When Facebook Live was launched it seemed to fly under the radar a bit. Or is that just me? I would have expected a bit more ‘hoo-haa’ about it but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Nevertheless, you will probably see live streaming notifications pop up in your Facebook news feed. Or maybe you already have, but didn’t know what they were at first. Personally, I had my first notification pop up at 5:58am the other day after my alarm went off and I instinctively reached for my phone to check Facebook. It was for Channel 7’s Sunrise program. I only hung around for a few minutes, but I did catch a glimpse of the newsreaders getting themselves organised for the show to begin (from a camera positioned in the top corner of the studio) – and noted the numbers of the live stream audience move around from the high 600s to 700s. As well as some of the silly comments viewers were making while they waited for the show to officially begin.

Then I watched a friend’s sample live stream where she used her phone as the recording device and 24 viewers tuned in. But I could get a lot more value from her stream than the weird angle I had with Channel 7 – for that I’m better off just turning on the TV! But at least they’re giving it a go.

Regardless of the viewership or how the stream was conducted, both streams are saved to the relevant Facebook pages for people to refer back to later if they were unable to tune in ‘live’. So that’s a pretty cool feature for those browsing your company’s FB page at a later date.

Let’s go back a step – for those who don’t know what live streaming is. Live streaming has been around for several years, but it’s thanks to apps like Periscope and Meerkat that launched last year which kicked the whole concept up a notch. Ultimately, these platforms allow you to broadcast live video online and it is usually easy and free to do – well, in most instances.

It’s a great way to show your audience who you really are – without the bells and whistles of editing or having the opportunity to review the content first and deciding if you’re going to post it or re-do it! Potential and current clients are likely to love it – and, you never know – it might be the thing that pushes them over the line for the sale.

I’m not going to pretend to be the expert, because I have yet to give live streaming a go for Write Time Marketing, but if you have tried it out, I’d love to hear your feedback via the comments section below. Or pop me an email.

But if you want to give it a go for the first time, check out Facebook’s page with live streaming tips. That’s what I’ll be doing!

And if you need any assistance with any other element of content marketing for your business, feel free to give me a yell!