Conferences

Facebook Live Video Tips

June 12, 2018 by The Motherhood

Did you know that since it debuted in 2016, Facebook Live has streamed 3.5 billion broadcasts?

The role of video in social marketing, especially live video, continues to become more and more important. The live video experience is social at its core, and on average, they generate six times more interactions than regular video, and daily average broadcasts from verified publisher Pages have increased 1.5 times over the past year due to Facebook Live use (source).

Marketers, publishers and consumers of media ALL want to break through the clutter, and Facebook Live is a great vehicle to help achieve that: Facebook Live videos continue to show up in the news feed since they encourage engagement.

Have you gone live yet? Below, we share some tips on how to make the most of your Facebook Live broadcasts.

When and why should your brand use Facebook Live?

To connect with your audience in a real, human way.
To communicate hot-button issues.
To connect communities during a crisis or share urgent information.
To provide a behind-the-scenes look.
To give viewers a glimpse into your life or company culture.
For interviews.
To broadcast a regularly scheduled program or event.

Tips before recording:

Promote the upcoming Facebook Live event with a post on your page an hour or two in advance to give your organic followers a reminder.
Always test your Internet connection and ensure your device is fully charged prior to going live! It’s always a good idea to have a backup device ready as well.
To get comfortable and practice, you can restrict privacy settings so that only you can see the live video. (Under Live Video settings window, on the right-hand side, there is a padlock; click on that and choose the “Only Me” option.)
Facebook recommends broadcasting for at least ten minutes. Experiment with time of day and see when your engagement and active viewers peak (this information can be found within Facebook’s analytics).
Good-quality lighting and audio equipment is worth the investment if you are regularly broadcasting live.
Make sure your lighting is appropriate (face the window instead of having your device facing the window), and if you can, remove glasses to eliminate the glare on the screen!
If you’re using a phone or tablet, don’t shy away from recording with the device horizontally. It shows more of your surroundings to help viewers place you in context, and the formatting works better in the news feed.
Once you’ve connected to wifi, make sure to switch your device to Airplane Mode! In this setting, you won’t get calls or other notifications that could disrupt or be a distraction to your video.
Don’t kill time just to fill time. Record with a purpose and have your content ready.

Tips during the broadcast:

Acknowledge your audience! Answer questions or thank commentators verbally by name for their input.
If you are hosting a broadcast in which you expect a steady volume of questions, have a colleague or friend help field them (some can be answered via text and some verbally).
Encourage interaction. Static Facebook posts that encourage likes, shares, comments and other engagement are penalized for seeming spammy. But, encouraging these during a Facebook Live broadcast gives viewers an actionable request and may help make your content or call-to-action more visible the more times it is liked or shared.

Tips for after recording:

Once a Live Video is created, it will live on your Facebook page (up to 500 videos can live on your page).
Pin the video to the top of your feed to increase video views.
Promote the video with a boosted post after the broadcast to target and extend the reach beyond your organic followers.
If an influencer creates a Facebook Live video for a brand, the brand can and should boost it on their own page.
You can create an edited version of the Facebook Live video to promote with an ad.
You can upload a custom thumbnail, with a graphic overlay if you’d like, to convey the topic of the video.
Respond in a comment to anyone you may have missed during the chat to increase engagement.
Captioning the video is another option post-recording, which is helpful for those viewers who tend to scroll through Facebook on mute!
Take a look at your Insights, and if you have a high-performing video, you can make it a more prominent “featured video” on your page.

Do you broadcast live? We’d love to hear your best Facebook Live video tips!

Social Fresh 2016 Conference Trends Round-Up

August 24, 2016 by The Motherhood

The Motherhood is thrilled to have been able to attend the Social Fresh 2016 Conference in Orlando! We heard from an amazing lineup of speakers who shared valuable insights on everything from creating authentic brand content, to running social ads, to providing SEO predictions for the future — just to name a few topics. We especially loved learning that more than half of the conference speakers were female, the most they’ve had in any of the 18 Social Fresh conferences to date! All of the speakers were incredible. Thank you to the presenters and Social Fresh team who made this conference a must-attend event.

