Inside CNBC’s strategy on Facebook Live

Jessica Davies of Digiday writes about how CNBC is using Facebook Live for its “Street Signs Europe” show.

Davies writes, “Speaking to Digiday a few hours after the first Facebook Live show stream, CNBC International’s social media editor Cristina Garratt, said the Brexit outcome is one of those moments when finance and business news becomes mainstream. Like other publishers, CNBC has seen a surge in visitors to its international website since the vote on June 23: 300 percent, and a 10 percent jump in social media visits, according to the broadcaster.

“‘We have the C-suite of today; now we need to ensure we’re appealing to the C-suite of tomorrow. Given 64 percent of our Facebook audience are millennials, that’s why we’ve focused on Facebook Live,’ said Garratt.

“The publisher has created dozens of Facebook Live videos around breaking news, such as this one showing a makeshift memorial in Brussels after the attacks, which generated 17,000 views. Now it wants to go deeper and test whether the platform can help it sustain brand loyalty with new audiences. With ‘Street Signs Europe,’ it wants people to watch for the duration, comment and return the following day.

“‘We know this [the show] won’t generate crazy views like the breaking-news ones we’ve done. Instead, we want to really delve into the issues of the day and build longer engagement and loyalty to CNBC,’ said Garratt. ‘That’s the kind of brand CNBC is: It’s not about trying to gain a mass audience of everyone in the world.'”

Read more here.