3 Benefits of Facebook Live for your brand or business

Many brands are just starting to get to grips with using video as a marketing tactic for business. And while video is still very much relevant – it will make up more than 80% of all internet traffic being consumed by 2020 – it’s little cousin, live video has really hit the ground running in recent years. Live video is quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing tools on the internet; its growth is already outperforming all other types of . This makes this the ideal time to get into this new and exciting avenue of online communication and taking advantage of the benefits of Facebook Live for your brand or business..

Every business with a Facebook page has access to Facebook Live and can begin streaming on the site for free. Plus, Facebook currently favors Facebook Live videos and gives the format preference through its algorithms. So not only are more people interested in seeing live videos, but the chances of them seeing it organically on their news feed are also much higher too.

Here are 3 benefits of Facebook Live for your brand or business.

1. Live Video is the Best Way to Connect with Your Audience Directly

While product or service videos can provide an excellent platform for potential customers to start learning more about what you do, live videos give them the chance to learn more about who you are. With Facebook Live you can target and speak to the followers of your page or brand directly. Anyone who’s interested in what you’re doing will be able to tune in and instantly feel more connected with your brand because live video allows them to get to know the brand on a more personal level. Also, live videos will enable you to get product feedback and insights instantly from potentially thousands of customers and it doesn’t have to cost you a penny.

2. It’s A Cost-Effective Marketing Tactic

As digital marketing expands, new and exciting ways to spend (and sometimes waste…) the budget opens up. These days it’s a struggle to get any sort of idea on ROI before starting on a project with a new digital tool. But the Facebook Live streaming platform itself is absolutely free, and you can use a service that gives you direct access to millions of eyes and ears with no cost at all.

A bonus is that Facebook is already doing half of the promotion work for you since their algorithms favor Facebook Live in the newsfeed. This means you often don’t need to spend money to promote an event to get an audience to view your event. Also, even if someone ends up missing the live stream, the video shows up on your page for anyone to watch again later on demand in their own time.

The money you do save by using a platform that allows you to broadcast for free allows you to use extra budget funds on producing a professional-looking event that really makes it stand out from the crowd.

3. Facebook Live Drives More Traffic to Your Page

If you start producing great events that people engage with, their comments and likes will attract others to join your page. In fact, Facebook Live has been proven to generate 600% (yes, that’s six times) more engagement than regular videos, which can boost your SEO immensely.

A good live event can create a lot of excitement in the audience about the company or your product as they interact with you and each other. Live events that encourage lots of engagement from viewers have the added benefit of increasing purchase motivations in the audience and will prompt them to spread the word about the company’s products or services. This happens with a precision that’s not possible via any other channel.

Here is a great example of a Facebook Live event from Birchbox where a slick production combined with loads of audience interaction and engagement led to a really successful online event:

Customer Appreciation Day, Live!

Welcome to Customer Appreciation Day, Live! We're bringing you an hour packed full of games and competitions, with thousands of pounds of prizes from your favourite brands to be won. So get involved and help us celebrate and say thank you to YOU! Find out more: https://birch.ly/2NQuoPm

Posted by BIRCHBOX on Friday, September 28, 2018

It might be a bit daunting to do your first Facebook live broadcast, and to be honest, it isn’t a bad thing if you are a bit nervous about it this as it shows you care about the quality of the output. I see so many brands that launch into a broadcast to their fans with no forethought or planning. This more often than not leads to a bad experience for the viewer which throws away any benefits of Facebook Live outlined above! If you’d like to have a chat about how we can work together to create great Facebook Live events for your brand or business, please do get in touch.

Top 5 Facebook Live Mistakes to Avoid on Your Next Live Event

Live events on social media platforms like Facebook are becoming more popular each day as people tune in to watch all sorts of events, talks, and other broadcasts in real time. According to Facebook, as of 2017, one in every 5 videos watched on the platform is live. While that may not sound like a lot, just imagine how many videos are being watched on Facebook every day. According to Sprout Social, as much as 8 billion videos are being watched on the social media platform daily. That’s a lot of videos, and a lot of live content being viewed every day.

As more people tune in and start watching streams on Facebook Live, their expectations of the quality of the streams are rising. Which means that anyone who can produce a quality experience in this early stage of the platform is a step ahead in the social media game. Unfortunately, many people make some common mistakes when starting out with Facebook Live that set a bad tone for the rest of their live session, resulting in few views and a slow start to their live streaming efforts, which can be discouraging.

I produce Facebook Live events for corporate clients and creative agencies in the UK, and from my experience here are the top 5 mistakes to avoid on your next Facebook live event.

Facebook Live Mistake 1: Presenters don’t rehearse their intro for the event

This is one mistake we’ve all seen so many times. Either the presenter didn’t prepare any sort of introduction for the live event at all, or if they did they didn’t rehearse it and just decided to ‘wing it’. I’d say only 1 % of presenters are actually good enough to “wing it” on a live event and it’s just a bad idea, especially if it’s your first live stream because you won’t be comfortable and it will show.

A lack of prep combined with nerves often leads to an uncertain start which can set the tone for the rest of the show. Looking at the wrong camera, speaking too quickly and worst of all the “are we on yet…?” question are all things that can put your audience off right away. All of this leads to fewer views and lower prospects of gaining more views next time. Facebook is set up in a way that makes it easy for people to quickly move on to new (and daresay more exciting) content. Much like in real life, the first impression on Facebook Live sticks so you want to make it count.

Solution: Once all the kit and crew are set up, ask the presenter to practice their intro out loud 4 or 5 times to make sure they are confident once you go live. This gives a strong start to the show and also ensures the technical team knows what’s going to happen when the event starts.

