Live video has only been possible on Facebook since last year. However, the feature has already been widely adopted. Many people and businesses use Facebook regularly, so sharing and watching video content has already become natural and that’s now quickly extended to the Live offering. We’ve had an increase in the amount of companies coming to us in the last 12 months wanting to harness Facebook Live to help engage their audience in a professional format. No selfie’s here!
Facebook live is nothing new however, we saw Meerkat, Periscope and Google doing this years ago, but despite its late interest into the live streaming arena Facebook now looks to be the platform to dominate. With more than one billion people now active on Facebook it’s made it easy for everyone to get involved, be it streaming yourself, or more importantly engaging with a stream. Despite this, we’re sure you will have seen the glossy TV ads that Facebook are currently pushing that aim to inspire more users to dip their toes into the world of live streaming.
Facebook users are spending up to 3x more time watching live video than pre-recorded, but it’s no surprise since Facebook has updated its algorithm to News Feeds so that Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in your News Feed compared to a standard video. Some live streams reach tens or even hundreds of thousands of visitors. Since Facebook is still trying to drive attention to this new feature, users are alerted via notifications whenever one of their friends (or followed companies) starts broadcasting live. This is now making it easy to attract an audience instantly.
4 Tips for Live Broadcasting:
- Promote Before You Broadcast
It’s important to let your audience know about your upcoming live video with news feed posts. Experiment with images and perhaps even a short video to tell them about the live video to come. - Prepare and Practice
Before you use Facebook Live for the first time, consider doing a practice run. To get all of the practice time you need you can set Facebook’s privacy setting to Only Me. You’ll see the live video exactly as it will appear, but no one else will. - Be Personable
Be sure to end your live video with a call to action and tell your audience a bit about your plans for the next video. Ask them to share the archived copy of the video that will be in the timeline. Make sure that they can easily contact you with any follow-up questions. - Analyse the Results
You’ll be able to see the total number of people who watched at least a portion of the video, along with a running count of how many viewers you had at different points in time. The Audience Retention metric could assist your plans for the length of future videos. The great thing about live video is that there are so many ways to approach it next time. Learn your audience. - Live doesn’t always have to be ‘Live’
Although Facebook encourages it, you don’t always have to flip your camera into selfie mode and stand in front of a glared window. We now have the ability in-house to live stream full multi-camera live shows, professional pieces to camera or even stream a pre-recorded video that appears ‘live’. This is where the line really begins to blur between online content and TV. Effectively you now have the ability to create anything (live or pre-recorded) and we stream it live to the world.
If you have a question about Facebook Live or want to learn more about how it can enhance your video content please contact: contact@tailwind.group