As business owners, we often have this love-hate relationship with Facebook. Now that Facebook Live is the rage, everyone is hopping on the bandwagon.
Facebook’s algorithm gives priority to live streaming and videos. In fact, you’d get three times as much reach as a regular post.
Once I started doing Facebook Live, I doubled the number of Likes on my own business pages.
We know that Facebook Live can help increase our visibility and reach more potential clients. What can you do to actually get the likes and shares?
I get questions like these a lot, “Oh my gosh, how do I get more likes on my Facebook page? How do I get more engagement? How to I leverage? What do I do with this Facebook Live?”
In this article, I’ll share some tips I’ve gained from experience. I’ve tailored them for esthetician and spa owners, so you can implement these tactics right away.
Before we go into the nuts-and-bolts, I want to address a few fears and challenges that are holding many people back from taking action. These tips can’t help you much if your fears are holding you back from hitting the “record” button:
1. Fear Of Looking Old, Fat, Or Whatever
We’re always our own worst critics, and being in the beauty business often cranks up the pressure even more.
When I first heard about Facebook Live, I thought, “Darn it, why does this have to be popular now? Why couldn’t this have been popular when I was in my 30s?”
The thing is, who cares! We have something beautiful to share and I say, just do it!
Looking professional and credible doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. We all have flaws, and that’s what makes us human and relatable.
Isn’t that the goal of using video… to build connection with and relate to our audience?
2. Fear of Messing Up
Practice makes perfect, and FB Live gives you the opportunity to do that.
I invested a handsome amount in a business coach to help me get over this fear so I could start doing videos. It took me a year and a half before I got over myself. In retrospect, I’d have just started and keep doing it until I get good!
If you’re new to Facebook Live, you can practice on your personal page and set the visibility to “only me.” You can also allow access to a few supportive friends who are willing to give you unbiased feedback. This way you can rehearse and practice the entire process without the video being seen by the public.
Think about how many times it took you to do an eyebrow wax until you weren’t scared to do it anymore. We just have to keep practicing until we feel confident because that’s the only way we’re going to get good at it.
3. Not Sure What To Talk About
If you find the “talking head” style of presentation intimidating, I get it.
Why not start by doing a demo?
You can showcase a brand new modality you’re adding to your offering, do a review on your favorite product, or demo a treatment in your treatment room.
Another idea is to interview a raving client. You can set up the live streaming in your treatment room, during which you do a Q&A or simply have a conversation.
The client can talk about her experience with your services, which can easily double-duty as a testimonial.
Now we’ve overcome your fears, here are a few tips to get you started with Facebook Live:
1. Set Up For Success
Phone or Computer
You can do your Facebook Live from either your phone or computer.
Make sure your phone or laptop is fully charged. If you use your phone, access the Internet with Wi-Fi so you don’t blow through your data plan.
Put your phone on airplane mode and turn on “do not disturb” to prevent any kind of interruptions, which will not only distract your flow but could also boot you off the app altogether.
Use a tripod to keep your phone steady. A shaky video is distracting and unprofessional.
Lighting
Good lighting is essential to making your video look professional and high quality.
Natural lighting is best, so ideally you’d set up your recording by a window during daytime.
Of course, we have to be prepared for rainy days (literally!) You can order a lighting kit from Amazon, which is quite affordable. This is the one I use personally.
Audio
It’s nothing more frustrating for the audience than having your sound fade in and out, interrupted by statics or cut off by interferences.
To ensure good sound quality, invest in a mic. Mine is a Lavalier mic that you can find on Amazon rather inexpensively. (link)
It’s wired up under my shirt, hooked onto my bra and plugged into my phone – a very simple setup.
Appearance
If you have professional spa wear or typically work with your clients in a lab coat, wear it. It’ll make you look polished and professional, and help you project a consistent image.
Experiment with your makeup – how you look on camera could be quite different so it may take some trial-and-error. I recommend a high definition makeup called Advanced Mineral makeup by Annie Mayo (link?) which works wonders for me.
2. Increase Engagement
Strong Headline
Facebook turns the first 18 words of your post into meta-tag. That means you need a powerful headline to pique your audience’s interest so they’d tune in and engage with your content.
Interact With Your Audience
During live streaming, don’t forget to engage your audience – you can ask questions and have them type their answers in the comments section.
Comments will increase the likelihood of getting a favorable ranking from Facebook’s algorithm.
You can do a Q&A to encourage participation, or use polls to spark a conversation.
Live raffle drawing is another great way to increase engagement. This will not only make the live streaming more fun but also encourage your followings to join live and interact with you instead of passively watching the replay.
Include a Call-To-Action
To increase engagement, ask your audience to like, share or leave a comment at the end of your video.
As you go live more frequently and get your audience to like or share your content, their friends will also see your videos. People will be drawn to you and you’ll start to build an audience. The word will get out and your visibility will snowball.
Promote Your Video
Once you have the video recorded, you can promote it on other platforms to make the most out of it. E.g. I’d upload the .mp4 file onto YouTube, share out the link, and email my list so they can watch the replay.
You can also boost the post using Facebook’s ad manager to get more views and likes by putting your video in front of a very targeted audience.
3. Show Up Consistently
The best secret of the most successful content marketers is showing up consistently in front of the right audience.
Your audience won’t remember you if you only do one or two live streams.
I’ve made a commitment this year to give back to our industry and I’m going live on my Facebook Business Page each month, plus I also offer Spa Biz Tips every Tuesday at 3PM Eastern in our FREE Facebook group. Click here to join our group.
You’re more than welcome to borrow the idea and make it your own. You can give your series a title, e.g. Skin Tip Thursday, and turn it into a weekly event.
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You can make the video short and sweet, be yourself and simply share what you already know with your community. Content will come more easily once you get into the groove!
Enjoy this article? Learn more about our business and marketing membership program designed exclusively for estheticians here.