11 Smart Practices for Using Facebook Live

Live streaming adds another dimension to your marketing efforts. As video consumption grows, rising demand for video content will compel more companies to integrate the technology into their marketing strategies. If you’re all new to this, here are some useful practices to get your live streaming off to a great start:

Have a Purpose

Updating your social media pages with fresh content is an excellent way to get your customers to keep coming back for more. However, that only works if the content you provide is actually useful to them. If you’re going to use Facebook Live, make sure you’re doing it because you have something valuable to share and not simply for the sake of updating your pages. Otherwise, that move could backfire on you real quick.

Integrate Your Marketing Channels

Your social media pages aren’t islands. Use them in conjunction with other marketing channels like your Twitter page, blogs, official website and more, says SEMrush. Mention those other channels in your live videos so your audience know where they could get find you. Make access easy for them by providing links in the video’s description.

Choose a Good Spot

Make sure you pick a good environment before you go on live video. Stay away from noisy spots that could prove distracting throughout the broadcast. Also, it’s a good idea to go for places that are well away from constant foot traffic. The last thing you want is for some friends or colleagues to wave at you while you’re doing a live broadcast—unless it’s all part of your design.

Take Precautions

If you’re going to go live at home, pick a spot that won’t give away anything about the layout of your home or your location. You don’t want people suddenly accosting you out on the street or knowing where you live.

Interact With Your Audience

Don’t make it all about you. Interact with your visitors. Ask questions and allow them to send emails, make comments, and leave feedback or other messages. Do not forget to respond to those messages as well and encourage them to call in with their thoughts. By making your broadcast interactive, you have a much better chance of getting your audience to stay around longer. It also helps build deep and abiding engagement that should keep them coming back for more.

Get the Right Equipment

Know how to stream live video on Facebook with BlueJeans. After all, it’s not enough to know live streaming basics. A crucial part of your success will depend on the tools and equipment you use. If your videos are blurry or demonstrate poor audio environment, that’s not going to make your visitors stay. Invest in the right video streaming system so you won’t have to worry about technical difficulties and glitches caused by inferior tools. Without the right software and equipment, your videos aren’t going to do your marketing campaigns that much good.

Be Personal

Another way you could build audience engagement is to use people’s names. When you reply to those comments or suggestions, make sure you reach out to them by using their names. It helps create a connection between your customers and brand. By being personal, your audience will have more reason to stick around. The longer they do, the more inclined they would be to buy your products or pay for your services.

Experiment

Don’t use the same settings all the time. Play with different formats. Go live for different lengths of time. Keep it short and sweet or long and informative, depending on your topic or your reactions from your audience. This will help keep your broadcasts from getting predictable and boring.

Get Guests

You might also want to interview guests on your show. That could add a bit of excitement to your videos. Your audience will be in for a treat, not knowing what to expect with every guest.

Use Humor

People love to laugh. If you have a knack for it, don’t be afraid to let that loose on your live videos. People respond to humor positively. If you can pull this off all while keeping the humor consistent with your brand personality and image, you’ll be able to net plenty of customers along the way.

Ask Them to Hit Follow

Don’t forget to remind guests to follow you after they’ve watched the video, the Independent says. The next time you have a broadcast, Facebook will send them notifications so they could keep track of your live videos that much easier. By increasing the numbers of your followers, you can get the brand exposure and recognition you want. This is especially ideal if you’re planning to launch a new product line or service.

Don’t let your marketing campaigns bite the dust. Put these practices to good use and let live streaming bring you that much closer to your target market in ways that weren’t possible before.