Live video on Facebook is the perfect marketing measure as part of content marketing or branding. Gone are the days when your clients only asked you for well-planned videos in HD with specially composed music and Oscar-worthy editing skills.
Today, authenticity is more important (or at least what your followers think it is). Live videos enable you to get in direct and immediate contact with your customers and prospects. If you want to build a loyal and enthusiastic fan base, there is no way around Facebook Live video.
We tell you what you should pay attention to so that you can use the possibilities effectively.
Why Should You Make Facebook Live Videos?
There are many ways to connect with customers over the internet. Whether it’s customer loyalty or branding, video is unbeaten in both areas. There is no medium in which you can present yourself more distinctively and there is no better way to build trust.
Live video is another step up: customers can contact you directly and you can answer their questions or respond to their comments. This is how a monologue – like a YouTube video – becomes a real dialogue.
And that in turn has an enormous effect on customer loyalty. Because you become “more accessible”, more approachable, and more personal and thus create a bond with your customers and prospects. Of course, you stand out from the anonymous crowd of the internet.
It couldn’t be easier. Your brand is probably on Facebook, has built a loyal following, and all you need is a smartphone. So you can add a facet to your social media activities with Facebook Live videos that make your engagement more effective. And: Nobody expects you to be perfect in your first attempts. Mistakes are allowed.
Perfection is not required – some preparation is
With a live video on Facebook, not everything has to be right. You are allowed to be nervous and distracted by comments, your image quality does not have to be optimal and you don’t have to play the solo entertainer with the eloquence of an experienced speaker. The same applies to moderators if you do not appear in front of the camera yourself.
Not only are mistakes allowed, but they also help make you more human to your followers. Dealing with mistakes correctly is important. You should not deny them and are allowed to mention them. If you take it easy, you show sovereignty and composure and win the hearts of your fans.
However, there is one mistake you shouldn’t make: You can’t plan a live show, but recording it on the fly doesn’t make sense either. You should have at least a rough concept. Plus, making notes can be your lifeline when your live video falters. This way, a short hangover doesn’t become an embarrassing experience and you feel safer with every video.
Part of the preparation is letting your fans know about your live video ahead of time. Go live spontaneously can work if you have a large number of followers and are active enough on Facebook that they constantly interact with you. Your live video will be much more effective if you set an appointment for it and communicate this at least one day in advance. So you have more viewers and the effort is worth it for you.
What gear do you need for the Facebook Live video?
Video quality doesn’t have to be perfect. However, you should make sure that your fans and followers are not uncomfortable watching your video. With a reasonably up-to-date smartphone and stable WiFi, you can ensure good transmission with acceptable quality.
You should definitely work with a tripod so that the picture doesn’t shake and your viewers don’t get dizzy. You should also wear headphones to avoid feedback.
A microphone is also not a bad investment in the long run. Because many Facebook users use headphones, sound quality is important. Crackling, whistling, hissing – sound interference is much more unpleasant over headphones and can cause viewers to switch off. A simple podcast microphone is often more than sufficient here.
If you later want to increase the image quality, switching to a current digital SLR camera is just as possible as special cameras for vlogging. Before you invest in a new camera, it often goes a long way to better illuminate the picture. Ring lights are significantly cheaper than a camera and improve image quality significantly.
The technical requirements increase when you want to record more complex activities. Then you need several cameras, movable microphones, and more sophisticated lighting technology. There are now specialized service providers in this area. Such social media video agencies can also support your live.
If you’re just getting started with streaming through Facebook, you can start with simple things. Starting a Facebook Live video takes a few clicks and doesn’t require a dedicated app.
However, over time you may want to use more features, manage multiple audio or video tracks, or stream on multiple channels simultaneously. There are apps for all these projects, some of which are not even chargeable. Facebook Live Producer would be an inexpensive, easy-to-understand program that allows you to integrate multiple signal sources. If you need special functions, you should deal with the different tools. Then Zoom, Ecamm, Wirecast, or believe.tv could be interesting for you.
