By Tony Schwartz, “The Social Media DJ”
Right now, Facebook Live is the hottest thing in social media. For the uninitiated, Facebook Live is a live-streaming feature within the Facebook platform in which a user can broadcast the current world around them to those that follow them.
Every day, I get multiple notifications that one of my Facebook friends is broadcasting live. Since I am friends with so many DJs, I get a ton of notifications - especially on Fridays and Saturdays. And while it’s great that so many DJs are utilizing the hottest thing in social media, many of you might not be aware that your Facebook Live broadcasts may be hurting you more than helping you.
“Huh? What do you mean, Tony?”
It’s actually quite simple; some of you are going live too often with boring content. Remember, the psychology of Facebook is to share interesting content. That’s a different psychology than the other social media platforms, and a lot of mobile DJs tend to forget that.
Imagine receiving a notification that DJ John Smith - a fictional character based on numerous real-life DJs I am friends with on Facebook - has gone live. I click on the link - it’s the only way to clear the notification on the Facebook smartphone app - and I see a video with zero noise, panning an empty room, and a caption of “about to rock this party!”
Um, no, you aren’t, because NOBODY IS THERE YET! And furthermore, I’m unfollowing you and your future live broadcasts. Why? Because you wasted my time, and time is the most valuable asset I have. And that is something DJs need to respect: if you want my time, give me something of value - whether that is intellectual or of the entertainment kind.
Or worse yet, I’ve seen DJs host a Facebook Live broadcast that was only 15 seconds long. What you did was record a Snapchat video on Facebook; hell, videos on Instagram can go for longer than that. Essentially, it took longer for me to stop what I was doing, open Facebook, check my notification, and load your stream just to find out I missed it.
Again, you get an unfollow for not valuing my time. And like The Who, I “won’t get fooled again.”
Because once you are unfollowed by a Facebook friend, it’s near impossible for a user to re-follow you. That’s a death sentence; it’s worse than a dead lead that you can bring back to life with a simple email. The only way I can think of regaining a follower is to constantly comment on their posts until they click on your profile to see what you are up to. That’s likely a ton of work just to regain a follower.
So, don’t be discouraged from using Facebook Live; just plan ahead a bit and ask yourself one simple question: “What value will my viewers get from this broadcast?” If your gut-reaction answer to this rhetorical question is, “I’m not sure…” then DON’T BROADCAST, YO!
