Audio Marketing is the new future! The same goes for podcasting. At Facebook, they have recently been rolling out new audio tools early this year. Last March, the platform tested audio rooms on Messenger. It also beta-tested live audio rooms in Taiwan last May. Last week, Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg initiated the 1st live audio room through Facebook Events with other FB executives. This came together with the new podcast listening tools. Today, Facebook officially launches live audio rooms and podcasts.
Live Audio Rooms
Facebook now brings audio rooms to selected groups and public figures within the United States. This is in answer to the Clubhouse app, an invite-only social audio room. Live audio rooms will be visible to the followers of the host on top of their Facebook news feeds and right above the stories panel. Users can sign up for a reminder to tap the audio room on a feed post once it starts.
The user interface of audio rooms is much like a Clubhouse Room or Twitter Space. The profile picture of the host will show on top and its listeners below that. A front-row list display is also reserved for paying listeners. All the more, listeners can send stars as tips to the audio room host. A host can also invite speakers to join the audio stream. Among Facebook Groups, the admins get to decide who can host audio rooms. There’s a limit of 50 speakers on Facebook audio rooms but the number of listeners is limitless.
Podcast Tools
Facebook also enables new podcast tools where users can discover and listen without leaving the Facebook app. Today, the platform is set to launch a selected group of podcasters such as:
- Joe Budden of The Joe Budden Podcast
- Jess Hilarious of Carefully Reckless from The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio
- Keltie Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jac Vanek of the LadyGang
- Nicaila Matthews Okome of Side Hustle Pro
The platform will be adding more podcasts in the coming weeks. A mini-player for in-screen playback will now be available as Facebook users listen to these participating podcasts.
Facebook officially launches live audio rooms and podcasts on 21 June 2021.
Implications for Marketers:
Facebook’s live audio rooms and podcasts are a significant step to engage via audio content within the platform. For marketers, they can be a great way to win out an audio marketing strategy on Facebook. By building monetization for all types of content, no wonder, Facebook will always win the social race.
