Facebook Live for marketing

Facebook Live To Boost Your Visability

Tl, DR. If you are not using Facebook Live in your business, you are wasting time and money. Start now.

Facebook Live has a purpose no matter what your industry is. Whether it is charity, retail, food, anything you can imagine, Facebook Live can benefit your business. Besides, it is free. Facebook is giving you a free ad to place to all your followers. In a time when Facebook is becoming pay to play, this is the one exemption to get you guaranteed eyeballs onto your page. With most content, Facebook will bury it on a business page. With Facebook Live, not only does it not bury the post, it sends out notifications telling people you are live. to the followers that are not online now, they get a notification that you were live! This is in many ways better than paying for an ad. Every single one of your followers get a notification that you did something and are inviting them to watch. Not even a boosted post can guarantee every follower will see it.

 

Ways to go live

How to Facebook Live

You may be thinking to yourself right now, but Eric, I am shy and awkward! I get stage fright, I don’t like cameras, insert excuse here. None of that matters. The great thing about Facebook live is it can be you and the camera. Nobody else, like double-secret-talking-to-yourself-in-the-mirror secret. And, what is even better is you have many options for going live. You don’t even have to be on the camera! You can walk around talking to other people. You can host a Q and A with another person to take the attention off yourself. And if you like the attention and being in front of a camera, it is even better. You can do anything you want, and it will not bother you. You can even consider doing a weekly show! trade retail is great for this. You can give art or clothing tips.  Sephora does makeup and hair demos live. What Martha Stewart does many other businesses can do with their products. All industries can learn from Martha Stewart live videos! The opportunities are endless!

No matter what you do, Facebook live can help your business. Bars can feature bartenders, restaurants can walk through kitchens. Even a regular old marketing company can give an office tour. Plumbers can go live in a home while doing a simple repair. Show people how to do it, the car dealership can go live at a deal closing to show a happy customer taking delivery. Even a doctor’s office can go live with their patients telling how wonderful their experience is. No matter what your business is Facebook Live can benefit your business. If you do not think Facebook Live is a fit for you, give Zilker Marketing a call. We can help guide you in how to use social media to earn loyal customers, followers of the brand and of course, money.

Equipment

Cell phone tripod

Cell phone tripod

The great thing about Facebook live is it is cheap, and you are only limited to your creativity. At its most basic, you only need your cell phone camera. Yet, you can get lighting and a microphone for a better-quality production for well under $50. Then there are people who go all out and spend hundreds, even thousands on their Facebook live

Conclusion

As you can see, Facebook live has unlimited potential. With how Facebook is promoting the live feature, not making use of it is like turning down free advertising. It should be used by everyone. If you do not take advantage now, a few years down the road, you will be regretting missing your chance at a free foothold into an advertising avenue. If you need help coming up with a Facebook live strategy, feel free to contact our offices to plan today or head to Hubspot for their very handy ultimate guide.

What is an influencer?

Kris Jenner with a makeup box

Influencers are the latest big thing in marketing.

DEFINITION

Social Media Influencer:

(noun)

A Social Media Influencer is a user of social media who have established credibility in a specific industry. A social media influencer has access to a large audience. They can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach.”

(Definition courtesy of Pixelee)

While the days of organic reach are declining (Some ad ‘gurus’ will even try to tell you organic reach is dead), this is not always the case. if you post quality content, your scope is not dead. Zilker Marketing takes great pains to provide quality content over spam in our work. When spreading the word about your product or service, you have several avenues of distribution. Social media being one, there are also several methods within social media. You can post your original content, place ads and hire influencers are among the top means.

An influencer is often an excellent choice for business. A regional influencer is known in a city, especially a large city such as Austin, Texas, Chicago, Ill or Los Angeles. Even many smaller towns have influencers. Local influencers promote sports teams, restaurants hotels, salons and retail outlets to a regional audience. Austin, Texas has several influencers marketing people should get to know

Then there are national and international influencers. Most countries have their own local national influencers who are usually models. It is possible one can claim ET was one of the first brand influencers for M&M’s!

Top Influencers

Kylie Jenner is in the top /001% top influencers

Top influencers in social media today are names you know- Celebrities. The Kardashian family have pretty much mastered the influencer game. Kevin Hart has lends his profiles out to companies. With a campaign with a celebrity, you are sure to reach an audience of millions all around the world.

PewDiePie art sketch

Kiwiebird – DeviantArt

But, the real influencers are people known on their channels. The benefit to an influencer is they have built an audience in social media. A celebrity has their audience elsewhere and they use social media to promote what they know. When you use an influencer, you can hire a fashion blogger such as Chiara Ferragni to develop your clothing line. Lindsay and Morgan can help you with your restaurant. Charles Reagan is your go-to guy for music and entertainment. PewDiePie has a YouTube audience larger than most celebrities with 62 million. If he promotes a gaming product, you can be sure it will sell. With an influencer, you reach a smaller audience, but often the audience is a much more targeted audience tailored to your needs. The celebrity is a shotgun blast to the influencers sniper precision.

 

How To Get One

tacos in front of an Austin sign

Lyndsay and Morgan Instagram @eatingATX

Making use of influencers is quite easy. If you are looking for a local influencer, you may want to start with some good old-fashioned hashtag research for Austin, Texas. Next, narrow it down to your niche, food, fashion, makeup, etc.  Once you choose a few people you would like to promote your brand, look at their profiles. Do they post lazy photos of the brand, or do they provide helpful information as well? Is their brand trusted? If all they do is promote brands with no original content, you may want to shy away. You want to choose an influencer who is trusted for their content who recommends products they believe in. You do not want anyone willing to just throw money at them.

Finally, you will want to look at their engagement. Do they have an engaged audience of fans, or are they nothing but paid bot followers?

Once you have selected a few possible matches, send them a message on their social media profile asking for necessary information. If they seem to meet your needs, you will want to move the conversation over to email to finalize details and close the deal.

Influencers are a tremendous and fast-growing addition to the social media marketing mix. We at Zilker Marketing believe they will be a continued presence in the future.