Makeup artist, singer and creator Angelica Torres, who goes by Candylover89 has been leaning heavily into Facebook Live, which accounts for 90% of her posts* on the platform.
She shared her favorite aspects of going live, how being bilingual has helped her Page grow and ideas she has for leveraging new interactive features to better engage her audience.
Torres, who prefers to go by Candy, started going live on Facebook in 2016, after she had to shutter her accessories store. Feeling low and in search of community, Candy started going live weekly, “just talking and hanging out, and people actually started watching,” she said.
She began ramping up her live streams, crediting her followers with being supportive of her passion for beauty, makeup tutorials and the elaborate looks she creates. This past year, she’s gone live nearly every other day, sometimes daily. “Now I have a huge community that I love like family,” she said, and added that she radiates the same positivity she’s gained from her followers. “I try to encourage them to do what they love no matter what.”
STRATEGY
Facebook Live accounts for 90% of Candy’s posts on Facebook. Her Facebook Live videos have topped 329M views in the last 12 months and followers on her Page have grown by over 41%, according to CrowdTangle. She often goes live for two hours or longer. She shared her top tips with us for Facebook Live with a view towards the future.
Tip 1: Don’t be afraid to show the real, unedited you
“I like that I can have real conversations with my viewers, answer questions in real time and show unedited tutorials,” Candy said. “For me, it’s all about the interaction. I can show the real emotion, real mistakes and just have a good time with my viewers. It feels like I'm having a video call with them.”
Candy has also found that picking out a message that feels authentic to her–one of encouragement and self love–has helped her connect with her followers while staying true to herself. Her advice to others who aspire to become creators is to “be an inspiration and someone who others can look up to, a role model.”
Tip 2: Don’t limit yourself to one audience, language or location
“It's cool that while I'm live, I can communicate with both my Spanish- and English-speaking audiences by translating everything as I go,” she said, meaning she'll start speaking in one language during the broadcast and quickly follow with translation in the other language. This tactic helps her reach a broader audience, in part through shares.
“When my fans share the live videos, their family and friends can also join the conversation which has helped my page grow so much,” she explained..
Tip 3: Nurture your community and really listen
“My favorite things about going live are the community, the support and just being able to be myself. I love that Facebook Live allows me to just sit down and actually have conversations with others. I can share tips, review products, vent about my day or share amazing news.”
Candy's audience informs her content strategy in a significant way, often giving feedback in real time. “I love hearing feedback from my viewers. They tell me what they want to see more or less of,” she explained. Even signals like how many people tune in at a given moment help her decide which days of the week and times of day are best suited to going live.
Tip 4: Grow your community, grow your business
Candy’s brand, Angelix Beauty, launched in 2011. She sells cosmetics, jewelry, wigs, sunglasses and much more. She credits Facebook with helping her grow her business.
“On Facebook Live, I am able to show products and answer questions about them,” said Candy. “When people share the video, we can also reach potential new customers.”
“I love when my customers comment about their experience with my business and they get very excited when I read their comments during a live broadcast. My business has grown so much thanks to Facebook Live that I have been able to bring in my family members to work with me.”
Tip 5: Leverage social features to enhance audience participation
Candy already takes audience comments into account when deciding which makeup and beauty looks to craft, which helps her fans feel like they’re part of the process right alongside her.
With Polls, a new interactive feature that enables creators to effortlessly build polls pre-broadcast and share them to easily gauge their audience’s reactions to questions, Candy will be able to have her audience vote on specific outfit and makeup looks in real time. “The voting feature in live Polls will make it easier for me to engage with my audience and know which look I should go with,” she said.
Tip 6: Be patient, be consistent
“Patience is a big thing, especially when things happen that may be out of your control. Sometimes views will go up, other times they will go down. You are building a community, it takes time and it takes a lot of work. So remain patient, and remain consistent, especially on days when you might feel like you aren't being seen. Keep doing your best and never give up.”
Candy’s Top Tips for Going Live on Facebook:
Answer questions and read comments in real time.
Stay consistent and broadcast regularly; you may notice patterns to help inform what days of the week and which times of day work best for your audience.
Save your live streams to your timeline so your followers can share your videos with friends and family.
If you’re bilingual, try to incorporate both languages to potentially reach a wider audience.
Audience feedback is key: Listen to what people want to see more or less of. Facebook Live Polls can help with that.
Be patient. Building a community might not happen overnight–don’t give up!
*According to publicly available CrowdTangle data, 11/01/20 - 11/10/21
