Facebook is already a great social platform to use when trying to market your dropshipping business. Video is also a very engaging medium for conveying messages online. But while it has been growing steadily, there’s a limit to how captivating something pre-recorded will be.
Facebook Live does a good job of bringing that same effect that differentiates a live soccer match from a recorded one. The streaming service, along with its chat option, is an effective way to communicate with your audience in real time.
To make the most of Facebook Live, you need to have a well-established Facebook page. This can be partly achieved through the use of a theme with attractive social media buttons.
Download the free Debutify theme to strategically display social media icons that lead visitors to your Facebook page. Here are some quick tips on how you can use Facebook Live to grow your dropshipping business:
Demonstrate How Products Work
Try to cover the entire journey. Start with the unboxing to show people how the product is packaged and what other items are included. In the case of electronics, set up the device so that shoppers can see what steps they have to take.
Make sure you go feature by feature, bringing the product closer to the camera or having the camera operator zoom in. Once all the important details have been covered, you can then go function by function. Show how the product can be modified to produce different results.
This approach works well for products like makeup kits, kitchen appliances, and other devices where the wrong technique produces poor results.
Host Authoritative Figures
Reach out to public figures who are popular in fields related to the products you sell. It could be a chef if you’re selling kitchenware, or an athlete if you’re into sports and fitness gear. Prepare some important questions to ask.
Leave room for a segment where viewers can submit questions via the chat option. You can also come up with challenges like how fast to dice vegetables or some stretching workouts. While public figures usually drive up views, the focus should always be on the content.
If you have people who are naturally fun and interesting in front of a camera, they could make even more engaging content.
Go Behind The Scenes
Identify the parts of your business that people don’t know much about. Look for the positives that you can point out about these processes. Take your camera crew with you to the places where some of this work is done.
This may be order processing, packaging, a delivery run, etc. The whole point is to highlight the value-adding practices that make your store stand out. You can also take on a more reality TV style by covering meetings and other day-to-day activities.
These business tours can help you get more of the customers’ trust. They are also more likely to buy if they see that you use materials, tools, and methods that they learned about and like.
Blend In A Clear Call-To-Action
For every live stream you hold, it is important to have at least one major instruction for your viewers. It may be as simple as visiting your store’s website. Newsletter signup. Or it can be a little more detailed, like enrolling in a contest or some other marketing-related program.
Be careful, certain kinds of posts will get buried. Don’t just copy and paste information from your ad campaigns. Give more context in your captions. Try mentioning the instructions during the recording. Make use of the CTA buttons where possible.
Stay away from overly self-promotional language. Focus more on the educational text. Learn more about how to apply calls-to-action on Facebook here. Once your CTA is successfully guiding people to your site, use a proper theme to display the most relevant welcoming content.
Download Debutify for free and build Shopify store pages that captivate visitors and lead them to make purchases.
Check our guide on "How To Create Powerful Calls To Action (CTAs) That Can Boost Your Ecommerce Conversions" to create effective call-to-action which can help you to boost your e-commerce conversions.
Promote Your Livestreams
To get maximum viewership, you should create artwork/posters with information about your upcoming Livestream. Be clear about who will feature, and what topics are to be covered. If possible, offer some sort of reward that can only be redeemed by those who watch.
It could be something like the first 20 people to comment on the Livestream. This will help you get some people interested earlier. You can then be at ease knowing that you’re not relying on the notifications and Facebook’s ranking of your posts alone.
These giveaways can also be a good way to find out what kind of value your audience is interested in.
Sell Products Through Live Shopping
With a commerce account, a Facebook page, and a product set in your Facebook live catalog, it is possible to tag and feature store products along with links. This enables you to worry less about the journey to your product.
You can spend more time giving valuable content. The tagging and featuring tools will simplify the visibility of the products during the stream. Always make sure you do a brief test before going live. This will help you catch any glitches and fix them so that they don’t ruin your stream.
Take note of the viewers who commented and follow up with them after the Livestream. Check the rules governing Facebook Live and ensure you stay within them. You can get familiar with the steps for setting up Live shopping here.
Get more best practices for holding successful Live shopping video sessions here.
Use In-Video Branding
Pay close attention to your set design. Look for any opportunities to make it unique and in line with your store’s brand. It could be subtle choices like furniture colors. You may be a little more direct by using a backdrop or other smaller banners and placards with your store’s logo etc.
You can also wear a branded T-shirt or don some of the products you sell (in the case of clothing items). Try to give your live streams a consistent look that makes your brand seem attractive and legitimate.
Select Relevant Tools
Before you start using Facebook Live, you need to know the different attributes you want your live stream to have. You may want to include video feeds from different sources. Maybe you envisioned your Livestream displaying a social feed.
The native Facebook Live functions are quite limited. For a more professional live stream, you need to select software that allows for dynamic production.
A guest speaking via Skype. A separate audio stream from a music player or some other source. Color settings.