For all apps, you need a powerful PC and a monitor on which you can mix the signals.
7 ideas for live video on Facebook
Especially at the beginning, you may find it difficult to think of a suitable concept with which to fill your first videos. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are many popular formats that you can use to get good results.
1) Q&A
Simply ask your followers what questions they have about your company and prepare them with the appropriate answers for your live stream. Of course, you can also respond to live comments.
Additionally, it will be more attractive for followers who submitted questions to follow your live video. But make sure to mention the questioners by name. This shows appreciation and strengthens the bond between you.
Such a Q&A does not actually work well in every industry. However, you can already tell from the questions sent in whether it is worth going live for just this section. If it becomes apparent that your followers’ interest in this format is limited, you can make it a column at the end of each stream instead, or include it as a warm-up.
2) Interviews and round tables
An interview can often pick up your followers better than a pure Q&A with you. Nevertheless, interviews are not a surefire success. The questioner should at least have dealt a little with questioning techniques and the background of the person in advance. It goes without saying that viewers can ask questions. It makes sense to clarify in advance with the interviewee which questions they do not want to be asked.
Switching on during an interview is more exciting simply because the interviewee is only available once – at least when the interviewee is better known. Success is almost assured if you manage to interview influencers or industry celebrities. You should then definitely take the opportunity and also refer to the live video on the interviewee’s Facebook page.
Equally popular is a round table discussion with various experts discussing a specific main topic. Such discussions are interesting and valuable for your community.
3) Transmission of live events
If your company organizes events, you can also stream them live with very little effort. You can broadcast concerts, round tables, or lectures relatively well with just a static camera and thus convince those who stayed at the home of the event. The additional effort is accordingly manageable. Another plus: For speakers or other participants, a stream is an additional argument to come to your event.
4) Contests and Sweepstakes
Arguably the best way to get followers to try out your live stream is through sweepstakes. That’s why you should use it to advertise your events if you can offer attractive prizes. Of course, the challenge here is that you have to conduct the competition online. Some providers also make this easy for you.
An example would be Kahoot! . You can use it to carry out quizzes in real-time and evaluate them automatically. So you can quickly create a real event and get your followers to participate without the effort for you increasing immeasurably.
Of course, you can get creative regardless of this and see how you can involve your followers. There are many ways to do this.
5) Guides and Tutorials
As one of the classics on Facebook Live, instructions, and other help are increasingly emerging. Ideally, you not only show how it’s done but also answer the questions from the chat at the same time. That way, you can offer a tutorial that at least covers the basics to be more helpful to your followers than any other piece of content on the web. This is not least due to the direct feedback from your viewers, who tell you where their problems lie.
Such live videos are suitable for being put back online later and thus create a lasting benefit. Of course, nobody prevents you from working occasionally or as a series with influencers or other personalities from your industry to achieve more added value and attention.
6) Help customers concretely
You don’t always have to come up with something yourself. Your followers know exactly how you can help them. For example, you could rate your customers’ website, logo, or corporate design and give them tips for improvement. Or you give followers tips on how to take better photos, garden, style themselves or eat healthier. Of course, you shouldn’t give away all your knowledge for anything. Often, however, an initial consultation is not only interesting for the person who is being advised but also leads to more conversions because interested parties can see how you work. And there is not much better advertising for your company.
7) Product launches
If you launch a new product, you can now introduce it directly with a presentation on Facebook. Many large companies use live video to present their innovations. With live videos you can reach your target group directly, you can get live feedback, and ignite hype.
8 tips on how to get more viewers for live Facebook video
Streaming is more fun when you have more viewers. So that you can increase the number of your views as quickly as possible, we have 8 tips for you:
1) Stream regularly and announce streams early
Only when your followers can see that you’re using Facebook Live will they tune in. You should therefore announce your streaming activities early on and carry them out as regularly as possible. This way, your followers will get used to you being on air and pay attention to the dates.
