Facebook Live. For example, if you just launched a new product, but it’s not yet available on your website, you could use a Live video to tease it to customers.
As for the updates, this can be applied in service-oriented businesses where they can share daily updates, tips, and helpful hints. For example, if you are a real estate broker, you can some tips about real estate 101. In this way, you’re giving value and is positioning yourself as an expert in the field.
Check out an example of an updates or tips LIVE by Benefit Cosmetics.
Since Facebook Live lets you broadcast video in real-time to your followers, as well as directly to an event page or group, promoting an event via Facebook Live is definitely possible.
For example, if you are a real estate developer, you can live-stream the “Open House” event. Chances are, you can still engage your followers who want to attend the event but can’t afford to.
Answer questions
Mark Zuckerberg did this during his first live public Q & A last year. He invited users to post questions in the comments, and for others to vote on them by “liking” the comments.
Encourage further comments and questions to get more news feed activity and engagement.
Protip: Compile all the Q & A and create a blog post version. Share it with your followers so they can still refer to it every now and then.
Conclusion
There you have it!
We hope this has been a realization to you as a business owner or marketer that live video is worth a shot.
As for Facebook, we’re curious to see how they develop their live video platform to help brands connect more deeply with fans and followers, and individuals connect more deeply with friends, family, and community.
For more Facebook Live Marketing tips and tricks, check it out here.
