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Facebook live videos are currently one of the best ways to get your brand a reputable audience on the largest social platform in the world. In fact, there are over 8 billion videos viewed on Facebook every day. Facebook Live videos enjoy 6 times as much interaction as traditional videos. As Facebook continues to double-down on live videos, the opportunity gets larger every day for your brand promotion efforts. We are going to discuss live stream ads Facebook, Facebook live advertising campaign and live video ads Facebook.live video ads Facebook
It is not only the best time now to focus on creating live Ads on Facebook, but also learning how to take advantage of the tools available on Facebook to leverage the incredibly engaged audience. Facebook Live ads offer an opportunity for both digital marketers and content creators. Digital marketers can leverage ads on trending videos while content creators can earn ad revenue.
What are Facebook Live Ads?
Facebook Live ads were launched back in 2017, when they were only availed for beta testing. Back then, Facebook live ads were only available to Facebook pages that had reached 2,000 followers. The pages also needed to have at least 300 concurrent viewers on recent live videos to make use of Facebook ads. Later in the same year, Facebook changed how pages could qualify for their live ads. You would now have to stream for four minutes on your Facebook Live videos and have at least 50,000 followers to be able to take an ad break. There will be a notification that looks like this when you can go live:
(Image Credit: AdEspresso)
During a live stream on Facebook, some broadcasters will have to choose between a short break and play an ad during that time. After the brief video ad, the live video will resume on the user’s screen. While they offer a great marketing opportunity for marketers, Facebook Live ads are seldom used. That’s mostly because only a small fraction of broadcasters qualify for them. Facebook Live ads are very similar to commercial breaks only much shorter. They are usually about 10-20 seconds long. While they might sound pretty simple on paper, Facebook Live ads consist of two sides: the live streamer/content creator and the marketer who runs the ad.
How Does a Broadcaster Qualify for Facebook Live Ads?
Facebook is also pretty strict when it comes to using video ads on their platform. It is a blessing and a good thing for marketers. What we would not want on the world’s largest social platform is “gurus” with no audiences to run ad after ad in their videos in the effort to earn some cash.
In order to have a live video ad on Facebook, you have to:
- Run a Facebook Page
- Have been live streaming for at least 4 minutes to play a live ad, after which, you will have to broadcast for another five minutes to take another break.
- Have more than 50,000 followers on your Facebook page and have 300 or more concurrent views on recent Facebook live videos.
Pages that meet these requirements are allowed to take ad breaks on their live broadcasts. That said, US live streamers are the only ones who can use the feature.
Facebook Live Ads for Livestream
As mentioned before, Facebook Live ads consist of two sides; the live streamer’s perspective and the marketer’s perspective. Let us have a glance at the considerations that live streamers need to be aware of when deciding what ads and when to run them during their broadcast.
What are the Benefits of Facebook Live Ads for those streaming live?
In most cases, the “why” is much more important than the “how.” There is really only one imperative reason a live streamer would consider taking a small break during their live video broadcast, apart from to take a sip of water or have something on their desks rearranged. That is money!
Having a Facebook live ad running on your Facebook live broadcast is a chance to monetize your Facebook video content. It is quite a big deal, especially to broadcasters on unique niches that enjoy large audiences. What’s more, Facebook has been pushing for videos, particularly live videos, for a while now. The ability for broadcasters and profiles to monetize their video content makes the platform have a competitive edge on videos with the likes of YouTube. YouTube has long allowed its users to monetize their live video feeds for a long time now. Though, with a little more stringent requirements than YouTube, Facebook live ads will undoubtedly help grow original native video content.
Although there is no official information on the precise amount of revenue live streamers can earn for every view, Facebook is definitely on board in offering a share of revenue to their live video streamers.
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How to Take a Commercial Break on Facebook Live without Losing your Viewers
Do you meet all the requirements for running Facebook Live ads and would like to monetize your content? It is actually pretty easy to take an ad break on Facebook. A blue $ mark will pop in the comments about 240 seconds into your live video broadcast labeled “now you can have an ad break”. Just click on it and an ad will be shown for a maximum of 20 seconds to all your viewers. You can resume your broadcast after the ad break. The option to take a break will only be available again after five more minutes into your live broadcast.