Here are some of the trends, ideas and insights that grabbed our attention at Social Fresh 2016:

1. Human-first, good-quality content is still key.

The Social Fresh 2016 team presented this stat: “creating content is the most time-intensive task for social media teams, taking up 18.5 percent of their days!” As any content creator knows, it can be difficult coming up with creative and relatable content; however, when done correctly, it pays off:

67 percent of followers will share your content if it is good. – Heather Taylor
78 percent of followers believe that companies that provide good content want to build a relationship with them. – Melanie Deziel
Videos that show people in the first several seconds receive twice the amount of engagement. – Stacy Minero

It’s no surprise to us that authentic content equals the best content. Conference speakers, like author Sally Hogshead and Cory Vasquez of RE/MAX, drove home the fact that people want to see relatable, empathetic content from brands and influencers. Real, honest posts will cut through the crowded social space.

Hogshead encouraged the room to stop looking at what will make their brand better, but to look at what makes them different, and capitalize on that. Being different can be your brand’s advantage. In her words, “The goal isn’t to create the same message to blast to your following. The goal is to create the right messages that break through and stand out.”

Having “human-first” content was another prevalent theme. Vasquez shared a checklist of characteristics that make her brand’s content “human-first”: timely, engaging, honest, relatable, good quality and empathetic. Twitter’s Stacy Minero also encouraged the audience of marketers to highlight human stories, saying, “People are drawn to people.”

Takeaways for creating human-first, branded content:

“People can tell when you’re trying to go viral, so be authentic.” – Jeremy Goldman
Expert content creator Sarah Evans encouraged the audience to ask themselves, “Will this make people care, share or swear? If none of those, it’s boring content.”
“Woo them, don’t sell them…. Lay off the sales pitch!” – Heather Taylor

2. Video (especially Live Video) continues to become more and more important!

Jeremy Goldman of the Firebrand Group shared an eye-opening session on the future of video in marketing. The Firebrand Group found in a recent survey that the majority of marketers (75 percent) are turning to Facebook for videos, rather than YouTube or other platforms, due to higher engagement. YouTube video comments don’t hold as much value as a like, comment or share on Facebook.

Their study also showed that 85 percent of marketers see positive ROI from video marketing. Goldman predicted this video trend to rise, saying, “As video grows in popularity, the demand for good–quality videos is skyrocketing.”

This is a trend our own network of influencers has also been predicting, calling video the #1 trend in blogging and social media in 2016.

Takeaways for creating compelling videos:

80 percent of people mute ads, so make sure your ads make sense without audio, or use text and captioning within the video content.
Always think, “How can I make this video social and interactive?”
Pay to promote your Live videos after they are broadcast Live.

3. Twitter is becoming more interactive.

Minero shared ways of getting your followers’ attention in their feed. She reported that Twitter is moving away from broad impressions and toward participation — from viewing to doing. With attention spans as short as eight seconds, attention is the new currency in brand advertising, according to Minero.

In order to “stop people in their feed,” companies are working with Twitter to create customized branded emojis and stickers. Minero used the #TacoEmojiGenerator as a great example of this, which was a hit with the Social Fresh audience.

Tacos over everything. Tweet us 🌮 + any emoji and we'll reply with something we think you'll like. #TacoEmojiEngine pic.twitter.com/f5yhqCeLKk

— Taco Bell (@tacobell) August 17, 2016

Minero’s tips for creating hashtags on Twitter:

Keep in mind that the most utilized hashtags are usually the less branded ones.
Let your hashtag provide a way for people to express themselves and their motivations (see REI’s campaign for #OptOutside as a great example of this!).

Were you at the Social Fresh 2016 Conference? We’d love to hear your top takeaways from the event or your feedback on our takeaways!