Extra on-screen graphics like overlays etc. Common tools include Wirecast, OBS, StreamYard, BeLive, StageTen, BlueJeans, and more. Consider picking a tool that supports multiple guests.
Utilize Simulcasting
While the focus may be on tapping into an audience on Facebook, it is important to keep other platforms in mind. This makes sense for a number of reasons. For starters, it is hard to do the same livestream twice just so that you can cover different platforms.
In the case of hosting guests, it becomes even more tricky. Secondly, even if it is for simpler concepts like a product demonstration, the production costs might go up really fast. Thirdly, your promotion of the Livestream won’t reach everyone.
This means that some desired viewers may be on other platforms like YouTube while you’re starting. Or they may simply have Facebook notifications off. You, therefore, want to make sure that while presenting on Facebook, you also have eyes on you elsewhere.
Pick a broadcasting tool that allows you to send your stream to different platforms at the same time. You can find out more about how to broadcast to multiple destinations here.
Have A Strong Start
It is extremely hard to keep a random social media user glued to a video for more than 30 seconds. You must therefore always have a hook of sorts in mind. Something that not only draws people in but also makes them want to stay.
For example, you may start by letting people know that you’ll be giving out free units of the featured product to some lucky viewers toward the end of the stream. You can also start off with a brief entertainment segment from a guest performer.
The goal is to make sure you have as many people sticking around at the start. Many people don’t like to join in on a Livestream only to see that they are one of only 3 people watching. Think of it as a party. The drinks and music have to be ready the minute people start arriving.
Another good practice is to always have a rough script. This can help you give people context with brief introductions of what to expect. It can also guide you to know how much time to spend on each subtopic. Try to leave room for some random activity. Spontaneity can be positive.
Broadcast Your Messenger Rooms
Facebook recently introduced Messenger Rooms, where you can create a controlled chat room and manage live conversations. They have also made it possible for you to broadcast this entire room to a page or even a group.
The beauty of this is that it enhances what would otherwise be a typical text chat within a typical Livestream. It also creates the opportunity to engage the audience in more entertaining activities like guessing lucky numbers and other visual challenges.
Additionally, you may be using the Facebook Messenger Rooms feature to receive queries and feedback on products and services. With other people involved, it can feel more like a forum as people exchange experiences related to using your products.
When you combine Messenger Rooms with Facebook Live, you can eliminate the need to use other apps for handling multiple guests.
Work On Your Support Content
Many times, people may choose to watch a Livestream in the heat of the moment. In some cases, it is due to the image they already have about that page in their mind. To have successful live streams, you need to carefully pick the other content that comes before it.
Your last 3 posts or even the entire week building up to your Livestream must be valuable. And this isn’t about the posts openly promoting the upcoming Livestream. It can be other posts about things like participating in a charity program.
Or maybe a funny story about your business journey. It is also important for the posts to be distinct. If you have the same five ecommerce Facebook ads being blasted in people’s faces all day, a notification about your live video may produce an “Oh gosh! Not another Bob’s shoe store thing” reaction.
But if the days leading up to your Livestream were easy-going, with minimal but stand-out content, you might win a viewer. Be positive, sell hope, and basically get people feeling like they can achieve.
Here’s an example; “Don’t give up yet, just a little more hustle and you could enter 2021 with a new TV set”. This may come days before a Livestream about your new smart TVs. Another one may look like “The internet has gotten you this far during the lockdown. Join us this Friday for one more video and another dollar will go to getting computers for underprivileged schools.”
Making your audience feel like staying tuned in to your messages somehow benefits them and other people. With well-crafted support content, you might even get viewers visiting the site before the stream just to find out other things like what your prices are like.
To get the most out of them, use a theme that properly displays vital product information, store policies, and more. Download the free Debutify theme to get curious visitors to check out more products and buy.
Invest In Quality Audio, Video and other Hardware
Particularly for those who are going to be hosting different guests and doing takes outdoors, you need the best equipment you can get. In many cases, audio is even more important than video. Consider having separate lapels, shotguns, and boom mics instead of the camera mic.
Ensure that your recording place and time aren’t interrupted by noisy surroundings. Have at least a basic photography setup. Get tripods, gimbals, and Steadicams for smooth less shaky footage. Have a standard 3-light setup with a key, fill, and backlight.
Where your budget doesn’t allow it, do more research, and find cheaper options or DIY approaches. And even more importantly, make sure your internet service provider is on point. You can’t afford to have your stream freezing.
To know more about tools and practices that achieve high-quality productions, read this article here.
We’ve broken down a lot of stuff here but as we wrap up, always remember one key rule, involve the audience. Even if it is just some how-to content, request viewers who are into such products to share about how they use them.
Always find a way to get action out of the viewers. When you perfect this trick, you will easily lead them to your store. Use a theme that supports dynamic visuals to continue the journey with pictures, animations, and videos.
Download Debutify, the highest converting free Shopify theme that will help you utilize multimedia assets to get conversions.
Llouela Asim