You may have noticed lately, there has been quite an upsurge in the use of video content in social media – especially ‘live’ videos seem to be the craze, as it allows people to connect in real time and has a much ‘fresher’ appeal, as opposed to a recorded one.
Whether it’s YouTube, Twitter (Periscope), Snapchat, InstagramStories or Facebook Live, the age of ‘instant content’ is here and the trend continues to grow.
As of now Facebook gets over four billion video views every day, and given that people spend 3x longer watching video which is Live compared to video which is no longer Live – one can only imagine the trajectory of video consumption in coming years…
As a matter of fact, the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg was quoted saying in 2014, “In five years most of Facebook will be video” - Which is not at all an ‘out of the blue’ remark when the prediction from tech giant like Cisco says, Video will account for 80% of all internet traffic by 2019.
And Facebook does seems to be leading the race in the ‘live streaming videos’ arena – The graph below shows the usage of live stream posts by the top 500 largest media profiles on Twitter (Periscope) and Facebook, with Facebook exceeding Twitter with a huge margin, which seems to be increasing by the day:
Courtesy: Socialbakers
Also, these days Facebook Live is dominating the users’ newsfeed – a ‘tell-tale’ sign that Facebook is channeling more organic exposure to live videos, and a ‘clear indication’ for B2B brands and marketers to begin using ‘Facebook Live’ to engage with their audience and to build a deeper connection with their target customers.
Here are 5 clever ways on how you too can use Facebook Live for marketing and growth of your business:
1. Live Product Demos
Video is without a doubt the most excellent medium to disseminate info, as human brains process images and visuals must faster than texts and retain the info longer in memory.
With Facebook Live you can do a live run-through or demo of your products or services – an innovative way to demonstrate the product and keep your audience interested and engaged in the process.
In the example above, email marketing company AWeber use a live Facebook session to guide and share how customers can use their platform to build a more targeted subscribers for their business.
Unlike pre-recorded videos, here the prospects and existing customers can immediately put out their queries and concerns regarding the product/services and instantly find solutions to their problems from the experts – a great way to help customers use the products effectively and help build loyalty for your brand, as you’ll be able to listen to the pain points of your customers and sort out solutions for them in real time.
2. Hosting Webinars and Online Events
With Facebook Live, organising and hosting a webinar has become much easier – given the amount of work, time and money that could go in using some of the complicated webinar platforms, not to mention the high price they charge for conducting one.
Facebook Live makes running a webinar a breeze with all the embedded Facebook tools, plus you'll never have to leave the platform.
The same goes for hosting events – or is equally possible for any events you’re attending. For instance, if you are attending an IT Trade show, you can easily stream the event from your stall, ask users to visit your stall and promote your brand.
Below is a Facebook Live event by Starbucks from Rufus King Park in Jamaica, Queens, NY on the occasion of National Voter Registration Day.
The live streaming of the event showcased Starbuck’s involvement with the community. It demonstrated how the brand is not just about making delicious coffee but also is equally dedicated to bringing social awareness amongst its community.
The live broadcast began with Starbucks representatives touring the grounds of the park, introducing various volunteers and people participating in the registration drive. The broadcast ended (as promised to the viewers) with Starbucks chairman, Howard Schultz and rapper Common, talking about the importance of voting. The event was viewed by over 168 thousand people.
3. Influencer Interviews to Promote Your Brand
An effective strategy for a brand to expand its reach and garner credibility is by hosting interviews of experts or influencers in your industry.
For your audience, to listen and interact with an influencer, who is a sought-after authority, celebrity figure or a successful entrepreneur – speaks of huge value and a ‘rare opportunity’ that one cannot afford to miss.
An example below is of Shopify, who did a Facebook Live session with the renowned author and entrepreneur, Tim Ferris:
The part interview, part Q & A session was titled, “AMA with Tim Ferris, author of the new book Tools of Titans. Ask me anything!”
The session helped Shopify ramp up its subscriber base and Facebook following - including the massive following of the influencer, who joined in to catch the live feed.
4. Repurposing Blogs into Live Videos
As we all know blogging is a key element in your Content Marketing Strategy. It helps you to build a narrative around your brand, your products and helps demonstrate your expertise and knowledge within your industry.
To take this pool of loyal readers and subscribers of your blog content and give them even more value for their involvement with you – a clever trick would be to take some of the popular blog topics and to repurpose them as content for your Facebook Live videos.
This will help you to reach an even wider audience and encourage the existing ones to interact and discuss more on the topic - as it is already a proven ‘popular’ topic with your target users. If your blog topic is fairly comprehensive, covering varied aspects on the central theme, then you can also recreate multiple Facebook Live videos from the same.
At the same time, the original blogs can also have updated versions – taking into account the feedback, or the new info generated from highly interactive questions and comments from the audience, via the Live sessions.
5. Themed ‘Video Series’
A new trend initiated by brands with Facebook Live, is the ‘series’ approach. Meaning – a regular broadcast (usually on a specific date/time, mostly weekly) of a ‘themed’ video series, much like the TV series, but this one’s a lot more interactive!
A great example of such themed Facebook Live videos comes from a cosmetic brand Benefit Cosmetics.
The Live video series are called ‘Tipsy Tricks, broadcast every Thursday at 4:15 PM. The hosts of the video initially takes about 4 to 5 minutes to interact with the audience – basically polls the audience to finalise which products they’d like to see the hosts use for the makeup look they’re creating for the day.
After couple of minutes of collecting the audience’s choices, the hosts go ahead to creating the makeup look. This kind of participatory and interactive session highly engages the audiences – resembling more of a ‘beauty themed’ ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ game.
Such regular series of videos is entertaining for the audience, and it also involves them into the ‘game’ by asking to submit their ideas on future topics to cover - All in all an immense value for the audience, and a huge opportunity for the brand to promote its products and brand image.
Over To You…
Facebook Live has undoubtedly sparked new ideas and brought in new opportunities for businesses looking towards innovating their marketing tactics. How else have you used Facebook Live for your business?
If you'd like further assistance or would like to discuss anything covered today, we'd love to hear from you.
Call Andy Fox (me) on (03) 5249 5570 or email andy@element7digital.com.au
Our Website is element7digital.com.au
