Facebook Spaces Guide for Brands to Go Live
Facebook Spaces is a creative, immersive way to connect with your audience, and one of the best ways to feel a presence with your audience in social VR is to go LIVE. Not only can your content (while live) help you create a more engaging connection with your tribe, but you can reach more people even after you’ve gone live.
Facebook Groups provide a space to do that, while in Spaces, and communicate in a way that’s authentic to your brand with a customized audience that shares the same interests as your brand. If you don’t have a Facebook Group, now is the time to create one…and not just for Facebook Spaces but to build a community around your brand!
How?
Just pin the video after you’ve finished going live, and edit the post to say “Catch the Replay.” So when your audience misses your brand’s live video, they’ll see it pinned to your group so they can view/enjoy your content anytime.
Now that you have the 411, next up is the hardware. Not sure where to start? First off, get an Oculus Rift (on sale for $349 right now!) or an HTC Vive along with an Oculus-ready PC. Best Buy has great credit plans that allow you to pay products off with no interest for a year.
Once you get your gear, now you’re social VR ready!
Put on your headset and jump into the creative, virtual environment of Facebook Spaces where the possibilities are endless. Watching 360 videos, drawing 3D items, analyzing marketing reports in VR , and going Live is as easy as reading this article!
Branding your Live Video
Your style, your visual identity, your brand’s mission/values, and your storytelling are all part of your brand.
Get your “Space” ready before going live. I suggest preparing early by creating a social VR Brand “Kit” for your live show.
Here are four branding items to think about:
- Immersive. A 360 background image (a video or static image) will allow your viewers to see where you are virtually.
“When it comes to social VR, figure out how to create an engaging 360 universe for your target audience that isn’t overwhelmed by logos and a hard sales message — but still feels true to your branding goals.” — Samantha Wolfe, Co-author of Marketing New Realities and Co-Founder of PitchFwd a marketing and branding studio for AR VR.
2. 3D Logo. Create a three-dimensional image of your logo and attach it above your avatar so it goes where you go! (example below)
3. Brand Fashion: Social VR cover girl/boy! Possibly my favorite capability of Facebook Spaces. Customize your social VR shirt with a brand logo or make it specific to the topic you are speaking on. 👚👕More on customizing your shirt in Facebook Spaces here.
4. Name Cards for your Guests! Create cards with the names of the individuals in Facebook Spaces with you and what they do. This gives your audience a visual of who you are interviewing and their expertise at a glance.
Social VR Tip: Create name cards with attendees name and job title in your Facebook Spaces Live like the video above by using tools like Canva Team or PicMonkey.
How to go LIVE in Social VR via Facebook Spaces
There are only two ways to go Live on Facebook Spaces. In this post, I will focus on going Live via Facebook Groups.
1. Personal Facebook Page — Personal profiles only, NO Facebook Business Pages
2. Facebook Groups — See below Facebook Spaces Community Group post on “How To” go Live in Groups.
Social VR Tip: Sound on! Audio Outputs are very important — always make sure to have your sound settings on Rift audio/mic when going Live. Check your settings on your PC.
11 Creative Ways Your Brand Can Go Live
1. Create a Branded Show
Feature Friday’s is a show on Facebook Spaces where AR VR Women Co-Founders Siciliana Trevino and Iva Leon spotlight women to get their voices heard and give them a place in VR to showcase their talents.
2. Attention Music Makers: Imagine MTV on a whole new level. Create a Music Video!
Give your followers a front row seat to your talents. 360 Photo/Video Producer Mike Mirabal showcases how 360 video can spotlight music, see below.
Not sure you can do that quite yet? Have an influencer share your music videos like Iva Leon did below.
3. Games & Trivia — Picture Alex Trebek in VR!
Building community and making it interactive. The Facebook Spaces Product Manager’s Joshua Mensah, Cecile Eskenazi, and social VR Lead Lisa Kotecki went live to see how much their social VR community knows about VR in this VR Trivia via Facebook Spaces Live.
Social VR Tip: I love how Facebook Spaces Social VR Team went live 15 minutes beforehand to let their audience know they’d be going live soon. It’s a great way to get people’s attention. See video below.
