Creating successful Facebook live streams is quite a challenge. Make your efforts worthwhile and get the most out of every live video you produce.
For businesses and individuals, one of the best currencies nowadays is your online presence. Having a die-hard fan base can make a huge difference in your results whether you’re selling products or creating a personal brand. When you get the most out of your Facebook live streams and really tap into your audience’s interests, you begin to build a deeper relationship with them. That’s what this blog post is all about.
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Grow your audience with Facebook live streams
Live streaming is a fantastic tool to grow online, especially when combined with social media and other marketing strategies. If you are part of a business that wants to find more customers online, Facebook live streams can help you spread the word and reach people that would never know about your product otherwise.
If, on the other hand, you want to grow your personal brand, Facebook live streams can be even more effective due to the potential of building a relationship with your audience. Reaching out to your followers live is one of the best ways to establish a deeper connection with them, which leads to trust and a solid fan base.
Do you go live on Facebook every now and then? That’s a great start, and it can bring some results. But, streaming can be much more effective when combined with the right strategy. Even if you’re just getting started with live streaming, having a proper plan from the get-go is only beneficial, and that’s what we’ll discuss below.
Building a content strategy
Live video is part of a much bigger picture, your content strategy. Whether you’re running a business, part of one, or just building your personal brand, a content strategy can make your life much easier.
It allows you to establish a relationship with your audience, provide value, and gain their trust. In return, they might become your clients, brand ambassadors, or even die-hard fans.
Ideally, you should have piles and piles of content to pick from, but that’s not the reality of most people. So, the first step before building your content strategy is to take inventory of the content you already have. Then, you can brainstorm other content pieces you can create that relate to your niche.
Successful content strategy components
Since there’s no one strategy fits all, here are the three main aspects of a successful content strategy:
- Content pieces in different formats
- Multi-platform presence
- Valuable to the audience
Content pieces in different formats
Regardless of your niche, having content pieces in a variety of formats is vital. People prefer to consume content in different ways. When you offer yours in written, audio, image, and video forms, it increases your chances of getting your message across.
Multi-platform presence
Inevitably, when you have content pieces in different forms, you’ll share them on multiple platforms. But, being present on various popular platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and others, means more than that. It means you don’t depend on one platform to reach your audience.
Valuable to the audience
The volume of content is important, and so is its value. The more you get to know your audience, the easier it will get to create content for them. Over time, through analyzing your results, you’ll learn what resonates with them the most and how you can bring the most value.
Facebook live streams
The ultimate goal of your content strategy will always circle around building relationships with your audience, connecting with them and expanding it with time. That’s why Facebook live streams are such an essential part of any content strategy. It’s, by far, one of the best ways to connect with your audience.
The content of your Facebook live streams can vary according to your strategy. Here are some examples of Facebook live videos:
- Live Q&As
- Behind the scenes
- Webinars
- Interviews
- Unboxing specials
- Flash sales
For more, check out Facebook Live Ideas.
Making the most out of your Facebook live streams
Apart from building the right strategy, some simple actions and adjustments can help you get the best results when live streaming on Facebook.
Outline your content
Many content creators tend to overlook the preparation steps before a live stream. A proper outline shows you whether the content had enough value or not and makes your life much easier when promoting your stream.
Plus, with an outline, the presenter has much more control during the stream. While an entire script might create some stiffness and lack of personality, the outline allows the streamer to be herself while delivering value to the audience.
Promote your Facebook live streams in advance
Just as important as creating content is promotion and distribution. It doesn’t matter how valuable a piece of content is if it’s not reaching your audience. Once you have the outline in hand, it’s time to start promoting your live stream.
The strategies for promoting Facebook live streams can vary, but, at the very minimum, you need to share the date and time in advance with your audience on social media. If you have an email list, you can invite your subscribers as well.
Choose your audience
At first, the internet’s main hit was providing people and businesses a way to reach everyone everywhere. Even though you can still do that now, the arena is much more crowded. Which means, the best strategy is the opposite – aim targeted content to smaller, specific groups.
Facebook allows you to set restrictions for your broadcast, such as:
- Geo-location
- Age
- Gender
Though that’s nearly not enough to create a targeted group, you can do better segmentations when promoting your live stream and creating the content itself. For instance, you could do a webinar for young marketing graduates trying to get their first job experience in New York.
Broadcasting length
Another way to make the most out of your Facebook live streams is to consider your broadcast’s duration. If your show is too short, many potential viewers might not get a chance to join. On the other hand, if it’s too long, many viewers won’t make it till the end.
A live broadcast should last at least 30 minutes, to give people time to get the notification and join. Though the length will vary depending on your content, consider streaming from 30 minutes to an hour.
Some content creators do longer streams, which might work depending on your niche, but it’s not a must for you to succeed in your Facebook live streams.
Measuring success
After every live stream, remember to gather the data and measure your results. It will help you determine what worked or what didn’t, and you can adjust before the next stream. This data will be a great indicator of what parts of your content were interesting to your audience and which ones were not.
Key Takeaway
Facebook live streams, when added to an overall content strategy, are one of the most effective tools to build a relationship with your audience. When you take the time to craft your strategy with Facebook live streams in mind, it will be much easier for you to grow your audience and establish deeper connections.
Make sure you make the most out of your live streams when you apply the actionable tips above and let us know how it goes!
Download ManyCam for free today!
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