How to Run Successful Facebook Live Campaigns

Whether the Chewbacca Mask Mom helped you belly laugh or made you scratch your head as you wondered what the hype was all about, the nearly 160MM views, 3.4MM likes, and 3.5MM shares it generated within only a month of launching put Facebook Live on the map in a big way. Live streaming is now the new black in social media and brands can score big by incorporating it into their digital campaigns (no mask required). This post shares everything you ever wanted to know about running successful Facebook Live campaigns for your brand.

 (Click the image to view the Facebook Live video)

What Is Facebook Live All About?

Facebook Live campaigns are just that: live. When you press go, you are broadcasting live to your selected audience—family, friends, followers, target audience, or all of the above (it’s your choice!).

Facebook Live campaigns are hosted exclusively on Facebook. You can broadcast live from your personal profile, in a private group, or, most importantly to brands, on a Facebook page. Previously, popular videos shared on Facebook, Instagram, Vine, and YouTube required production, including filming, editing, uploading, sharing, and promotion. On the other hand, live streaming gives users the opportunity to broadcast to friends, followers, and your target audience anytime from anyplace where wifi is available—no editing required.

Facebook Live campaigns are a great way for interaction, engagement, and online buzz.. For example, you can hold a Q&A with your followers, share an inside look from your Corporate HQ, invite your target audience to join you for a product launch, or laugh hysterically a la Candace Payne in a personal chat with your friends with or without a Chewbacca mask.

Facebook Live Campaign Benefits Your Brand Will Enjoy

Facebook places a huge emphasis on videos, especially on their Facebook Live capability. If you create videos or Facebook Live campaigns, you will enjoy watching your Facebook stats increase. As a result, your brand will reach just the right consumers—and a lot of consumers at that. Facebook has 1 billion users daily and is one of the best advertising platforms for targeting users. The fact that Facebook Live campaigns are cost-effective, quick, and easy to create is just the icing on the cake.

Here are some other awesome benefits your brand will enjoy when using Facebook Live in their digital campaigns:

• Drive online buzz via Facebook Live views (original and archived) + impressions, reaching your target audience in a fun and natural way.

• Create content that lives forever on Facebook and that you can share on other platforms and embed intoblog posts.

• Generate additional content by editing and/or repurposing your Facebook Live videos. This content can be shared across social media, used in blog posts, shared with other outlets, etc.

• Engage with your consumers by creating a safe environment for sharing and immediately responding to viewer’s questions, comments, concerns, etc.

• Build and reward customer loyalty by taking consumers behind the scenes with you, giving them sneak peeks and advanced information, letting them be part of your broadcasts, and more.

• Drive coupon downloads, traffic, contest entries, and/or sales by sharing and rewarding live viewers on solid calls to action during the live broadcasts.

Facebook Live Pros

The following are pros of using Facebook Live:

• Live Reactions make it easy for your viewers to engage in real time during a live broadcast.

• Live Reactions appear in real time and disappear quickly so broadcasters and other viewers can see how people are feeling during the live video.

• People comment more on Facebook Live videos than on regular videos.

• It can be limited to selected group of friends by using the Audience Controls that you normally choose in your posts.

• Facebook is giving more reach to the live video. The Facebook algorithm is prioritizing live video while the video is ongoing, meaning it will appear higher in people’s feeds.

• The content lives on forever unless you delete it.

• Facebook will notify the friends that are allowed to view this video that you are broadcasting, so you don’t have to tell your friends to watch you.

Types of Facebook Live Campaigns

Depending on your brand and/or products, Facebook Live lends itself well to a variety of formats perfect for brands of all shapes, sizes, and industries. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Baking or cooking show

• Beauty or fashion segment

• Business class

• Craft how to

• Corporate behind-the-scenes footage

• DIY workshop

• Entertainment and party planning ideas

• Event coverage

• Financial tips, including frugal living, financial planning, investments, etc.

• Health or fitness class

• Home remodel

• Insider information (sneak peek segments, behind-the-scenes clips, how products are made, etc.)