Facebook Live Mistake 2: Not starting the broadcast with a holding slide and some music

You probably already know that when you go live on Facebook, all the followers of your page get a notification to say a broadcast has begun. What many people fail to take into account, however, is that even the keenest of fans with the fastest of fingers are going to take at least 10-15 seconds to click on the link and join the session. So why not give people time to arrive before you actually start? If you just instantly launch into the event then everyone will miss the start of the broadcast, and will either skip it or spend the whole session playing catch up. Both of which are bad for you. On the one hand, if your viewers decide to skip the intro then they might be missing some important information and will feel disconnected from your message; But on the other hand, if they do go back to watch the intro then they won’t be able to interact with the show in real time which defeats the point of going live.

Solution: Create a nice holding image that details what people can expect from the event, who is taking part, and provides a call to action, like asking your viewers to get in touch. Putting some background music in alongside this means the viewer knows you are ready to go. I’d suggest around 60-90 seconds for this, as it could turn people off if you leave it on for too long without starting the actual broadcast.

Facebook Live Mistake 3: Using a mobile phone as the camera for the broadcast

Facebook live technology is a great way to instantly connect with people from all over the world. It also allows you to broadcast to your followers straight from your mobile device. Thing is, people could also use a mobile camera for adverts on TV or live news pieces, but you wouldn’t want that for your brand so why do it on Facebook live? As good as mobile video tech is, if you use it for Facebook Live, you are restricted to one camera angle and the autofocus will quickly become annoying for viewers. I know there is a big drive for “authentic” looking material, but in my opinion, if you are a brand that’s serious about making a professional production, you need some professional equipment.

Like I said, people are starting to expect better quality experiences from live broadcasts and if you don’t offer what they’re looking for, then they will just go looking for it elsewhere. Using a mobile phone might be the cheaper solution in the beginning, but it will cost you viewership in the long run.

Solution: The cost of professional quality video cameras have plummeted over recent years and you can get something on Ebay for as little as £400 that would be more than good enough for the job. Alternatively, if you decide to use a professional in the field – I know you will be shocked at the difference a couple of broadcast quality cameras will make to your production.

Facebook Live Mistake 4: The presenter ignores the audience

One massive benefit of Facebook Live is the fact that it gives you a chance to communicate directly with the people who are interested in your brand and the product and services you sell. I’ve worked on so many events where all the focus is on the celebrity or person being interviewed and their wants and needs (sometimes VERY specific…), while the end viewer is being totally ignored.

This leads to a lack of engagement and people switching off. Which misses the whole point of live video. So if you want to go that route, then live broadcasting isn’t the right option for you. But if you do want people to actively engage with the content you’re sharing while you’re sharing it, then you have to show an openness and encourage them to do that.

Solution: Make the viewer feel like they’re part of the production and also the most important part of it. Use calls to action, give the host a tablet so they can see the comments section and then put viewers’ questions forward and reply to them (always make sure to mention them by name), and create competitions and prize giveaways for them. Give them reasons to stay with you. All of these examples will have a positive impact on your viewers, which in turn will have a positive impact on the event metrics.

Facebook Live Mistake 5: Presenters aren’t using proper microphones

Of all the mistakes I see regularly, this is the one that irritates me the most as it’s one of the easiest to fix. This usually goes alongside mistake number 3 – when using a mobile to record the video. That’s because in this setup the audio often comes from the onboard smartphone mic. The cameras on these devices might be getting better, but the microphones have been and probably always will be terrible. This is the easiest way to make your production look like a quickly put together amateur shoot.

People may forgive some shaky camerawork and the odd funny looking shots, but they won’t forgive not being able to hear what’s being said, and this results in your viewers switching off faster than it takes for you to say “hello”. Believe me, they can lose interest that fast.

Solution: You can get a decent microphone from Amazon for about £25 or spend right up to £600+ on a professional wireless microphone. It all comes down to budget, but this is one area I’d never skimp on because if it goes wrong, it’s the one thing that is glaringly obvious to everyone. Ideally, you would want to use a company who has experience in doing audio for live events and who can give you guidance on the best approach for your budget.

Facebook Live Mistake Examples:

So, now that you have some advice that should help you navigate the, hopefully, tranquil waters of Facebook Live (unless your camera work is choppy!), I thought I should provide you with some examples of good and bad Facebook Live videos. The first is a DIY job using in-house equipment, while the second is a professional job by an external company.

As you can see on the video below, the video quality isn’t great because they’re using a mobile phone for a camera and had no external microphone, which means you can barely hear them. There’s also no proper opening with them just launching into an intro that was clearly not rehearsed enough.

Facebook Live Mistakes:

As you can see from the second video, the production team used multiple professional cameras to get shots from different sides, and better microphones that produced clear audio quality. The team also started off with an intro slide which had their call to action – a hashtag for their viewers to follow and use. This is a great example of what a Facebook Live video can, and ideally should, look like.

Facebook Live Best Practice:

 

While I do hate calling out Facebook Live failures like the one above, as it’s a horrible experience for everyone when it goes wrong, hopefully, it serves the good purpose of portraying what you should avoid next time you’re going live and the progress that the same brand can make from one broadcast to another.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide how you’re going to run your live videos and sometimes it’s part of the learning process to do it for yourself and feel the sting of a mistake. But if you can avoid these common mistakes from the get-go then you’ll definitely start your Facebook Live journey off on the right foot.

If, however, you feel that you would be better off with someone that can help you produce amazing Facebook Live Streaming results for your company or brand, then make sure to give me a call! I have worked with many companies and creative agencies to create Facebook Live Streaming events that highlight their respective messages in the best possible way and can do the same for you.