Facebook launches new brand engagement tool

The company hopes to get more celebrities and artists to use FB Live to interact with fans

Facebook has added a new tool to its arsenal in the battle against YouTube, Twitter and other social media platforms. With a set of specially designed spaces that will complement Facebook Live (the video streaming service on the platform) it wants to bring more brands and celebrities on board and raise the bar on engagement with consumers and fans. It has launched Facebook Bandstand, a facility housed within its office in Mumbai, for artists, performers and media professionals where they can host live shows or interact with their followers over a video link and promote their wares without having to pay for the space. India is the third country in the world with this facility.

The other cities with a similar space are: Los Angeles and New York.  The New York space is called the Media Centre (since the consumption here is more news led). The choice of India as the first market in the APAC region for such an engagement platform is not surprising. A surfeit of reports on digital media and online behaviour indicate that India is among the fastest growing markets in the world. Active social media users grew at 15 per cent, since January 2015 to 136 million in 2016 according to a social media report from digital research agency, Yral.

Besides, as Twitter’s experience in the country shows, celebrities are a big draw on social media. Twitter enables real-time access and greater interactivity between fans and celebrities through tools such as Periscope while Facebook does the same through its live video tool; with Bandstand it hopes to offer greater sophistication to its video service and thereby steal a march over its rivals.

Saurabh Doshi, head of media partnerships at Facebook said, “Artists and celebrities from across the world and India are using Facebook Live to connect with their fans, interact and engage in real time in an authentic and refreshing way. FB Bandstand is a unique space for talent to be able to go live easily in a creative and fun way when they visit FB office in Mumbai.”

Facebook is keen to strengthen its video offering, given the rising popularity of the format among people of all ages. According to Vuclip’s Global Video Insights 2015, 85 per cent of smartphone users view short-form video content with a run time of less than 10 minutes. It is also being rapidly adopted by celebrities. Doshi added, “When we explain the concept to them, they usually want to try it out then and there. With the Bandstand option, they can add more spunk and colour  and at the same time, keep the spontaneity intact.”

In the initial stage, the tool will help provide interesting backgrounds and tech support for the artists/celebs interacting on the platform. However, in the future, Facebook intends to allow fusing recorded and live video in order to deepen the engagement.

Facebook currently has no plans to monetise the property. As Doshi puts it, “Anyone (artist) can book the room and we’ll help with the tech support and give tips on making the interaction as natural and spontaneous as possible. There is no charge involved whatsoever.” However, there are ways that Facebook could develop the tech and platform to monetise Bandstand in particular and live videos in general.

The company is experimenting with a concept to allow ad-breaks during a live video, much like the ad-break between overs during a cricket match in the US. And if all goes to plan, these features could be introduced in markets like India as well.

“Also, creators are free to use Facebook’s ad-products after the video has gone live. They can also schedule live (telecasts). This helps with promoting the video and going beyond organic shares and likes,” adds Doshi.

It is important that social media platforms look at ways in which they can make the experiences with video more engaging because as a report by CII and KPMG on digital marketing (Digital: The new normal of marketing 2017) points out, “Creation and distribution are not the only important aspects of content marketing today; authenticity, relevance and value are as important in the digital world. Consumers find more value in user opinions of brands and their offerings than what is marketed by the brand itself.” Given this, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter believe that more and more brands will choose them to engage with their customers over traditional media. Fans can share these videos, talk about them and generate a sizeable amount of media mentions – all of this is a big draw.

“As the need to create content incessantly increases, user-generated content presents itself as a boon to marketers. This is a cost-efficient way of filling up the pipeline with quality content and is also a more genuine and appealing endorsement with real people and nonstaged scenes,” the report said. For Facebook, the walls are an interesting way to deepen its engagement with users; a physical, touch-and-feel connection in its expanding virtual empire. It will be interesting to see if other online platforms follow suit.