When taken at face value, the Internet culture driven social media success seems to depend on a dash of creativity and a ton of luck.
Yet, the more one looks at the data, the clearer the picture gets. Engagement boils down to the intrinsic value a post brings to the audience. And this can’t be more true for Facebook Live video.
Introduced in April 2016, Facebook Live has managed to take over the social platform. Standing for more than 20% of all video content, the ability to stream a live feed on your wall is a tool that has changed the way brands interact with their audience.
While a video requires a certain level of quality, planning and preparation, with Facebook live things can be as simple as pushing a button on your smartphone.
In fact, as people tend to be engaged with recency, the success of the feature is predictably obvious. When you stream live content, you humanize your brand and allow your customers to be directly engaged with you the moment you press the live feed button.
Of course, you should properly plan and strategize your Facebook live content for quick brand wins, but compared to native video, the resource investment can be far lower. At the same time, the expected result can be that much higher.
But if it was so easy, everyone was going to do it, right? While it can be argued that some of the biggest brands on Facebook are all transitioning towards having proper live content strategies, it’s also true that a Facebook live feed can be much more difficult to plan than native video.
For starters, you are limited to footage that isn’t edited. Plus, a live stream is usually far less consistent than one single video idea and doesn’t have a straight storyline. Knowing the statistics and seeing how a single stream can greatly boost the overall engagement of your audience, we decided to try to inspire you. That being said, and without further adieu, here are five out-of-the-box ideas to boost your Facebook live game.
1. Stream a Tour of Your Office
People love getting behind the scenes. Understanding how a company works and showing the faces behind the product/service you provide can do wonders for your brand. Plus, it can drive up the engagement of your Facebook live videos.
Take Arnold Palmer’s office tour from Callaway Golf for example. It managed to garner up more than 243K views and is still one of the most popular videos of the brand to this day. And what did they do? They simply picked up a camera and did an office tour.
Granted, it was professional golfer Arnold Palmer’s office and not their own, but the fact of the matter is that office tours work.
Even though not a Facebook live stream, you can also take the infamous Wyoming intersection YouTube live stream as an example of what you can achieve with simplicity. In just a few days, the stream became an internet sensation and people shouted Red Truck as a meme out of nowhere.
Now consider simply setting up a camera in the corner of your office with the consent of your employees. Who knows? In just a few days, people might start shouting and cheering each time someone uses the copier. The biggest success comes from a risky investment in creative content.
2. Create a Pet Live Stream
People love pets. Whether they want to witness the birth of a baby giraffe or to simply marvel at the adorable creatures from the animal kingdom, people love watching live streams of animals.
One of the biggest Facebook Live video success stories was the #MakeADogsDay partnership between Subaru and BuzzFeed. In the video that gathered more than 221K views, Subaru helped make dogs have the time of their life in over an hour.
Granted, the video was planned and needed a lot of resource investment from both brands. Nevertheless, a similar effect can be achieved with a simple office pet stream. If you have an office pet (and if you don’t, get one), simply make a corner dedicated to it, set up a camera and live stream it to the world. Similarly to the Wyoming example, you never know when success might hit and plus the investment will be minuscule compared to the potential success.
3. Have a Q&A Live Stream with your Team/CEO
Another way to quickly and creatively boost your Facebook live game would be through a Q&A session with your team or CEO. The direct interaction with the audience will be a great boost for your overall engagement.
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Take Legendary Game of Heroes Q&A live stream for example. The developers have about 60K likes on their page and receive a mere 5 to 10 reactions (likes) to their usual posts. Even their videos receive at most around 70-100 reactions.
However, when the team decided to set up a Q& session, they’ve managed to gather up to 6K views and over 300 reactions. This is an engagement increase of over 3000% to what they are usually getting.
Going even further, compared to the other videos posted by the brand, the live stream got over 350% more engagements, despite having almost the same number of views as most of their videos.
What’s more, the Q& can be a great way to humanize your brand. You will also be able to receive direct feedback from your audience and learn what they are interested in the most without having to perform complicated surveys.
4. Stream a Company-Wide Event
Whether your company consists of five people or two-hundred people, you won’t be wrong with streaming a company-wide event. If there’s one thing people love more than pets, it’s the entertainment that comes with the social activity failure of others.
It’s true! Especially when the failure is evident for the performer, like on most Karaoke open mic nights, people are inclined to have fun and laugh at the expense of others.
While some of their decisions are rather questionable, BuzzFeed did manage to creatively take advantage of Facebook Live video streaming when they did a Dance Craze Battle. With over 219K views the battle received notable attention.
Plus, due to the curious dance moves of some BuzzFeed employees, the viral potential of the resulting GIFs was undeniable. So next time you are planning to make a team building event make sure to bring your phone with you and press the Facebook Live stream button.
5. Take Advantage of Events
Speaking of events, using events that are celebrated within the culture of your target audience is always a nice way of going about content. Dunkin Donuts proved that this is a viable technique for Facebook Live video as well, with their Valentine’s day special.
The stream, which was only 18 minutes long, managed to get more than 203K views. To use this strategy to your advantage, simply take a look at your calendar and see what’s the next best holiday event you can use for your live stream.
Of course, you should always be culturally aware and target either worldwide holidays or specific events within your community, but events, in general, are definitely a thing to keep in mind when planning your next Facebook live video move.
Be Creative and Think Outside of the Box!
Live video streams don’t have to be the next big thing. As LADBible showed, the simple melting of lollipops on a roof can result in 6.3M views. You don’t have to be a genius and your company doesn’t have to spend millions to feature a huge Hollywood celebrity.
Instead, embrace your creativity. Think of something you’d be willing to watch when you are bored.
And don’t forget to get out of the boundaries of what’s considered normal. TasteMade made a sensation with their TinyKitchen boasting more than 3.8M views. Plus, their video content is being recycled to this day.
Not to mention, such out-of-the-box ideas can be used regardless of the industry you are in. Take Jason Carr’s live stream video feed as an example. With 110K views, the video he streamed managed to surprise his fans while showing a wider audience some behind the scenes footage.