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Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

Facebook Live is a feature that allows users, public figures, and Pages share live video with their followers and friends on Facebook. It’s authentic because it’s not edited. It’s inherently social because users can watch and interact in real time. When a Live broadcast is over, the video persists and can be viewed from the beginning as the comments replay as if you had seen the video live.

Users can invite their friends to the broadcast to increase conversation and engagement in the moment. You can also drive awareness of an upcoming live broadcast using a Schedule Live post.

Facebook Live can be used in the following ways to meet your marketing objectives:

  • Build brand awareness and increase customer advocacy.
  • Promote events in real time with ‘Live in Events’.
  • Engage and interact with audiences with regular episodes and Q&As.
  • Use native sponsorship of an influencer’s channels through product placements, scripts, or stage appearances to target a brand’s demographic.

A live experience is putting the brand out in the open so it’s important to be somewhat cautious. There are a wide variety of formats available through a Facebook Live broadcast so it’s important to find the right format that fits your brand. An unboxing Live is a common format for brands and is relatively low risk since the outcome is known in advance. While an interactive stunt may engage the audience more, it also comes with additional risk where the outcome is less known.

Consider how your audience will respond to different types of content. In this chart, you’ll see that there are more controlled formats, like a talk show, where your audience is passive, or a question and answer format, where they are more interactive. There are also formats that are more entertaining, like a contest, and those that provide utility like a ‘how-to’ video.

It’s good to consider the following before going live on Facebook:

  • Write a compelling broadcast description of fewer than 255 characters to encourage people to tune in.
  • Ensure that you use a high-quality recording device to live stream. It’s good to convey professionalism.
  • The maximum broadcast length is four hours.
  • There is no control over live comments.
  • Check that your live stream is original and interesting to retain user attention.

When experimenting with Live video, there are other important things to consider:

  1. Make Live part of your broader campaign strategy. Live shouldn’t be the sole form as your campaign focuses on.
  2. Find the right idea for your content. Does it need to be live? If so, how much control and planning are needed?
  3. Drive tune-in. It’s not just when someone is scrolling through their feed; it’s about the right time for them to view.
  4. Promote the video on demand (VOD). After your live broadcast ends, your video can be promoted as video on demand.

Scheduling a Live video makes it easier to build anticipation and buzz with your audience before your broadcast begins, so you can start strong with an audience already assembled. When you schedule a Live video, an announcement post will be published to News Feed letting your fans on Facebook know when your broadcast is happening and allowing them to opt-in to receive a reminder. Pages can also promote their Live video while the broadcast is happening, to increase distribution and engagement.

Facebook Live Metrics

The following are key metrics you should analyze to determine how successful your Live stream was, in order to optimize and improve upon it the next time:

  • Peak Live viewers
  • 10-second views
  • Minutes viewed
  • Unique viewers
  • People reached
  • Reactions, comments, and shares
  • Video views
  • Average % completion
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Dave Morrissey

Dave Morrissey is a Client Solutions Manager in the Retail and eCommerce division at Facebook. A seasoned digital marketer who specializes in social media, Dave now helps his clients achieve their marketing objectives through identity-based, data-driven marketing that's grounded in measurable business results.

Data protection regulations affect almost all aspects of digital marketing. Therefore, DMI has produced a short course on GDPR for all of our students. If you wish to learn more about GDPR, you can do so here:

DMI Short Course: GDPR

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ABOUT THIS DIGITAL MARKETING MODULE

Facebook
Dave Morrissey
Skills Expert

This module focuses on Facebook and how the platform’s features can be leveraged by digital marketers to develop a successful marketing strategy. It begins by describing how Facebook works as a platform and outlines the Facebook terminology marketers need to be familiar with. It then provides best practices for setting up a Facebook Page and creating Facebook Page Posts. It goes on to cover the different platform features on Facebook and explains how to use the Facebook Ads platform effectively. Finally, it provides you with the knowledge to plan and deliver a Facebook advertising strategy, and to analyze its performance.