Facebook Marketing Predictions for 2017 From the Pros Part 4

#15: Facebook Live Prep Key to Strategic Success

Jasmine Star

While social media has always offered the chance for fans to become more engaged with businesses and brands they love (and become more loyal as a result), Facebook Live now makes it possible to experience engagement on a whole new level.

However, as more businesses leverage this tool, it’s becoming more difficult to have a live broadcast that stands out from the rest. My 2017 prediction is that for Facebook Live feeds to be successful, hosts need to be strategically prepared. Having a checklist ensures you’re prepared and have done everything you can for a successful broadcast.

In addition, remember that perfection doesn’t exist in the online streaming world. Instead of perfection, try for clarity of message and approachability. Viewers aren’t expecting to see a Broadway actor recite a powerful monologue. They tune in with the expectation that your Facebook Live chat is just that, a chat.

Gone are the days of flippantly curated live broadcasts. It’s time to play hardball!

As we move into 2017, it’s key to use Facebook Live as an integral part of your marketing, but more importantly to use it strategically to stand out from the quickly saturating news feed. Revel in the value of showcasing who you are, not just what you do.

Jasmine Star, an internationally recognized photographer, empowers entrepreneurs to build a brand and market it on social media.

#16: Facebook Positions for a Camera-first User Experience

Ana Hoffman

“I want to start by talking about our work around putting video first across our apps,” said Mark Zuckerberg at the top of the third-quarter earnings call with analysts in November 2016. “Soon, we believe a camera will be the main way that we share,” he added.

Yes, Facebook plans to put a camera, not a text box, at the center of the user experience. “Soon” might not mean 2017, but one thing is for sure: publishers had better start thinking and acting like video producers. Videos just might become the only way to pause those quick fingers scrolling through the news feed.”

Ana Hoffman blogs at Traffic Generation Café, where she serves her readers free traffic generation strategies like SEO, social media, blogging, and other Internet marketing methods.

#17: Facebook Pushes 360 & AR/MR Content

Cathy Hackl

Facebook will continue to push for live video to become mainstream among its users worldwide, but most importantly they’ll roll out live 360-degree video to everyone. More people will start sharing their photos and videos in 360 on Facebook.

The company will launch a social VR app or an addition to what they already offer, further pushing users toward VR as this technology starts to become somewhat more affordable and more widely used for fun and business.

Facebook will release their own AR eyewear.

There will also be a push toward augmented reality/mixed reality and Facebook won’t stay far behind Snap’s Spectacles. Expect some AR/MR glasses from Facebook at some point, be it either from them or from a partnership with MR hardware manufacturers like ODG.

It’ll be crucial for marketers to understand VR/AR better as we move away from creating content in 2D toward content that’s fully immersive, sometimes in 360 and sometimes augmented digitally.

Cathy Hackl, a nationally recognized live video and VR/AR influencer and speaker, is one of the nation’s top Latino digital influencers and tech innovators.

#18: Third-party Facebook Live Tools Evolve

Ian Anderson Gray

As Facebook Live becomes easier and more mainstream, marketers will need to focus on higher quality with more professional broadcasts.

There’s no question that Facebook is pushing their live video platform hard this year. Many cities around the world are plastered with ads for Facebook Live. As well as broadcasting from your smartphone, Facebook has rolled out to many the ability to broadcast from your desktop through the Facebook website.

It’s a lot easier to broadcast live, but already some are being overwhelmed by the sheer number of Facebook Live broadcasts. Not all are of the highest quality!

Live video is still a powerful means of communicating with your audience in a real and authentic way – allowing people to have access to you and ask questions. However, marketers are going to have to get smart to stay ahead of the curve and communicate effectively with their audience.

This could involve using broadcasting tools such as OBS Studio or Wirecast to broadcast to Facebook Live.

Third-party broadcasting tools will allow for richer customization of live video.

This will allow marketers to:

• Use their own branding including watermarks and lower third graphics
• Interview guests and share their screens
• Produce webinars and how-to videos
• Broadcast live events with higher-quality audio
• Use emerging technologies such as Facebook Live 360 and Facebook Live Audio.

Ian Anderson Gray is founder of Seriously Social, a blog focused on social media tools.

#19: Facebook Expands Customer Service Features

Daniel Lemin

In 2017, I predict Facebook will move big into the social customer service space through two important mechanisms: Facebook Messenger and ratings/reviews.

By providing tools that make it easy for businesses and consumers to connect in real time (Messenger), they create value for both parties. That value can help mitigate bad customer service situations by giving businesses a rapid-response way to right the ship.

This is an area that Facebook has already invested in, and businesses have responded positively to the opportunity to reach consumers in real time and even automate some routine customer interactions via chatbots. For the consumer, this is a real win. It delivers solutions to problems they want quickly solved and on the social channels where they already spend time.

The second move I predict Facebook will make is into the ratings-and-reviews space. Today Facebook hosts ratings and reviews for businesses but the platform doesn’t yet sufficiently differentiate from other similar services on the Internet like Yelp.

Facebook will move further into ratings and reviews.

As the platform continues to further expand its local search credentials, it will develop a more intuitive, trustworthy, and dependable ratings-and-reviews service that has real potential to disrupt Yelp’s presence in the market, particularly among small businesses. Facebook will do this by mining its deep knowledge of its user data, providing a mechanism to check the authenticity and veracity of specific review content.

Because of Facebook’s expansive reach, all of these tools will capture rapid market adoption by both consumers and businesses. This may finally solve the current crisis with ratings-and-reviews content: trustworthiness.

Daniel Lemin is the bestselling author of Manipurated, a detailed guide to the online reviews industry, as well as the head of the Convince & Convert consulting group.

What do you think? Which of these predictions is most interesting to you? How do you expect Facebook marketing to evolve in the coming months? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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