• Parent hacks

• Personal shopper advice

• Product launch

• Product reviews

• Relationship tips

• Retail shopping experience

• Travel experiences

How to Get Started on Facebook Live Campaigns

To start live streaming:

1. Click “Update Status” and tap on the “Live Video” icon.

2. Add a searchable description of what will be covered in the video.

3. Select the audience to which you want to share.

4. Press the “Go Live” button.

Once you go live, you will be able to see how many viewers are tuned in, names of friends watching the live stream, and the real time stream of comments. After the live stream, the video will be saved to your Timeline, which you can choose to keep for others to view later, or delete. Additionally, you can save the video to your camera phone in basic or high quality modes, which allows you to edit and/or re-purpose or share the video on other platforms, including in blog posts and across social media channels.

How to Drive the Most Viewers to Your Facebook Live Videos

Tips to help you get as many attendees as possible during your live event include:

• Create consistency by holding Facebook Live events the same day and time each week or month (for example, Wednesdays at noon ET). People will come to plan on them.

• Tell people ahead of time when you’re going to broadcast, including:

  • Promote the Facebook Live broadcast in your community’s eNewsletter.

  • Share the Facebook Live event’s date/time across your social media channels, including on your profile, on your page, or in the group where you will be broadcasting.

  • (As applicable) Share event details in other Facebook Groups you are a member of.

  • Ask friends to share about your upcoming Facebook Live event.

  • Write a blog post, promoting your Facebook Live event.

  • Have a giveaway during the broadcast for live viewers only to incentivize and reward attendees.

• Go live when you have a strong connection. If you have a weak signal, then the ‘Go Live’ button will be grayed out.

• During your event, ask live viewers to share your broadcast on their page and/or profile. Thank and/or reward them for doing so.

• After your event, share it on other platforms to increase viewership and ask others to do the same.

• Re-purpose the content and continue sharing in bite-sized pieces.

Facebook Live Campaigns: Which Brands Are Getting It Right?

Let’s take a quick look at brands that are getting Facebook Live Campaigns right.

Benefit Cosmetics

For Benefit, Facebook Live is just another platform where it can showcase its personality. The brand has been running a weekly live stream every Thursday called “Tipsy Tricks with Benefit!” where a guest and a host choose a beauty topic and share advice while answering viewer questions live. As a result, the streams reach upwards of 42,000 to 59,000 live viewers, with an average of 2,000 people watching them at any given time.

Dunkin’ Donuts

Dunkin’ Donuts used Facebook Live to take users inside “Dunkin’ Brands University,” where the donut chain makes its products. The video was a tour of the facility that ended with a tutorial on how to make a wedding cake out of Donuts, and was hosted by Dunkin’ chefs. The post received 4,000 likes and drove 31,680 views.

“When Live came out I thought, ‘Facebook is finally getting it right,’” Dunkin’ head of social media Melanie Cohn told Digiday. “Facebook is about scale; Periscope isn’t.”

(Click the image to view the Facebook Live video) 

• National Donut Day Facebook Live Promotion: https://www.facebook.com/DunkinDonutsUS/?brand_redir=504997576203914

• National Donut Day Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/DunkinDonutsUS/?brand_redir=504997576203914

Foos52

Food52 is all about showing people how to do different baking and cooking techniques. The brand posts videos on a regular basis and can receive up to 30,000+ views and 200+ comments. They have featured bloggers, chefs, and other experts to help share tips and techniques, as well as to help spread the word about their Facebook Live videos.

(Click the  image to view the Facebook Live video)

Land Rover

A series of test drives were broadcast throughout April 2016 in order to allow fans to see the versatility of the vehicles. Peter Biven, Land Rover’s head of global digital marketing, said live video was an obvious way to demonstrate products to potential customers.

(Click the  image to view the Facebook Live video)

Weight Watchers

The brand embraced Facebook Live as a way to connect with their community and members. With many of the live videos reaching 25,000+ views and 80+ shares, they are doing a great job of connecting. For example, they feature members who are celebrating an anniversary with the brand. The members shares tips, stories, and answers to questions. They also feature Weight Watchers employees and coaches.

(Click the  image to view the Facebook Live video) 

Facebook Live Campaigns: Best Practices

Facebook Live is all about ease of use. However, consider these best practices before diving into the live waters.

