March 28, 2024

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Social Media PR: Martha Stewart On Facebook Live

martha stewart public relations

Facebook has added live streaming as an option making it easier and cheaper to produce content – whether it is for branding and commercial purposes, sharing a big announcement with friends and family, or something yet to be discovered. Facebook Live is one more way FB offers for them to remain relevant and current.

Martha Steward Facebook Queen?

Martha Stewart Facebook

Martha Stewart is one of the early joiners in this FB trend and has made over 24 live streams since late August 2015. But, of course, currently, there is no payment for making these feeds. Martha has built an empire on sharing her knowledge and understanding of how to do what she does, so live streams with her doing that without getting paid isn’t really her favorite. She loves the low cost and easiness of making the streams, but would love to see FB create a stream of income for her and them while using the footage.

The FB streaming service does not allow any advertising at this point, but during any streaming, those on camera can use product placements and mention products as part of their presentation, so some money can be made through outside sales.

In a recent Martha Stewart live stream, she and Chef Eric Ripert – head chef at New York’s Le Bernardin restaurant – they spoke first about his recently released cookbook, 32 Yolks. Then they got about the business of preparing a yummy meal. During the stream, there was an average of 1,500 viewers. Live stream footage is kept as video that can be viewed later, so the total number of viewers tops over 105,000.

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Stewart points to advantages of the FB Live Stream – first, it only needs one person and one camera – and the camera happens to be an iPhone 6+. So much easier. On top of that, the overhead for filming is next to nothing. Ms. Stewart (almost 75 years old) said, “It’s efficient and economical. You can let loose and have fun. There’s no teleprompter.” She also mentioned that the audience is international and potentially brings new viewers to her because of that.

Here’s the takeaway from this and other lessons learned with new and emerging social media platforms. The ones that really take off can become big money makers for those who figure them out early on. So for brands that can present interesting information while using product placement, learning the ropes as soon as possible could prove a way to stay ahead of the competition, and as mentioned, there’s not much budget needed to do a live stream.