Every broadcaster wants viewers to stick around to the end of their live broadcast. You need to ensure that you don’t lose viewers due to an ad that you ran in the middle of your broadcast. This could lower your earnings from your ad revenue from Facebook.
Below are a few ways you could ensure that your viewers stick around after your live ads:
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- Engagement: Make sure your videos are engaging before and after live ads: It is wise to monetize those videos that get a lot of reactions from your audience. Do people leave comments that are lively and consistent with your content? If your viewership has not dropped off recently, then it is time for you to take a commercial break. Interested audiences will always wait the 20 seconds out.
- Inform Them of Commercial: Tell your audience that you are going to need a commercial break before you actually hit the button. You do not want to confuse your users by cutting into a video ad without a forewarning. You also do not want your audiences thinking that you are using their views to increase your revenue. They need to feel that you care for their time and are willing to explain any pop ups on your videos or video ads. Social media is especially volatile when it comes to transparency. As soon as your audiences suspect that they are being duped, you will lose them.
- Offer Teasers: Tease on some of the content to come after the break. You need to tell your audiences what to expect after a break of 20 seconds for them to be comfortable sticking around through your video ad. Tease you audiences on a big announcement or an answer to a question they have been asking in previous comments. It is pretty easy. However, it works so effectively even for much longer than 20 seconds. Viewers still wait weeks to view their favorite broadcasts due to some of the occurrences teased to them at the end of their previous show.
- Mention the live ad video in the video comments: The point here is to be as clear as possible on how the ad got on your live broadcast. Most of the time, this is only necessary during the first few videos on introduction of the Facebook ads live video. For instance:
(Image Credit: AdEspresso)
How to Get More Viewers
On every Facebook advertising campaign or any marketing campaign, the goal is to get more and more people to view your advertisements. That way, more people are likely to view your live video ads on your live videos. Moreover, to qualify for ad breaks. Below are a few strategies you could apply to have additional viewers on your live video broadcasts.
Schedule your live video in advance
Through your Facebook page, put out descriptions of the title of your upcoming live broadcast to increase visibility and have your event promoted. Fans will always remember to watch and with Facebook’s impressive notification, you can tell them precisely when to go live. Post your videos regularly, always sharing the scheduled link to your fans. Let your fans know of your scheduled video through several posts even on other social network profiles, with a unique incentive to watch. Make sure to make this a habit, posting quality content for your fans every time as scheduled. For example:
(Image Credit: Camberley Woods)
Tag guests and influencers
Are there any guests that will be joining you in your upcoming Facebook live video? Tag them on all posts that announce the video to your fans and list their names in the title or description. This will encourage your fans and fellow guests to share your videos to their friends and colleagues as well. For instance:
(Image Credit: Social Media Examiner)
Facebook Live Video Ads: The Marketers’ Perspective
By now, you know all about the essence of Facebook Live Ads for live streamers. Let us take a look at the advertiser’s perspective of Facebook Live Video ads.
What are the Benefits of Facebook Video Ads to Marketers?
To marketers, the greatest benefit of Facebook video ads is the quality of the audience on the platform. Facebook enjoys the most engaged audience of all social media platforms and live video enjoys more than three times the amount of audience the traditional platform video does. According to Facebook, they also get ten times more comments than traditional on-platform videos. If you are a marketer, this is the kind of audience you would like viewing your ads.
If the live video has already taken root and enjoys consistent viewership, then you are looking at having captive audiences that are very willing to view your advertisement and resume viewership later. It is a big plus to have another ad placement that is available. More placements for your ads means more opportunities to present your products or services to an engaged audience.
What are the Demerits?
Well, to be honest, I think there are very few demerits of Facebook live video placements for marketers. However, there is one that is worth mentioning: You can never tell what is going to happen in Facebook Live Videos, and neither can Facebook. There is no way you can censor the type of content that is going to be on air at the time your video ad pops up. There is no benefit of paying for an ad in a live video that any business owner would never want their brand associated with.
