The holiday season is upon us and with it brings a flurry of customers crossing items off of their lists and inventory that needs to be re-stocked. Long hours, exhaustion, and stress can leave business owners feeling full of fear instead of holiday cheer. “Will sales climb this season?” “Will our business end the year on a high?” “Is there anything we can do to increase sales before this year is over?”

The answer is YES! 

Go Live!

For anyone active on social media, live videos can be highly effective. Customers enjoy seeing “behind-the-scenes” of businesses and getting to know the real people working there. Broadcasting live on social media invites your customers into your world which in turn strengthens your brand and makes your brand more personable – creating a valuable B2C connection that money cannot buy. The great thing about broadcasting on Facebook is that once your video is finished broadcasting, it gets published to your page and stays there, allowing your followers to continue to engage with it.

7 Tips on Starting a Live Video:

1. Have a plan.

The beauty of live videos is that your customers want to see you being candid. Let your personality shine without following a script. Sure… you may slip up on your words or make a mistake, but that’s the kind of authenticity people want to see. They want to get to know your personal brand better, imperfections and all. With that said… you still need a plan.

Figure out exactly what you want to promote and write down a simple outline of what you will be sharing in your live video. Maybe you’re announcing a surprise sale or perhaps you want to show a new item that you just got in stock or maybe you have a special event coming up. Either way, make a plan.

2. Notify your followers.

Before you actually go live, create a post at least a half-hour in advance and let users know that you’ll be going live at the time of your choosing. You can even double-up on posts and create a post for the day before your planned video. 

Example: “Hey Everyone! We will be going LIVE at 3:00 pm today! We have some exciting news to share with you!” You can even include a photo of yourself looking excited or an exciting GIF that will draw people’s attention to your post. 

3. Create a video description.

For every video that is posted and created by your business, it is best practice to write a description that will capture the attention of your audience. It doesn’t need to be a lengthy description, but it needs to be captivating.

Example: “Check out these last-minute gift ideas that are sure to bring smiles to everyone on your list!”

4. Tag your business.

Don’t forget to tag your business location and add any other relevant tags and hashtags of people, products or places. This is an easy way to create a wider reach within the facebook community.

5. Broadcast video timing.

When broadcasting a live video, keep in mind that you need to stay live for a minimum of 10-30 minutes for the best success. You can definitely broadcast longer than that to get even more viewers involved and increase engagement. It takes time for your followers to log on, scroll through their feed, and see that you’re live so you need to give time to allow your viewers to join in. 

Typically, the first several minutes of a live video, the host will welcome people by name as they join in and mention the purpose of the video.

Example: “Hi John! Hi Stacy! Hi mom! Thanks for joining us today! We have some exciting news to share, but we’re going to wait for a few others to jump in.”

While you wait for others to join in, fill that time with light conversation.

Example: “Are you all finished with your holiday shopping? Anyone going anywhere fun for the holidays this year?” 

As you ask questions and viewers answer, keep that conversation going while you’re broadcasting. Conversing during a live video keeps it casual and shows viewers that you care about them.

Example: “John, you’re going to New York? That should be beautiful this time of year with all of the holiday decorations.” 

When you announce your exciting news, ask your viewers what they think about it. Get them talking and keep that conversation going.

6. Make sure your video looks right.

If you are demonstrating or highlighting a product, make sure that the product is well-lit and in the frame of the video. There’s nothing more frustrating when watching a product demonstration than not being able to fully see the product.

7. Keep engaging and monitoring.

Once you are finished broadcasting on facebook, your video will be posted. As your followers scroll through their feed your video will still pop up and say “Your Business Name was live.” You will still have people watching the video and commenting and engaging with it. Even after a video has been published it still looks and feels like a live video and your followers will continue to interact with it as if it was live. It is IMPERATIVE that you keep an eye on that post and respond to comments in a timely fashion. 

Conclusion

Broadcasting live videos on social media is highly effective and creates a lot of engagement for your facebook page. Customers enjoy seeing the “behind-the-scenes” of businesses and getting to know business owners more personally. Live videos also create a fantastic opportunity to get the word out quickly and easily for your special promotion. And what better time of the year than the holidays and end of the year to market your brand and drum up last-minute sales?

If you’d like to learn more about how to “GO LIVE” through social media and market your business this holiday season, contact Fuzzy Duck. We offer FREE consultations and cover everything from print to digital marketing and strategies.

Let’s Connect!