In this 4-minute read:
- What is Facebook Live?
- Why use Facebook Live for your business?
- Creative ways to use Facebook Live to promote your business
- How to create a Facebook Live video (step-by-step walkthrough)
Social media marketing should be in every business owner’s toolbelt. You should be spending time where your customers are, and we can almost guarantee that a large percentage of your customers are spending a lot of time on their phones across different social platforms.
After you’ve created a Facebook page and established a little bit of a following, you can really start getting customers to engage with you on social media with Facebook Live.
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What is Facebook Live?
Facebook Live is a fun feature on Facebook that allows you to broadcast video in real-time to your audience. You have the ability to invite specific people to watch your videos as you start them and get your customers excited about your company news.
Reasons why Facebook Live is a good option for your business
The real question here: how can Facebook Live benefit your business?
We’re glad you asked.
Reason #1: Facebook Live is a more interactive way to engage your customers and Facebook following than just posting a regular video or image post. It allows your customers to see what you are doing at that exact moment.
Reason #2: It creates a more personal connection with your audience. Anyone watching can comment on or react to the video, and you can react as those comments are occurring. You can thank people in the video as the react or answer their questions if they ask one in the comments.
Reason #3: Facebook Live has multiple applications. You can use it internally with your employees or as an outreach method to get new customers. (See our ways to use Facebook Live below.)
Reason #4: Great analytics tracking to see how people interacted with your video. How long were they watching? How many viewers did you have? Use this information to help guide your future marketing efforts.
Reason #5: Facebook has awesome targeting capabilities for ads, and that applies to Facebook Live videos. You can boost a Facebook Live video as you start it and select the specific audience that you want to see that ad (age range, gender, location, interests, and more).
Ways that you can use Facebook Live for your business
Those were some pretty compelling reasons to use Facebook Live, but what can you do with it? How can you keep it interesting?
Try some of these fun Facebook Live ideas to keep your audience engaged:
- Host a Q&A session with your customers to give them tips surrounding your area of expertise
- Share a how-to video live to show a customer a simple way use your product or prepare for your service
- Share new product or service offerings that you have available
- Have your employees engage in a silly contest (draw a unicorn, pudding finger painting art, dress-up day) and ask your customers to vote for their favorite in the comments
- Have a giveaway where the first three people who comment get a prize
- Share new discounts and deals that customers can only get that day
- Share announcements of upcoming events (including a shoutout from the event!)
How to create a Facebook Live video (step-by-step tutorial)
When you’re ready to start your Facebook Live video, just follow these three simple steps.
Step 1: Go to your Facebook business page on your phone or mobile device
Facebook Live currently only works with mobile devices. So you’ll need to have the Facebook app on your phone or tablet to take a video.
Step 2: Create a new post and “Go Live”
Click “Post” and select the “Go Live” option to have the ability to start a Facebook Live video.
Step 3: Start your video
Last, add a description to your video and tap “Start Live Video.” Tap the “+” icon in the bottom right of the screen to add fun features to your video before starting, like adding a link to your new product on your website or an option to raise money for a non-profit.
Once you’ve started your video, you can share it to other pages, boost it, and invite other people to watch!
Quick tip: Hold your phone or mobile device vertically (portrait orientation) when doing live videos. If you hold it horizontally, your videos will show up sideways on Facebook.
Additional resources for social media marketing
Facebook Live isn’t the only way to take advantage of social media. Check out these additional resources for marketing to your customers on social media:
- The complete guide to Facebook marketing for small businesses
- Small business guide: How to sell your products directly from Facebook and Instagram
- The 14 best types of social media posts for small businesses
One way that can help up your game on Facebook is making sure you have tons of good reviews on your business page. Womply can help with that.
Womply Reputation Management allows you to monitor and respond all your reviews on all the popular review sites. You can send text and email notifications and manage it all from a simple dashboard.
Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!