There is a wide range of live broadcasts out there, where a great portion is not only inappropriate, but also violent. You do not want to run the risk of one of your video ads being run during the streaming of these terrible live streams. Fortunately, since the minimum number of followers required to run ads on Facebook was raised to 50,000, this risk has been significantly lowered. After all, Facebook video ads pose the same risk and could appear in your live video and ruin your own Facebook marketing campaign.
How to Create Quality Content for Your Facebook Live Video Ads
All video ads are restricted to 20 seconds or will be automatically rejected by Facebook. According to Facebook, it is recommended to keep your video ads shorter than 15 seconds. To match its video inventory, Facebook also recommends keeping the video’s aspect ratio to 16:9 full landscape aspect ratio.
If you do not want your Facebook live video ads to be displayed on certain types of content or specific users, it is actually an option on Facebook. You can prevent certain publishers by creating a block list as you would on your phone, but this time for specific page URLs. It is, however, critical that you do not block the pages that would have a positive impact on your ad’s reach. The image below shows what it will look like to choose content to block:
(Image Credit: AdEspresso)
You can also prevent your FB Live video ads from showing in content that falls under any of these categories:
- Gambling
- Mature content
- Tragedy
- Dating or
- Social issues
While some of what we have shared are hot topics that get the biggest coverage and audience, it is best to steer clear of categories that could be poisonous to the growth of your brand. The impact could be devastating to you and your team or even your loved ones.
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Best Practices for the Success of Facebook Live Video Ads
If you feel that you are ready to run a Facebook ads live video and take advantage of engaged audiences, there are a few practices that you will need to adapt to. To optimize results from your ad marketing campaign, we have gathered a few strategies that you should consider keeping in mind through your ad campaigns.
Have a clear message
Since your ad will only run on the viewer’s screen for a couple of seconds, you had better make your message as simple and as clear as day. Make the 20 seconds count. Choose the video broadcasters that have a similar message as yours and hope that it will stick on their audience’s ears. Something too complicated will just stress the viewer out while he or she didn’t really subscribe to view your ads.
Tell an interesting story
Fifteen seconds is quite a short period to narrate a story. However, there is little that a good picture and a few words cannot tell. Appeal to the viewer’s emotion in a way. CocaCola is a good example of companies that tap into the emotion of joy, love, and celebration to get their brand promotion efforts further than their competitors.
Also target the cold audience: It will be quite unlikely that your viewers have seen your brand before. Within 15 seconds, you can have your brand introduced to them and tell them what you deal in? Keep in mind that the short video content is designed to appeal even to the people at the digital sales funnel’s top.
Summary
To be honest, Facebook Live video ads won’t likely be available to just any user in the near future. This is true for the marketers as well as video broadcasters, which as stated earlier in this article, is not all that bad.
We would recommend taking your time to view the possible merits and demerits of adding Facebook video ads to your videos and if the ads are the right ones for your brand. Brands trying to nurture customer relationships should not consider making ad breaks if they do not have a natural transition in their content.
When choosing what video ads are good for your brand, consider your business goals and objectives and see if they align with the social media objectives of your ad campaign. If monetization is the only endgame, most brands prefer placing their video ads on their news feeds. However, you should keep whichever works best for your brand.
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FAQ’s
Yes, Facebook Live does have ads. However, they are only available after you meet certain criteria. Once you meet these criteria you can make money hosting Facebook live events.
While broadcasting live on Facebook you can occasionally take a short 20 second ad break. These ads are picked by facebook and will be shown during your live video. Be sure not to use them too frequently or your audience might get annoyed and leave.
No, Facebook Live ads are not skippable. The ads only last up to 20 seconds and give the live host an opportunity to take a water break or get another product ready.
Yes, Facebook has been working on a way to monetize live Facebook for a while. Now you can have mid stream short 20 second ads to monetize your live video.
Stream ads are ads that are played during a live stream. This can be before, during, or after the stream.
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Archana K says:
Finding the right live broadcaster who would be relevant to the services or product offered by the marketer is key, as otherwise the people who attend the Live will only treat it as an irritating ad with nothing to appeal to them and be interested in the marketer.