Highlights from the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

January 11, 2016 by The Motherhood

This year, more than 150,000 people attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where annually, the latest and greatest in technology makes its debut. Among the plethora of newly launched gadgets, a few specific trends emerged from the show. Read on for highlights from 2016’s CES:

CES Debuts New Smart Home Developments and Connected Devices

It comes as no surprise that more and more manufacturers are ensuring their products are internet-ready to streamline the customer experience. In fact, it is estimated that 15,000 of the 20,000 new products presented at CES have sensors that make them internet-capable.

One of the most buzzed-about connected products that debuted last week is the LG Signature Refrigerator, an appliance that takes convenience to the next level. The refrigerator’s doors open with a wave of your foot, and a knock on the door makes the opaque surface transparent, saving energy when you need to browse your fridge inventory.

Since its launch in June 2015, Amazon’s voice-activated assistant, Echo, has been paving the way for centralized smart home automation. Last week at CES, we saw several manufacturers launch Echo-compatible products and apps that make the “smart home” concept even more of a reality.

For instance, TrackR’s Bravo ($29) is a small Bluetooth-enabled tag that you can attach to your keys, wallet or virtually anything else. As a result of Echo’s new integration with Amazon’s Echo, users will be able to ask Echo to help find their missing, tagged items.

Ford drivers will also soon be able communicate with in-home systems that are set up with Amazon’s Echo from their car. That means one day, drivers will be able to activate their home security systems or shut off their porch lights from the road.

Photo credit: Business Wire

360-Degree Video

Another emerging trend to watch is 360-degree video. With this technology, viewers can get a dynamic, holistic view of an event or subject on screen (as an example, check out this red carpet footage from the Golden Globes). During CES, Nikon and GoPro announced their plans for consumer-grade 360-degree cameras.

Users can currently view these videos on Facebook and YouTube, but until recently, there weren’t many manufacturers creating affordable cameras to shoot the spherical content.

While it will likely be 2017 before these new, 360-degree cameras hit the market, we’re eager to see how brands and consumers adopt the technology.

Wearables for Every Member of the Household

Smart watches and fitness trackers took center stage during CES, but other wearable companies debuted and shared exciting updates, too:

Owlet recently released the wearable sock baby monitor that gives parents peace of mind. The smart sock tracks babies’ heart rate and measures how much oxygen is in their blood. Bluetooth technology shares the information to the parents’ smartphone in real time.
Sensoria, a line of smart fitness clothing, debuted smart athletic shirts and a sports bra during this year’s CES. The clothing line includes embedded sensors to improve running by tracking speed, pace, cadence, foot landing, distance and more.
WELT by Samsung looks like a standard belt, but it tracks physical movement and monitors eating habits. Made by Samsung’s Creative Lab, the WELT is still under development and currently unavailable for retail purchase.
WonderWoof and WonderMeow are bringing pets into the wearables game. These Bluetooth-enabled bowties for dogs and cats track pets’ steps, sleep and play activity.

Photo credit: Owlet

Autonomous Automotives

During CES, automakers addressed self-driving cars, and more specifically, why they aren’t ready for widespread adoption. One of the reasons they shared: These autonomous cars have difficulty managing inclement weather and unexpected occurrences. The lack of consumer trust in autonomous cars is another hurdle for car manufacturers.

Nonetheless, Volvo announced that the first semi-autonomous car will be available for sale in the U.S. later this year.

We can’t wait to see how these trends take shape this year. What technology trends are you most excited to follow?

Featured image courtesy of Consumer Technology Association

SXSW Interactive 2015 Highlights

March 17, 2015 by The Motherhood

As SXSW Interactive comes to a close today, here’s a glimpse at some interesting highlights from this year’s event:

Dubbed “the most-talked about app at SXSW,” Meerkat is a live-streaming, location-based app that lets users capture video from their iOS device and, through Twitter, allows followers to stream it. On Friday, things came to a head when Twitter blocked the app’s access to its social graph. What does that entail, exactly? According to Fast Company: “While Meerkat users can still post videos on Twitter and log in using their Twitter credentials, the Meerkat app will no longer be able to automatically push notifications that announce the live event to all of a Meerkater’s Twitter followers. In other words, Meerkat will need to ask people to build their own social networks from scratch inside the app instead of using the network that its users already built on Twitter.”

