On Nov. 19, Lowe’s hosted a Facebook Live event to promote 11 of its upcoming Black Friday deals. The livestream, known as “Mystery Box Bonanza,” was hosted by Drew and Jonathan Scott of the HGTV show “Property Brothers.”
A teaser trailer for the event that ran on Nov. 2 garnered 2,700 live views and captured more than 1.4 million views after the fact, according to Marci Grebstein, Chief Marketing Officer of Lowe’s. This gives an idea of just how vast a Facebook Live post can reach with enough marketing push behind it.
Deals promoted throughout the event included:
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An 18-bottle dual zone wine cooler for $199;
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A mini drone for $69;
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A DeWalt four-tool combo kit for $249; and
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An artificial alpine Christmas Tree for $69.
The deals will begin on Thanksgiving Day exclusively on Lowes.com, before becoming available companywide on Black Friday.
But while Lowe’s went out of its way to promote and deliver on the holiday event, the retailer’s use of the platform shows that brands of all sizes can reap the rewards of live video within social media.
Beauty brands such as Birchbox and Benefit Cosmetics have utilized Facebook Live to stream weekly segments that offer makeup tips and answer questions posed during the session, in an effort to directly engage with consumers.
While advertising or marketing promotions can often be costly, Facebook Live enables retailers to spend on their campaigns at their own pace, since much of the focus is on engagement. As real-time questions pop in from the audience, giving a more conversational feel to an interaction, retailers can use this valuable time to introduce newer promotions or ideas and immediately gauge feedback.
If the “Mystery Box Bonanza” turns out to be a success for Black Friday sales at Lowe’s, more retailers are probably going to catch on, and it surely won’t be exclusive to holiday promotions.
