Making the Most out of Facebook Live
As streaming video has gone from a website feature to supporting several different social media channels—including Periscope and Meerkat—and becoming a destination for content in and of itself, the blue giant, Facebook, has unsurprisingly but officially thrown its hat into the live streaming ring with Facebook Live.
If you just smiled at that news, then read on. After all, while Meerkat and Periscope are awesome social media channels that some brands are making fantastic use of, they’re still new platforms and the vast majority of social media users have not likely heard of them. After all, while social media is where you’ll often find the cutting edge of the internet, Facebook is declining in use amongst today’s teens, but is surging in use by an increasingly older demographic.
While that might mean Facebook is no longer “cool,” it is certainly widely used and reaches the largest number of consumers of any social media service. Thus, while your mom might not have been in a rush to test out her live stream feed on Periscope, once she sees a friend of hers broadcasting a special family event, you cans afely bet that live streaming will start to surge in popularity now that it is offered on Facebook as of late December.
So what does this mean for businesses? While we’ve talked in the past of how using a live streaming service like Meerkat, Periscope, and Google+ Hangouts can offer a novel way to engage with your brand’s audience, FacebookLive brings that power to the world’s largest social media platform. Thus, it’s now up to us social media marketers to figure out how to make the most out of this new feature.
One tactic to keep in mind when engaging with your audience via live video is to decide prior to hitting record what your video is even about. After all, poor planning will be the Achilles heel of many a Facebook Live disaster (and future viral video clip) so make sure you know what the focus of your video is and know what you want to accomplish.
In addition, when labeling your video, go for a compelling title that both communicates what your video is about while piquing the curiosity of someone who would otherwise not engage with your brand through social media.
Furthermore, while this might seem obvious, aim for excellent audio and don’t just rely on your desktop’s or laptop’s built-in mic to get you through the recording. Invest in a quality microphone so that no one can miss a word in your videos.
Finally, one cool feature to keep in mind is that you can use both the front and back POV’s for your video. So rather than keep the focus on your face for your whole video, show what’s around you by toggling back and forth on the video’s recording options.
Simply put, with the launch of Facebook Live, live streaming is looking to explode in popularity in 2016. Rather than be a late adopter, start playing around now and record some test videos to get a hang of what your brand’s online video channel will look like.
Photo by marcopako 
