When was the last time you went Live on social media? Did you know there is a way to go Live on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn? When we see several platforms creating the same kind of posting type, we know it’s likely to be a high performer for keeping and retaining attention on the platform. Today we’re sharing tips to go Live on Facebook, something Crystal Media has been recommending retailers do for years!
Going Live gives retailers a great opportunity to humanize your brand, by showing up for your audience, interacting with them, and giving your digital audience a similar experience to your in-store shoppers!
We know it may be intimidating to go Live, and we understand that. BUT think of it like this: If you can talk to someone walking into your store, the people choosing to shop from their couch should receive that same human experience as the in-store shoppers and get to see your face and hear about the products from the horse’s mouth! Plus, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
In hopes of seeing more Live videos from retailers, here are the top 7 tips for Facebook Live Success!
1) Promote your Live beforehand.
Creating a couple of posts before you go Live is a good best practice to help raise awareness and get people to attend your Live. Just like you’re more likely to go to an event if you were invited in advance, your audience is more likely to join the Live if they know its coming up!
2) Add in a caption of what your Live is about.
Before pressing the button to go Live, be sure to add some text in the caption that can let viewers know what the Live is about. Things to include could be: what’s happening around your store, the topic of your video, what products you’re sharing about, and a CTA (call to action).
3) Start talking right away.
Something we often see is retailers saying on their Live “We’re just going to wait a few minutes for people to join the Live… a few more minutes for people to come on Live”. This is a big mistake because this means the current viewers and the viewers watching the replay are not being prioritized. When you press Live, you should jump right in and share what the video will be about! People will join! If you keep them waiting its a good way to lose the viewers that did show up for you, and it’s unlikely someone watching the replay would hang around for the speaker to finally dive in!
4) Engage with the audience and remind the viewers what the Live is about throughout it.
A Live is a great way to make your content more conversational! You have the chance to reply to viewers’ comments right in the moment, and start a dialog/chit-chat with them throughout the video. As more people join the Live, they may not know what to expect, so it’s a best practice to regularly bring up the topic you’re discussing. This can be as simple as “If you’re just joining us, I’m Steph from the Sweater Boutique and we’re showing you a sneak peek of the new Fall arrivals and why we’re lovin’ them!”.
5) Edit the cover image after the Live.
We’ve all been stuck with a bad still-screen in a video- mid-blink, open mouth, or blurry- we don’t have to settle for a bad picture. Remember to smile in the first few moments the Live is starting so you can have a good image to select from the Live to choose as your cover photo! After your Live, and before you promote it in an ad, edit the video to select a new (and more flattering) cover image than the randomly generated one by Facebook.
6) Promote the Live in a video view ad or a MR engagement ad.
One of the best tips for facebook live success is to promote your Live after it’s been posted! You’ve already poured the time, creativity and love into making the content- you might as well put some ad dollars behind it to gain some attention outside of your organic reach.
Here are some tips from our ads managers about promoting your Facebook Live:
When choosing a campaign objective, an engagement ad (MR) is going to target people more likely to engage with the video, react, comment, and share. Whereas a Video View ad will target people more likely to watch the video. Both are ideal, but one may resonate with your page’s audience better than another and it will take a little time to test.
We suggest testing different audiences to advertise to. Ads Manager Grecia suggests creating an audience of people who have viewed or engaged with your past videos, as well as a lookalike audience of those same people. She also recommends testing your Fans audience (people who like your FB page), Fans Lookalike, and Interest targeting.
HINT: A Lookalike audience is an audience that Facebook can create from a list you give it (like video viewers, email subscribers, etc.). They will create an audience of people who have similar interests and behaviors as your original list, which is great for finding potential followers and customers that are similar to your pre-existing ones!
As for a budget for your ad, our ads managers have shared that they prefer to set a monthly budget because it allows Meta to decide how to spend it, rather than allocating a daily amount to be forcefully spent with perhaps non-optimal results. It is recommended to have at least a $60 monthly budget for your video ads, but our ads manager Mike suggests that around $150 a month or $5 a day is a good starting point.
7) Be consistent.
Lastly, Facebook rewards consistency, if you can make your Live video a weekly or a monthly series, your audience can become familiar with when you’ll be going Live, and the algorithm can rely on you to keep viewers on their platform. We suggest a weekly Live at the same time each week to create a recognizable series on your Page!
What I Want You To Take Away From This Blog:
- Follow best practices for Facebook Lives, including adding a caption, starting to talk about your topic right away, and updating the cover image with a clear picture after the Live is finished.
- Go Live consistently to reach your audience.
- Advertise your Live after its finished.
Okay, over to you…
When was the last time you went Live on Facebook? Let us know in the comments below!
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