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Robyn Hardman, Digital Consultant
And We’re Rolling: The Best Uses of Facebook Live
Facebook Live is shaking up everything we knew about video, and for good reason – it’s brought livestreaming out from being something attached to niche hobbies to reaching millions of people on one platform.
Tech giant Cisco estimated that video will account for 80% of all online traffic by 2019, so platforms like Facebook Live are becoming increasingly important in the marketing mix. We’ve picked out a few of our favourite recent uses of Facebook Live, and have shared how businesses of all sizes can use similar techniques to reach their target audiences.
McDonald’s burger-themed art show
We all love a good burger at Mighty HQ, so we were over the moon to discover that McDonald’s had decided to start off their Facebook Live journey with a burger-themed art show on National Hamburger Day. Over 23,000 people tuned in to see comedic artist ‘Bevin Burger’ paint a Big Mac and a Quarter Pounder in the style of beloved TV artist Bob Ross.
What businesses can learn from McDonald’s approach
Simply put, quirky is engaging! The quirk factor is important in any online video, and the more unusual the subject matter, the more people want to watch it and share it. So whether it’s a business showing its product being used in an unusual way or highlighting a strange process that the public don’t know about, the more peculiar it is, the greater the reach.
Benefit’s Tipsy Tricks
Luxury beauty giant Benefit uses Facebook Live every Thursday to host the ‘Tipsy Tricks’ show, which covers the latest beauty trends. The show features two hosts, who enjoy a glass of wine or Champagne as they give out make-up tips. This laid-back approach to marketing their products goes down a treat with their customers, known as ‘Benebabes’, and each video averages around 25,000 views.
What businesses can learn from Benefit’s approach
Tipsy Tricks is a weekly segment, taking place at the same time every Thursday. By having regular activity scheduled at the same time, it helps cement your place on the social media timeline with your followers. And, if the content is deemed useful by the view, they will be tuning in time and time again.
Team GB at the Rio Olympics
Although the Rio Olympics took place miles and miles away, Team GB did a great job of making us feel like it was in our back garden with their brilliant Facebook Live coverage. They chatted to the athletes after their spectacular performances and invited Facebook fans from across the nation to ask any burning questions and pass on their congratulations.
What businesses can learn from Team GB's approach
There’s absolutely loads of coverage for Rio 2016, but this ‘behind-the-scenes’ approach gave fans access to content that the media couldn't show them. People are naturally curious, so showing them what goes on behind the scenes of your business is a great way of not only promoting your values and processes, but it also gives customers an insight into the personalities involved or the care and attention of staff.
Facebook also prioritises live video over other content, so if you’re running an event, or have a loyal following, releasing quick blasts of behind-the-scenes content every so often can help to increase your reach and number of followers.
How Mighty used Facebook Live to help us reach over 172,000 people in two days
Inspired by these brilliant examples, we decided to start using Facebook Live across the 2016 Chateau Impney Hill Climb weekend. As well as boosting our reach across the weekend, as Facebook gives a higher priority to live videos in the News Feed, it helped us to engage with numerous fans that hadn’t arrived at the event yet and started getting them excited about what was to come.
Our Facebook Live video of the 1905 steam car Whistling Billy starting up in the paddock was one of the most popular, reaching over 10,000 people:
It was great to see some instant reactions to our video and watch people join in with questions and comment. And, in utilising live video alongside our other content that weekend, we reached 844% more people on Facebook than we did at the 2015 Hill Climb, where no video was used at all.
If you loved our Live examples, you might like these blogs:
- It’s not me; it’s definitely you! The changing relationship between brand consumers and advertisers
- Bringing the Home Nations series to life
- Facebook’s waging war on clickbait (and you won’t believe how that’s good for you!)
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