Another breakout star at this year’s event is FireChat: a free text message app that doesn’t require cellular data or the Internet (though it does work with it). As Tom’s Guide explains: “The app’s big selling point is its Bluetooth functionality. While Twitter relies on an Internet connection and texting relies on a cell network, FireChat is not beholden to either one. If the Internet is available, FireChat will connect that way. If not, it will reach out to all other Bluetooth devices within about 200 feet and create an ad-hoc network, allowing users in proximity to communicate with one another.”

Last week, we touched on the evolving dynamics between the presence of startups and big brands at SXSW. While past sponsors such as Doritos, Subway and Chevrolet were absent, major companies such as Dell, Samsung Electronics and newcomers, McDonald’s, Visa and Mazda, were all active during this year’s event. Of the shift, Hugh Forrest, director of the SXSW Interactive Festival said: “We used to struggle to get mainstream brands…I guess this is an acknowledgment of the influence we have in jump-starting their message to the cool crowd. It’s exciting, but a little scary at the same time.”

It also turns out that not everyone was eager to interact with robots at SXSW. A small group of anti-robot protesters encouraged event-goers to be cautious of uncontrolled growth of robots and artificial intelligence. With media outlets such as TechCrunch and USA Today covering the protest, we’ll be interested to see how the debate continues.

Follow along with the conversation using #SXSW2015 or #SXSW for more updates coming out of the event!

Featured image courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons user Katie Haugland

SXSW Interactive Is Coming Up: What to Expect

March 11, 2015 by The Motherhood

More than 30,000 attendees are expected at this year’s SXSW Interactive. Whether you’re Austin-bound, or keeping tabs on the five-day event from home, here’s a quick look at what we’re sure to see.

Social, Social Everywhere: The essence of SXSW Interactive over the years, and one of our personal favorite topics: Social media will be ubiquitous at the event. In fact, did you know Twitter was introduced at the 2007 conference? Whether you’re interested in content marketing, cyber-bullying, data and security, social commerce or even how NASA uses social media, there’s a session on almost every imaginable topic.

Robots, Automation and A Petting Zoo: With automation becoming increasingly popular, several events at SXSW Interactive will explore the future of these technologies, and where an automated approach works to improve efficiencies and where it might hinder progress. This year also marks the first-ever SXSW Robot Petting Zoo, where visitors can operate, pet and program terrestrial and aerial robots.

Wearables and Connectivity: We predicted that wearables would continue to be big this year. With SXSW Interactive coming on the heels of the Apple Watch news, it’s no surprise that there will be hundreds of diverse events dedicated to wearables and The Internet of Things (IoT). Among them: a session on the fundamentals of IoT, one on preventing data overload and a panel about brands introducing advertising to wearables.

Good Ideas: SXgood is the event’s platform for causes and social innovation. Under the SXgood umbrella, the United Nations Foundation (a frequent client of The Motherhood’s) will be presenting a two-day Social Good Hub with collaborative events and opportunities for attendees, including nonprofits, to swap ideas to drive positive change.

More Space for Startups: One criticism of the event in recent years has been that more mainstream, big brands began to dominate the conference where startups used to thrive. This year, though, SXSW has doubled the amount of space devoted to these innovators at Startup Village – the destination for entrepreneurial programming that has been around since 2012. Not to be missed: the startup competition, SXSW Accelerator®, on March 14 and 15.

What technologies and ideas do you predict will come out of this year’s SXSW Interactive? Share with us in the comments!

Featured image source: SXSW Interactive