It’s Wednesday, and you’re a comic book store. All of the new releases just came in and you want to let your customers know what’s new and exciting. But just writing up a blog post or a Facebook post feels dull.
What can you do instead?
You’re a museum, and your new exhibit is opening soon. You know that you’re going to get initial interest from your traditional marketing, but you also know there’s a whole untapped market out there that doesn’t listen to the radio or read newspapers.
How do you draw them in?
Your B2B handles marketing strategy for all kinds of other businesses. You want to show them that you’re up on the latest marketing trends and demonstrate how these new tools can work for their businesses.
How can you get their attention?
Believe it or not, there’s one answer to all three questions and many others, and it’s as close as your smartphone or tablet.
Facebook Live Video makes broadcasting yourself easy.
Live video posts can be made through both the Facebook main app, and the Facebook Pages Manager app. Go to the page you want to post from and tap Post. When the Post page comes up, tap Go Live.
Type up a short description of the video, (you can use your phone’s copy and paste to make it quicker), and then tap the Go Live button. You can shoot the video from your front or rear-facing camera.
Once you’re done, Facebook will let you save the video so people who weren’t able to tune in live can watch it on their own time.
Now you know how to make a Live video. Let’s look at ways small businesses are using Facebook Live.
1. Show off what’s new at your store.
New releases are always of interest to your customers. This is especially true in businesses that are built around a regular release schedule like stores selling books, comic books, and video games. (Trivia moment: New comic books are always released on Wednesday, while new books and movies are usually released on Tuesday.)
Neptune Comics in Waukesha, Wisconsin, has used Facebook Live to showcase new comic book releases and newly arrived collectables. Their videos consistently get twice as many likes as their standard posts.
(You can watch their video here.)
2. Promote a special event or exhibition.
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts has regular exhibits in addition to their own collection. The current summer 2016 exhibit features art by Childe Hassam, an American Impressionist and a contemporary of Cassatt and Monet, but hardly a household name.
To create interest for their new exhibition, the PEM created their first Facebook Live video to give a virtual tour of the exhibit. The video has been viewed nearly 3,000 times in the two weeks since it was posted, with over 40 shares.
3. Let your audience get to know you.
Let your clients and customers know the behind the scenes parts of your business, the things they can’t see through their regular interactions.
Jeannine O’Neil with JO Social Branding uses Live videos to let her clients and prospects know a bit about how she runs her business, the lessons she’s learned, and her advice for other business owners. Jeannine also uses her videos to tease upcoming developments in her business.
How can your business create a great Facebook Live video?
In many cases, what makes the best video is highly subjective. Rarely will there be near-universal agreement like with the Chewbacca Mom video.
However, there are some things to keep in mind:
- Stay on topic: Have a clear idea of what you want to talk about. You don’t need to script your whole video, but you may want to jot down a few notes or talking points. If your video is going to be you talking to the camera, keep it at five to ten minutes. Any longer and your audience might lose interest.
- Practice makes perfect: If the thought of going live makes you nervous, remember that you can always run through your video a few times before you actually go live. (You can also set the privacy setting to “Only Me” to do a private video for practice.)
- Be interactive: You can see comments come up live on the app. Respond to people live as a way to interact with your viewers. Or, if you find this too distracting, you can hide the comments and respond afterwards.
Plan your first Facebook Live video today.
Adding Live video to your Facebook marketing strategy may seem scary at first, but don’t let that fear hold you back!
Live video is becoming an increasingly popular way to stand out from the crowd, drive excitement for your business, and make your audience feel closer to you.
Use these tips to create your first video and leave us a comment to let us know how it goes!
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