Facebook Live is an amazing tool that allows people to share their videos live. It has grown in the past year as a broadcasting and marketing tool. According to Facebook, over 3.5 billion broadcasts have been created and about 2 billion people have participated in or watched the live videos. This makes Facebook Live a great tool to use, especially if you are interested in marketing a certain product.
People tend to stay engaged in an advertisement when there is an image or video involved. Facebook Live keeps your audience or audiences connected through its engagement. Because people can spend hours on social media, it is a great idea to look at ways to use certain tools like Facebook Live to attract and engage audiences. Because it is a live video service, everything is happening in the moment.
How does Facebook Live work? How do I use Facebook Live? What are some helpful tips and suggestions for beginners using Facebook Live? In this article, we will address these questions and more.
How Facebook Live Works
Live videos often receive more engagement than regular videos. In fact, live videos get six times the interaction than regular videos receive. Facebook Live is a great option for your business. It creates discussions and conversations as well as higher engagement rates.
Facebook Live simply works by creating and broadcasting live content. You can create up to four hours of video. As you are in the process of broadcasting, you will see who is watching. Additionally, you will be able to see their comments live. You can watch how people are reacting to your video and respond to any of their questions. The video will save to your profile or Page when you are finished (unless you decided to share it to your story only).
How to Use Facebook Live
Using Facebook Live is fairly easy. You can access Facebook Live on several devices, including your laptop or desktop computer and your phone through the Facebook app. Listed below we will look at how to set up and use Facebook Live on a mobil device. Here is a step-by-step guide to use Facebook Live:
- Open Facebook on your device.
- From your newsfeed, tap on “Write something…” or “What’s on your mind?” located near the top/middle of your screen.
- Options will appear. Tap on “Go Live.”
- Tap on “To:” in order to choose who you want to view and watch your video. For example, you can choose to make your video public or only visible to friends or a specific group/list.
- Here you can also choose to share your video as a post or only to your Facebook story. Saving the video to your story means it will not automatically save to your profile, but will be accessible while broadcasting.
- Stay on the same screen and scroll down until you see “Notifications.” Next to the “Send Notifications” switch the toggle to make sure your friends and followers will be alerted and notified that you are going live.
- You can also add a title and description to your video if you would like.
- Then, add details. For example, tap on the person icon to tag anyone who is in your video, tap on the location icon to share your location, or tap on the face icon to show how you are feeling.
- Tap on “Live Video.”
- If you are broadcasting with another person in a different location, tap on “Bring a Friend.”
- Tap on “Start Live Video” to begin the broadcast.
Tips and Ideas for Beginners
Alert people when you are going to go live.
A great suggestion while using Facebook Live is to let your friends and followers know when you are going to broadcast. Letting your viewers know in advance can help build anticipation. More people will know when they can expect a video from you.
Engage with your viewers’ comments.
Another great tip is to stay engaged with your viewers’ comments. You can say hello to certain commentators or create shout-outs. You can also answer their questions and address their comments. This is especially useful during a Q&A.
Be Creative
Be creative. Include videos that are captivating and engaging. Some ideas for videos include: product or campaign launches, hot topics, trends, or seasonal/holiday themes. Go live frequently so your followers can keep up with your content and videos. Try to mix things up and don’t be afraid to try new things.
Post often and keep your content fresh and unique. Most importantly, have fun with it!
As a writer and a poet, Alexandra finds that words have the power to connect people from around the world.
