4 Things Businesses Should Know About Facebook Live

26
Jul 2016
Source: @trudy_loosman
Source: @trudy_loosman

Facebook is continuing to update its live video features, meaning more video broadcasting and more opportunity for businesses. It’s no secret that live-streaming has become a major social media element today: from Snapchat’s immediate video uploading, to Twitter’s sports streaming, to Facebook Live.

If you’re a business, there are four key components of Facebook’s Live Video updates that you should be aware of:

1. Geogating

If you only want certain people to watch your video, you can now make that happen. These audience restrictions, or what Facebook calls “geogating.” were added to its video feature at the same time as the continuous streaming options. You can target, or eliminate people by location, age, and gender.

Yes, this means that you can target or exclude people by their country, state, city or zip code. You can also set a minimum and maximum age limit, and by males or females.

2. Live-Stream For Up To 4 Hours

Facebook Live has always limited live-streaming to 90 minutes but now the limit is four hours. Your business can use Facebook Live to broadcast team-building activities, live events, conferences and more!

Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook

3. Hide Reactions And Comments

Whether you are broadcasting or watching, you can hide comments and reactions in Facebook Live’s video-only mode. To do this, swipe right to hide comments and reaction or swipe left to allow them to appear. Hiding comments on a broadcast will allow your business’ livestream to be free from distractions, allowing viewers to remain focused on the broadcast.

4. Continuous Live

Yes, you can go live indefinitely. This update that was added a few months ago is not well known. It’s one that some businesses might really benefit using. How? Well, if you’re a zoo, you might want to keep Facebook Live right on your aquarium display. If you’re a museum, show live footage of Saturday’s busy hours.

However, there is a catch or two. Once your broadcast is ended, it is gone forever, so your followers have to watch it right when it is live. Also, your followers will not receive a notification saying you are live.

Live-streaming is becoming more and more prevalent in the social media world. With these updates comes the ability for businesses to not only grow using live-streaming, but also increase engagement and visibility.

Make sure your business is taking advantage of the endless opportunities social media can allow, including Facebook Live.

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