9 reasons to start using Facebook LIVE

Using Facebook LIVE for your business gives you the following benefits:

• Your video appears in your page fans/friends newsfeed. Videos capture attention in the newsfeed as they are on autoplay so movement is easily noticed.
• It shows that you’re broadcasting live, so people are more compelled to click on your video so that they can hear what you’re saying (if they don’t click through, they can’t hear you but can see you)
• Your Facebook LIVE audience are able to click like, and you can them reacting in real-time, so you can measure how much people like what you’re talking about or showing them on Facebook live
• People can comment live on your Facebook LIVE video, you can read it, and respond to them during your conversation
• Facebook LIVE videos get more engagement than any other type of posts, which means they then get seen by more people
• If you want people to click through to your website whilst you’re broadcasting live, have someone add the links for you, but then let them know whilst you’re broadcasting that the link is in the comment below (Definitely worth getting someone to help you with this as you will find it really hard to answer comments with another comment, instead answer their questions live)
• The video saves after you’ve finished broadcasting to your newsfeed on your page/profile, so people can come back and watch it again
• Whilst you’re broadcasting, people have the option to subscribe to your live video broadcasts, and then if they subscribe, they get notifications when you go live
• It’s great for people to see the face behind your business, people don’t just buy products and services, they buy into the people who are selling those products and services

When can Facebook LIVE really help:

• Product launches – show people the product, how it works, talk about the benefits of your product, ask people to ask you questions, that you can then respond to live
• Service launches – Prepare a short presentation that delivers a solution to your customer’s biggest need or problem – during that presentation, talk about how your service resolves that problem/need and how they can get started using your new service
• At events – show people where you are, let them listen in to the same presentations you are (although you’ll need to check that’s OK with the event organizer) and then ask your audience what they thought, what they felt or learnt, and how they might do something differently as a result of what they’ve heard
• Asking for customer feedback – Talk to your audience about what’s coming next from your business, and why they will benefit from that, ask for their views on what you’re doing, and respond in real time. They might not like something, and whilst it can be uncomfortable to hear, especially when you’re live, you can also tell them how you might change something as a result of their feedback, or why you created the product/service to be like it is in the first place
• Building your personal brand – people buy from people, and we like to do business with people that we like – consider what you want your audience to know about you if they’ve never met you before, consider what they’d like to know, what would be useful, helpful, interesting or funny that would capture their attention?
• Building consistent contact with your prospective customers and clients – if you want to stay top of mind, ensure that you’re using Facebook LIVE regularly, however, don’t go over the top, as that can scare people away
• Hate blogging, but love talking? Why not use live video to share the information that you want, without having to stare at the blank screen to wonder where you’re going to get started with your blog post.

If you’re feeling you’d like to try Facebook LIVE and see how it can work for your business, here’s the low down on how: Preparation

• Consider where you want people to see your Facebook LIVE broadcast – from your personal FB profile or your FB business page
• If it’s from your personal profile, make sure you have the most up to date version of the Facebook app on your smart phone (works on Android and IOS)
• If it’s from your FB business page, make sure you have the most up to date version of the Facebook Pages app on your smart phone
• Plan what you want to talk about – always consider what value you’re adding to your audience – why would they want to watch, and what will keep them watching?
• Let your page fans/friends know when you’re going to be LIVE on FB (although don’t be afraid to go LIVE without letting people know, especially if you’d like a smaller audience to practice in front of to begin with!) Don’t forget to let your followers on other social platforms or your email list know too
• Remove distractions – make sure that no-one is going to interrupt your broadcast
• Consider where you want to be when you’re presenting live on Facebook – in the office (it is tidy), in your home, out in the street, at a particular place
• Will you have the camera facing you (selfie style) or outwards towards what you’re looking at/talking about?
• Check that the lighting is adequate
• Check that there is adequate network or wi-fi coverage, you don’t want your stream to drop out as the signal’s gone
• Make sure that people are going to be able to hear you – being outside is great, but if it’s really windy, people will struggle to hear you about the sound of the wind
• Think about positioning of your smart phone – if you’re going to be presenting for a while, will you be able to keep the phone pretty still whilst you’re talking (imagine maintaining a selfie pose for 20 minutes #ArmAche) A tripod or selfie stick can help keep the phone stable, and if using a tripod, your hands are free (important if you use your hands a lot to express whilst you’re talking)

The Facebook LIVE broadcast To start your broadcast, open the relevant FB app on your smart phone and go to your page or profile: Pages Manager:

• Use the FB Pages app, open your page, and click on publish and then the LIVE icon which is at the bottom of the status update (in the image below, the LIVE icon is the second one in from the left)

Your personal FB profile:

• Open your FB app, and click on status, then Live video (in the image, the live icon is the second one down)

The following screen may appear, if so, click continue Create a compelling title for your video – add emojis if that helps people determine what your LIVE video is about – keep the title short, as people will see the title in their notifications, and the video will be saved under that title too Now click Go Live You’ll get a 3 second countdown, so that you can ensure you’re looking good, and then you’re broadcasting. Tips for during the broadcast

• Regularly repeat your name and company name if using FB LIVE from your business page, as people aren’t always on your broadcast from the very beginning
• Try to broadcast for at least 10 minutes, as the longer you’re on, the more opportunity for people to see your LIVE video in their FB newsfeed
• Acknowledge people who are commenting, and answer their questions live
• If you see people clicking like, acknowledge those too if it doesn’t feel like it will affect the flow of what you’re saying
• Don’t speak too quickly – you might be nervous the first few times, so take deep breaths and speak calmly
• Have someone on standby to answer any questions in the comments that you might not get to answer, or to share links if you want people to click on the links
• When you want someone to click on a link, let them know that the link will be shared in the comments
• Ask people to follow you, so that they get to see when you’re broadcasting live in future
• If you’re planning to go live again soon, let people know when you’re next broadcasting!
• End with a call to action if you want people to take the next step – ie, check out our website at www.socialaccelerators.com
• SMILE – it’s easy to forget to do that when you’re thinking of everything else
• Finish with a “Thanks for watching”

After FB LIVE

• Your video saves to your newsfeed, you can edit it once it’s saved to your page
• Consider adding subtitles to your video, so that people don’t need to click through for audio
• Repurpose your FB live presentation into blogs, download the video and add it to your YouTube channel, embed your video into a page on your website – there are so many ways to use the content that you’ve just created!!

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