So, you want to start using Facebook Live? Well, you’re on the right track.
Did you know that real estate marketers who use video content in their campaigns receive a whopping 403% more inquiries than those who don’t?
Those statistics are OFF THE CHARTS!
If you’re still hesitant, just read these research statistics on how relevant Facebook Live is in 2019.
When it comes to promoting your Facebook Page, we shared the importance of engaging with everyone to create connections that may eventually convert into leads.
There are Facebook events and contests, but we also talked a little bit about real-time broadcasting on Facebook Live as a means to redirect people to your Facebook Page.
As a real estate marketer, it’s important to take advantage of every single platform out there that can generate qualified leads. In the Philippines, it’s no longer news that Facebook is the most used social media platform that the country tops global rankings in usage.
This is why in our previous blog, we encouraged the best practices in creating a Philippine Real Estate Facebook Page to make the most out of the online audience.
HOW TO USE FACEBOOK LIVE
Depending on your device,there may be different interfaces on how to start a broadcast. Since Facebook Live started on mobile devices and the easier method, that’s what we’ll share with you for this tutorial:
- Tap on the camera icon next to the search bar.
- Give Facebook access to your camera and microphone.
- Switch to “Live” option on your Camera options..
- Choose your privacy and posting settings. (this is where you can segment viewers)
- Write a description for your viewers.
- Tag friends, choose your location, or add an activity for added details.
- Set your camera’s orientation to portrait or landscape.
- Add lenses, filters, or writing and drawing to your video for special effects.
- Click the “Start Live Video” button to start broadcasting.
- Interact and engage with viewers and commenters.
- Click “Finish” to end the broadcast.
- Post your reply and save the video to your camera roll.
- Unique Content – while all broadcasts are planned prior to streaming, viewers feel a sense of being unfiltered that seems more genuine to watch as opposed to an edited and heavily-scripted video.
- Cost-Effective – Facebook Live eases the pressure of production that there’s a need to spend resources in order to grab attention from viewers. While there’s nothing wrong with going all-out, you can use something as simple as a smartphone to broadcast on your feed.
- Highlight Events – if you have something upcoming or an on-going event, going live helps to hype-up the viewers because they wouldn’t know what to expect.
- Instant Connection – on Facebook, it’s easier to see who’s watching your stream. Whenever somebody new joins to watch, leaves a react or a comment, engaging with them can be done instantly.
- Community Awareness – other than highlighting events, you can also promote events and happenings in your community, that may not necessarily have anything to do with your brand. This can work better than ads since you also have real-time notifications on your online reach.
- Lead Generation – as we’ve mentioned in the introduction. Facebook Live redirects the audience to your Facebook Page. When you broadcast, people are much more open to engaging with you and the increase in traffic opens the potential for lead generation.
- Lead Generation – put prospects in the sales funnel and expand network
- Generate Revenue – from sponsorships, affiliates and merchandise
- Brand Promotion – selling a product or service by sharing offers and information to entice viewers
- Real Estate News
- New Developments
- New Listings
- Live Open House
- Events and Promotions
- Create a Facebook Event for your Live
- Messenger campaigns
- Other social media channels (Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn)
- SMS and Email Blasts
- Just be yourself and make sure to incorporate your branding on the actual video.
- If effects are not your forte, we advise that you use the same opening and closing statements.
- It’s alright to make mistakes, given that it’s a live broadcast there is a sense of authenticity in being flawed.
- The most important part is to engage with your viewers and to have them participate on your stream.
REAL-TIME ADVANTAGE
If you don’t already know, using Facebook Live for Real Estate Marketing comes packed with benefits that are unique compared to the conventional text, images and video formats.
SO, WHAT’S THE PLAN?
To stress on the last benefit, lead generation is the primary purpose of real estate marketing in order to build positive relationships with prospective clients and sell properties more effectively.
Like with any other marketing campaign, you need to have a defined strategy to make sure that the execution is done successfully.
Read our 5-step plan to help you fully utilize Facebook Live.
1. DEFINE AND SEGMENT
Perhaps the most relevant part of marketing is knowing your audience and adjusting your content according to their needs and interests. You don’t want to stream without any direction or objectives. Whether your audience are friends of friends or complete strangers, analyzing which particular demographic will benefit from your live brings you one step closer to a successful campaign.
2. DETERMINE CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES
As we’ve mentioned, lead generation is the primary purpose in marketing, but there are particular call-to-action (CTA) prompts that we wish for the viewers to do. Monitor your statistics because engagements are more important than views. When you know the purpose of your campaign, you are able to adjust your content and segment your audience accordingly.
The list of possible objectives are as follows:
3. CONTENT PLANNING
Once you’ve established your audience and objective, the next thing to think about is the topic of your discussion and the program’s format. Just because it’s a live stream, it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t bother with the preparation. Have a run-down of everything you’re going to talk about, and perhaps even some points to avoid going off-track. You can choose between doing a tutorial related to real estate, interviews with industry leaders, or just have a forum about the latest happenings and news in the property market, like a webinar.
If you need some help in coming up with topics, you can choose from the following categories:
4. PRODUCTION SET-UP
While it’s okay not to spend too much on equipment, there’s nothing wrong with putting the effort to make your live broadcast look good. Prioritize making sure that your video and audio are clear, the rest are just secondary. If you’re not streaming in daylight, make sure you are somewhere well-lit as to not affect the quality of your output. Furthermore, your internet connection must be stable to avoid any lags or interferences during the live.
5. PROMOTE UPCOMING BROADCAST
As extra marketing content, you can schedule your live on Facebook a week prior to the broadcast. You can build the hype by providing the title, description, people involved and their pages. When your audience sees your promotional post, along with your guests’ audience, there are more chances of being shared and viewing on the actual day of the event.
Other ways to promote:
TIPS DURING ACTUAL BROADCAST
To learn more about digital marketing using social media platforms like Facebook, subscribe to our weekly Prosperna blog; or if you want to kickstart your success in Philippine Real Estate book a FREE DEMO with us and we’ll show you how.
Dennis Velasco
Technology Evangelist super passionate about helping the industries of eCommerce, SMEs and real estate in the Philippines reach new levels of success.