• Ask your viewers to follow you and receive notifications when you go live. Call out that your audience can tap on the Follow button on live videos and videos that were live and then opt-in to get notifications the next time you go live.

• Greet attendees by name and respond to their comments.

• Start broadcasting by welcoming your audience, sharing what the event will be about, and introducing yourself. Also, ask viewers to introduce themselves in the comments. Start in on your content 5-10 minutes into the broadcast to allow viewers to arrive. Finally, make sure to re-announce your topic when you officially start into the content.

• Broadcast for a longer period of time. We recommend broadcasting for 30 minutes minimum and ideally, 1 hour. However, broadcasting for 90 minutes to 2 hours drives more attendance if the topic lends itself to an open-house style.

• Be creative and mix up your live streaming content and formats.

• Go live as often as possible to allow more and more of your target consumers to view your broadcasts.

• Develop consistency by scheduling a regular date and time for your Facebook Live events (for example, Wednesdays at noon ET).

• Invite well-known guests (like celebrities) to host Facebook Live events on your page.

• Have product/service-focused giveaways during your events to incentivize and reward viewers who attend the live broadcasts.

• Host contests where the winners get a chance to take over the Facebook Live reigns on your page to review or showcase how they use your products/services.

• Use analytics to determine which topics, titles, and videos are getting the most attention to create future live events to maximize your audience.

• Answer questions real time even if it interrupts your flow.

• Respond to any questions that pop up after the event from those who didn’t watch the video live

Wrapping It All Up

In summary, every brand can run successful Facebook Live campaigns. First, you must understand what Facebook Live is and how it benefits your brand. Then, identify the types of Facebook Live campaigns, how to get started planning them, and how to drive the most viewers. Finally, and before creating your own campaign, check out examples and best practices from brands that are getting it right. As a result, you are sure to have a Facebook Live campaign hit!

Next Steps

Forward Influence has partnered with brands on sponsored Facebook Live segments and enjoyed tremendous results. Thus, we can bring your products and services to life via live streaming on blogger’s Facebook page, in our private Facebook group, on our personal profiles, or on your brand’s Facebook page.

Packages include 30-minute to hour-long segments. Pricing is based on the type of live streaming event, whether products will be provided or if the influencer needs to purchase them, the level of influencer(s), his/her familiarity with live streaming and on-air expertise, and whether any post-production work is requested: video downloading, editing, sharing on other platforms, promotional posts from other network members to share the original live streamed event, etc.

Reach out to jyl@forwardinfluence.com to learn more about ways your brand can benefit from Facebook Live campaigns.

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Resources

• Facebook Live vs YouTube, Periscope, and Meerkat: http://siliconangle.com/blog/2016/02/01/facebook-live-vs-youtube-periscope-and-meerkat/
• Facebook Live Best Practices: https://www.facebook.com/facebookmedia/best-practices/live/
• Introducing New Ways to Create, Share and Discover Live Video on Facebook: http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/04/introducing-new-ways-to-create-share-and-discover-live-video-on-facebook/
• Make Facebook’s Live Streaming Tool Work for You: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2016/04/08/make-facebooks-live-streaming-tool-work-for-you/#1c42c32e63df
• Kim Garst Facebook LIVE vs Periscope: https://www.periscope.tv/w/1YqKDrEzyoDJV
• Facebook adds a dedicated video tab as part of a major redesign for live-streaming: http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/6/11374988/facebook-live-streaming-video-tab-redesign-periscope
• Zuckerberg: Facebook May Share Live Video Revenue With Broadcasters: http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/facebook-live-revenue-sharing-1201747411/
• Facebook Adds Video Tab to Mobile Apps, Brings Live Streaming to Events and Groups: http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/facebook-live-events-groups-video-tab-1201746881/
• Facebook Is Paying Media Companies to Make Live Video: http://recode.net/2016/04/06/facebook-paying-media-partners-like-buzzfeed-to-livestream/
• This is the first official camera for Facebook’s Live Video: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-first-official-camera-for-live-video-2016-4
• How you can Use Facebook Live API: https://media.fb.com/2016/04/12/introducing-the-facebook-live-api