Throughout the month of August 2016, I set myself the challenge of doing a Facebook Live video broadcast every day in order to really test out the platform, see what works and what doesn’t and most importantly gain confidence in my own ability to present live on camera.
On day 31 my broadcast served as a summary of the top 5 things I learnt and to be honest there were a few surprise revelations throughout the month that I want to share with you. The simple result is, that if you haven’t considered using Facebook Live in your business yet, then now really is the time to start.
So, here’s my Top 5 Learnings from a Month of Facebook Live.
#1 – Build Confidence
Challenging yourself to using live video in your marketing is one of the best ways I know to quickly build confidence both in your ability to present on camera but also your confidence in your core message or topic of expertise. By going live, and sharing your knowledge and experience publicly through the platform you’ll not be held back by any of those key barriers that often prevent you from sharing your knowledge confidently.
#2 – Rapid Content Creation
Facebook Live removes the analysis paralysis you often get when faced with video content production in your marketing strategy. Which camera to use? Where to set your video? Writing a script, and planning b-roll or graphics! What often ends up happening is you get bogged down in the technical aspects of video content production and forget the main goal, which is to simply communicate a thought or idea to your target audience. Using Facebook Live over the course of the month I gained a real respect for the ability to simply create content rapidly, to have a thought, idea or concept expanded upon and the content created at the same time. And when you’re done, you’re done – no editing, no proofing, no publishing. Done.
The benefit to this? You can quickly create content, and then it’s already ready to go. You can always choose to repurpose the content into another format too (eg; a blog post, a produced video, an infographic, an ebook). In my mind Facebook Live = Rapid Content Creation (FTW)
#3 – It’s an Ideas Lab
Adding on to the ‘Rapid Content Creation’ concept above is the way that Facebook Live can become an awesome ‘Ideas Lab’. A place to test out concepts, headlines, topics that may be of interest, ways of presenting content that you otherwise may never even consider. You audience provides almost instant feedback through live video so you can effectively test and measure different content ideas and depending on the audience engagement, either run with it in a future ‘produced’ video or as another form of content marketing for your brand.
#4 – Build Relationships
We all know that one of the best way to build lasting relationships with others is to let our guard down, to allow someone to get to know us on a more personal level. This is exactly what Live Video allows us to do in a very explicit way. By being yourself, live, on camera your communicating in a very authentic and personal way. Your ideal clients will resonate with that, and therefore resonate with you and build a relationship with your brand that will lead them to eventually buy from you.
#5 – Making Connections
Using Facebook Live as a way to actively make connections in the real world you will both increase your network potential in your local area but also expose your brand to a wider ‘second tier’ audience thanks to these new connections. A great example of this is by inviting others to feature alongside you in your live broadcasts they are going to connect you to their audiences and therefore increase your market reach and exposure. I suggest doing this strategically, and considering what connections to make that will most likely benefit your brand. However, don’t get too hung up on who to feature or what connections to make. At the end of the day, just get out there and ask people to join you on your live broadcast – you’ll be surprised at the benefits this brings to you as you make these connections.
So that’s it for my wrap up of my Facebook Live video challenge. You can see all the live videos from the month over on Engage Video Marketing on Facebook.
And why not undertake your own live video challenge? Be sure to use the hashtag #FBLiveVideoChallenge if you do! And let me know in the comments.
