Unleashing The Full Power of Facebook Live

Here are the facts: Video performs well on Facebook and Live Video performs even better.

Most of the videos you see on Facebook Live are people sharing 5-20 minutes of an event.

Facebook Live is a great feature for sharing events with your friends the moment it happens. It lets you tap into the power of your curated social network and it makes viewing with a mobile device simple.

Now, if I were to cite a drawback it would be the limited quality of the shared audio and video. Cellphone video may not always be the best vehicle to share your brand. 

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We take a different approach. We've been using it to produce and share live multi-cam shows. In fact, we've had so much success with it, we started producing two live multi-cam shows at our studios.

You're may wonder how we can pull off a multi-cam switch with cellphones. The answer is that we don't. We use a Broadcast switcher and run optical connections to our cameras. We're running a television studio into FB live. This allows us to add some fun bling to our broadcasts: custom graphics, great audio and pre-packaged content.

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What we love about it (and what you probably love, too) is the immediate sharing to a targeted audience through a social network.

This is the exact same set-up we use for Broadcast television, Livestream, Ustream, Justin.tv, etc. - but without the expense and hassle.

For many clients this type of sharing is groundbreaking and creates traction on a network that they have been cultivating for years. 

The interface also allows for interaction via comments and reaction emojis with a slight, but manageable, delay.

Now, the technology itself is not new or particularly groundbreaking. But the power it gives to anyone with an account and a device is. Everyone now has the potential to be a broadcaster.

The secondary benefit is the ability to share the finished video in a variety of different ways. Research has shown that a 2/3 majority of the views happen after the live broadcast. Once a video publishes, Facebook Insights shows you where people joined and where they left. The insights also lets you see what parts of the broadcast they liked the most by noting the reaction emojis.

Our own recent experience with a radio broadcaster and our client was an out of the park success. The radio station loved it because it enhanced their broadcast AND gave them content to share after the broadcast was over. This meant that thousands of fans who weren't able to attend still got to see what they were missing. 

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The Daily Beast, CNN, and TMZ are just a few of the early adopters to Facebook Live video and they've seen great success.

This is the beginning of a big trend. We predict that as adoption increases, you'll see more high-end multi-cam productions on Facebook in the near future. And I'm sure it's making Google and YouTube a little nervous.

The way we look at it, if you are marketing person who wants to make something big happen for your company or your client, Facebook Live is a powerful option. And if you are looking to make a bigger impact than your competition, then looking into a multi-camera option is the right way to go. 

Ian Barrett

Ian Barrett is an award-winning director with 25 years experience Directing and Producing original content for television and film and web.

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