How to Engage Millennials on Facebook and Instagram – Continued
#2: Stream Live Video to Sustain Visibility and Discoverability
Like Facebook Live and Twitter’s Periscope, Instagram has the ability to share streaming live video as part of its Stories feature. However, the key difference is that Instagram Live videos are ephemeral. Your followers need to tune in real-time to catch your broadcast, and the stream disappears the moment you end it.
Since the Live feature rolled out in November of last year, Instagram has added the ability to save your Live video broadcasts. This allows you to download live broadcasts to your camera roll and repurpose the video content if you wish.
To start broadcasting live on Instagram, tap the camera icon at the top left of the mobile app. Then swipe the choices at the bottom to select Live. Any Instagram followers who’ve chosen to get Live (push) notifications will be among the first to join you. In addition, your Live video will get prime positioning in the Home tab top story ‘bubbles,’ as I call them!
Current Instagram Live broadcasts are clearly marked at the top of your Home tab.
Instagram also gives prime positioning to current live-streaming videos at the top of the Explore section (second tab from the left, with the magnifying glass). This is a wonderful section to get a feel for which videos and live broadcasts are popular now.
Instagram also features current live videos on the Explore tab.
If one of your friends is currently streaming live video, you’ll see “Live” under their profile picture.
#3: Apply Augmented Reality Filters for Top-of-Mind Messaging That Entertains
Augmented reality features have become more mainstream, thanks to the introduction of an in-app camera in Facebook, Messenger, and now Instagram. The camera in each of these three apps allows you to add augmented reality features like interactive filters, selfie masks, captions, and stickers.
Remember, in Facebook and Instagram Stories and Direct, as well as Messenger Day, your published/shared photos and videos will only last 24 hours. And, as mentioned above, Instagram Live videos disappear as soon as you end your broadcast. Conversely, photos and videos sent to friends using Messenger don’t disappear.
Plus, the cool thing about the new Instagram face filters is that you can use the masks in conjunction with other Instagram camera features, such as Boomerang or Rewind (video records backward).
Mark Zuckerberg announced this fairly new feature with a demo video on his Facebook profile. This funny filter Mark demonstrated is a geek coder, complete with taped glasses and swirling code above your head when you open your mouth!
Because the camera in all three apps (Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram) lends itself to endless creativity and eye-catching visuals, you can interact with your friends and followers in new lighthearted ways simply to maintain top-of-mind awareness.
A still shot from a short video taken using one of the new Instagram face filters.
Each time you use the camera app on Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger, you can also choose to save your photo or video to the camera roll of your phone, instead of or in addition to publishing it. I like to do this periodically and get more ‘mileage’ out of fun content, posting publicly on my wall.
For example, I check my Facebook Stories camera face filters periodically and recently enjoyed a couple of new ones: lifting weights and a ‘gangster’ look. I took some videos, saved them, and posted to my profile wall.
Have some fun and publish your saved story videos on your wall to extend visibility and reach more of your community.
The faux bicep curls and gangster videos got more than 2,500 combined video views, plus many fun responses from my community. It’s not a giant number of views compared to my business page, but it’s a lot more than if I’d only posted to my stories (friends only).
I like to be goofy at times, keeping it light and fun. But not so light that people don’t take my business content seriously! If you can create an element of education + entertainment = ‘edutainment,’ your audience stays more engaged.
You can also broadcast via Facebook Live with real-time masks, filters, and stickers. Just tap the magic wand icon in the upper-left corner to reveal the special effects options. You can set up these special effects first, then go live. Or change while broadcasting. (I love the Pop filter to make colors more vibrant!)
#4: Leverage the Facebook Jobs Tab to Attract Millennial Talent
Using Facebook, you can reach out to your Millennial audience as potential employees. While LinkedIn is often seen as the go-to social media platform for job hunters, only 13% of Millennials are on LinkedIn. In contrast, 41% of Millennials use Facebook every day. So it makes sense to post jobs on the platform where Millennials spend their time.
To create a job posting for your Millennial audience, first, make sure you have the Jobs tab. Go to your page on desktop, click on Settings, then Edit Page, then Add a Tab. Select Jobs. (If you don’t see Jobs as an option, you may need to select a different type of template.) While there, you can choose to reorder your tabs and place Jobs first, if you wish. (Or you can come back later to do this step.)
Add a Jobs tab to your Facebook page, then fill out the Job Post form.
Next, go back to your main wall and you’ll see where to start filling out the form. Click the green Publish Job Post button.
Fill out all pertinent information, including a relevant photo, and enter additional questions as needed. Click the Publish Job Post button and your job post will appear on your page wall.
You can pin the post and/or add budget via the Boost button or in Ads Manager to increase visibility. In fact, I would highly recommend promoting your job post with even a small budget, as you can then reach the specific demographic you’re looking to attract to apply for the job.
Once posted, your job will also appear under Jobs in the tabs on the left of your page for easy spotting.
Fill out the relevant fields to create an eye-catching, compelling job post and publish on your page.
Note that the screenshot above is just a mockup job posting! I was experimenting with the fields and added a fun selfie of Guy Kawasaki and me at the recent Social Media Marketing World 2017.
Conclusion
Being an early adopter of these new Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger features can really help you and your business stand out with Millennial audiences.
If you’re not naturally an early adopter, just stay informed about these new features. Don’t be overwhelmed! They’re designed for Millennials to use and aren’t necessarily for all marketers.
One of the challenges of these new features is integrating them into your social media marketing in a way that feels authentic to your brand. Simply pretending to be a Millennial isn’t the right approach to attract this audience, and may actually repel the very people you want to reach. Use them in a thoughtful, intentional way.
Also, it’s possible that these features may not be the way to go for your own or your client’s brand. Consider sub-groups of this Millennial crowd that may be a better audience for your marketing than Millennials as a whole.