27 Sep Best Practices For Facebook Live Broadcasts
Since 2015, Facebook has seen an increase in videos-per-person posted on their site. In the United States, the rate has gone up by 94%; not by coincidence, Facebook’s relatively new live video feature has become one of the social media site’s most popular aspects. We as marketers know that using live video can be a great way to create content and interact with your audience. With that, here are some items to keep in mind if you are planning to use live broadcasts to promote your brand.
Think About Production Values
Did you know videos on Facebook actually garner more engagement with audiences than photos do? In fact, some statistics show that Facebook videos have 135% greater organic reach than Facebook photos.
If you’re going to attract this kind of traffic, you should be putting forth a product that you’re proud of and one that will keep your audience’s attention. Now, you don’t have to hire a film crew to shoot your live video, but your audience should be able to see what’s going on and your audio should be decent. Using your smartphone is an easy and efficient way of accomplishing this. And if you don’t like the aesthetic of holding the phone in your hand throughout the video, invest in a mount that can keep the phone in place for you.
Promote Live Video Beforehand
If your audience doesn’t know that a live video is going to take place, it’s going to be difficult to get them to tune in. Part of a good plan for a live video is pre-planning and getting the word out ahead of time. Write a post to your group detailing your live video, letting them know what you’ll be doing a video about and when they should tune in. If you want to attract an even larger audience, you can promote your informative post by spending a little money with a Facebook ad.
Practice Makes Perfect
Make no mistake: hosting a live video is nothing like posting a video that has spent hours being edited. For one thing, once you go live, your audience will get to see everything you do, and if you go into the live stream unprepared, your audience will be able to tell. Luckily, you don’t have to jump into a live video right out of the gate. If you set the privacy settings of the stream so that only you can see it, you will be able to do a test run and see how everything goes. With a practice run, you’ll be able to see how everything flows and what parts you may need to work on a bit.
Go Live Consistently, and at the Right Time of Day
Consistency is one of the most important factors of growing your audience, but catching them at the right time is also a good way to make sure your video is being seen. People are most active during the week during their down time, which happens to coincide with lunchtime and after work. If you were going to do a live video, these would be the perfect times to do them.
Of course, once you’ve done a live video, your audience could always watch it afterwards as it will be archived, but the name of the game is getting your audience to tune into your video while you are live. After all, people tend to stick around watching live videos three times longer than after they are live.
Engage with Your Audience as You Broadcast
One of the best parts of Facebook’s live video feature is that you can also interact with your audience as you are broadcasting. They have the ability to post comments that you can see in real-time. You can use this to your advantage and to have the audience ask you questions or you could simply call out their comments. This lends a more interactive feel to your live streams and can keep your audience engaged for longer.
Live video on Facebook has changed the way people and brands have implemented video on their Facebook profile pages. Understanding what you can do and how you can efficiently use this feature can help you bring in a much broader audience.
Nick Rojas combines 20 years of experience working with and consulting for small to medium business and a passion for journalism to help readers grow. He writes about technology, marketing, and social media for the aspiring entrepreneur. When Nick is not sharing his expertise, he can be found spending time at the beach with his dog Presto. Follow Nick on Twitter at @NickARojas.