4. Have Your Fans Share Their Favorite Moments
Ohio State Alumni Scott Berg shared his favorite highlight from The Ohio State University Buckeyes’ thrilling win over Penn State.
5. Interviewing Conference Speakers while Live at the Event
Is there a conference or trade show going on?
Can’t make the show? No problem! This is how social VR can be useful. What to do?
From the comforts of your own home use 360 Images that were posted on Facebook — give rights to the photographer — Call an attendee live via Messenger. Have them walk you through the conference or trade show floor, more on that later. OR…
Take your conference or trade show to a new social VR level.
Connect with speakers in Social VR at the event to talk about their session and invite your customer or industry friend that couldn’t make it to join in , in real-social VR-time! Yes, it can be done. I tried it.
I recently went to Mixed Reality Marketing Summit in New York and went Live from the event. I was able to catch up with speakers and invite an industry friend to join in. The video below is an example of one of the interviews from the summit with Intel’s Director of Business Development, Raj Puran.
Social VR Tip: Bring batteries for your Oculus Touch controllers and always be hard wired into the wifi if you are doing LIVEs. — Tip shared by Facebook Spaces Social VR Lead, Lisa Kotecki.
Social PR Secrets Tip from author/agency owner Lisa Buyer: Make sure to ask the speaker or attendee to reconnect with you in social VR — become VR friends to talk about the event at a later time and recap the experience. Brand your scheduled event as an “After Party” a week later to continue the conversation.
6. Host a Live Q&A
Facebook Spaces Social VR Team invited their product team for a Live Q&A aka AMA (ask me anything) with its community.
7. Showcase Your Brand’s Services
Does your brand sell a service? Facebook Community Member Jeff Lohrius went live to explain what the audience will get out of his paid online course. What a creative way to be personal and showcase the benefits of your service to your audience.
Social VR Tip: Email your Facebook Spaces Live event time, date, and where it will be to your email lists. It’s an efficient way to let your audience know when you will be going live. Great tip Jeff!
8. Review Games, Products and More.
Warren Reid sets up his space in his brand Urban Masque branding. In each of his Facebook Spaces Lives, he uses this background to showcase his gaming experiences or breaking news. Warren also adds his social media sites allowing viewers to connect with him outside of Facebook.
In the video below, he shares a game review of the DarkNet, which is a strategy game in which you play as an elite hacker in the Net. Notice how his shirt represents the game’s logo? He customized his social VR shirt to the brand so the audience immediately knows what the topic is.
Social VR Tip: Repurpose your Facebook Spaces Live video and upload them to your branded YouTube channel. Take it a step further and create a special Playlist for your social VR videos.
9. Interview Artists and Designers — Show a Demo
In the below Live session, I interviewed Quill artist Jessika Raisor in her own Quill design’s environment. Quill is a VR illustration and animation tool that can be shared in Facebook Spaces. It was a fun way to get to know the story and feeling behind her art work, and to understand the unimaginable potential for artists in this space.
Social VR Tip: If you’re a brand does not create immersive art in Quill (You should get it on it!), you can show a demo featuring work from your product team and new designs from your designers via 360 video.
10. Giveaways!
Who doesn’t love a giveaway? AR VR Women Co-Founder Iva Leon announced an Oculus Connect 5 Ticket Giveaway to her AR VR Women Group members via Facebook Spaces Live and…I actually won an OC5 ticket from this giveaway - it works! I’m a fan for life and even became friends with Iva after this. VR to IRL.
11. Reporting the News Live via Messenger
Int’l Platinum AVA awarded Visual Storyteller Alejandro Franceschi went live to talk to Oculus Connect 4 attendees to catch the latest happenings at the show in VR. He used Messenger phone in Facebook Spaces dock allowing those that could not attend the event would be able to get the scoop and share in the excitement of the event.
These are just the tip of the ice berg of how your brand can use Facebook Spaces. The next question is…
How will your brand use tools like Facebook Spaces to create content?
Want to learn more? Get the social VR scoop for Facebook Spaces below!
