As soon as a new feature on social media comes out, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the excitement and forget to think about if using the feature is benefitting your company’s brand in any way. One of the newest examples of this is Facebook Live.

Implemented into the platform last year, individuals and companies have been raving about this new ability to engage with your followers – but at a risky cost. The time to decide whether the benefits outweigh the costs are before your first video; so we have prepared a list of each, as well as some best practices to going live.

Pros to Facebook Live

• Great way to engage with your followers, as you can respond to their comments as they come in
• You can see who is online when you post
• People will see that yo are human, too
• Shows that you are up to date with the newest technology
• Easy way to show people what they’re missing at events instead of having to describe it

Cons to Facebook Live

• There’s always room for something unexpected to occur
• You cannot control exactly what people are going to say
• There’s no ability to edit before posting
• If you mess up, you’re starting over
• It can take a lot of time and effort to plan and execute the perfect video

Best Practices

You need to make sure you are in as much control as possible when it comes to making a live video, because there will always be some things that are out of your control. Ask yourself these questions first:

• Is the technology going to work well?
• Do you have enough battery?
• Are you prepared for surprises such as random people or length of the video?
• What are your key talking points?
• Will the video enhance your company’s name?
• Why are you making this video?

The more you plan before, the better. The last thing you want to happen is someone going off topic and having zero talking points to draw them back to your purpose.

What is in the camera shot? Does everything in your setting match the image you want to portray? And most importantly, are you showing your followers what they want to see?

No one is going to watch more than a couple minutes if you don’t entertain them. Think about it from the opposite perspective. How much time do you need in order to tell if you are interested in a show/movie/video? If you are not giving your audience what they tuned into your Facebook Live video for, you can expect them to get distracted and move on before you’re finished.

After all, the main reason you’re on social is to reach your audience and increase your return on investment isn’t it? Make sure to track the engagement that comes from your videos to see if it’s worth the time and effort. You can even add a link with a tracking code to see how much traffic was driven to your website. If you find that it didn’t help you, don’t stress! There are plenty of other social media platforms and features that will help you accomplish your goals.

After you have taken all of these factors into account, you’ll see much more clearly if Facebook Live is right for your company.

Noticing your social media could use a facelift? Mopdog Creative + Strategy can help you with any of your branding needs!

Email William Musical at [email protected] or call 678-737-7333 for more information.

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