In April of 2016, Facebook launched Facebook Live. The live streaming platform has received a positive reaction from influencers as it enables users to broadcast their experiences in real time, providing them with a more personal, unedited avenue for sharing tips and connecting with their audiences.
Facebook Live is a perfect medium for building an immersive and specific experience with viewers, whether it’s by hosting a personal Q&A with your audience or walking through a recipe, DIY, or makeup tutorial. Plus, it serves as an alternative method for naturally weaving in branded giveaways more frequently than you would on your blog or website.
Facebook Live is a great strategy for increasing the performance of your sponsored posts. Check out 5 reasons you should integrate Live into your next Linqia program.
1. Increase Your Organic Reach
Facebook prioritizes Live in its algorithm and offers followers the ability to opt-in to receiving notifications for your live videos, so you can count on seeing higher organic reach than you would by sharing a post or video to your timeline. After your broadcast ends, analyze its results by looking into your Peak Concurrent Viewers, which is the highest number of viewers watching your live video at any given point. Much like analyzing your blog and social analytics, Facebook Live data allows you to assess your video’s effectiveness so you can understand which content resonates best with your audience, identify where your viewers are dropping off, and plan ahead for which types of material you should share in the future.
2. Grow Your Audience
Facebook Live is also a great way to grow your audience as it gives your viewers the opportunity to invite their friends to tune into your broadcast. As a result, you may see an uptick in followers. We suggest that you plan for your Live videos to be 10 minutes or longer because, according to Facebook, broadcasts of this duration are more likely to reach a wider audience. New audiences have a greater opportunity to discover your content if you give them ample time to do so.
3. Inspire Higher Engagement Rates
Facebook Live is one of the most effective ways to captivate your audience and ensure that they interact with your content. Linqia influencers who have incorporated Live in their promotional strategies have enjoyed higher engagement rates than their previous programs.
During the Pepperidge Farms Goldfish program, Emily of Nap-Time Creations, who has 26,000 Facebook followers, went Live to broadcast how she sews a Fun Felt Playmat. The Live video drove 4.3X more engagements and 5.4X more views than the total of her 3 non-live video posts. Similarly, Shannon of Fox Hollow Cottage, who has 125,000 Facebook followers, went Live on her Linqia program with BLACK+DECKER. When compared to her standard posts, her two Live videos drove 5.4X more engagements and thousands more views.
4. Build a Personal Connection
Facebook Live is perhaps the closest thing (besides video chat) to communicating face-to-face with an audience on social media, as it allows influencers to engage in real-time conversation through comments. Viewers will often ask to see a certain product again if they missed it or joined the stream late, leave their feedback, or ask clarifying questions along the way. This feature allows you to personally address your viewers by name and respond to their questions, which helps you build a personal connection and immersive experience with them. To gauge how your video is performing, you can also take a look at their Live Reactions to understand which content resonates best with the audience.
5. Please the Brands You Love
Let’s not forget – brands love it when influencers use Facebook Live! Unlike its Snapchat and Instagram Story counterparts, Facebook Live makes it easy for brands to measure performance because the video does not disappear once you stop recording or after 24 hours. Also, audiences can also go back and watch the video again if they missed seeing it live. Additionally, there is a program opportunity where the brand’s primary social channel is Facebook, the Influencer Success Team is more likely to select influencers who have already incorporated Facebook Live into their strategy.
As video content evolves, Facebook Live will likely advance how influencers approach their engagement and brand awareness strategies. Because authentic stories and content are at the core of Linqia’s mission, Facebook Live works well as a natural extension of your sponsored programs. For best results, we recommend posting an announcement beforehand that you plan on going live, writing a compelling description of what your broadcast will include, and maintaining a regular broadcast cadence so your viewers come to expect them. Don’t be nervous to try something new – even if you haven’t used to Facebook Live yet, we recommend giving it a try as an alternative and effective tool for offering your followers up to date and relevant content.
