Facebook Watch and Facebook Marketplace are two rather obscure concepts of using Facebook for business. Facebook Watch, from the looks of it, is the platform’s attempt at taking on the likes of Amazon, YouTube and Netflix; Facebook Marketplace is its Craigslist.
In this post, we look at these two Facebook tools in more detail.
What is Facebook Watch And How To Use It For Business
Facebook Watch is a collection of videos from creators, sorted into Watch Feed, Watchlist and social enhancement features like Watch Parties, Page Parties, Premieres and Live. The point? To encourage the viewing of video content on Facebook, and for the company to get into episodic streaming.
Currently, videos on Facebook Watch range from mini documentaries to live events and talk shows, like the popular Red Table Talk with trio Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris.
Facebook Watch was launched in the U.S. in August 2017, and it’s now attracting some 1.25 billion users a month. Facebook Watch is free to use within the Facebook app and website, but the tab is monetized through ads.
The value to marketers is threefold.
1. Facebook Watch Delivers Your Content To Your Fans
Because no one can post to Facebook Watch directly, the space is really a collection of videos curated for viewers based on the Pages they follow, and what Facebook thinks they might like.
In other words, it’s a personalized feed of relevant videos…one that matches people’s interests and with a strong focus on social viewing. Additionally, Watchlist is basically a place dedicated for viewers to keep up with the video content published by the pages they follow.
2. Facebook Watch Is A Brand-New Channel To Push Ads
Like we saw above, Facebook Watch is hyper-personalized, and by extension, any and all ads pushed to people feel like personalized recommendations. In an increasingly internet-marketing-savvy world, this is an asset.
There is a lot of noise out there, including on Facebook’s News Feed as you scroll from post to post, and it’s not always easy to captivate your audience long enough for them to watch your video ads to the end.
On Facebook Watch, ad breaks guarantee more eyeballs on your message.
3. Watch Parties And Premieres Are Amazing Opportunities To Connect
And finally, did you ever wonder why Google eliminated its right sidebar ads, and traditional television ads have been on a downward trend for years? The answer: People got really good at tuning out ads, and if you want to get across to your audience these days, you need to be seen as a friend and not a hard-selling corporation with just your bottom line in mind.
The social enhancement features on Facebook Watch let you do that with things like Premieres, which allows you to debut videos as live moments on your Page, and Watch Parties, which lets you and your fans watch and discuss videos together.
In a Watch Party, you can also tag a business partner and turn the video into a branded content. Afterwards, Insights can help you understand how your party performed, including Minutes Viewed and Unique 60s Viewers, which is the total number of users who were there for at least 60 seconds of your Party.
Facebook Marketplace & How To Sell On Facebook Marketplace As A Business
Now that you have the ways to use Facebook Watch to promote your video content, we move to Facebook Marketplace, where Facebook users can find, buy and sell items, and businesses can advertise an inventory of anything, from home rentals and vehicles to event tickets through a Marketplace listing partner.
Facebook Marketplace follows Facebook’s Commerce Policies and Community Standards, which in turn influence what you can sell on the platform, and the sort of images and descriptions you can use.
The space also offers the option for paid ads to appear when people shop on Marketplace, and this can help you reach more people with relevant products and services. Facebook currently allows ads under objectives like:
- Brand awareness
- Reach
- Traffic
- Lead generation
- Messages
- Conversions
- And store traffic
Boosted listings also have insights you can analyze. The trick with selling on Marketplace is to realize you’re selling to your local community, and you’re reaching buyers when they are already browsing products. This makes providing useful information and fast answers with real-time messaging all the more important.
The Value Of Facebook Marketplace To Businesses
1. Awareness and discoverability
The trick here is choosing the right Marketplace category for your products. This will put you in front of the right people, seeking out your products to purchase.
2. Trust
As a peer-to-peer platform, Facebook Marketplace inspires more trust. All transactions start with Messenger, which is all about one-on-one conversations, and your Page can add to your credibility with useful catalogs and answers to frequently asked questions.
3. It’s A Package Deal
Building an inventory on Facebook Marketplace means you have a catalog you can use on Instagram too. The two social media sites have significantly different audiences, with a younger demographic on Instagram and an older one on Facebook, and whatever you do on Marketplace lets you target both, and the significant overlap in the middle.
4. Facebook’s Personalization
And finally, like with Facebook Watch, one of the biggest advantages of using Facebook Marketplace for your business is the personalization that Facebook makes possible. Facebook uses its data to connect people with products they are likely to buy, using their behavior on Facebook Marketplace over time as the basis for a more tailored feed experience.
