According to Social Media Week, 80 percent of brand’s audiences would rather watch live videos than read a blog. Facebook says that one-fifth of the videos posted to their platform now come via Facebook Live, and that users spend 3 times longer watching lives compared to pre-produced video. This explains why Facebook and Instagram’s live streaming feature are such a hot trend for marketers in 2018.
It’s not hard to understand the appeal: with a live video, the audience experiences a much more authentic connection to the brand than with a pre-planned, revised, approved, and scheduled post. There’s also the chance to interact in real-time, as the audience can ask questions and get answers right away.
The good news is that it’s much easier to add live content to your social media strategy than you might think. Both Facebook and Instagram technologies make it as easy as clicking a button and the nature of the tool doesn’t require much production. You also have a choice on whether to share it on your Facebook page or Instagram stories afterwards, so the content can live on.
To get you started, here are 5 ways you can use live content in your social media channels.
Interviews
Invite guests that are relevant to your audience and have them go live with you. Share a few questions ahead of time with them, so you can have them guide you through the chat. If you choose to do it on Instagram, the platform allows split screen interviews, so you can interview people all over the world. As an added bonus, your guest’s followers will also be notified of the live, so you can gain more of an audience.
Flash sales
Get your team in front of the camera to do a flash sale. Create a special offer only available while the live is happening. But make sure you prepare content in advance to keep the video going in case your audience doesn’t have many questions for you.
Important announcements
Build hype in your posts and save a special announcement to do on a scheduled live. Instagram itself has done this to announce new features. Make sure the announcement is relevant to your followers and cross-promote on different platforms.
Show off your product
Lives are great for product demos or the popular “unboxing” videos. Your audience will be able to see it firsthand and ask you questions.
Q&As
Set up a time with the company founders or leaders to talk with followers and answer all their questions. Post a teaser asking for questions beforehand so you can start your live video by reading and answering those while people have time to join.
Live content give your fans more reasons to follow you. It’s also consistently shown that the algorithms on these platforms favor accounts that use every tool available, so adding lives to your strategy has a two-fold benefit.
Featured photo by KKi Creative