In 2021, almost everyone has encountered the live-streaming tools available on almost every major social network. We’ve all seen (or even hosted) Instagram and Facebook live streams. But so far, not many of us have thought about how convenient, high-quality, and, most importantly, affordable this is — a new way to interact with your audience and increase their engagement. If your company has never held a live broadcast with your audience, or if you’re looking for new formats for this type of interaction, the text below is for you. Today, using Facebook Live as an example, we’re going over 10 effective ideas for live broadcasts that will help increase engagement with your audience.

1. Hold a Q&A session

Q&A sessions are convenient and probably the easiest live streaming option for the company. Why? It requires little or no preparation from you. You can publish a Facebook post about the upcoming session in advance and ask your followers to write questions that interest them so that you can prepare answers in advance. Or you can improvise and let the audience ask questions right during the live stream. The second option is, in many ways, even better, as it makes your brand more human to your customers. And that, in turn, greatly increases your credibility.

A great example of such a session is the Q&A Facebook Live stream with Tom Holland for the “Spider-Man: Homecoming” promotional campaign. We’re sure this video will inspire your first Q&A session.

2. Tell the audience how to use your product or new ways to apply it

You may have noticed how popular tutorials are on YouTube. Often they are done by bloggers. But why entrust this work to others? No one can tell you more about your product than you. For example, if you develop video editing software, show your audience unusual ways to use some of its features. DIY videos can also fall into the same category. If your product is a blender, for example, hold a Facebook Live stream with your audience and show them what dishes they can make with it.

As an example, here’s a live stream from Lightricks, where their representatives showed how to create beautiful photos with their Enlight Photofox app.

3. Tell about the launch of the new product

Facebook Live is a great platform for informing your audience about new product launches. You can greatly increase your views and gather a large audience by turning your presentation into a full-blown event, albeit in an online format. On the other hand, after 2020, we’re used to that, aren’t we? Tell your followers about the upcoming live stream in your other videos or Facebook posts to create intrigue. And you can talk about the product’s features and even demonstrate it in action on the air — customers can trust you, of course, but they’d still rather know what they’ll be paying for first. With the help of PromoRepublic, you can not only create engaging posts for any type of event but also schedule them and manage your comments and feedback!

Vehicle manufacturers have long been among the leaders in terms of the scale of their novelties presentations. BMW streamed their presentation from the Paris Motor Show on Facebook Live to launch their new motoring concepts, achieving phenomenal results: 278 thousand views, 10 thousand reactions, and 806 shares.

4. Behind-the-scenes

Don’t want to limit your marketing efforts to your product? Do a behind-the-scenes live stream via Facebook Live. Show your audience the life of your office, where decisions are made, production, or the actual process of working on the product (if it’s not forbidden). People love to watch behind-the-scenes because that makes them feel connected to the company and the larger community.

The Dunkin Donuts case remains one of the brightest examples of using this format in live-streaming so far. For National Donut Day, the company hosted a live stream on Facebook Live where they showed exactly how they make their famous donuts, from the dough to the glaze.

5. Have a contest or giveaway

You may have done this kind of activity before through Facebook posts. Now try doing it on Facebook Live. With a time limit, you can significantly increase audience engagement and views. Contest options come in a variety of forms. You can choose a winner using randomizer and user comments. You can also ask the audience to guess the answers to the questions or come up with creative headlines. The most creative person gets a prize.

So, as part of the promotional campaign for their “Grand Slams” breakfast range, Denny’s held an unusual live stream that featured an animated pancake. They held a quiz on Facebook Live, which resulted in branded prizes for the winners. It was a win-win situation: the company itself received 13 thousand views, 831 reactions, and 71 shares!

6. Host a live-streaming event

If you’re hosting a conference, event, or even just a team-building with colleagues offline, it’s a great reason to do a live broadcast on Facebook Live. It’s not only an opportunity to attend an event for those who can’t do it, but also a way to build a strong connection between you and your audience.

For example, take a look at this broadcast from Coca-Cola: the company held a broadcast from its Christmas Truck Tour, which pleased the users and allowed them to feel a part of this huge event.

7. Organize an interview

A non-trivial but very interesting idea for Facebook Live is an interview with a charismatic speaker. This can be an employee of your company, a celebrity, or a guest speaker with whom you can discuss trends and forecasts in your industry. You can also have a Q&A session with the speaker as part of your interview and let the audience ask their questions.

The New York Times, for example, hosted a Facebook Live broadcast of their interview with Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst, during which viewers could also interact with Hollywood stars.

8. Entertainment Content: Experiments

Videos of experiments are incredibly popular on the Internet. But pre-recorded videos no longer impress the audience as much as live experiments. And, besides, this kind of content attracts a new audience!

Entertainment content professionals Buzzfeed conducted a very simple but incredibly entertaining experiment on Facebook Live: they decided to test how many rubber bands a watermelon would hold. We won’t tell you the final number but will provide some equally exciting numbers: 11 million views, 53 thousand reactions, and 17 thousand shares!

9. Do a crash test of your product

Many of your customers may have already seen the reliability of your product more than once, but most likely, none of them knows yet how reliable it really is. Do a live crash test and let the audience suggest ways to “test” it.

Without further ado, just look at this crash test that Lenovo conducted with its ThinkPad X1 Yoga laptop on Facebook Live. The results speak for themselves: 5,2 thousand reactions from 86 thousand views.

10. Promote your product without promoting it

Come up with an entertaining format in which you can use your product. But there’s an important rule: don’t talk about your product and its price! You’d be surprised, but it really works and increases indirect sales.

For example, Ikea had a live stream of their Christmas show on Facebook Live, where the hosts had to come up with 100 holiday tips in 100 minutes. During the process, they used Ikea products, which could be considered a type of product placement. It looked seamless, interesting, and the audience was absolutely delighted!

So, those were 10 ideas on how to increase views and audience engagement through Facebook Live. Of course, not all of these ideas are equally useful for all companies. One thing’s for sure, though: using at least one or two of them will have a significant impact on your online presence!