Facebook Live is a new live video tool, that gives businesses and brands the ability to connect with and grow their audience base, in new and exciting ways. However, the new service has recently been embroiled in a few high-profile crimes that have been captured using the live stream. Can Facebook evolve into a positive tool for eCommerce marketing or is it merely out of control?
Facebook Live for e-commerce
This tool has been developed to increase and boost the connection that online businesses and brand have with their customers, spreading brand awareness and creating a ‘live-identity. Here are some brands pioneering the live stream:
Benefit
Benefit goes live every week on the Facebook, using it to showcase their 45 minute 'Tipsy Tricks' stream. They use the platform as a way to showcase their makeup products via live tutorials, where they can connect and chat with their consumers and feature different looks for different occasions.
This stream allows them to inject more personality into their brand. The fact it is live mean it’s impromptu and feels more real to its consumers - it's exciting because it can add some interesting jeopardy to their weekly features! Benefit also allow their viewers to submit ideas via Facebook Live comments or Snapchat to help the hosts brainstorm future topics to cover.
Dunkin’ Donuts
Dunkin Donuts relies on visuals to sell its products, so it’s only natural the brand took advantage of the sweets-heavy Valentine’s Day season with a live streaming video. In it, the brand explored its “test kitchen” for viewers, showing how it creates new products and creations, ending with a finale that involved the creation of a gigantic, donut-themed wedding cake.
The video attracted more than 36,000 viewers, which may not seem like much—but consider the fact that these people weren’t watching sports, or news, or something funny; they were watching a cake get made.
How to make the most of Facebook Live
Facebook live is so popular because it has three key ingredients - visual appeal, “in the moment” value, and crucially, user engagement and instant feedback. Taking advantage of these things and follow some of our tips and make Facebook Live work for your brand:
Tell fans when you're broadcasting ahead of time
By scheduling live appearances, it can help to build anticipation by letting your audience know when you'll be going live with a written post. One day's notice usually gives people the right amount of time to tune in.
Go live when you have a strong connection
Check the app to make sure that you have a strong signal before going live. WiFi tends to work best, but if you can't find a nearby network, you'll want a 4G connection. If you have a weak signal, the 'Go Live' button will be greyed out.
Write a catchy description before going live
A great description will capture people's attention and help them understand what your broadcast is about.
Ask viewers to subscribe to Live notifications
Remind your audience that they can tap on the Follow button on live videos and videos that were live so that they can get notifications the next time you go live.
Say hello to commenters by name; respond to their comments live
Your audience will be thrilled to hear you mention their name and answer their questions when you are live.
Broadcast for longer periods of time to reach more people
The longer you broadcast, the more likely people are to discover and share your video with their friends on Facebook. We recommend that you go live for at least 10 minutes, although you can stay live for up to 90 minutes at a time.
But can Facebook Live be regulated?
Facebook have potentially created something they’re ultimately powerless to control due to the very medium of the tool. While it’s a great platform for small and big business, talking, sharing and connecting with their customers, the tool has been utilised as a platform to showcase human suffering and crime.
The stream has been witness to the Robert Godwin murder, where a man filmed himself murdering a pedestrian in the US. Shortly after, this was followed by the harrowing footage of Wuttisan Wongtalay killing his daughter and then himself in Phuket. In light of these events, Mark Zuckerberg has announced an additional 3000 staff to the Facebook Live team to manage and observe the stream for criminal and distressing activity.
Facebook Live is still in its early stages, it’s clearly paving the way for itself as a useful tool for bloggers, businesses and brands. However, for it to be a successful and beneficial for everyone in the long-term, the issues surrounding distressing and criminal content has to be managed before it’s tainted any further.
By Jennifer Gwinnutt, digital marketing assistant at iWeb
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