Social Connection while Distancing with Instagram and Facebook Live
As we’ve entered another week of social distancing, it continues to inspire creative ways to still connect with clients and followers. One marketing tool that is being used in a great way is Instagram Live. From late night host Jimmy Fallon to top music executive Swizz Beatz, people are creating a community through Instagram live to market themselves, products or their business. While Zoom, and Skype are a great way to connect for business meetings, virtual happy hours, etc. Utilizing tools such as Facebook or Instagram Live could connect you to future clients.
How Does It Work?
If you’re looking to go on Instagram Live, the feature is located in your story creating options. One of the pro’s about Instagram Live is you can also go live with other followers to create an even bigger impact on the platform. There is no time limit to how long you can be on live, but be strategic. The longer you’re on, you may start to lose viewership. A simple 10-20 minutes is all you need to connect with your core audience.
When using Facebook live, it works very similarly to Instagram Live. The feature is located on your page options where you can post a status, photo or video.
Another pro to both of these features is that you can save your sessions for replay. Let’s say someone missed the live session, you can allow a 24 hour replay via Instagram Live or save it to your feed for Facebook Live. Either way, it’s important you save it for future viewership.
When Should You Go Live?
You know the best time to connect with your audience. Because everyone is pretty much working from home, lunch hours are great as well as happy hour time. You want to make sure you aren’t going live when other major companies or influencers are. This may limit the amount of followers that connect with your live. If you’re going to go live multiple times in a week, make sure it’s the same time everyday. People will know exactly when to watch, especially if they missed it the previous day.
Using Instagram and Facebook live has worked wonders for a lot of companies and individuals recently. DJ D-Nice, a well known DJ was able to go from 250K followers to 1.5M followers in 3 days following his innovative Club Quarantine party. People from former First Lady Michelle Obama to supermodel Naomi Campbell all joined in to watch DJ D-Nice Instagram live set. It eventually led to him partnering with Michelle Obama to create voting registration initiatives.
So let’s think, how can you start or partner with a company, fellow industry leader to create more business for yourself and others. This is the time to use social media for its purpose and that’s to network!
