Information in this blog was obtained from the Social Media Examiner.
How do you use Facebook? They offer several ways to connect, may that be with friends and family across the globe, finding your next furry best friend, or gaining attention to your newest big idea. In this blog post, find out how easy it is to use Facebook’s live stream feature and use it to grow your platform.
Locating Facebook Live
Once you have logged into your personal Facebook and navigate to your business page, you will find a button under your post bubble that says “Live Video” when looking at a cell phone, it does look different on a computer, just look for the red camera. Once you click on that you will be given three options. “Go Live”, “Create live video event” and at the bottom, you can select to either go live now or schedule a broadcast. Once you have made your selection you will then create your media content and either post it or save it to be posted at a later date.
Facebook Live Reasons
According to Michael Stelzner from the social media examiner, “live video is the fastest way to grow an engaged and qualified audience that converts. This audience will actually help you build your business.” This is one of the most important reasons a business page would want or need to go live. The goal is usually to get subscribers, but if you can get your conversion rates to jump from a live feed, that is also an incredible bonus, and ideally money in your pocket. Another reason to go live is simply brand awareness. Maybe you gained new followers for one specific post, but does your new followers know what your brand is about? Going live is a great way to grab those new folks attention and show them what you are all about. Posting that live feed at a later date can allow more traffic to your website as well, because maybe your new follower couldn’t stay engaged the whole feed and needs to return to get the full jist of your brand.
Equipment (or lack thereof)
When it comes to going live on Facebook, you can use as much or as little equipment as you and your team desire. Some business pages simply use their phone or computer with no special extras to accomplish this goal. Others opt to use ring lights and special backdrops or even music for their live feeds. Luria Petrucci also from the Social Media Examiner gives some tips on how to get the best quality stream while holding your phone. “Use the front camera, so you can see the angle you are shooting from and read the comments. Shoot in landscape mode if you’re on iOS. This won’t make a difference during your broadcast, however, if you save the video to your camera roll and repurpose content, you’ll want your video in landscape orientation. Don’t scrape your hand across your phone’s microphone. You’ll hurt people’s ears if you do that.” These are some great tips to follow for a quick live feed that keeps distractions at a minimum.
Live Video Reach
Increasing your reach to folks is exactly what Facebook Live is all about. You can use Facebook Live to update your current followers on things your brand is doing, but the real goal is to get the information in as many hands as possible. Facebook lives can be shared both while you are creating the piece and after the piece has been published. This means your followers who share the post will also have their followers potentially see it, and you will get more views, and ideally, more followers. Mari Smith gives some well-thought-out tips for improving impact in her blog. “Decide what you’re broadcasting, determine what you want to accomplish, and always add a call to action”. That call to action is pretty important and can be as simple as “click subscribe to stay tuned to our company's next adventure”.
Although social media is absolutely good fun, it's also a key marketing tool. Knowing how and why to do a Facebook Live stream can be a making point for your brand. For more information on Facebook marketing visit my colleague Kaitlyn's blog at Facebook Marketing Strategy - It's Easier Than It Appears (thesmmu.com). Until next time friends!
Resources
Petrucci, L. (2016, October 10). Retrieved from SocialMediaExaminer: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/4-ways-to-broadcast-on-facebook-live-that-fit-any-budget/
Smith, M. (2016, July 18). Retrieved from SocialMediaExaminer: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-increase-your-facebook-live-video-reach/
Stelzner, M. (2022, January 6). Retrieved from SocialMediaExaminer: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-live-as-a-marketing-strategy/
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