By Jawad Khan 
With more than 1.7 billion monthly active users, Facebook already gives marketers better reach and audience insights than any other platform on the web. But now we have Facebook Live, and with it comes the first time in history that marketers can get face to face with their audience. It’s a new era for both engagement and traffic, when done correctly. Here’s how.
Why Live is B-i-g
Live has turned ordinary people into influencers, and influencers into superstars.
As a result, more video content is being created on Facebook than ever before and it’s starting to realistically threaten the dominance of YouTube as the undisputed number 1 video platform on the web.
According to a recent study, Facebook Live videos are generating 3x more engagement as compared to the recorded content:
Source: Facebook Video Stats 2016
For marketers, this is exciting news. The top marketers and bloggers in most niches are using Facebook Live to not only engage with their audiences more frequently, but also to drive more traffic to their content and to turn viewers into email subscribers. This is the best time to get on board since Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm currently gives more organic exposure to live videos than other types of content.
Not sure how you can take advantage? Here are a few examples to help you.
1. Ask Your Audience To Suggest New Content Ideas
Successful bloggers aren’t superhuman.
They’re just better at identifying the biggest pain points of their audience and creating content that comprehensively answers every question their readers have.
With Facebook Live, now you can do it as well.
Start a live video stream and directly ask your audience about the topics that bother them the most about their business. Understand their needs, take notes and generate new ideas based on their feedback.
The content created as a result of reader feedback will not only be more useful and targeted, but will also generate much more interest and traffic.
99Designs, a leading logo and graphic design platform, used the same strategy to create a popular post on their blog on logo design trends in 2017:
While researching for New Year content idea, they went live on their Facebook page and asked their audience for feedback.
The result, a well-researched post with exactly the content their audience was looking for.
2. Create Anticipation for Your Upcoming Content With Facebook Live
One of the most innovative ways content marketers are using Facebook Live is by creating anticipation for their upcoming content. Instead of publishing content and then looking for traffic, they follow the opposite strategy and focus on creating excitement among their followers.
Need examples? In a recent interview with Michael Hyatt, Kim Garst, a leading social media expert, shared how she used Facebook Live and Periscope to get her fans excited about her soon-to-be published blog posts 10 or 15 min before publishing a new post, Kim would go live on Facebook and discus some of the best tips from her post. She’d get the audience fully engaged and invite questions to encourage a deeper discussion on the topic.
But just when it gets really exciting, she’d reveal that she has kept the best tips for her blog post which she’d be publishing right after the live session. She’d publish the post while the session is still on, and share the link in the comments of her live video. According to Kim, this simple strategy works every time and drives 10x more traffic immediately to her new posts. However, to find success with this strategy, you need to be fairly knowledgeable about your niche since you’ll have a lot of questions coming your way.
3. Use Video Specific Content Upgrades To Attract More Subscribers
Generating Traffic to your blog and getting followers on your social media profiles is great. But there’s still nothing more important for an online marketer than building a subscriber base. According to Email Monday, email marketing has an ROI of almost 3800% ($38 in return for every $1 spent). Facebook Live gives you a great opportunity to turn followers and viewers into email subscribers.
How? By using video specific content upgrades. You might’ve seen content upgrades on your favorite marketing blogs. Unlike generic lead magnets, a content upgrade offers an extension of the blog post you’re reading. It drives much higher conversions since the reader is already interested in a blog post, and the content upgrade gives him additional reading material that is closely aligned with the post.
Here’s an example of a content upgrade used on the marketing blog Backlinko:
And here’s the best part. You don’t need to spend hours creating a content upgrade. It can be a small, but relevant, resource like a checklist, a worksheet, a small eBook or quick video. But how does this relate to Facebook Live? – I can hear that voice in your head
You can replicate the content upgrade strategy on Facebook Live and achieve the same results as a blog post. All you need to do is to create an additional resource that is closely aligned with the topic of your Facebook Live video. You can then ask your viewers to download it from your website or blog.
Simply create a landing page, using any free or paid WordPress landing page plugin, place your content upgrade on it and share the link in the comments section of your video. For example, if the topic of your Facebook Live video is “How To Generate Sales Leads With Cold Emailing”, you could create a few sample email templates and offer them as a content upgrade.
It’s a simple, yet extremely effective, way to build your email list every time you go live on Facebook.
4. Interview an Industry Influencer Live on Your Facebook Page
What’s the easiest way to steal an industry influencer’s email subscribers (thousands of them)? Simple, just invite them for an interview. Again, it works just like blogging.
Most bloggers publish interviews and expert round up posts in which they ask multiple influencers the same question and compile their answers in one blog post. When the post is published, every influencer is notified by the blog owner along with a request for a Tweet.
This sends hordes of traffic from all different directions to the interview post. The same strategy can be applied to Facebook Live as well. If you can invite multiple influencers, great. If you can’t, even one is enough.
eCommerce giants Shopify do this regularly on their Facebook page and are a great example to follow. They recently did a Facebook Live session with Tim Ferris, famous author and entrepreneur, and used it to route traffic from Facebook to their landing page.
Tim also asked his email subscribers and social media followers to join him live for this session. Overall, the live broadcast generated over 12000 views. Of course, not everyone can afford to invite Tim or other celebrity influencers for a live video session.
You could, however, target any experts or influencers who are slightly ahead of you, have a small but loyal following, and are looking to expand their networks.
The Big Wrap Up
Live video streaming is an exciting addition to Facebook which has opened up new opportunities for brands, content marketers and bloggers.
By using the organic reach and engagement of Facebook Live, marketers can easily drive more traffic to their blogs and convert it into email subscribers.
Have you jumped on the live video bandwagon yet? If yes, I’d love to hear how you’re using it to further your marketing objectives.
SME Paid Under
Sitetrail Research Team 
Doug Brown
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