Facebook Encourages More Live Broadcasts With New Ad Campaign

Since the launch of Facebook Live last April, there have been broadcasts shot on all seven continents and even from outer space. While a lot of those videos feature celebrities and public figures and were produced by publishers, the vast majority of posts are from everyday people—and that number is growing. Since May, the amount of people broadcasting live on Facebook at any given moment has quadrupled.

On October 24, Facebook is doubling down on Live, pushing out a nationwide ad campaign aimed at getting more users to start live broadcasting on the platform by making sure that they not only know the option is there for them, but they have an idea on how to use it as well.

“When we talked to people about Live they were aware of it, but were a little intimidated about trying it,” says Rebecca Van Syck, VP of Consumer and Brand Marketing at Facebook. “The gap between awareness of it and actually playing with it and experiencing Live with your friends was a pretty big. We wanted to try and close that gap.”

The social network will be rolling out a new two-part campaign in the United States and the U.K. The first phase is a two-week campaign to raise awareness for Facebook Live, followed by a tutorial element on November 7th that actually shows people how to use the product.

`

Beyond just promotion on Facebook, you’ll see television ads, signs on buses, and even posters at the airport suggesting you put up a Live video while you’re waiting for your luggage to come around the conveyor belt.

“It’s a way to use media to find people where they are and give them the invitation to jump into Live at that moment,” says Scott Trattner, VP, and executive creative director for Brand Marketing at Facebook. There will even be an promotional event in New York that will invite people to go live in Times Square.

Videos showing people using the product were made using Facebook Live, and many of the stars are simply those users doing broadcasts on their own who were subsequently discovered by Facebook’s creative team. While a few of the videos feature actors, none of the dialogue was scripted.

“We have this thing called the Facebook Live map where essentially you can see anyone broadcasting publicly anywhere in the world,” explains Trattner. “The creative team went through that map and found a bunch of unique different narratives and those became the lion’s share of those spots, which for us is pretty exciting.”