Facebook Live is one of the hottest growing facets of Facebook and is taking the world by storm! We are seeing celebrities, business owners, real estate pros and everyday people broadcast live on Facebook. It is exciting to see!
I am a big believer that the reason why channels like Snapchat, Periscope and Facebook Live are taking off – is that we are craving more and more authenticity. Although that buzzword tends to be overused, I think there is something to be said about seeing and hearing someone live and in real time.
We also know that people are spending more time watching digital video than ever before. The time adults spend watching digital video each day has increased from 21 minutes in 2011 to one hour and 16 minutes in 2015.
Here are 10 tips for getting started with Facebook Live (in no particular order!):
- It doesn’t have to be perfect. Let me repeat – it doesn’t have to be perfect! This is one of the great things about live video is that it doesn’t have to be perfectly edited and your hair doesn’t have to be ‘just right.’ It is live and in the moment!
- You can go Live on your Facebook Personal Profile, Event, Group or Business Page. To go Live within your Facebook Profile, Events or Group, you will just need the standard Facebook mobile app. If you broadcast on your personal profile, you can choose your privacy settings – you can choose to broadcast to just Friends or to the Public. To broadcast on your Business Page, you will need the Facebook Pages Manager app available on iTunes or Android.
- Be prepared. Even though your live broadcast doesn’t have to be perfect, you can still be prepared by having an idea of what you’d like to talk about. If it helps, put a few notes down on a piece of paper to have in front of you.
- Authorize access to your camera phone and microphone. The first time you go live, you will see a pop-up from your device asking for permission to access your camera and microphone.
- Have an attention grabbing headline! Think about what you want to convey and put that into the headline. Think in terms of “How to…” or “The top 3 ways to…”
- Tell people what is in it for them. Once you introduce yourself, tell viewers what they will learn and what is in it for them.
- Introduce yourself. Have a 2-3 minute ‘elevator pitch’ about who you are that you can use to introduce yourself on your Facebook Live. It can include where you work, your level of expertise, where you live and why you are going live. If you are a bit nervous, practice that part aloud before you go live!
- The more you ‘go live’ the better you get. The first time you go live, you will be a little nervous and maybe even anxious – but just like anything, the more you do it, the better you get. I call it the ‘live streaming muscle!’
- Engage with the audience. Once a few people join your broadcast, you can welcome them by name and invite them to comment or ask you questions live.
- Don’t worry about how long your live broadcast is. For a lot of us, we were taught short and simple video is better – but with Facebook Live, if it’s longer, that is ok. We have found people will watch you live for 10 or 15 minutes, if not longer. We have had hundreds watch us even when we broadcasted for an hour! Viewers love long-form original content and user-generated live-streams (think about Netflix and Amazon Prime ‘binge watching!’)
You did it! Now, once you are live, you can choose to save the live stream to your mobile device. You may choose to do this if you plan on repurposing the video and adding it to YouTube. The video will then stay on your profile (or wherever you choose to broadcast from) – unless you delete it. Make sure you check back to your live over the next 24-48 hours. We found we received sometimes more comments after a live broadcast than during when it was live! This is a great opportunity to engage with your audience.
