Roll out the Red Carpet for Facebook Premieres

There’s a certain excitement and sense of urgency that comes with watching live footage. It makes us feel like we’re a part of something that’s happening even though we’re not physically there. It’s because of this that engagement on live social media videos spikes much higher than your regular on-demand News Feed upload.

People like to feel included, and live videos help to build a sense of community. No one wants FOMO!

So, with that in mind, how would you feel about uploading a pre-recorded video but reaching those same engagement levels of a Live video? Probably pretty good, right?! The good news is, this is now possible, and it’s all thanks to Facebook Premieres!

Facebook’s Premieres feature allows businesses to upload a pre-recorded video to Facebook that debuts as a live stream.

If you’ve ever filmed a Facebook Live video, you’ll know it’s a little bit daunting as there’s no room for error…if you mess up, it’s live for all to see, but you’ll also know that there are some pretty cool benefits to it.

These same benefits apply to Premieres videos:

1. A direct notification gets sent to your page followers to let them know you’re going live – this then means more people will tune in to watch your video.
2. Viewers can also interact with your Live video as it’s broadcast on Facebook, meaning people can comment, react and interact in real time.
3. Once broadcast, the video becomes a normal video on demand that sits on your Facebook Page that people can view as a regular post.

It’s no secret that Facebook prioritises video in the News Feed, and Live video in particular. So Premieres is another potential way for businesses to get their organic content seen by their audiences.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when trying it out for the first time:

• Premieres can only be published from a computer, not mobile.
• The video must be at least 30 seconds long.
• The video MUST be new to Facebook (never uploaded to Facebook before).
• A Premiere has to be scheduled at least 10 minutes in advance.
• You can schedule up to 7 days in the future – woohoo!

Worth a try? We think so!