Facebook released their new ‘Facebook live’ feature which has been integrated with the Facebook app.

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A while back, Facebook rolled out what many believed to be their answer to Periscope, called Facebook Mentions.

It is limited in it’s function, basically only available for celebrities – and people with authenticated notable brand accounts to actually broadcast.

Meaning that the rest of us could just watch… just not broadcast… which seems crazy – since one of the reasons that Periscope, Meerkat and other live streaming sites has had so much success.

And with Facebook Mentions, I feel, they totally missed the boat.

People want to be able to share too, not only watch – I would go as far as to say that it devalued what live sharing really is. The idea that we ALL have a story to share, but…

Yesterday – Facebook surprised a lot of people by releasing Facebook Live

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Facebook is where people are at…

In fact, the app that I open the most is still Facebook. (second is candy crush, don’t judge me…)

However, Facebook’s problem with FB Live – is that the audience is NOT used to interaction on the same level.

Facebook have almost 2 billion users, yes – so a MASSIVE audience, so while it has huge reach, it’s going to be a while before it catches up to Periscope as far as engagement goes.

Why?

The regular Facebook user isn’t even aware that videos can be live now.

They are still used to commenting on a post that a friend posted this morning.

They are still used to watching that cat video your Aunt Irma shared last week.

And they will be that way, until they are taught differently.

They need to be trained about how to engage live.

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Everything we do in marketing online comes back to training your audience.

Take email marketing for example. I will 100% guarantee, that you will NEVER receive an email from me that doesn’t have some kind of call to action.

I’ll ask you to click a link, or add me on twitter, or do SOMETHING… have SOME end goal/reason for you reading in the first place.

Same with blog posts (wait for it… it’s coming… haha)

It doesn’t mean you always need to sell something – but it should always have some kind of action step.

And that’s not by accident. It’s done on purpose and people have come to expect that because that is how I’ve ‘trained’ them.

It’s all about consistency.

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If you are going to be using Facebook live in your marketing (and it does look like a very powerful platform that you can benefit from), start bringing in really clear call action taking steps. Let people know that this is live and that they can comment in real time and get real responses.

One last thing, remember that your Facebook Live video stays up on Facebook wall after you finish airing too, so leave a loop of some kind – for future viewers, for example – drop by same time next week – I’ll be live, so let’s connect!

And – wait for it… (drum roll please… lol) – what do you think about video live streaming, and Facebook’s move into that area? Have you tested it out? Do you plan to?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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P.S. Speaking of Facebook – have you seen Connect Leads yet?  It lets you capture authenticated Facebook user’s email address and straight into your autoresponder with two clicks.  Click Here To Check Out My Time Limited Bonus Offer.[/message]