Leveraging Zoom Through Facebook Live
Out in rural America, businesses are beginning to re-open and consumers are starting to slowly venture out into public. Things are not what they were pre-pandemic and likely won’t be for a while. We’re all adjusting the best we can to what will become the new normal for the immediate future.
In the image above, Cliff Callis, President of Callis, facilitates a Zoom call, broadcast live on Facebook, with Bothwell Regional Health Center CEO Lori Wightman, Bothwell’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Phil Fracica, and JoAnn Martin, Administrator at Pettis County Health Center. The topic? Facts vs. myths related to COVID-19. The Live event shared important messages with social followers and the Sedalia/Pettis County community in a meaningful and engaging way.
How Zoom and Facebook Live can be a Content Powerhouse Together
Over the last few months, many of us have been forced into conducting business virtually rather than face-to-face. The Zoom virtual meeting platform has become the new round table in the conference room. In December 2019, Zoom had around 10 million daily users. In April 2020, that number had increased to over 300 million1. Zoom’s stock price went from around $70 at the end of the 2019 year to around $165 as of the date this article is written2.
Facebook live stream videos have equally impressive statistics and they began their climb long before any of us knew anything about COVID-19 and the impact it would have on our economy and our way of life. We’ve included a few impressive stats about Facebook Live videos to give you an idea how powerful they can be.
- Live videos produce six times as many interactions as traditional videos.
- Live videos get 10 times more comments than regular videos.
- Facebook users watch Facebook live videos three times longer than pre-uploaded videos3.
By taking advantage of the Zoom platform for content facilitation and Facebook Live for content distribution, you have a content powerhouse at your fingertips for the business environment now and into the future.
Using Zoom and Facebook Live together offers several benefits. First, it’s fairly easy to coordinate. It’s much easier to schedule a 30-minute or one-hour Zoom call into your day than trying to line up multiple parties in physical presence. This is especially helpful if you have stakeholders in multiple locations spread across a larger geography. Second, it’s fast and you can get your message out to your audience quickly, in real-time. It’s also an inexpensive method to broadcast your message. Last, it’s an innovative approach that shares real and genuine content and accommodates your audience. Folks can tune in as your content is airing or they can watch it later at a time that is convenient for them.
Some of the reasons Facebook Live videos perform as well as they do is because they are favored in Facebook’s algorithms. Facebook has been taking steps to facilitate personalized and meaningful interactions on its platform. Live videos are conducive to both. Facebook users can see relevant and genuine content as it’s happening and interact with the host Facebook page as the video is in progress. Increased interaction results in a snowball effect for the host page as your Live video becomes prioritized higher in more and more of your audiences’ news feeds as more and more interaction occurs.
Zoom and Facebook Live Content Tips
Leveraging Zoom through Facebook Live has a lot of advantages, but you’ll want your production to happen without any glitches. We’ve put together a few tips to help you create great content and maximize your investment of time and resources.
- Have a plan – Know what you’re going to talk about and share before you go Live. Answering frequently asked questions is a great topic for this approach, although you can make your content whatever you’d like to support a variety of initiatives. Make sure everyone participating in the call is up-to-speed on your topic, how the process will work and what is expected from them.
- Designate a moderator – Designate one person as the moderator to lead the discussions and keep things moving and on track. This person can also ensure a balance of discussion amongst participants and that everything on the plan is covered.
- Test your tech – Conduct a test run prior to going Live to ensure everybody’s technology is working properly and Zoom is correctly connected to Facebook Live.
- Promote the Live launch – Let your audience know the plan for going Live so they can make plans to tune in. You’ll capture some viewers naturally but promoting or teasing the video in advance can boost its performance metrics.
- Engage during airing – Have a person designated to watching comments and questions as they roll in. This can be the moderator or someone assisting the moderator off-screen. Try to answer the questions and address some of the comments as they come in and fit into your Live program. This brings a personal touch to your Live video, provides great content and lets other viewers know there is an open line of communication.
- Post-live promotion – Just because your Live feed is complete doesn’t mean you have to stop promoting it. You can export the Live video and edit it into shorter clips to repurpose on social media, share on your website or distribute through email or other outlets as appropriate.
Leveraging Zoom through Facebook Live can be an effective strategy to get your message out and engage your audience. This is a great combination now and will continue to be into the future as we continue moving forward and doing business a little differently than we did prior to the pandemic.
Stay healthy and be safe.
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