Video has taken over social media. Your feeds that used to be filled first by words and then by photos have been increasingly bombarded with videos. As social media companies do their best to meet demand, one of the cool kids on the block, Facebook Live, leaves marketers a little stumped. Going live at a concert or for your kid’s first steps makes perfect sense, but as a company, how and when should you go live? Monotonous paper work and office meetings aren’t always that glamorous, and more importantly, what are current and potential leads really looking for?
Don’t just go live to go live…let’s consider your goals.
What fuels your social strategy? How do your current followers interact with you on social media and what do you hope they’d do? What does success look like? If you were to go live, what would you hope your viewers would do? Are your competitors going live? Answers to these questions provide the basis for your decision to go live.
When considering your goals, it’s also important to understand the benefits of going live as opposed to continuing with your typical Facebook strategy. The top unique attributes include:
- Instant Interactions: In the form of likes, reactions, shares, and comments in real time that boost visibility and engagement.
- Permanent Videos: That don’t disappear with the ghosts of SnapChat. Keep your live video on your page, promote, and improve them with an editable cover photo, tags, copy, and hashtags.
- Cost-Effective: Meaning not as high of a need for a fancy new camera, cameraman, or set. Live videos can be shot with a marketer and a mobile phone.
If the wins from going live are bigger than the costs, it aligns with your current social strategy, and followers are likely to respond well to a live video, then pass go, and hope to collect $200.
So you’re going live…what to shoot.
We could write a whole blog listing out the multiple things to shoot live. But just because it’s on someone’s list doesn’t mean it’s right for your business. Below is a short list of ideas for company live videos, but you should consider doing some research and brainstorming a bit. Are your competitors going live? What are they filming? Let’s go back to those goals and see what makes sense.
Here’s some ideas from Stickyeyes.com to get you started, but remember, you have to create the scene that’s right for you:
- Unboxing a New Product
- Product Testing
- Exclusive Interviews
- Competitions
- Product Launches
- Behind the Scenes Access
- Live Events (proceed with caution here, ensuring you have license to use certain footage or music at an event)
Live means Live, there’s no do-overs…shoot smart.
It’s a free country, you can go ahead and shoot, but to make the most bang for your buck, here’s some things to consider.
- Real Time Interactions Call for Real Time Response: Can you have someone on hand responding to comments while someone else is filming?
- Connection, Connection, Connection: How good is your signal? Securing a strong internet connection makes, and could break, your live stream.
- Follow Through Is Everything: Remember your goals? Make sure your audience has the information they need to follow suit. Provide location information, links, prices, or whatever else aligns with your goals for this effort.
- Make Sure Someone Will Be Watching: While Live Videos are permanent on your page, you need live viewers to make it an engaging success. Generate some buzz before going live and set a reasonable time of day for your production. Make it compelling enough for someone to write it down in their busy schedule.
Facebook Live exists as a possibility for everyone, both personally and professionally. Video is on trend and will likely continue that way, but Facebook Live is still new. With the option to go live out there, consider what makes sense for your business. It’s not for everyone but could be just the thing to reach your goals on social media.
So if it makes sense, go live and prosper.
Image credit: newsroom.fb.com