2) Announce your stream in a way that everyone wants to be there
You don’t have to have planned every minute, but you should be clear about the added value you want to offer your viewers with your stream. Spend enough time making that benefit clear in the title and description. Pique the curiosity of your Facebook fans with announcements that don’t give too much away.
3) Collaborate with others
If you work with influencers or well-known figures in your industry, they can also attract their followers to the stream. This does not always require local cooperation. Many tools allow you to stream video conferences.
4) Don’t put all the videos online afterward
If your followers assume they can stream the video at a later date, they won’t come online specifically to do so. Make sure that not all of your videos go online afterward and inform your followers about it.
5) Make it more attractive to be there live
Small competitions, interaction with commentators, or exclusive insights that you don’t put online afterward: Anyone who is there life must see an advantage. You don’t always have to give gifts, but you should make sure that your streams have a certain event character. Being there live has to be better than re-live. Make future viewers wish they were there!
6) Make it clear to your followers how important it is for you that they are there
It is part of community maintenance that your followers know that you are happy that they are there. Organize puzzles, prizes, or other benefits for your customers with your company when you reach a certain number of live viewers. If individuals represent your business on social media and your viewers have bonded with them, you can engage them. Dares, a round of truth or dare, uncovering a small business secret: there are many ways to reward regular viewers.
At the end of the stream, you should say thank you and goodbye. A thank you post the next day or in the hours afterward rounds off dealing with your followers. If you have the time, you should definitely respond to feedback that comes in later. Often you will also find the best suggestions for your future streams here.
7) Insert CTAs into your live Facebook videos
Like, subscribe, tell me what you think, and share the stream – sure, it can be a bit annoying to be constantly being prompted and prompted for interactions. If you don’t, your success will be less. Your prospects will perform actions significantly more often when you ask them to do so. If you want to build a regular viewer base, you can’t avoid CTAs. Not in the video itself, nor the announcements about it.
8) Don’t stream too short
One of the biggest mistakes is keeping the live streams too short. Many viewers do not stare impatiently at their screens five minutes before a live stream. On the contrary, a few minutes late is the rule rather than the exception. That’s why you shouldn’t keep your streams too short but rather aim for a quarter of an hour or more to enable latecomers to be there live.
Strategize your Facebook Live video activity!
As always with marketing and your social media activities, you must of course think carefully about why exactly you want to use Facebook Live and what results you hope to get from it. Last but not least, this means that you track the success of your videos and monitor how it contributes to your business goals.
First and foremost, ideally, you should develop a concept. It’s perfectly fine to allow yourself a certain test phase in which you learn how your followers react, how they want to interact with you, and what resonates with them. However, you should then develop campaigns based on these findings and track their success. Basically, you can use the same KPIs that you use in social media marketing. Some data is video-specific. Facebook provides you with a whole range of statistics. For example:
- Video views (even without repeated views by a user)
- number of viewers
- total watched minutes
- Reactions, comments, shares
These stats are useful because they show you how well your streaming is performing on multiple levels. Basically, you not only want many users to see your video live, but you also want your viewers to interact with you as much as possible or even recommend your stream. Only then can you be sure that you are making good use of the opportunities. And when you get prospects to engage with you, the chances that they will buy from you or recommend you will increase significantly.
It’s hard to figure out just how powerful Facebook videos are in converting you into customers. Most attribution models are not accurate enough. Especially when your followers reject tracking, you have bad chances. You can still collect leads in a targeted manner as part of live videos and, for example, use specially set up landing pages or specific discount codes to record how well your live videos convert. You can at least guess the branding effect from surveys.
10 pitfalls you should absolutely avoid with Facebook live videos
1) Ignore viewers
If you’re not engaging with your viewers, you can offer recorded webinars or put your content on YouTube instead. Facebook Live thrives on you responding to comments and interacting with your viewers. If you don’t use this option, you don’t have to bother.
