One of the first things you want to do after starting your new business is to build a group on Facebook that will house your core community – your tribe. But once your group is built and people are joining, then what? How do you keep them engaged and hanging out with you? A Watch Party is an amazing tool for doing just that! Think about how much fun watch parties are at your own house, how excited people get over coming together to watch a show or a game they all love. It's like hosting an evergreen webinar right in your group! So here are the things you need to know about how to use a Facebook Watch Party in your community.
Like we said, holding a Facebook Watch Party is like hosting an evergreen webinar in your group. Actually, it's better. Up until now, if you attended a pre-recorded webinar you wouldn't see very much engagement either from the host or from other viewers. That's because the webinar was recorded in a way that cut out most of the interaction in order to be able to use it over and over again and remain relevant. A Facebook Watch Party fixes that.
Your main content will still be pre-recorded, whether it be a conference, or a tutorial, or something else that your community finds valuable. But now, instead of hosting your pre-recorded video in a webinar somewhere where it will never compel the audience to engage with you, your content can live in your group. And the best part is, while your content is playing, you're free to interact with your audience, answer questions, and add even more value to your customers' experience.
How to set up a Facebook Watch Party
First, you need your content. Facebook allows you to use any video you've uploaded to your group or any video that is publicly available on Facebook. Of course, since the plan is for you to use this video to interact with your community we recommend using a video you recorded of yourself. You'll also want to make sure your video is providing some sort of value. We find some of the best watch parties include demonstrations and tutorials. For example, record a live video on your Business Page, and then use that as the content of your watch party for your group members so you can provide deeper insights and tips while they watch.
Next, you'll want to build up some excitement about the Watch Party so people will join. After all, a party without any guests isn't much of a party, right? Do some promotion, invite people, and talk about the party to get people excited about it. Even if you set up a watch party to be a regular event in your group, you're going to need to do some promoting to make sure people get there. People are busy, they will forget about the Watch Party if you leave it up to them to remember about it.
Finally, you'll want to go into Facebook and actually set up the Watch Party once it's time. You'll find them where you would normally go to set up any other post:
Once you select “Watch Party” Facebook will prompt you to add in some details and select the video(s) you want to include:
Unlike other posts, Watch Parties cannot be scheduled ahead of time. But their value isn't in being able to schedule them, their value is in everyone being able to watch the video with you and interact with you while it plays.
Once your Watch Party has started, you can invite more group members to join in. And don't forget, just like we tell party hostesses, be the life of the party. No one wants to go to your house for a watch party only to have you disappear while they stare at your television set. Talk to your group members, engage with them, create some inside jokes and laugh with them – do this and your watch party will be a success.
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