Business is moving from the confinement of the office walls to the social media. Facebook marketing is not a new topic, but social media marketing in Singapore using Facebook Live is definitely something new in the world of marketing.
What is Facebook Live?
Facebook Live is an exclusive feature in Facebook where an account holder or a business page can share real-time videos with his, her or its followers. Comments can also be posted and read in real-time.
This feature is still exclusive because Facebook has not yet released it across all mobile and PC platforms. Currently, Facebook Live runs across the iOS platform and through the Mentions App; which was the first to run Facebook Live in the public domain, in August 2015. This feature is not only selective in reference to platform but also users. Upon launch, Facebook Live was available to only selected public figures. Later, some selected pages were given access to this feature before more selected users were granted the same. Despite only a few iPhone users having access to this feature at the moment, Facebook is planning to roll it out to the entire public. This might probably happen when they have enough bandwidth to accommodate the demand and the “high standards” restrictions have been lifted.
Despite this still being a future tool for marketers, understanding how to use Facebook Live to thrive and expand your business in Singapore as early as now will definitely give you an upper hand.
How to use Facebook Live
Facebook live is primarily for broadcasting. The first step you need to take before you start to broadcast is to clearly define the agenda or subject matter of your broadcast. This topic is entirely dependent on you; but if you are business minded, the main agenda of your broadcast will definitely be business.
Before you get to state the subject matter, you first need to activate “Live”. This can simply be done on your profile through the status update or through the Mentions App. If you are using your profile, at the status update section, you will see a “Live” icon. Once you tap on it, you will be prompted to write a description of the video you want to broadcast. This is where you write your subject matter. This description will be written on your timeline and tagged to your audience, on their timeline. Next, you will be prompted to select who you want to share the video with; your audience. Options range from public to friends only; with an option to select the list of friends. Once you are through with this step, you simply tap “go live” and point the camera to yourself or your surroundings depending to what you want to capture.
During a live broadcast, you will be able to see the number of live viewers tuned in and even see their comments in real time. There is a subscribe button which you can invite your viewers to tap and constantly be alerted when you are having a live broadcast. To broadcast using the Mentions app, you simply tap on “post” then “Live Video” and then follow the steps; similar to when you are using your status update to set up a broadcast.
Using Facebook Live for Marketing
When it comes to social media marketing in Singapore using Facebook, there are certain strategies that you need to apply to get the most out of Facebook Live. Several factors come into play in this situation.
- A concise topic or subject matter – this is what will first attract your audience to you. Facebook will send the description of your broadcast to your audience through notifications before they even tune in. A clear and attractive topic will definitely get your potential audience tuned. If you fail to capture their attention at this point, failure will be eminent.
- Audio clarity – your audience needs to get you clearly. Whether you are reviewing a product or simply having a discussion with your audience, you need to be audible and clear enough to get their constant attention and guaranteed subscription to your broadcast.
- Good rapport with the audience – this can be achieved by having a balance between your business life and personal life during the broadcast. By seeing your two sides, your audience will get more engaged to you and whatever it is you are promoting. However, remember to keep it professional.
Those are basic factors you have to put into consideration. However, to really edge it out in terms of promoting your enterprise, there are some cardinal tips that you need to implement:
- Have product demos during the broadcast – business is about products and your audience, who happen to be your potential clients, have to know how to use your products. Do a live demo of any of your products, showing how to use it and any new use your audience has never known about. The demos have to be fun for both the audience and you.
- Have a “behind-the-scenes” moment – behind the scenes moment means you do something fun but related to your business. Say, you are a car dealership; you can have a live broadcast of an auto show within your locality or some local racing event. The motive behind this approach is to have something interesting that will glue your audience to your broadcast at the same time giving you an opportunity to showcase your business and its line of products.
- Do Q&As – inquiries will never stop coming in any business. As part of market research, customer satisfaction and awareness campaign, you can tip off your subscribers, followers and friends that on a certain day and time you will be having a broadcast for simply answering any questions or queries related to your business. The audience can also send the question prior, such that during the broadcast, all you will be doing is responding to their questions.
- Run ‘how-tos’ on the broadcast – if you are a cookery enterprise for example, you can run a broadcast on how to make some special-recipe pizza or burger. Not only is this interesting for your audience but also a magnet for more viewers. Furthermore, such a broadcast gives you the chance to showcase what you offer as a business. The point here is to ensure that the how-tos are related to your enterprise and are fun to your audience.
- Breaking news – keep a watchful eye and keen ears on your industry for any news. Once something pops up, keep your audience in tabs. This will serve as a show of expertise and consequently, you will be attracting potential clients to your broadcast and business.
- Always end with a call to action – after the how-tos and breaking news, have a call to action that is relevant to your business. This can be an opportunity to clearly promote your enterprise or get in touch with your audience personally through mail or telephone.
Editing options
Once you have finished a live broadcast, the video automatically saves itself on your timeline. At this stage, several changes can be made to the video such as selecting a category, choosing a thumbnail and placing a call to action.
Facebook Live is the marketing tool every marketer should be moving to; owing to the fact that Facebook has a large fan base, which is a perfect mining field for customers and clients. Once it becomes available to the larger public, you should definitely try it out.