2) Rambling
Of course, you or your moderator should be as authentic as possible and do not have to have any training as a TV announcer. However, if you don’t happen to have a target group that has a lot of time and patience, you shouldn’t be too long-winded, but instead, remind yourself to get to the point in between.
3) Provide no added value
Although it might seem obvious, you shouldn’t stream just to chat. On Facebook, your followers expect value or at least some excitement. After all, you represent a company. Your streams should therefore not always be purely an advertising event. On certain occasions, such as product launches, that’s perfectly okay. However, your followers will thank you with interactions if they receive something more from you than product information.
4) Improve nothing
Facebook shows you detailed statistics when you lose your viewers. Even if it is not easy to analyze yourself critically, you should take a look at which places these are and why so many switch off at these points. Likewise, the comments are important to find out where you can improve.
5) Getting too insecure
When broadcasting live, you cannot avoid all mistakes. Don’t let that bother you too much. This also applies to rude comments. When you’re active on social media, you can hardly avoid it. If it’s not a valid criticism, blocking the trolls will do more than pay attention to the stream.
6) Stop using content
If you have shot great videos and the content is well received by your followers, you should ensure that your prospects can use it independently of Facebook. Once you get used to the technology, you can go live on other platforms or your own website with little effort. You can later provide videos as a re-live and thus ensure that the content reaches more people. If you cut out short excerpts from the live video, you always have a few tidbits that you can use on your social media channels without much effort.
7) Giving up too soon
It often takes a few months to be successful on social media. Often the activity then almost becomes a sure-fire success. Facebook rewards videos with more reach, so there is no better way to reach (new) followers without paying. If you quit too soon, you don’t know your potential and you haven’t improved your streams.
Even if it can be frustrating at the beginning to drive the effort for a few viewers, you should persevere for several months and, above all, stream regularly. Only then will you know whether Facebook Live is a suitable format for you or not?
If you find it too much effort, focus on providing real value to your viewers and use the video material for tutorials on your website.
8) Post important posts right after live streams
Facebook provides streams with more reach. If you post posts before or after streams too soon, Facebook will drive traffic into the stream and away from your posts. Because of this, you must allow a few hours to pass before posting important information. Otherwise, you’re digging the water out for yourself. Be sure to announce in the stream that you have important news coming soon, or respond to the news that has already been posted.
9) Respond to new viewers
Even if you can rely on a loyal fan base: Not every one of your viewers knows who you are. Introduce yourself and what you do regularly during the stream and thus attract new viewers. If you refer to previous streams or posts, keep in mind that you may have new followers who aren’t familiar with the past. Don’t turn your streams into an insider event, it’s better to explain too much than too little.
10) Not becoming more professional
If you start to see that Facebook Live is worth it for you, you should gradually become more professional. Better image quality and more action will reward viewers with higher engagement, which in turn will encourage Facebook to push your videos higher up their feeds. If it is worthwhile for you, you should expand the activities and improve their quality. To do this, you should consider what your fans want and already appreciate about you.
Bottom line: Facebook Live videos can do a lot for your business
If your business is small and you don’t have a lot of funds, Facebook Live can be a great tool for you to increase your reach. Facebook presents live streams to more users than text posts and images.
At the same time, it combines everything that makes social media unique: you can interact with your followers and you present yourself and your company as it is. This leads to real sympathy, a good reach of the target group, and close customer loyalty.
You also don’t have to meet any major requirements to get started with Facebook Live. An approximate concept and a smartphone camera will do. You can reuse the content and achieve a lot with little effort.
Over time you will become more and more professional and thus address customers that you have not been able to reach before. So Facebook Live can help your business become significantly more successful on social media. You just have to dare to start. You can gradually learn or add to the rest.
However, right from the start you have to make it a point to interact with your followers and to celebrate this aspect. Only then can Facebook Live unfold its strengths for you and work the way you want it to. Anyone who ignores their followers or sees them as accessories will not be successful on this platform.