Facebook Live is transforming the way brands share videos, and cultivating a much more intimate, immediate relationship between brands and audience members.
We’ve seen that people comment more than 10 times more on Facebook Live videos than on regular videos.
— Facebook Newsroom, April 2016
From news organizations to beauty brands, social marketers who are investing in harnessing the power of this raw, accessible video platform are experiencing more engagement and interaction with Facebook users than ever before.
Here are the strategies which ten of the most innovative are employing, along with take-home tips for your own brand.
BBC
BBC regularly posts Facebook Live videos, and uses them to give stories both immediacy (we were there when…) and longevity (here’s a look at when we were there).
This is a great example of how your Facebook Live videos don’t have to just be flash-in-the-pan, Snapchat-style stories that are here and then gone. Your Facebook Live videos can do work for you over time.
What your brand can try: Think of an event which your brand is sponsoring, associated with, and/or involves a big chunk of your target market. Then make sure you’re on the ground using Facebook Live during the event to capture the excitement and interview people who are also there.
Keep your Facebook Live video up after the event, and measure how much more engagement and/or click-throughs you receive from the time of the event to two weeks after. Use this as a baseline for future Facebook Live videos.
The Voice
The Voice uses Facebook Live to get immediate feedback and ideas from their Facebook audience.
What your brand can try: Facebook Live is a great place to crowd source ideas from your audience. Are you putting together an event or giveaway? Get one or two dynamic influencers on your Facebook Live to draw ideas and opinions out of your audience.
Gabby Bernstein
New York Times best-selling author, life coach, and spiritual guru Gabby Bernstein is a very active early adopter of Facebook Live.
She sometimes posts multiple times a day, and always includes a link to her website, specifically the landing page for her latest book.
What your brand can try: Facebook Live won’t just generate engagement and ideas from your Facebook audience: you will also be able to measure what kind of web traffic you’re generating from your Facebook Live investment.
Use Facebook Live daily for a month with a specific URL at the bottom of each video, and see if you get a bump in web traffic. This will give you a good baseline for understanding whether what you’re doing is working.
If you’d like to get even more advanced, consider attaching a different URL for each different theme, event, product, or influencer to each Facebook Live video, so that you know exactly which content types are generating the most interest — and, more importantly, action — for your brand.
Patrón Tequila
When in doubt, teach ’em something! Patrón‘s Facebook Live video below teaches tequila fans how to make a special cocktail.
This is both an entertaining process to watch and a learning moment for viewers.
What your brand can try: First, ask yourself this set of brand- and audience-focused questions:
What does your brand do best messaging-wise?
What does your product do best?
Which Facebook content (video and otherwise) has worked best for your brand in the past?
Then, come up with a few ideas for lessons to roll out on Facebook Live.
Next, get on Facebook Live and ask your audience members which lesson they’d be most interested in learning. With Facebook Live, you’ve got greater insight into the brains of your fans than ever before.
Finally, get on Facebook Live and teach that lesson!
Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers rolled out a new product on Facebook Live recently.
What your brand can try: Facebook Live is an excellent place to roll out and/or spotlight a new product, especially if it is a product that looks good in action or has an air of mystery to it. Even Facebook’s CPO did it with Facebook Live:
Post by facebook.
Also note: Using the #FacebookLive hashtag will help your brand get discovered as Facebook users play around and search for this new feature.
Gary Vaynerchuk
There is no man more active on social than entrepreneur and internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk. From Snapchat to Facebook Live, there are probably thousands of hours of video featuring Gary across the social realm.
This is not to say that Gary’s social presence isn’t carefully strategized and executed. That’s why he’s on Facebook Live.
Gary uses Facebook Live to broadcast from the various business and industry events he attends, often conducting Q&A’s.
What your brand can try: Conduct a Q&A on Facebook Live with your CEO or other VIP to see which questions surface and humanize your brand. Start with a pre-populated list of questions to get the ball rolling, then begin taking questions from the comments section.
I recommend beginning with a five-minute time limit. This way, if things go off the tracks, you can close the Q&A without seeming like you are cutting it short.
ellentube
Ellen subjects her guests to Facebook Live videos where they take questions from the Facebook Live audience.
This is such fantastic, direct second-screen engagement, I can’t even.
What your brand can try: Bring a charming, non-branded guest in and let your Facebook audience dictate the direction that the conversation takes. This is a logical extension of podcasts and more “static” videos.
Remember to ask your guest to heavily promote this scheduled Facebook Live session on his or her social channel(s) as well, both on and off Facebook. Pair this Facebook Live session with a giveaway for best question and you’ll see even greater viewership.
Movies on Facebook
Facebook promotes movies for film studios by hosting stars on their Facebook Live series.
People love feeling close to stars, whether that takes the form of photos of celebrities hitting the 7-11 or bantering back and forth about on-set hijinks.
What your brand can try: Use Facebook Live to give your Facebook fans an up-close-and-personal view of your organization’s inner workings and feel-good moments.
KTU
Radio station KTU used Facebook Live to give its listeners supplemental information, access, and insight they couldn’t receive on KTU’s main broadcast channel: the radio.
What your brand can try: Try using Facebook Live as your designated “alternate” social channel during your next broadcast or event. Instead of using Snapchat or Periscope, utilize Facebook Live and compare metrics (or lack thereof) on these three channels over time to understand which emerging network is giving your brand the best return.
Jaimie Alexander
Do something you can’t take back, like actress and director Jaimie Alexander getting a tattoo on Facebook Live:
Post by JaimieAlexander.
This is the bottom line for any Facebook Live strategy you commit to: give your Facebook audience an experience they can’t get anywhere else — so that they’ll come back for more, and even seek your brand out for specific topics and themes.