11 Ways to Use Facebook Live for Business
I wrote a blog post back in August of 2015 on ways to use Periscope for business (Periscope, may she rest in peace). Although the app itself is still around, its popularity has definitely dwindled since social media giant Facebook introduced its own version of live video.
Although they weren’t the first ones to bring live video into play, don’t even get me started on how successful Facebook has been at copying other social networks. In fact, I just sent out a newsletter (sign up in the sidebar to get an awesome weekly newsletter with marketing updates) with some recent social media updates and went on a small tangent about how much Instagram has been copying Snapchat.
And even though I love Snapchat, and even though I loved Periscope, it’s obvious (especially for business) that Facebook and Instagram are going to win. I used to include Snapchat in most of the social media strategies I went over for businesses. Now I tell business owners to stay far, far away from it and use Instagram Stories instead. I still use Snapchat for my personal use, but it is not easy to find followers on that platform. On Instagram, you can search, use hashtags, etc., to find new followers and people to follow and all of those people have access to your story.
And now, with Facebook Live? Periscope is a whole ‘nother social network you have to grow. You most likely already have followers on Facebook, and if not, it’s cheap and easy to pay to run a Page promotion and get some. (I do not condone paying to buy fake likes. Put your money on Facebook advertising and get some real people who are interested in your business to follow your Page.)
So it was only right for me to revisit my Periscope post and bring you something new and improved: 11 ways to use Facebook Live for your business.
1. Customer service/support
Often when you’ve been in business for awhile, you find that a number of customers/clients have the same issues or questions over and over again. Host a live broadcast for your audiences so that you can discuss the issue or answer questions over live video. Viewers can also comment while watching your live video, which gives you the opportunity to engage with your audience and answer additional questions in real time.
2. Product demos
Whether it’s a physical product or an informational product, using Facebook Live to do a live run-through or demo of one of your products is a great way to get customers excited to buy. This way, your potential buyers are there for you to show them exactly why they need your product, and they can ask you a question and immediately get an answer. Try this with various products or services to let your customers know what exactly they’re paying for.
3. Conduct interviews
Host a live interview with an influential member of your industry. Facebook Live is currently working to bring a feature to all users that will allow two different people to join a live broadcast from two different locations. For now, you’ll need to be in the same place as the person you’re interviewing, but it won’t be like that for long.
During your interview, ask your questions, but also keep an eye out for when other people shoot in questions. Using Facebook Live can help because a viewer may have an incredible question for the person you’re interviewing that you hadn’t even thought of. They’re practically doing your job for you.
4. Live tours
Show people your life. We are nosy and we like to see behind-the-scenes and what your workspace looks like when you’re creating your products or rendering services. We see home/office tour blog posts all of the time. Do those on Facebook Live instead (or in addition–I’m all for repurposing content). Opening a new restaurant? Live tour that shit for your new customers? Opening a new hotel branch? Definitely live tour that shit!
5. Exclusive sales, discounts, and promos
Reward your Facebook Live viewers occasionally by including an incredible flash sale or discount code specifically for them for watching your broadcast(s). Although your videos are automatically published to your Page after your broadcast is over, you can either remove them or download and edit them to remove the discount code. Then, post a tease online about how only the people who watched your broadcast live got access to the discount code. Not only will this bring in more sales directly because of your Facebook Live video, but it will incentivize them to watch even more of your broadcasts. Seriously, it’s a win-win.
6. Run a Q+A session
Again, this is something that I’ve seen bloggers address in a blog post or even an email newsletter. They take in questions and answer them all at once. That’s still a great idea if you’re a big influencer and you get a lot of questions (you could even consider creating an FAQ page to help people out as well). However, hosting a Facebook Live broadcast is a great idea for a Q+A. You’re setting aside a dedicated amount of time (15-30 minutes, although the platform allows you to stream for up to 90 minutes) and directly answering questions from your followers. This is huge for creating brand loyalty, and just connecting with your customers/followers. Huge.
7. Launch a new product/service/course
If you’re planning a launch soon, using Facebook Live as a part of your launch is a great idea. First, go live to tease your new product to create a lot of anticipation and suspense. On launch day, live stream from your launch party to celebrate with your customers and let them know that the new product/service/course is available for purchase. Include the link to the sales page in your description, but be sure to say it a few times also, especially if it’s a custom domain for a course that isn’t a huge mouthful with lots of dashes and slashes.
8. Announcements
People love announcements a lot more than we realize. If we give someone a hint that something big is coming soon, they are going to come back to find out what it is. We’re just nosy like that. Use Facebook Live as a platform for releasing live announcements, like a rebrand, or a new course, or that you’re running for president or something.
9. Behind-the-scenes
I’ve mentioned before how much I (and seriously everyone else) loves a good sneak peek of behind-the-scenes. It’s a great way to get your audience involved in what you’re doing. Working on a new informational product? Give out a little snippet of it and discuss your methods for working on it. Creating a new blog design? Give us a sneak peek of your branding board and talk about how you decided on certain design aspects. Show us your process, let us know how you work. It helps your audience to really feel connected to you and your business.
10. Informational session
Use Facebook Live to teach your followers something. Use it as an extension of your website. Get on camera and talk to your followers about how they can improve something, how they can start doing this, what they should be doing for that, what have you.
Did you recently write an awesome blog post, but you want to get it in front of a bigger audience? Try repurposing it for Facebook Live. Hell, you can literally repeat all of your ideas, but because some people prefer to read and others prefer to watch video, you’re going to catch some new sets of eyes.
11. Engage with your Facebook group
Do you have a Facebook group for your current/potential customers? You can also live broadcast in your group so that your video is only available for group members to watch. You can live broadcast in groups that you’re a member of, as well as that you’re an admin of. However, I personally recommend only going live in your own groups. You don’t want to step on any toes in other groups–plus, going live is a serious time investment. Only make that investment when you know it’s paying off and you’re reaching your people.
Get out there and start live broadcasting, people. We want to see your pretty faces and hear you say awesome words about your fabulous businesses.